What do we mean when we say "small business?"
Tara McMullin
Writing & speaking about the future of work | Producing remarkable podcasts for changemakers
What is a small business today? Who is an entrepreneur?
I listened to a fascinating interview with Moira Weigel on Tech Won't Save Us with Paris Marx , and then went and immediately read the report Weigel wrote on Amazon's 3rd party sellers.
Weigel's research leads her to argue that Amazon is transforming small businesses:
"Time and again, interviewees described how succeeding on Amazon required them to behave like mini Amazons."
More broadly, platformization—that is, the way platforms come to serve as intermediaries that leverage the work of contractors and entrepreneurs for their own profit—extends the logic of platform companies onto their users:
Honestly, I don't know a "small business owner" or "entrepreneur" in the online space today that hasn't either 1) accepted all of those tactics as necessary or 2) lost sleep over not doing those things.
We like to think of small businesses as ventures that support local economies, make more ethical decisions about growth, treat their workers well, etc. "Small businesses occupy an almost-sacred place in the political imaginaries of the United States," writes Weigel. As such, we assume that small businesses are an unassailable good above reproach.
To borrow from Nixon, if a small business does it, it must not be exploitative.
I've also had conversations with Kate Tyson in a similar vein.
And that leads me to wonder, echoing Weigel, what is a small business?
If a small business is merely following the same capitalist logics as venture-funded behemoths, is it really the kind of entity we mean when we say "small business?"
领英推荐
When we declare that "small business" and "entrepreneurship" is the solution to our economic challenges, are these the kinds of ventures we want to promote?
Social theorist Kathi Weeks asserts that "Work produces not just economic goods and services but social and political subjects." And I think the same can be said of these labels of "small business" and "entrepreneur."
A small business doesn't only produce the economic good or services that it sells, it is itself a social and political subject. It signifies a set of values and sociopolitical priorities. It is an identity that confers a certain status in American culture.
It seems that it's time to determine whether the signifier is still pointing toward the signified.
What does "small business" or "entrepreneur" mean to you?
I'm not so much looking for a technical definition as I am the kind of characteristics you associate with those terms. Are those associations still accurate? Why or why not?
Announcement!
I will (most likely) be moving this newsletter and consolidating the bulk of my social media activity to Substack over the next 2 weeks. I'd love if you joined me there!
You can access all of my usual content for free—and there is an opportunity to subscribe for a small fee to support the work that I do independent from the demands of content marketing.
Thanks in advance for your support!
Junior Manual QA Tester at ?ikom ?? Interests: Green IT, Low-carbon internet & Making big career changes (think: from communications to IT) in your thirties
1 年A great article, Tara! I feel like the small business space is so heterogeneous today, that it can't be defined solely by the number of employees and/or a yearly revenue bracket the business belongs to. The lifestyle entrepreneurs and books like "The 4-hour Workweek" changed the aspirations: to be the type of business owner who sells the appearance of effortlessness in business, and to be "self-made" (even though the contractors somewhere across the globe are working hard for the business to still be running smoothly while the founder is sipping cocktails somewhere on Bali). Then the tech giants changed the aspirations in terms of strategy: everyone is recommending hacking, scaling, flipping, merchandising... It's a mess of working on avoiding work. I believe the category "small business" tells us nothing today if it isn't accompanied by a peek into a business's supply chain and a thorough analysis of the language they use in order to determine the values they're pushing into the front row. P.S. "Honestly, I don't know a "small business owner" or "entrepreneur" in the online space today that hasn't either 1) accepted all of those tactics as necessary or 2) lost sleep over?not?doing those things." - hello from #2! ????♀?
Helping Online Entrepreneurs Gain Control Over Their Finances ?? Bookkeeping & Tax Solutions | Financial Strategy
1 年Another thought provoking article, Tara. I've come to look at "entrepreneur" as a bad word these days. I never define myself as an entrepreneur because I feel a greater sense of pride in being a small business owner. The idea of a small business feels more substantial, more communal, and more sustainable to me. The term entrepreneur has come to feel more egocentric and represents the idea of someone who only looks to exploit financial opportunities that very often don't provide real value to their community or society as a whole. Anyone can call themselves an entrepreneur if they're pursuing income from non-W2 sources, but getting to be a small business owner feels like something that has to be earned over time. And from what I've experienced, small businesses can only survive if they're truly delivering value on a consistent basis. At the end of the day, every small business owner is an entrepreneur by the classic definition, but your article made me reflect on why I prefer small business owner over entrepreneur. I'm not saying my feelings are correct or right, but wanted to share what came up for me with your question.