When small is beautiful

Many large firms are clamouring for financial bailout, but it’s Britain’s smaller, rural ‘Cinderella’ businesses that may yet save the day

- William Kendall

SMALL and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are used to Cinderella status and the recent weeks of lockdown have been no different. Big businesses have been grabbing headlines—we have listened to many of them asking for bespoke bailouts. Most of the time, those of us who work at the other end of the economy don’t mind being forgotten; we share many of the same concerns with our bigger brothers and we have neither the time nor money to hang around in the right bars in Whitehall nor employ expensive public-affairs consultants.

There is, however, a danger in times to come, when money is scarce, that we lose sight of where investment usually gets the best return. SMEs are defined as organisations with fewer than 250 people. Most of them employ many fewer than that, yet they provide about 70% of all jobs in the private sector. They are almost certainly responsible for an even higher percentage of new jobs created and their role is considered especially significant in rural and underperforming regions, where they are often the bedrock of a local economy.

Smaller companies tend to adapt more quickly to change and they can be the most likely source of innovation, although big business is better at trumpeting its successes.