Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Small-but-mighty businesses
Small business | Productivity | Economy
June 24, 2024 – Micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) on average have only half the productivity of large companies, and less than that in emerging economies. Partner Anu Madgavkar and colleagues present a granular data set of MSMEs’ economic and employment contributions in 16 countries that account for more than half of global GDP. Their contributions relative to large businesses vary widely from country to country, but boosting the productivity of these categories of enterprises could substantially increase GDP, especially in emerging economies, the team finds.
To view the interactive, see “A microscope on small businesses: The productivity opportunity by country,” May 29, 2024.
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Visual form
Multi-panel image sequence.
Layout / body structure
The page is laid out as a grid of country small multiples, with one circular panel for each economy. Read across the countries row by row and compare the two colored ring segments inside each panel.
What is being compared
It compares the role of micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises across countries by looking at share of business employment versus share of business value added.
Measurement system
Both measures are percentages. The two ring colors separate business employment from value added, and the percentages are printed directly around each country panel instead of on axes.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Each country is shown as a partial-ring donut with two colored arcs and two numeric labels. The panels are arranged in a country grid that makes it easy to compare Kenya, Indonesia, Nigeria, Italy, and the other economies side by side.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows that small businesses matter almost everywhere, but their footprint is not the same in labor and value creation, so some economies rely on them more for employment while others show a narrower value-added share.
Key standout values or extremes
Kenya and Indonesia sit near the top of the grid with very high shares for both measures, while countries such as the United States and Germany show materially smaller small-business shares than the highest-employment economies.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.