Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 1,0, course: Monetary and Fiscal Policies of the European Union, 36 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This essay provides basic information on the way the EU tries to promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This policy field is very complex as SMEs are affected by Community legislation on a host of issues. As a result, over the years, the institutions of the EU introduced a kaleidoscope of programmes targeted at SMEs to enhance their situation on the market. To examine the most important ones of these programmes, first and foremost, the promotion of SMEs will be integrated into the industrial policy of the EU: I will shed some light on the rationale for an industrial policy and the three different approaches to it. Furthermore, I will elaborate on the evolution of the industrial policy within the EU. In the second part, I will have a closer look at SMEs in Europe, how they are defined and what their role is in the European economy. After having given this background information, I will examine how the EU promotes SMEs. First of all, I will dwell on the European Charter for Small Enterprises followed by some information on the Multiannual Programme for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. In addition, I will give some details on programmes to promote conditions conducive for entrepreneurial activity; The Entrepreneurship Action Plan and the eEurope 2005 Action Plan respectively Go Digital. Finally, I will establish a connection between the EU industrial policy and the Lisbon Strategy.

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Lincoln, course: B.A. European Business, language: English, abstract: The Lisbon European Council of March 2000 set the European Union a new strategic objective for the coming years:to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustained economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. It is considered that Europe’s competitiveness and economic progress is strong dependent on its small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the key-source for job creating as well as for searching for new business ideas and innovative solutions, its main driver for entrepreneurship. For this reason, the European Council endorsed the “think small first” principle as one way to progress towards the Lisbon objectives. The idea of the small business has captured the imagination of the public and politicians over past years. They agree in the point that to meet the challenge of new integrated Europe requires a better business environment within the Internal Market, including the lightest possible administrative and regulatory burdens for small businesses and a better access to finance resources as well as creating of simple and effective legislation. It also requires a revolution in attitudes to entrepreneurship and to risk-taking processes, which will allow viewing failure as a part of experience, as an “opportunity to learn” from mistakes. They also emphasise the fact that small enterprises are normally more sensitive to changes in the business environment than large firms. They are the first to suffer if weighed down with excessive bureaucracy and creating new administrative burdens. And they are the first to flourish from initiatives such as decrease in taxation rate and promotion. My essay aims to answer the question to what extent the EU’s main market integration initiatives address the needs of SME’s and what should be done on the way to developing strong, competitive SMEs which would use all benefits from the Single European Market. It is important to define what we mean by SMEs before proceeding to answer these questions. For the purpose of this essay, SMEs are defined as non-subsidiary, independent firms, which employ less than 250 employees. We have to take into account the fact that this number may vary across national statistical systems. [...]

Against the background of completing the European Single Market is the observance and monitoring of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). With about 20 million such businesses, employing some 117 million people, SMEs represent an economic lynchpin to the success of the Single Market concept. This 6th report, from the Observatory, and prepared by a consortium led by KPMG Consulting, focuses on the economic and financial needs of SMEs. Specific chapters look at their products and services, the recruitment and training of staff, particulary vocational training, and their access to investment. The report is concluded with the set of policy recommendations, which are aimed at strengthening the entrepreneurial culture. These recommendations include: to provide more information on public procurement to SMEs; to promote further resarch on the impact of electronic commerce on the position of SMEs.

The single European market after 1992 presents a major challenge to small and medium-sized companies in the Community. Whether it is developing exports and/or fighting off new imports, Europe's entrepreneurs will have to `think European'. Moreover, the European Community institutions themselves have developed special policies designed to promote the interests of Europe's smaller companies. This volume explains how the EC's policies towards small and medium-sized enterprises have developed and what they currently entail. It guides the reader through the various EC policy initiatives and the new legislation - including that in the `1992' package - relevant to the smaller business company. It offers summaries of the key EC documents concerned, and presents a full listing of all the other relevant proposals and policies. Like the others in this series, the volume is both comprehensive and up-to-date: it discusses not only what the EC has done which is relevant to small businesses, but also what it is proposing to do in the future.

First published in 1999. Small businesses now constitute the most dynamic element of growth in the emerging markets of the Central and Eastern European region. This book argues that the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector has contributed more to the growth of these countries in transition than have privatized state enterprises and the public sector. In 1989 most of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe were still under an economic system dominated by state-owned enterprises. Since then a process of liberalization has been unleashed to promote free market policies. This has involved programs of privatization and restructuring of public enterprises, as well as the promotion of policies to enable a private sector to develop. Small businesses are creating thousands of new jobs while large companies are "retrenching and downsizing" their work force. In some countries of the region this process is much further along than in others. However, the SME sector has developed at a more rapid pace than has the privatization of the large public companies. There has been a flurry of new enterprises springing up throughout the region which are "trickling up" in a frequently hostile environment against tremendous odds, and yet managing to have a pronounced impact on their respective economies. Small businesses have taken over in sectors that used to be dominated by big enterprises, primarily in services and consumer products. They have provided a crucial outlet for pent-up entrepreneurial talent that had remained dormant during the long period of state domination. This work urges legislators, policy-makers, and development agencies alike to take account of the importance of the SME's in their legislation and planning. Given a more favorable environment, these small businesses will provide even greater impetus for economic growth. Equally important is for entrepreneurs themselves to be convinced of the rightness of their path in societies that have traditionally looked down upon profit-seekers as unscrupulous and selfish. If the CEE region is to achieve its full potential of economic growth, policies and support mechanisms to promote the SME sector will be needed to assure a favorable environment.