A small or medium-sized enterprise, or SME, as defined by the European Commission is a business or company:
- that has fewer than 250 employees; and
- has either (a) annual turnover not exceeding €50 million (approximately £40 million) or (b) an annual balance-sheet total not exceeding €43 million (approximately £34 million); and
- of whose capital or voting rights, 25 per cent or more is not owned by one enterprise, or jointly by several enterprises, that fall outside this definition of an SME. This threshold may be exceeded in the following two cases: (a) if the enterprise is held by public investment corporations, venture capital companies or institutional investors provided no control is exercised either individually or jointly, or (b) if the capital is spread in such a way that it is not possible to determine by whom it is held and if the enterprise declares that it can legitimately presume that it is not owned as to 25% or more by one enterprise, or jointly by several enterprises, falling outside the definitions of an SME.
I would argue not all owners of SMEs are entrepreneurs.
The word entrepreneur stems from the French entreprendre, meaning to undertake. The entrepreneur is the person who undertakes new ventures by seizing opportunities to innovate or develop new ideas, the catalyst who brings about change.
According to Peter F. Drucker entrepreneurship is “a systematic innovation, which consists in the purposeful and organized search for changes, and it is the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes might offer for economic and social innovation.”
The SMEs hold the economy whilst the entrepreneurs propel it. It follows that SMEs should strive to become more entrepreneurial.
Last Sunday as I entered the tube station at Baker Street I decided to change the strap line of the SS Business Consultants Limited website to “Inspiring Entrepreneurship for SMEs”. It was a eureka moment as it cuts to the chase and is what the site will be all about! The link will tell you more about the site http://youtu.be/Ta72ytDI1J4 which will be released in beta shortly with the global directory of award winning consultants functionality evolving over time.
All the best
Selchouk Sami
