microbusiness
microbusiness – sostantivo
microenterprise – sostantivo
The part I like about the term micro-business is it’s usually associated with the internet and not viewed as a mom & pop shop, unlike the term small businesses.
There were more than five million microbusinesses in the UK in 2018, accounting for a third of employment and 21% of turnover.
Often referred to as a micro business, these very small enterprises are increasingly being recognised as a distinct business class with their own needs.
Qualche tempo fa avevamo parlato del prefisso micro- e della quantità di parole composte in cui compare, da microloan e micromanage a microskirt.
Oggi prendiamo in esame microbusiness, o microenterprise, termini che si trovano a volta scritti con il trattino o come due parole distinte. Iniziamo col dire che la definizione di microbusiness non è univoca: secondo la Commissione Europea una microimpresa è un’azienda che occupa meno di 10 persone e realizza un fatturato annuo oppure un totale di bilancio annuo non superiori a 2 milioni di euro, ma in altri Paesi i criteri sono diversi e vanno dal numero di dipendenti al capitale iniziale necessario per avviare l’attività. Le microimprese costituiscono una percentuale sempre più alta di aziende operanti in un dato Paese e la forma maggiormente diffusa è l’impresa individuale, di proprietà di un unico imprenditore.
Origini del termine
Nonostante il termine microbusiness sia in circolazione dagli anni 1960 e microenterprise dagli anni 1980, la loro frequenza d’uso è aumentata esponenzialmente nel decennio attuale, un dato che riflette la crescita delle microimprese come conseguenza delle ripetute crisi economiche.
Traduzione di Loredana Riu
microbusiness – noun
microenterprise – noun
The part I like about the term micro-business is it’s usually associated with the internet and not viewed as a mom & pop shop, unlike the term small businesses.
There were more than five million microbusinesses in the UK in 2018, accounting for a third of employment and 21% of turnover.
Often referred to as a micro business, these very small enterprises are increasingly being recognised as a distinct business class with their own needs.
We have looked before at the very productive prefix micro- which is used to form words referring to things or activities that are very small, or smaller than usual. Examples include microloan, micromanage and microskirt.
A relatively recent addition to the set is the term microbusiness or microenterprise, sometimes written with a hyphen or as an open compound. There is no consensus about what constitutes a microbusiness, with some using the term to refer to businesses that have only one person owning and operating them, while others use it for businesses with up to 10 employees, or 9, or 5; or with a turnover of up to €2 million, or sales of up to $250,000. The meaning of the term is also understood differently in different countries. What is clear is that this is a different category from small businesses, with some people, such as the author of the first quote above, detecting a difference in the nature of the business as well as its size.
Origin
Although the term microbusiness has been around since the 1960s (and microenterprise since the 1980s) both have become much more frequently used in the current decade, reflecting the rise in self-employment following the financial crisis.
