ABSTRACT
Spain belongs to the group of countries where the size of companies is extraordinarily small (Table 2.1). Micro fi rms clearly prevail, accounting for c. 93.4 per cent of all businesses and 50.5 per cent of total employment. The 2003 fi gures provided by the Central Business Directory of the Statistical Offi ce (Directorio Central de Empresas del Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, INE) even show a somewhat higher share of micro fi rms in the total number of fi rms (i.e. 95.7 per cent). Accordingly 69.1 per cent of these fi rms (i.e. 66.1 per cent of the total number of fi rms) have no employees at all.
