Mastercard Corporation has posted an interesting global survey of small business owners and their outlook for the future.

A total of 4000 small business owners from around the world who manage businesses with 1 – 99 employees were polled. A total of 500 respondents were surveyed from eight countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, France, Brazil, China, Hong Kong and Australia.

Small business owners around the world have differing views on the current business climate but feel more optimistic (28%) than not (21%) about the upcoming year. They work a little more than 50 hours a week but spend 18 of those hours on administrative tasks. While competition was seen as the top challenge they will face next year, half of small business owners around the world feel that globalization will help their business, rather than hurt it.

The section that stuck out the most to me was the question of what motivates small business owners to run their businesses:

Globally, small business owners say that making enough money to cover living expenses (70%) and having more control over the future (64%) are important motivations for running their own business. Small business owners in Brazil are the most likely out of all those surveyed to say that providing employment (71%) and contributing to society or the community (64%) are important motivations, while small business owners in China are the most likely to say that building something that can be passed on to their family (59%) is an important motivation. Those in the United States are the most likely to say that being their own boss (67%) is an important motivation.

• MasterCard Global Small Business Survey 2006

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