ABSTRACT
This chapter considers all the skills required to initiate and maintain economic growth, entrepreneurs and business executives need to confront the fact that 90 percent of all businesses are now either start-up companies or new and growing small business enterprises that produce goods and services. Most small business enterprises are me-too services or products where an entrepreneur has decided to exploit his or her skills in a market where he or she perceives there is enough demand for another source of supply. The number of firms created and managed by women in the United States "has grown twice as fast as those set up and managed by men. The reason why 57 to 99.7 percent of firms in the West are SMEs is that so many of the giant corporations that once dominated the economy were obliged by losses of revenues and profits to unload millions of employees from time to time.
