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Large companies usually dominate business headlines, but the real story happens beneath them.

The business and investment community focuses mostly on publicly-traded companies and the impact they have on the economy. Headlines are dominated by layoffs, dour profit outlooks and corporate scandals. But that's not the story of small business.

Any way you slice it, small businesses drive the economy. About 98 percent of U.S. businesses had less than 100 employees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's economic survey from 1997, the latest year for which figures are available. Small businesses generate 50 percent to 80 percent of all new jobs, according to Hector Barreto, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Small businesses are efficient research labs. Barreto cites statistics that show small businesses produce 13 to 14 more patents per employee than large firms. And that translates into business, both at home and overseas.

In fact, the international trade picture might be more robust than you think for small businesses. I had the pleasure of attending the Export-Import Bank's 2003 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday and came away with a much different picture than the one painted by large corporations.

The Ex-Im bank is the official export credit agency of the United States. It assumes the country and credit risk that the private sector won't or can't accept, and provides financing to counter foreign governments' subsidization of their exports. Over the past seven decades, Ex-Im has supported more then $400 billion of U. S, exports, primarily to developing markets. And about 85 percent of Ex-Im's transactions directly involve small businesses.

During the conference, I moderated a panel with comprised of Thomas Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO of the Marriott Corporation; Bill O'Shea, President of Bell Labs, a company synonymous with creativity and innovation; Dave Weber, CEO of Wells Fargo Trade HSBC, a joint venture between the two financial behemoths; and Nat Kumar, President and CEO of Cornet Technology Inc.

Donohue outlined three factors that he feels are critical to this country's exports:

1. Our economic strength depends of small businesses' ability to compete. It is the only growing sector of the business community, accounting for half of the private sector's employment and output and about a third of the value of all exports.
2. About 96 percent of businesses' customers live outside the United States - reason enough for for a marketing and trade education program. Trade negotiations need to focus on the service side and not just manufacturing.
3. We must balance the need for national security with the need to move goods and people across borders.

Marriott shared how Ex-Im helps finance some of Marriott's products overseas, as well as helping local owners of international Marriott hotels identify and pay for services such as air conditioning, elevator and management services available here and locally provided products such as furniture and carpeting.

While the travel industry faced a perfect storm in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, O'Shea said the telecom industry has been in a "nuclear winter" since the collapse of the technology bubble, and he believes recovery is still 18 months to two years away. But the telecom industry still exports about $1.2 billion in products to the international market, led by exports to China.

Speaking of telecom, communications equipment firm Cornet Technology is a prime example of how important the Ex-Im Bank has helped small business. Cornet's CEO, Nat Kumar, believes his company would not have survived without Ex-Im's help.