small business

A small business may be defined as a business with a small number of employees. The legal definition of "small" often varies by country and industry, but is generally under 100 employees in the United States while under 50 employees in the European Union (In comparison, the American definition of mid-sized business by the number of employees is generally under 500 while 250 is for that of European Union). These businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships. In Australia, small business is defined as 1-19 employees and medium businesses are made up of 20-200 employees.

However, other methods are also used to classify small companies, such us annual sales (turnover), assets value or net profit (balance sheet), alone or in a mixed definition. These criteria are followed by the European Union, for instance (headcount, turnover and balance sheet totals).

Small businesses are common in many countries, depending on the economic system in operation. Typical examples include: convenience stores, other small shops (such as a bakery or delicatessen), hairdressers, tradesmen, solicitors, lawyers, accountants, restaurants, guest houses, photographers, small-scale manufacturing etc. Small businesses are usually independent.

The smallest businesses, often located in private homes, are called microbusinesses (term used by international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation) or SoHos. The term "mom and pop business" is a common colloquial expression for a single-family operated business with few (or no) employees other than the owners. When judged by the number of employees, the American and the European definitions are the same: under 10 employees.

中小型企業或中小企業，簡稱中小企，是指在經營規模上較小的企業，雇用人數與營業額皆不大，此類企業通常是由單一個人或少數人提供資金組成，因此在經營上多半是業主直接管理而較少受外界干涉。

“中小企”的概念來自1980年代末期的"small business"概念。當年美國的經濟開始下滑，但亞洲四小龍的經濟卻反而起飛。另一方面，美國國內除了惠普公司以外，其他公司的業積都普遍下降。管理學家針對這兩個特例，認為在經濟低迷的情況下，相對小型的企業能夠對急劇變化的環境更容易適應。因此，四小龍的企業由於規模普遍比美國的大集團更為細少，他們對於轉變的適應來得更快；另一方面，由於惠普公司將整家公司劃分成細小的"organization"，並容許"organization"的單位領導人有更大的自主權，從而使公司更容易適應外來環境的轉變。