article thumbnail

The 4 Types of Small Businesses, and Why Each One Matters

Harvard Business Review

A 2010 poll by The Pew Research Center found that the public had a more positive view of them than any other institution in the country – they beat out both churches and universities, for instance, as well as tech companies. America loves small businesses. They provide income to their owners, but by definition are not job creators.

article thumbnail

Can the U.S. Become a Base for Serving the Global Economy?

Harvard Business Review

businesses appear to be the result of both labor-saving technological changes and the outsourcing of parts of production to independent contractors in low-cost foreign locations. These concerns can be heard in many places: the sobering survey by Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin in HBR's special March issue on U.S. million workers, at U.S.