85 percent
of Americans view small businesses as a positive influence
on American life (NFIB, 2001).
Small businesses account for more than 40 percent of the
offline economy (IDC, January 2001).
An estimated 25.5 million small businesses in America
employ more than half of the country's private workforce,
create three of every four new jobs, and generate a
majority of American innovations
(Small Business Administration, 2000).
Small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all
employers
(Small Business Administration, December, 2000).
Online Small-Business Facts
Small
businesses and home offices account for 40 percent of all
technology investment in the United States (IDC, January
2001).
Five million small businesses and 15 million
income-generating home offices still don't have a web
site, and fewer than 5 percent of small businesses that
are online have been selling products and services online
for longer than a year (IDC, January 2001).
By 2004, small e-merchants — those with fewer than 10
employees and less than $3 million in annual sales — could
account for as much as 10 percent of the U.S. gross
domestic product (Keenan Vision Inc., 2000).
About 3.4 million nonresidential small businesses now have
Internet access, along with 7.4 million small-business
branch offices (Cyber Dialogue, June 2000).
Today 84 percent of small businesses have PCs, 57 percent
have Internet access, 21 percent have web sites, and 18
percent have high-speed access (AMI International, May
2000).
An estimated 85 percent of small businesses will be
conducting business over the Internet by 2002 (Small
Business Administration, June 2000).
Small-Business Revenue Facts
Small companies
will see their online sales grow 336 percent to $120
billion from 2000 to the end of 2002 (Ami-Partners, Inc.
2000).
The average annual income of a small business utilizing
the Internet is $3 million per year compared with an
average of $1.9 million for small businesses in general
(IDC, April 2000).
Women- and Minority-Owned
Business Facts
More than three
million businesses are minority-owned, and this number is
growing (Dun & Bradstreet, 2001).
There are more than 9.1 million women-owned businesses —
accounting for more than a third of all U.S. companies —
and this number is growing (Dun & Bradstreet, 2001).
