The creative SME: a cautionary tale

The aim of this paper is to explore the debate about defining a small firm, or a small and mediumsized enterprise (SME), and examining the relevance of this concern to the creative industries and creative businesses. The first part of this paper navigates this formation, and the positioning of the idea of small business within economic and political thought. The second part explores how the concept of small business is operationalized as SMEs, and the challenges of classification and empirical definition. The final part reflects on the implications for the understanding and usage of the term ‘creative SME’.