Law Students

The End of Bigness?

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the dominance of huge business organizations? Look at who is failing in a colossal fashion: big banks, big automakers, big insurance companies. Sure, there are probably, percentage wise, a significant number of small businesses that are failing as well, they simply don't make the headlines. BUT, I would argue that in an age of constant economic disruption, it's the little guys that are more resilient, quicker to adjust, quicker to regroup, etc.

The economic argument for big has historically been economies of scale, but in this kind of environment we may be, for the first time in a very significant way, witnessing the "dis-economies" of scale. For many years we have heard the constant refrain that small businesses create 80% (or some high number) of jobs. That said, they certainly do not have the political clout of the big boys. Perhaps it is high time that this change. If small businesses are indeed the "engines of growth" then their interests should be better reflected in economic policy.

Full post as published by LawTechTV on November 15, 2008 (boomark / email).