ABSTRACT
Small fi rms Offi cial defi nitions vary by country and, in some cases, by sector within the same
country. Most offi cial defi nitions use numerical categories relating to number of employees and/
or turnover. In the United States, for example, to qualify as a small guesthouse or restaurant, the
business would have to have a turnover of less than $7m ($30m for a small hotel). The Australian
Bureau of Statistics, by contrast, states that trading organisations with up to 19 employees are
small; in Europe, a small fi rm is usually defi ned as one that employs between 10 and 49
employees. A key characteristic of a small fi rm for the purposes of this chapter is that it is
managed by the owner of the business.
