The smaller business sector is an important segment of the business community,
contributing to the provision of jobs and economic growth in both
developing and developed countries. Small and medium enterprises (SME)
provide job opportunities, and as Peterson and Jun (2006) point out make a
major contribution to the wellbeing of the economy. The Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) (2002) defines a small business as one with less than 20
employees and a medium enterprise as one with less than 200 employees. In
June 2009 the majority of Australian businesses were small business. These 2
million SMEs employed less than 20 staff and had an annual turnover of less
than $2 million (ABS, 2010; Hubert, 2008). With Australia’s total labour