Small or Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Essay

Small business can finance their firms through debt or through equity sources of capital. Debt sources typically include; short or long-term loans from wealthy individuals to banks, while equity sources often include the owner’s wealthy individuals and/or Angel Networks. Venture capital is not a typical source of equity financing for most small business, as these businesses will not have the required growth potential Venture Capitals need to manage their risk return requirements.

The limited funds forces SMEs to operate solely and discreetly which translates to the shortage of working capital, inadequate marketing as well as being stagnant at the growth stage. Given that SMEs operate in small scale, one of their biggest challenge is to command competitive procurement, distribution as well as the selling price. The working capital of these SMEs is restricted in the illiquid inventory and receivables due to the unorganized sectors which makes SMEs prone to any demand disruption in the supply chain which can affect their operations drastically. The financial manager has to ensure cash available to the company in order to cover its operating expenses and short-term debts. To obtain an effective working capital management, the manager must manage the cash flow to pay the employees and debts, know when to take on short-term loan to pay the suppliers or unexpected expenses. The manager can keep more current assets to reduce liquidity risk. However, this would reduce the company’s profitability as current assets have low returns. In contrast, using more current liabilities which cost less will result in higher

Small businesses or SMEs can be defined as those types of businesses where the total number of employees is less than five hundred and such businesses have much fewer resources than large companies (Russell & Young, 2013). These businesses are a source of growth for the U.S. economy as they bring innovation and new opportunities for jobs in the market. These businesses represent approximately 99 percent of the US employer firms and contribute greatly towards the creation of new private sector jobs. Thus if these companies agree to adopt sustainable strategies, this will not only benefit them but also the entire American economy (Russell & Young, 2013). This makes the

Small businesses are mighty minnows, reflecting the competitive spirit that a market economy needs for efficiency; they provide an outlet for entrepreneurial talents, a wider range of consumer goods and services, a check to monopoly inefficiency a source of innovation, and a seedbed for new industries; they allow an economy to be more adaptable to structural change through continuous initiatives embodying new technologies, skills, processes, or products (Ibielski 1997, p. 1).

In 2014 SMEs account for 99.3% of firms (4.8 million companies), 47.8% of employment (15.2 million people) and 33.2% of annual turnover (£1.6 Billion)6. The European Commission SME Performance Review provides estimates for the EU private sector. In 2014 SMEs account for 99.8% of firms (21.6 million companies), 67.5% of employment (88.8 million people) and 58.4% of annual turnover (€3.6 Trillion)9.

SME?s are defined in a variety of ways by various countries using such parameters such as a number of persons employed, capital invested, turnover or nature of the business etc?.not only different countries apply different definitions on the concept of SME?s even within countries, different regions and different institutions adopt varying definitions in this regard.

To prosper, small enterprises need comfortable business environment and regulations, adequate basic infrastructure services, access to short and long-term financing at reasonable rates, equity and venture capital, advisory support, and knowledge about market opportunities (Lukács, 2005). They typically suffer from weak entrepreneurial skills as well as deficiencies in accounting, production management, and business planning. As small enterprises develop, they increasingly need connectivity to export markets and the world economy (Lukács, 2005).

Small firms are good for those people who have experience in particular field but do not have a necessary amount of resources, in the terms of resources contain land, labour, capital and enterprise. Small firms not require more space to start production so require less amount of land same as land in production small firms require less number of people. Enterprise is the risk taking ability of the owner.

Financing is needed to start a business and to increase the businesses profitability. There are several sources to consider when looking for start-up financing. The financial needs of a business will vary according to the type and size of the business. For example, processing businesses are usually capital intensive, large amounts of capital. Retail businesses and small businesses usually require less capital. Requiring.

For SMEs, there is an SME fund which will make cheap funds at a single digit interest rate accessible to qualified SMEs for improved productivity and job creation. In addition, SMEs pay a lower rate in the first five years in several sectors. Dividends are also exempt

​The term “SME” is commonly used to refer to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The term covers a variety of definitions as well as measures. However, in most of the various definitions of what is an SME, employment is the most widely used criterion for categorizing the size of the firm. Moreover, SMEs are often defined as businesses with fewer than 500 employees. However, a number of countries, including some in the European Union use a lower cutoff of 250 employees. SMEs are important in the economy because they have some unique benefits to the economy chief among these being employment and job creation among others. The following discussion explores the impact of SME to the economy, especially in regards to employment and the creation of jobs among others.

The purpose of this report is to introduce an overview about SMEs. A critical evaluation and analysis of two small and medium enterprises, Icosium and NotontheHighStreet.com will be presented in this report and also will include the following steps: the business concept and sources of competitive advantage, the current demand and the competitive environment, the growth and development of the business to date, the challenges of managing and running the business, an estimate of the current valuation of the business, the SMEs current growth and development strategy and future recommendation. Furthermore in work will include a conclusion and recommendation.

family owned. Small enterprises usually operate in the formal sector of the economy and employ

The establishment and adoption of standard definitions for SME will facilitate better identification of SME across sectors, thus enabling more effective formulation of SME policies and implementation of SME development programs, and provision of technical and financial assistance. It will also allow better monitoring of SME performance and their contribution to the economy, but the way as officially, SME can be define as the Small and Medium Enterprise.

The importance of small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) in the economy of any country cannot be overlooked. In fact for nearly 15 years, most researchers dealing with economic planning have highlighted the significance of these enterprises stating that they are a key player in realizing any country’s economic goals. As such, governments as well as other organizations with interest in development are laying plans and strategies to promote the establishment of Small and Micro Enterprises. This is seen as a move to ensure that there is full participation of SMEs in the country’s economy. The Small and Micro Enterprises have been known to contribute to a large extend as a source of innovation, entrepreneurial skills as well as source of employment. For example, statistics in 25countries of the European Union show that 99% of the jobs provided to its citizens come from the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Rowe (2008) points out that the British economy relies heavily on the participation of SMEs. On the other hand, 99% of the UK’s economy is composed of small and micro enterprises.