INTRODUCTION

If asked why small businesses are important to local communities, many consumers might point to anecdotal evidence like they make a place unique and contribute to its character. However, both national and local data show the importance of small businesses to local communities beyond feel good stories and the intangible. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses have accounted for 66 percent of employment growth in the United States over the last 25 years, and on Cape Cod the Cape Cod Commission estimates small businesses with less than 50 employees make up 97.5% of the employers in the region. In addition to being important partners in the employment of the domestic workforce, small businesses are also valuable wealth generators for their communities.

Since launching our Local Matters research series in 2020, Love Live Local has sought to demonstrate and emphasize this reality on Cape Cod.

The first in the series, Local Matters: Measuring Impact, quantified and assessed the impact of Cape Cod’s independent and locally owned businesses on Cape Cod’s economy and demonstrated that dollars spent at locally owned retailers and restaurants generate more local prosperity. The data analysis performed by economics consulting firm Civic Economics found: local retailers and restaurants keep about 2-4 times as much money in the local economy as their national chain competitors; if Amazon’s online sales in Barnstable County had occurred in independent retailers, they would support 125 additional retail outlets and

1,739 additional jobs; and shifting 10% of spending to local retailers would put an additional $112 million in the local economy every year. These findings were consistent with similar studies Civic Economics has conducted from coast to coast over the course of two decades.

Small Businesses Have Accounted For

66% OF EMPLOYMENT GROWTH OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS.

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Our 2021 research titled Local Matters: Investigating Influence explored why, despite their demonstrated importance to economic health and prosperity, small local businesses consistently face significant challenges in an increasingly corporatized global marketplace.

The report examined pharmacy benefit managers and how they manipulate prices on pharmaceutical drugs; the control that Google and Facebook have over the internet advertising business, negatively impacting local newspapers; the impact that vertical integration has had on small waste hauling companies as they try to compete with those who also own the landfills; and how the loss of local banks means fewer small business loans. It also provided context for how corporate thirdparty delivery apps are price gouging independent restaurants, and how consolidation in food and farming can lead to price increases. It explored how the dominance of corporate retailers has cost many small businesses their livelihoods, and the detrimental impacts of two corporations controlling the broadband market and access to the internet.

Citing multiple economic studies, the report asserted that corporate control of the US economy causes supply chain disruptions, lower wages, and higher prices, stifles innovation, has led to fewer small businesses starting up, and means local businesses are not on a level playing field with their corporate counterparts. It also established that policy decisions made at every level of government have enabled these economic realities and have impacted small businesses nationwide and on Cape Cod, and made recommendations for what local, state, and federal policymakers can do to reverse these trends.