Group wants policies for big and small companies

WASHINGTON - An influential business lobbying group is urging the Obama administration to put forth all inclusive job growth policies, as opposed to offering measures targeted specifically at small businesses.

The Business Roundtable, once the White House's chief ally on business policy, has joined in recent weeks with the Republican-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB--the capital's main small-business lobby--to oppose major elements of the Democratic jobs agenda.

"Neither small business nor large business operates in a vacuum. Rather, each is deeply embedded in the overall U.S. economy; with extensive connections to each other in product markets, capital markets, and labor markets," the roundtable said. The group is comprised of 169 chief executives from top Wall Street companies, who collectively have $6 trillion in annual revenue and employ about 12 million people.

In a survey of its members released Tuesday, the roundtable sought to draw that link between big and small companies. Only 64 companies participated in the survey.

Still, those members said they spend, on average, roughly $3.3 billion on goods and services provided by U.S. small businesses. This equates to about 12.3% of all sales by U.S. small businesses, according to the survey.
 
The survey, conducted in May and June, also found that large companies purchased roughly 24.7% of their "intermediate inputs," which large companies use in making their own products, from small businesses.
 
Because of this, among other links in the survey, the Obama administration "must take a holistic approach to support growth for small and big businesses alike," the group said.
 

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