Ethical Differences between Large and Smaller Businesses Medium and small businesses are usually privately held businesses. They usually are not a corporation as most large businesses are. Corporations are typically run by the shareholders or board of directors. These large corporations have stockholders they are obligated to. Small businesses are generally run by the owners, therefore, not responsible for reporting to shareholders. They are obligated to keep shareholders up to date. Owners are their individual shareholders. When the economy is slow and money is tight or a tragic event happens to the company, many benefits in businesses get cut in order to continue operating on a regular basis. Most larger firms will cut things like Christmas bonuses, raises or even hours one is allowed to work. This can hurt the employee, but may also help by allowing a firm to stay open. As a result, the employee still has a job. A privately owned business may choose to still give the Christmas bonus out of good faith to its employees. If a large corporation does this, they could be sued by the shareholders. Legally, larger companies are bound to inform publicly more of their financial statements for shareholders (present and future) to view. Smaller companies are not obligated to do so because they have no publicly traded stock. Tax laws, safety laws, discrimination laws, as well as basic moral rules apply to both kinds of companies equally. Smaller businesses tend to re-invest a great deal of the companies’ profits. Owners are more involved in every aspect of the company. Their personal values are usually exhibited in the running of the company, as well. Worldwide, over 99 percent of businesses in the private sector are small or medium sized. This is true of the United States also, and in the United States these firms provide about 50 percent of total