In almost every developed country, small companies dominate the business landscape. But in many ways America, the great land of entrepreneurship and opportunity, actually has a weaker small-business presence than most.

A new report on entrepreneurship from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds that the smallest businesses — those with fewer than 10 employees — account for almost all of the businesses in most developed countries. The United States is on the low end of the distribution, though, with only about three-quarters of its businesses being so tiny.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

The United States also finds that its biggest companies contribute a much larger share of the country’s exports than is the case in other developed nations. In the United States, companies with more than 250 employees account for 75 percent of the country’s exports; in many European countries, big businesses contribute less than half of national exports.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

A more direct measure of entrepreneurship might be the share of workers who are self-employed. Compared to other developed countries, the United States figures are poor to middling, for both native-born and the huddled masses coming from abroad. Greece has the highest rate of self-employment for native-born citizens, and Poland has far and away the highest self-employment rate for foreigners.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

In a separate post I’ll look at how countries fare on creating a climate that is amenable to start-up businesses, looking at the regulatory environment, availability of venture capital and other factors.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c532f10108fcd1be5d68a33fe38a5115