Village Squire, 1978-03, Page 40BUSINESS
A book
that could change
the country
It's not an impressive book, a slim blue
paperback with large bright lettering, but
if enough people read the book and heed
the book, it could just bring a massive
change in Canadian life.
The book is "Small Business: Building a
Balanced Economy" by Prof. Rein
Peterson, Director of the Small Business
Programe. Faculty of Administrative
Studies. York University.
The book is a plea to take a fresh look the
role of small business in Canada. What
Peterson argues again and again in his
book is that small business is not the
inefficient. out of date. unproductive
economic sector most people have made it
out to be. On the contrary, small firms are
often the most efficient and innovative in
the country.
Prof. Peterson doesn't argue about the
need for big business in the country. There
are jobs big business and only big business
can handle best. Large enterprises such as
auto production and petroleum production
aren't going to be tackled by small
companies.
The reason this book is discussed here is
the immense importance it could have on
the lives of people in smaller centres. of
Canada. One of the things Peterson argues
against, is the centralization of the
economy under a few large companies
crowded into a few cramped cities. He sees
a return to small business as balancing out
the growth of the country again.
The book deals with so many aspects of
life that its hard to know where to start to
examine them. There are many facinating
revelations and thoughts. There is also a
good deal of hard slugging for those who
want to read the whole thing. The Prof.
seems to be trying to convince accountants
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your
PG. 38. VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1978.
and economists and other professors
sometimes.. not talking to the ordinary
person. Still many of the chapters, at both
the front and back of the book provide
fascinating reading for anyone who has any
interest in the workings of the economy,
and in these days of massive unemploy-
ment, who doesn't.
Prof. Peterson's arguments seem to be
that in many areas. big isn't better. and
that small is really beautiful. He has
obviously followed the work of the late E.F.
Schumacher who proposed the small is
beautiful theory. Big business controls so
much of Canadian industry and business
today. he says. because of government
legislation which has made it hard for the
little guy to survive. Tax breaks such as
Capital Cost Allowances(CCA) have made
it attractive for larger companies to defray
taxes by putting more of their money into
equipment. Smaller companies can't make
use of the CCA as easily because they just
don't have the money in the first place. The
CCA thus allows big companies to replace
workers with equipment. yet the CCA was
designed to encourage expansion to
counter unemployment. Small companies.
however are much more labour intensive
and thus employ more people and fewer
machines. His arguments back up the;'
recent demand of the Canadian Federation
of Independent Business (CFIB) that the
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