IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/dgtcen/2014_003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

SMEs are more important than you think! Challenges and opportunities for EU exporting SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Lucian, Cernat

    (DG Trade)

  • Ana, Norman-López

    (DG Trade)

  • Ana, Duch T-Figueras

    (DG Trade)

Abstract

This paper highlights the heterogeneity among SMEs exporting outside the EU across EU Member States and reviews how barriers facing SMEs can be tackled trade policy discussions. With over 600,000 goods exporting SMEs (over 80% of the total number of EU goods exporting firms) accounting for one third of total EU exports and employing over 6 million people in Europe, EU exporting SMEs play a non-negligible role in EU trade performance. However, SMEs have an untapped export potential, given the intrinsic and trade-specific hurdles that SMEs still face.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucian, Cernat & Ana, Norman-López & Ana, Duch T-Figueras, 2014. "SMEs are more important than you think! Challenges and opportunities for EU exporting SMEs," DG TRADE Chief Economist Notes 2014-3, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission.
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:dgtcen:2014_003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/september/tradoc_152792.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adlung, Rudolf & Miroudot, Sébastien, 2012. "Poison in the wine? Tracing GATS-minus commitments in regional trade agreements," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2012-04, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    2. Adlung, Rudolf & Soprana, Marta, 2012. "SMEs in services trade: A GATS perspective," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2012-09, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    3. Iza Lejárraga & Humberto López Rizzo & Harald Oberhofer & Susan Stone & Ben Shepherd, 2014. "Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Global Markets: A Differential Approach for Services?," OECD Trade Policy Papers 165, OECD Publishing.
    4. Hessels, Jolanda & Parker, Simon C., 2013. "Constraints, internationalization and growth: A cross-country analysis of European SMEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 137-148.
    5. Giorgia Giovannetti & Enrico Marvasi & Marco Sanfilippo, 2013. "Supply Chains and the Internalization of SMEs: Evidence from Italy," Working Papers - Economics wp2013_30.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    6. Thierry Mayer & Gianmarco Ottaviano, 2007. "The happy few: the internationalisation of European firms New facts based on firm-level evidence," Working Papers hal-03459258, HAL.
    7. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 461.
    8. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/10147 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lucian Cernat, 2016. "Toward “Trade Policy Analysis 2.0”: From National Comparative Advantage to Firm-Level Trade Data," ADB Institute Series on Development Economics, in: Ganeshan Wignaraja (ed.), Production Networks and Enterprises in East Asia, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 21-31, Springer.
    2. Cernat, Lucian & Mustilli, Federica, 2017. "Trade and labour adjustment in Europe: What role for the European Globalization Adjustement Fund?," DG TRADE Chief Economist Notes 2017-2, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission.
    3. Lodefalk, Magnus, 2017. "Servicification of Firms and Trade Policy Implications," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 59-83, January.
    4. Cernat, Lucian & Jakubiak, Malgorzata & Preillon, Nicolas, 2020. "The Role of SMEs in extra-EU Exports: Key performance indicators," DG TRADE Chief Economist Notes 2020-1, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission.
    5. Hussein ELASRAG, 2016. "Islamic finance for SMES," Journal of Economic and Social Thought, KSP Journals, vol. 3(3), pages 417-433, September.
    6. Andrea Éltető, 2017. "Export as a form of SME-internationalisation after the crisis – experiences of three European regions," IWE Working Papers 228, Institute for World Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    7. Ciani, Andrea & Bartoli, Francesca, 2015. "Export quality upgrading under credit constraints," DICE Discussion Papers 191, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    8. Andrea Ciani & Francesca Bartoli, 2020. "Export quality differentiation under credit constraints," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 1398-1433, May.
    9. Éltető, Andrea & Udvari, Beáta, 2018. "Nemzetköziesedés a válság után - a magyar kis- és középvállalatok exportjára ható tényezők [Internationalisation since the crisis - factors affecting exports by small and medium-sized Hungarian ent," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 402-425.
    10. repec:wsr:pbrief:y:2014:i:025 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Ticián Baranyai & Miklós Kozma, 2019. "Family Firms with New Leaders in the Global Market.– A Potential Success Story?," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 69(supplemen), pages 131-162, December.
    12. Juan García-Álvarez de Perea & Carolina Ramírez-García & Aida Del Cubo-Molina, 2019. "Internationalization Business Models and Patterns of SMEs and MNEs: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study in the Agrifood Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-26, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. José Antonio Rodríguez Martín & Juan Dios Jiménez Aguilera & José Antonio Salinas Fernández & José María Martín Martín, 2016. "Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5: Progress in the Least Developed Countries of Asia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 489-504, November.
    2. Craig Garthwaite & Tal Gross & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2014. "Public Health Insurance, Labor Supply, and Employment Lock," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 653-696.
    3. Tarek Roshdy Gebba & Mohamed Gamal Aboelmaged, 2016. "Corporate Governance of UAE Financial Institutions: A Comparative Study between Conventional and Islamic Banks," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 6(5), pages 1-7.
    4. Lawless, Martina & Siedschlag, Iulia & Studnicka, Zuzanna, 2017. "Expanding and diversifying the manufactured exports of Irish-owned enterprises," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT335.
    5. Nelson, Ewan & Warren, Peter, 2020. "UK transport decoupling: On track for clean growth in transport?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 39-51.
    6. Antonio Bassanetti & Matteo Bugamelli & Sandro Momigliano & Roberto Sabbatini & Francesco Zollino, 2014. "The policy response to macroeconomic and fiscal imbalances in Italy in the last fifteen years," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 67(268), pages 55-103.
    7. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Responsible use of crop protection products and Nigeria's growth enhancement support scheme," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 448-463, May.
    8. Peter J. Rimmer, 2014. "Asian-Pacific Rim Logistics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12949.
    9. Clarete, Ramon L. & Villamil, Isabela Rosario G., 2015. "Readiness of the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries Sectors for the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community: A Rapid Appraisal," Research Paper Series DP 2015-43, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    10. Li, Xi & Yu, Biying, 2019. "Peaking CO2 emissions for China's urban passenger transport sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    11. Alleyne, Dillon & Emanuel, Elizabeth & Phillips, Willard, 2013. "An assessment of fiscal and regulatory barriers to the deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in Saint Lucia," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38502, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    12. Gang Chen, 2015. "From mercantile strategy to domestic demand stimulation: changes in China's solar PV subsidies," Asia Pacific Business Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 96-112, January.
    13. Cristian Pana, 2013. "The National Central Bank’S Management Of Reserve Requirements," Working papers 16, Ecological University of Bucharest, Department of Economics.
    14. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Jung, Benjamin, 2012. "The home market effect, regional inequality, and intra-industry reallocations," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 33, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    15. Fontagné, Lionel & Orefice, Gianluca & Piermartini, Roberta & Rocha, Nadia, 2015. "Product standards and margins of trade: Firm-level evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 29-44.
    16. Junlakarn, Siripha & Kittner, Noah & Tongsopit, Sopitsuda & Saelim, Supawan, 2021. "A cross-country comparison of compensation mechanisms for distributed photovoltaics in the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    17. McMahon, Rob, 2020. "Co-developing digital inclusion policy and programming with indigenous partners: Interventions from Canada," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 9(2), pages 1-26.
    18. Wang, Jianjun & Ortiz, Theresa & Navarro, Diana & Maier, Roland & Wang, Summer & Wang, Lisa & Wang, Libing, 2016. "An empirical study of early childhood support through partnership building," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 74-80.
    19. Berta Morata & Chiara Cavalieri & Agatino Rizzo & Andrea Luciani, 2020. "Territories of Extraction: Mapping Palimpsests of Appropriation," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 132-151.
    20. Adoracion M. NAVARRO & Gilberto M. LLANTO, . "Philippines Country Report," Chapters, in: Fauziah ZEN & Michael REGAN (ed.), Financing ASEAN Connectivity, chapter 7, pages 269-330, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    SMEs; international trade; export performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:dgtcen:2014_003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Zornitsa Kutlina-Dimitrova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dgtecbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.