SME means Small and Medium Business. It is an acronym often used to classify the size of a company depending on the number of workers employed and the annual income earned. This type of company occupies an important place in the economy of countries through the generation of jobs.
The companies' size ratings vary according to the sector in which they operate in the market. The classifications assigned by SEBRAE (Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises) according to the number of workers employed are as follows:
INDUSTRY
- Microenterprise - up to 19 employees
- Small business - from 20 to 99 employees
- Medium Company - from 100 to 499 employees
- Large Company - 500 or more employees
COMMERCE AND SERVICES
- Microenterprise - up to 9 employees
- Small business - from 10 to 49 employees
- Medium Company - from 50 to 99 employees
- Large Company - more than 100 employees
In Brazil, SEBRAE is one of the entities that provides support to micro and small entrepreneurs, encouraging entrepreneurship and defending the interests of micro and SMEs.
Every year the company Deloitte and Exame PME magazine carry out a study on “The fastest growing SMEs in Brazil”, analyzing thousands of companies and composing a ranking of 250 companies.