No open-access location is known for this record yet.
No open-access location is known for this record yet.
ABSTRACTMany business experts consider small businesses to be the engine that drives the economy. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 99.7% of all businesses, and employ almost half of all American workers. Small business continues to dominate the U.S. economy in terms of employment and new job growth. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that companies with 500 or less employees accounted for all net new job growth in the most recent reporting year of 2004. These small firms employ slightly less than half the U.S. workforce and account for just over half of gross domestic product (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007). In other words, for the U.S. economy to do well, small businesses must succeed. Veterans account for approximately 13% of all small business owners, yet at the same time, veteran unemployment levels range from 30.4% for young veterans aged 18-24 to 48% for black veterans in that same age group, and 12.1% for veterans overall (BusinessWeek, November 11). Because of the impact of veteran-owned businesses on the economy, the authors chose to conduct a study of small business owners, specifically veteran-owned businesses, to examine their overall business health and in addition, to measure the impact of military reserve call-ups on small businesses since 9/11.INTRODUCTIONAccording to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses employ 59.7 million workers, or slightly less than half of the U.S. workforce and that small businesses with less than 500 employees account for 99.9 percent of an estimated 27.5 million businesses in 2009 (SBA, Office of Advocacy). Of these businesses, 52 percent represent home-based businesses and 2 percent franchises. In addition, small businesses account for 97.5 % of exporting companies and 31 percent of total export value (SBA, Office of Advocacy). Finally, small businesses produce 16.5 times more patents per employee than larger companies (SBA, Office of Advocacy, 2012).Just as our economy depends on small business to be the driver of our economy, as a nation, we depend upon members of our military to secure our freedom. Upon leaving the military, some veterans choose to start their own business rather than work for someone else. In some cases, veterans with service-connected disabilities might choose self-employment due to physical limitations. In fact, service disabled veterans account for 196,760 or 8.3 percent of all veteran owned businesses (http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo).Many veteran-owned businesses provide employment for others. The Census, through the Survey of Business Owners, collects data from both employer and nonemployer businesses and further breaks down that data by demographic characteristics and ownership status. In 2007, 491,344 veterans reported owning companies. Those firms employed 5.8 million persons and a payroll of $210 billion. In addition, those businesses generated $1.1 trillion in revenues. In 2007, employer firms accounted for 20.1 percent of the total number of veteran-owned firms and 92.3 percent of such firms' gross receipts. Average receipts for these veteran-owned employer firms in 2007 exceeded $2.3 million.Many other veterans choose to become selfemployed. In 2007, the Survey of Business Owners reported an additional 2.0 million veteran-owned firms without employees. These nonemployer firms generated $93.8 billion in receipts. In 2007, nonemployers accounted for 79.9 percent of the total number of veteran-owned firms and 7.7 percent of the gross receipts of such firms. Receipts for these veteran-owned nonemployer firms in 2007 averaged $47,931. With regard to the type of business activity veteran-owned firms engage in, 32.5 percent operate in professional, scientific, and technical services (Survey of Business Owners, 2007).Hope, Christman, and Mackin (2009) offered good insight into characteristics of veterans as entrepreneurs. The authors indicated that military veterans with 20 or more years of military service report higher levels of selfemployment. …
Loading…
Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 11 citations exist upstream.
Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.