tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post1344296024029877539..comments2024-03-28T11:04:16.315+00:00Comments on Boffy's Blog: The Small Business MythBoffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-20678242152996417382013-04-12T07:43:34.398+01:002013-04-12T07:43:34.398+01:00I don't think there is a single linear process...I don't think there is a single linear process. The vast majority of new businesses go bust within the first five years. A lot, especially at the present time, are actually people who've lost their job, and decide to go self employed out of desperation at not being able to get another.<br /><br />When I was self employed as a consultant - and I did that for similar reasons - I came across lots of small businesses that it was difficult to see how they kept going. They were often people who were hard working, and knew about whatever it was they were doing, but had absolutely no idea about basic business skills.<br /><br />But, yes, some new businesses, usually in new areas of production, do come up with new ideas. A small number of those businesses succeed. They act as a laboratory for other capital. As Marx says, often when big existing capital then has to reorganise itself, which is related to its turnover of fixed capital, it adopts what has been successful. It often simply takes over the successful small businesses.<br /><br />But, a lot of the development of existing products is done by the existing large producers, who have the resources to engage in the necessary research and development.<br /><br />But also, I was watching an Horizon programme on BBC last night - "Tomorrow's World", where contributors pointed out that a lot of the technology etc. that is incorporated in modern products is stuff that was actually developed by or for the State. A lot of the cutting edge stuff attributed to new small businesses is also itself highly related to what has been developed by University Academics - some of who then use it to set up these businesses - for example in bio-technology.<br /><br />A good example of what we were discussing the other day in relation to Britain, is Graphene. Developed at Manchester University by immigrant academics, but most of the subsequent patents for using it are being registered in China and elsewhere, not in Britain.<br /><br />The other interesting point raised was the extent to which today open source i.e. co-operative development - using the Internet - is a necessary means of new developments, particularly in science. Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-74494776919820768522013-04-12T06:54:41.729+01:002013-04-12T06:54:41.729+01:00How would you respond to the argument that small b...How would you respond to the argument that small businesses foster innovation, and that most improvements in productivity come not from existing firms upping their game, but rather from inefficient firms being driven out of business and making room for more efficient new start-ups?George Cartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12170378024031141482noreply@blogger.com