From the Reporters
Laura Rich

Small Business Sensitivity

 

The Wall Street Journal, that cauldron of big, public company news, today released its "Small Business Report," taking pains to point out the pragmatic, as well as karmic, differences between big and small companies. High on the package's points of emphasis: small businesses are more likely to be rocked by market dynamics than their larger brethren. "For small businesses, there is simply less margin for error," says Dave Anderson, a leadership consultant in Agoura Hills, Calif., and recent author of "Up Your Business," in the Journal piece. (Paid registration required.)

Do you agree? Have small businesses been more vulnerable to the downturns of the last few years? And if that's true, does it, by turn, make them more likely to benefit from the seemingly oncoming upswing?