Small and medium size businesses continue to represent a significant market opportunity. Between 2003 and 2008, the number of SMBs worldwide will increase from 77.4 million to 87.0 million companies, according to AMI-Partners.
According to a late-2004 study that was designed to measure the outlook for 2005 among US small businesses, American Express found that small business owners were more optimistic about their company’s growth prospects heading into 2005 than they had been two years before. In October 2002, 64% of respondents had indicated that they saw positive growth opportunities for the coming year, compared with 74% of respondents who said the same thing in 2004, reported eMarketer.
