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Small company sales rose a whopping eight times faster than large business revenues and small firms hired employees three times as quickly as large companies during the last half of 1987.
The figures are part of a new semiannual growth index released by American Express Small Business Partnership, which polled more than seven million companies nationally, with fewer than 100 employees.
"I think people have discovered there are a lot more efficiencies in small businesses," said Joan Pearce, an associate professor at UCI's Graduate School of Management. However, Pearce said findings that small businesses are outperforming large companies are not new. Locally and nationally, large companies have been scaling down during the past few years and contracting out much of their work to smaller firms, she said.
"I think the U.S. Chamber of Commerce saw that trend about 10 years ago," said Lucien Truhill, president and CEO of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce. About 90 percent of the Orange County Chamber's 1,800 members are small businesses, with fewer than 100 employees. Just 10 years ago, the ratio was 50-50.
"If you run a company that's got hundreds of employees and stockholders, you're looking for single-digit growth," said Mike Pruitt, owner of Easy Access Self Storage. "I can't wait that long."