The small business can give an individual a chance to gain experience,
which the person may use later on a large scale.
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Small businesses are particularly well suited for meeting specialized
local needs.
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Artisans can provide individualized products for customers who have
grown weary of mass-produced goods.
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Small businesses provide a service where knowing one's customers is
important.
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Sole proprietors are reassuring to customers who believe an individual
who is accountable will do a good job.
Small businesses often grow into large ones, adding to the economic
vitality of the nation. Small business advocates contend that 55 percent of
American technical innovations comes from small – and medium-size
businesses. Certainly, many of the creative innovators in the American computer
industry, including those who built successful companies in what is now known
as Silicon Valley, California, started out as outsiders working on hand-
assembled machines in their garages. They have become part of American
business lore. By any measurement, small businesses are an important part of
the creativity, and the competition that provides new strength to the American
economy.
Of course, it is true that small businesses often fail. But in the United
States «failure» of a small business venture does not carry with it the social
stigma or opprobrium for the failed entrepreneur – that it does in some countries.
Often, failure of a small business venture turns out to be a valuable learning
experience for the entrepreneur, who may be more successful the second or the
third time. Unsuccessful attempts to start a business become part of the larger
process of sorting out the market and making it more efficient, according to
small business experts.