TIP OF THE MONTH GIVE SMALL BUSINESS A CHANCE

 As more and more large companies shy away from using regional staffing services in favor of VMS operators I can't help but wonder why. The VMS (Vendor Management System) is one of centralized planning that sounds good on paper but at what expense? What it really comes down to is service. And do you really want someone hundreds of miles away, who don’t know you or your special requirements brokering your staffing needs?

Think about this. There is a reason that small regional staffing companies earn 81-85 percent of their business from companies with less than 1000 employees. And that number grows to 90% for those servicing industrial accounts. It all comes down to service. In the light industrial sector of the staffing business there is no such thing anymore as the standard order. It has become very specialized and the national services just are not as proficient in filling these orders as the smaller staffing firms.

So, before you place that next order with that large national supplier take our small business test in this month's RESOURCE and pause to think about where this country would be without small business. The numbers are truly staggering.

                                                      WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THEM?

Small business is defined as those businesses that employ 500 or fewer employees.

1.Small firms represent what percent of all employer firms?

    a. 65%

    b. 50%

    c.  99.7%

    d.  80%

2. How many self-employed individuals work in the U.S.?

    a. 500,000

    b. 1,250,000

    c.  5,000,000

    d.  15,300,000

3. What is the percent of private sector employees working  for small firms?

   a. 50%

   b. 25%

   c.  75%

   d. 10%

4. True or False. Small firms produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms?

   a. True

   b. False

5. How much non-farm GDP is produced by small firms?

   a. 52%

   b. 44%

   c. 68.5%

   d. 12%

6. Between 1993 and 2009 small firms accounted for what percent of the 15 million net new jobs created?

   a. 45%

   b. 89%

   c. 31%

   d. 65%

7. How many new employer firms opened for business in 2009?

   a. 552,600

   b. 89,452

   c. 215,463

   d. 12

8. Most recent census data indicates what percent of small businesses fail in the first two years?

   a. 96%

   b. 18%

   c.  31%

   d. 49%

9. True or False. Small firms hire 43% of all high tech workers?

   a. False

   b. True

10. What percentage of total U.S. private payroll comes from small business?

   a. 14.2%

   b. 62.8%

   c.  44.0%

   d. 82%

Answers (1-a) (2-d) (3-a) (4-a) (5-a) (6-d) (7-a) (8-c) (9-b) (10-c)