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Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

The usual definition of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is any business with fewer than 250 employees. There were 5.7 million SMEs in the UK in 2018, which was over 99% of all businesses.

The UK government seeks to support and expand the number of small businesses operating. SMEs have a number of potential advantages:

SMEs are encouraged into markets by the government as they create competition for incumbent firms which can help to lower prices and/or improve quality of the output (1m)

SMEs are often nimble and innovative and can encourage dynamic efficiency in the market.

Successful SMEs grow in size and offer many employment opportunities too especially in areas of above-average unemployment.

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