When is big really small? When the federal government says so.

 

The Small Business Administration (SBA), responsible for helping “small” businesses, allows many types of companies to qualify even though they wouldn’t seem to most Americans to be a small business.

 

For example, if an Internet publishing company has up to 500 employees, it can qualify as a small business.

 

A petroleum refinery or oil pipeline transporter with less than 1,500 workers? Yes, those are small businesses, according to the SBA.

 

The same goes for a doctor who makes $10 million a year, a breakfast cereal manufacturer or cigarette manufacturer with 999 employees, and a supermarket, grocery store, hotel, motel or boat dealer that earns $30 million annually. Family clothing stores, parking lots and mail-order houses can make even more: $35.5 million.

 

An ammunitions maker with 1,499 employees? Small business.

 

These size and income standards are important because they are used to qualify businesses for loans and grants and to exempt them from certain regulations. In addition, 23% of all federal contracts are supposed to go to small businesses.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Table of Small Business Size Standards Matched to North American Industry Classification System Codes (Small Business Administration) (pdf)

10 Shocking Companies the Government Subsidizes as ‘Small Businesses’ (by Megan Carpentier, Raw Story)

Big Businesses Still Winning Small Business Contracts (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)