Opening Aladdin’s cave : unpacking the factors impacting on small businesses

For the past four decades, governments, researchers and a broad range of professional associations have focused on the small business sector, primarily from an economic and policy setting perspective. This focus recognises the important role small businesses play in the Australian economy – 97 per cent of businesses, as at June 2014, were classified as ‘small’.1 However, this classification is based only on employment, which lumps small firms into one homogenous group. In fact, small businesses are mainly unique extensions of their owners’ capacities, goals and aspirations. The single classification of ‘small’ does nothing to assist in understanding the complex mix of segments in the small business sector, or the factors that affect these different segments. This paper focuses on unpacking the sector to provide insights into the segments that make up the small business sector in a way that policymakers and other agencies can support and understand