The US Small Business Administration says there were 23.7 million small businesses in the US in 2003. It defines small business as any with fewer than 500 employees.

In the UK there were 4 million small businesses in 2004.

For the UK it is claimed that 97% of these businesses employ less than 20 people.

For Both the US and the UK it is claimed that more than 50% of GDP is contributed by small firms or SME's.

The total annual sales of Canadian family-owned business is approximately $ 1.3 trillion.

The "Mittelstand", the German equivalent of SME, employs nearly 70% of Germany's total active workforce.

90% of commercial innovations come from small firms.

Family owned businesses account for 60% of total US employment, 78% of all new jobs, and 65% of wages paid in the US.

Twelve million people work in small firms in the UK (2004).

Facts and Figures on Family Business Around the World.

And now the bad news,

• Only 10% of start-ups become SME's that even reach the leadership/direction crisis.
• Only 10 to 20% of SME's successfully overcome the leadership/direction crisis.
• Only 33% of family companies, SME's remember, make a successful transition from one generation to the next.
• Only 5% of family companies, almost exclusively SME's, are still creating shareholder value beyond the third generation.
  

RECOGNIZE and OVERCOME SENIC before it's too late!

Contact SENICSME.