By the late 1970s, however, small enterprises were clearly on the rise, becoming the pacesetters for innovation. In the mid-1980s, Fortune 500 companies employed approximately 18 percent of the population. Now they employ only nine. The presence of Main Street in the business world is no longer just a quaint image in Rockwell's paintings. Small firms have become an institution in the business world and, according to Glover, will continue to grow in terms of the influence they exert.
Small enterprise is the model for the future.
Today, even bureaucratic large businesses are slowly dissolving into collections of small entrepreneurial units. Small companies account for 55 percent of innovations made in the U.S., according to the SBA, making them the economy's fastest-changing sector. In other words, small businesses play a vital role in the American economy by actually changing its market structure. Taking a Lead in the Intellectual Property Arena In 1998, approximately 40 percent of all applications for intellectual property rights made by U.S. citizens were submitted by small businesses or individual inventors. Independent inventors discovered the pacemaker, brought us the elevator, and gave us the liquid crystal display.