Over the past few years, the global economy has suffered profound shocks that have had a marked impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. While government support protected SMEs from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, new threats have emerged.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs have been hit hard during the COVID-19 crisis. Policy responses were quick and unprecedented, helping cushion the blow and maintain most SMEs and entrepreneurs afloat. Despite the magnitude of the shock, available data so far point to sustained start-ups creation, no wave of bankruptcies, and an impulse to innovation in most OECD countries.
The new OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook presents the latest trends in performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provides a comprehensive overview of business conditions and policy frameworks for SMEs and entrepreneurs. This year’s edition provides comparative evidence on business dynamism, productivity growth, wage gaps and export trends by firm size across OECD countries and emerging economies.
Evaluation is the foundation of evidence-based policy. Yet there is a dearth of reliable impact evaluation in the area of SME and entrepreneurship policy. This publication issues OECD guidance on how governments can promote reliable SME and entrepreneurship policy evaluation.
The 9th edition of the Scoreboard on Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs report provides data from 48 countries around the world on SME lending, alternative finance instruments and financing conditions, as well as information on policy initiatives to improve SME access to finance.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that scale up have long raised policy interest for their extraordinary potential in terms of job creation, innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. Yet, little is known about which firms could effectively become scalers, and what policies could effectively promote SME growth.
This report, Regional Outlook 2023 – The Longstanding Geography of Inequalities, provides novel evidence on the evolution of inequalities between OECD regions across several dimensions (including income and access to services) over the past twenty years.
This report assesses the potential for linkages between foreign direct investment (FDI) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Czechia, and provides policy recommendations to foster productivity and innovation spillovers to the local economy. The report examines the quality of investment that the country attracts, the productive and innovative capacities of Czech SMEs, and a broad range of economic, business and policy conditions that can strengthen knowledge and technology diffusion from foreign multinationals to domestic enterprises. It also assesses Czechia’s institutional environment and policy mix across the areas of international investment, SMEs and entrepreneurship, innovation and regional development, noting areas for policy reform. The report includes a regional focus on the potential for FDI and SME linkages and spillovers in South Moravia and Usti.
Belgium’s economy has been relatively resilient to recent shocks and is expected to continue to grow steadily. Public finances have deteriorated though. In absence of fiscal consolidation, the debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to rise fast. Cutting ineffective public spending and reforming the budgetary framework to increase accountability across governments would help ensure public finances are on a sustainable path. Reforms to taxes and benefits could foster labour market activation and expand the tax base. Strengthening prevention and return-to-work programmes could contribute to tackling the high and increasing take up of disability benefits and better support employment of people with reduced work capacity. A coordinated strategy to reduce administrative costs and facilitate small firms’ access to training could increase business dynamism and productivity. Targeted support for female entrepreneurs could also unlock additional potential of the SME sector. Achieving the green transition requires setting up binding targets and improving coordination of climate policy across federal and regional governments. Easing procedures and improved financing schemes would help deploy renewable energy production. Transparency in future environmental standards with adequate and well-targeted financial incentives would sustain household investment in energy efficiency and electrification, particularly in the transportation and building renovation sectors. SPECIAL FEATURES: LABOUR MARKET, CLIMATE POLICY, SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES