Summary 

Religious systems and other sociocultural phenomena have an unequal and ambiguous effect on a particular industry or business of a subject in terms of their size, structure and purpose. In particular, although large enterprises, due to their scale and universal characteristics of the product / products, are less sensitive to specific market demand due to religious factors, these specific consumer groups may be the target audience for small enterprises. In addition, the religious features themselves are factors that determine the start-up of a business, an advantage of the relevant field and an incentive for its development. From the point of view of business orientation as well as its management, the influence of religious factors on small business is manifested in two directions: on the one hand, we are dealing with sacred motives that push people to make a profit, taking into account religious morality, values and ethics, on the other hand, determine the characteristics of market demand.

In countries with a more or less long history of the Protestant religion, under the influence of Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines, the development of small and medium-sized businesses is more promising, compared with the East, due to the reduced role of the state in labor and business relations. The incentive for business growth is low state taxes and a small or complete absence of a minimum or maximum number of types of labor activity, which allows organizations to save on certain resources and turn them into capitalization and reinvestment. The situation is different in the Islamic and multiconfessional countries of Asia, as well as in the countries of Catholic and Orthodox Europe, where local authorities pursue a protectionist policy regarding workers, while business entities are subject to relatively high taxes. There is reason to say that such differences between individualistic and collectivist political and economic cultures are due precisely to religious factors.

Beside government regulations, religion also affects the internal organization and subordination of staff. In corporate cultures defined by Protestant religious values, business owners are often less or involved or not involved at all in company affairs, while in culturally dominant collectivist religions, business owners are involved in managing their own business with greater intensity.

Keywords: Globalization, Religious Phenomenon, Small Business, Sociocultural Values, Consumer Behaviors.