Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent important agents of development throughout the world. Promoting a country´s SME sector plays a crucial role in maintaining high employment and income generation and is therefore critical for achieving sustainable growth. To better understand how to better pursue this objective, UNCTAD has organized four Expert Meetings to discuss specific topics that are considered critical for SME development, namely TNC-SME Linkages; Financing Technology for SMEs; Technology Development and Mastery; Promoting SMEs Export Competitiveness.
The present publication is a selection of papers that were presented during those four meetings and gives an overview of the main issues discussed. Each chapter consists of an issues paper prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat as well as of a selection of national case studies that complement theory with relevant cross-country experiences. The sections end with a summary of conclusions and recommendations by experts.
