<P> Researchers and analysts of small or owner - managed businesses generally behave as if nominal organizational forms (e.g., partnership, sole - trader, or corporation), and the consequent legal and accounting boundaries of owner - managed firms are consistently meaningful . However, owner - managers often do not delineate their behavior to accord with the implied separation between their personal and business interests . Lenders also often contract around organizational (corporate) boundaries by seeking personal guarantees or accepting privately held assets as collateral . Because of this behavior, researchers and analysts may wish to be cautious in the way they assess the organizational types and implied boundaries in contexts relating to owner - managed firms . These include analyses that use traditional accounting disclosures, and studies that view the firm as defined by some formal organizational structure . </P> <P> The term "entrepreneur" is often conflated with the term "small business" or used interchangeably with this term . While most entrepreneurial ventures start out as a small business, not all small businesses are entrepreneurial in the strict sense of the term . Many small businesses are sole proprietor operations consisting solely of the owner, or they have a small number of employees, and many of these small businesses offer an existing product, process or service, and they do not aim at growth . In contrast, entrepreneurial ventures offer an innovative product, process or service, and the entrepreneur typically aims to scale up the company by adding employees, seeking international sales, and so on, a process which is financed by venture capital and angel investments . Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to lead a business in a positive direction by proper planning, to adapt to changing environments and understand their own strengths and weakness . </P> <P> The legal definition of "small business" varies by country and by industry . In the United States, the Small Business Administration establishes small business size standards on an industry - by - industry basis, but generally specifies a small business as having fewer than five hundred employees for manufacturing businesses and less than $7.5 million in annual receipts for most non manufacturing businesses . The definition can vary by circumstance--for example, a small business having fewer than twenty - five full - time equivalent employees with average annual wages below $50,000 qualifies for a tax credit under the health care reform bill Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . </P> <P> The European Union generally defines a small business as one that has fewer than fifty employees . However, in Australia, a small business is defined by the Fair Work Act 2009 as one with fewer than fifteen employees . By comparison, a medium - sized business or mid-sized business has fewer than five hundred employees in the US, and fewer than two hundred in Australia . </P>

The small business administration defines a small business as a firm that
find me the text answering this question