ECONOMYUSA IN BRIEF phần 2 pptx

examples: software manufacturer Microsoft, delivery service

Federal Express, sports clothing manufacturer Nike, online

service provider AOL, and ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s.

Women own and operate many small businesses. In 2002,

women-owned businesses accounted for 28 percent of all U.S.

companies except for farms, 6 percent of all U.S. workers, and 4

percent of U.S. business receipts.

Persons from minority groups run many small businesses.

Of all U.S. nonfarm firms in 2002, 6.8 percent were owned by

Hispanic Americans, 5.2 percent by African Americans, 4.8

percent by Asian Americans, 0.9 percent by American Indians

or Alaskan Natives, and 0.1 percent by Native Hawaiian or other

Pacific Islanders.

Small businesses employ almost exactly half the private

U.S. labor force of about 153 million. In 2003 the average small

business had one location and 10 employees; the average big

business, 61 locations and 3,300 employees.

Many U.S. businesses large and small are organized as

publicly traded corporations. Corporations have proved

especially effective at accumulating the money needed to pay

for launching and expanding operations.

To raise money, corporations sell stock (ownership shares in

their assets) or bonds (loans of money) to investors. Commercial

banks also lend money directly to businesses large and small.

Federal and state governments enforce detailed regulations to

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Federal Express, which delivers the goods here in San Francisco and lots of other places

around the world, started out as a small business.

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