Assessment of risks connected with economic activity in the SME sector

The aim of this article is to assess the level of security enjoyed by business owners operating in the SME sector. The present research identifies the sources and extent of risk, while also gauging the sense of security against the effects of this risk. The research was conducted on a representative sample of entrepreneurs operating small and medium-sized business organizations in Poland. In order to present the results synthetically, a definition of discomfort coefficient was formulated. It has been shown that the value of that coefficient decreased strongly during the considered period. This result was interpreted as one of the causes of the increase in work efficiency.