This book analyzes the relative importance of small firms in developed Western nations and Eastern Europe, identifying their exact role and how this role has evolved over the past fifteen years. It reveals that there has been a consistent shift away from large firms and toward small enterprises within the manufacturing sectors of all Western countries, while the role of small firms in Eastern European nations has been remarkably restricted, suggesting that a major challenge for reform in Central and Eastern Europe is to create the strong entrepreneurial sector that exists in the West.