The New Globalization: SMEs and International Trade – The Supply Chain is as Important as Direct Exports

NG series Paper 7 - SMEs N E W G L O B A L I Z A T I O N P R O J E C T The New Globalization: SMEs and International Trade – The Supply Chain is as Important as Direct Exports By David Henig and Renata Zilli Introduction The disproportionately small share of exports from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is a cause of concern in modern trade policy. [...] O R G / N E W - G L O B A L I Z A T I O N N E W G L O B A L I Z A T I O N P R O J E C T large companies, being ten-times the amount of medium sized companies, and over fifty-times the size of small ones for the EU. [...] O R G / N E W - G L O B A L I Z A T I O N N E W G L O B A L I Z A T I O N P R O J E C T While it is possible to extrapolate figures of how much trade could rise if more SMEs exported, it is not obvious why this is a particularly helpful metric in terms of government action given global norms. [...] Far more international barriers than trade policy for smaller companies At the heart of the lower SME export share is that the more output a firm produces, the easier it becomes to absorb the many costs and risks involved in exporting. [...] O R G / N E W - G L O B A L I Z A T I O N N E W G L O B A L I Z A T I O N P R O J E C T Efforts by governments to raise SME exports have not been equal to the diverse challenges, not least given more efforts are made for the largest companies.