Small Businesses Drive Global Economy

In Globeinvestor.com (Canada): The Globe and Mail

A couple of key Canadian data points mentioned in article:

• Small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, such as Mr. Reiss's have been growing at a remarkable rate, managing to outpace the economy by a full percentage point in 2002 and demonstrating remarkable resiliency in 2003 despite the devastating impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome, mad-cow disease, the softwood lumber dispute and the blackout.

• Experts agree that SMEs are poised to outpace the rest of the economy in 2004 but say they will need to stay on their toes in order to take advantage of low interest rates, a burgeoning service industry driven by increased consumer spending and a growing global economy.

• Despite this optimistic outlook for entrepreneurs, TD Bank warned in a report that in order to keep pace with the growing global economy, Canadian SMEs will also need to boost productivity in order to thrive in the increasingly competitive global market.

• Small businesses make up 85 per cent of all Canadian exporters, and 44 per cent of goods and services shipped abroad.

-> "The reason why companies fail in the international market is because they don't invest enough time or resources into it," said Metro Sportswear's Mr. Reiss.

To read the entire article, visit: Small Business Poised For Strong Growth