Small firms are vital to the "future of UK PLC", one expert has claimed.
Writing exclusively for the Forum of Private Business (FPB), Professor Phil Whyman claims that SMEs operate in a way that larger firms cannot.
He said: "Small businesses ... have the potential to be more customer-focused than their larger competitors, often operating in niche markets, identifying new opportunities and satisfying market demands that would otherwise remain unfulfilled."
They are also the "backbone of virtually all economies" he added, pointing out that government statistics show almost half the UK's working population are employed by small firms.
For this reason, Professor Whyman believes the government should concentrate on supporting SMEs.
Yesterday, the FPB launched a campaign to get politicians to "think smallest first".
According to research carried out by the body in 2007, 97 per cent of SME owners think the UK has become a worse place to do business because of current tax rules.
