What is the definition of a small or medium-sized business (SME)?
To define the term small business is in fact not that easy as there are too many different factors that can be used to base the analysis. In the past quantitative definitions have been based on number of employees, size of the enterprise, sales turnover and profit. Qualitative definitions have focused on the special characteristics that distinguish small enterprises from larger corporations for example independent management and small market share. Different models can be applied when defining a small business. As you can see in the table on the next page, for different branches, there are different numbers of employees necessary to speak from a small business. In some branches it is better to measure it with turnover than with number of employees. This is the given solution of the Bolton Report. 1971 the Bolton Committee formed a definition that had both a quantitative and a qualitative element, namely the statistical definition and the economic definition Considering quantitative def
