Documents de travail de l'OCDE sur la politique commerciale
Cette série porte sur la politique commerciale.
- ISSN : 18166873 (en ligne)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18166873
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Global Markets: A Differential Approach for Services?
This study empirically investigates key restrictions to the internationalisation of small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing and across different types of services. The
study explores the extent to which binding constraints faced by SMEs producing goods may differ
from small firms operating in services sectors and takes stock of how existing policy initiatives
address some of these differences. Our results suggest that while firm size clearly influences the
trade performance of SMEs in manufacturing, it is an ambiguous predictor of export performance
in the case of small-sized services firms. The findings show that firm size influences the choice of
export channel and that small firms rely more on indirect and agglomeration networks. Finally, the
results point to a strong degree of firm-level heterogeneity across services activities and enterprise
size. It would seem that incorporating sectoral and size heterogeneity into existing policies might
be desirable to address key constraints for SMEs.
Mots-clés: internationalisation, trade in services, trade, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, services
JEL:
L8: Industrial Organization / Industry Studies: Services;
F14: International Economics / Trade / Empirical Studies of Trade;
F68: International Economics / Economic Impacts of Globalization / Economic Impacts of Globalization: Policy