Study on the Opportunities for the Internationalisation of SMEs

The Report of the Study on the Opportunities for the Internationalisation of European SMEs has now been published. It looks at business support for EU SMEs in international markets and incorporates a survey programme of SMEs and review of international support providers. The study focuses on three main elements: an assessment of the market potential for SMEs in key markets outside the EU, an examination of the options to better connect European SMEs to international markets, and a review of specific measures to facilitate the access of European SMEs to these markets. The main report and background documents are available below.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) perform a critical role in the European economy. Europe’s capacity to build on the growth and innovation potential of SMEs will be decisive for the future prosperity of the EU. The study looks to build on this potential, focusing on the opportunities for EU SMEs in markets outside the EU, and the role of business support for such companies when accessing these markets. The study looks in particular at the support provided to SMEs in relation to seven key target markets: Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC), Japan, South Korea and Ukraine. In addition, some sections of the report consider the opportunities presented in five other target markets: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova. The main objectives of the study were to analyse the market potential for SMEs in the 12 third country markets, and to examine options to better connect European SMEs to these markets.

The activities carried out in the frame of this study include: an analysis of trade flows between the EU and the target countries; a large scale survey among internationally active EU SMEs; an investigation of national policy measures supporting the internationalisation of EU SMEs; a meta analysis of existing evaluation studies of such measures; additional surveys of EU SMEs that have business activities in non-EU markets and SMEs that have used specific internationalisation support measures; face-to-face interviews in the seven key target countries with European enterprises and business support organisations in these countries; an overall analysis and synthesis incorporating policy options and recommendations.

The final report synthesizing the results and policy recommendations is provided below, together with the presentations from the study conference held earlier, and the separate background documents presenting the results from each of the study work packages.

 

Final Report of the Study on Opportunities for the Internationalisation of SMEs:

Final Study Report Opportunities for the Internationalisation of SMEs [2 MB]

 

Study background documents:

International Trade Flows and Economic Development in Target Countries [2 MB]

Overview of 310 Policy Support Measures Identified in the EU Member States [709 KB]

Description of National Measures Identified in EU27 [4 MB]

Survey Report Large Scale Random Survey [566 KB]

Book of Tables Large Scale Random Survey [883 KB]

Survey among Users of 13 Support Instruments [282 KB]

Book of Tables Survey among Users of 13 Support Measures [583 KB]

Survey of SMEs Doing Business outside the EU [174 KB]

Book of Tables Survey of SMEs Doing Business outside the EU [362 KB]

Country Studies of the seven key target markets [3 MB]

 

Presentations from the study conference:

Background to the study [2 MB]

Consultation on a ‘new partnership to help SMEs seize global opportunities’ [2 MB]

Overview of the study elements, main findings and target country reports [6 MB]

 Conference programme [11 KB]