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INTRODUCTION
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) constitute a significant place in the economies of the
OIC Member States. They contribute to production, job creation and poverty alleviation. However,
they mainly concentrate on local markets and face difficulties in making exports. Over the last years,
governments in OIC Member States have actively promoted trade by national firms and, increasingly,
participation by SMEs to international activity. Trade Promotion Organisations (TPOs) have been an
instrument of choice in many countries, to link local businesses with global markets and foster SMEs’
exports.
However, policy making in the area of SME export promotion encounters an important limitation in
the lack of data and evidence. Effective SME export promotion policies demand that policy makers
identify the specific barriers that SMEs encounter when planning international business and operating
in foreign markets. The present study addresses this policy challenge, by focusing on the main and
common barriers for SMEs to compete in export markets and on the international policy experience to
overcome these obstacles. The study investigates evidence in a sample of OIC Member countries,
comments on knowledge gap and defines a detailed workplan for the full-fledged assessment of SME
export promotion policies in OIC Member countries.
The report is composed of five sections. Chapter 1 discusses the key drivers and barriers to SME
export activity and competitiveness in export markets and modes of SME internationalisation, based
on the review of the literature and on recent evidence about export trends at the international level. In
particular the chapter comments on characteristics and strategies of export-oriented firms and on
specific operational challenges for SMEs internationalisation. It sets the conceptual analysis within the
framework of current and emerging trends in global trade.
Chapter 2 reviews the international experience with policies and tools to help SMEs meet the
challenge of globalisation and improve their export performance. The chapter distinguishes policies
that address external and internal barriers to SME exports, discusses tools, institutions and good
practices in OECD economies, focusing on the role of Trade Promotion Organisations (TPOs) and
comments on the lessons learnt from these broad SME export promotion practices.
Based on the evidence from a sample of OIC member countries, Chapter 3 analyses key common
challenges to SME export and competitiveness in export markets. Three sub-groups of countries are
identified for this purpose: Sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Uganda, Cameroon and Senegal);
MENA countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen), and Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh).
For each sub-group, the chapter examines general macroeconomic conditions, nature and scope of
interdependencies, and comments, for each individual country, about the role of SMEs in economic
development, and about the main barriers to SME development and exports.
Chapter 4 presents a review of SME export support policies and programmes in the selected sample of
OIC member countries, as implemented by different agencies, including Ministries, public financial
and Trade promotion Organisations, and donors, among others. The chapter illustrates the variety of
policy approaches in the countries under study and examples of policies and tools implemented to
address different types of barriers to SME exports.
Chapter 5 concludes by highlighting key challenges to SME export development in the different areas
analysed and by advancing recommendations on key policy areas to foster SME export
competitivenes. The Chapter also highlights important information gaps, which limit policy design,
implementation and evaluation, and, based on OECD methodology, proposes a framework for further
study, to conduct rigorous assessment of policies intended to foster SME export competitiveness in
OIC Member countries