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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

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    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. Harald Oberhofer, 2014. "Die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der österreichischen Exportwirtschaft: Die Rolle der KMUs," FIW Policy Brief series 025, FIW.
    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.

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    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

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