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b) For MICs we recommend a strong focus on soft infrastructure development which can enable
people and firms ready to adopt new ideas and technologies to enhance existing industries
where there is export potential. Entrepreneurship development which allows new small firms
to engage directly in intra-OIC trade activity could be of immediate interest;
c) For HICs, the export orientation could be on the development of hard infrastructure and
greater flexibility in the employment market to allow for strategic FDI. This could enable the
setting up of regional ecosystems and global production networks that could connect HICS to
both MICs and LICs.
5.4 Evaluation of SMEexport-support policies: a framework for further study
In OIC member countries, assessment evidence on trade promotion policies, and SME export
promotion policies in particular, is rather scarce. The evaluation of SME policies encounters important
limitations in the lack of hard data on SME population, dynamics and performance, and in the lack of
comprehensive information on institutions and programmes supporting SME development and export.
To promote SME participation in foreign markets, it is essential for policy makers to have a
comprehensive view of SME characteristics, their business environment, their strength and
weaknesses when approaching international markets. 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. Furthermore, as the number of institutions and
organisations dealing with SME development and/or trade promotion increase, at international,
national and local level, their monitoring and assessment become an essential part of the policy
making process. In order to identify good practices and areas for improvement, there is an urgent need
for more in-depth evaluation of their effectiveness in addressing the obstacles encountered by SMEs
and increasing their participation to regional and global markets in a sustainable way.
Following the established OECD methodology to monitor and assess SME policies (OECD 2008,
2013), it is suggested that a rigorous evaluation of SME export support policies is conducted in OIC
Member Countries. This policy evaluation should include the following steps:
 A questionnaire survey of OIC Member States’ trade promotion and SME support agencies,
designed to:
i. Gather a list of central government-funded programmes designed to enable firms, and
SMEs in particular, to overcome (either specifically or explicitly amongst other
objectives) barriers to selling/trading goods or services to markets outside of their own
economy. Where an economy considers that a regional, state or local programme –
either public or private sector funded – significantly contributes to reducing barriers to
SMEs internationalising, then information on that programme should also be
provided.
ii. Obtain from each member economy a description of the wider context in which its
programmes geared to SMEs wishing to internationalise, should be understood;
iii. Gather details of the parameters of the schemes, funds available, delivery mechanisms,
types of assistance, direct or external delivery, charging, targeting and, where
possible, data on the uptake of the programme by SMEs;
iv. Obtain a description of the barriers facing firms (and especially SMEs) that the
programme is designed to enable them to overcome and how it is expected to do that;
and
v. Gather from each member economy, outcomes of programme evaluations in terms of
demonstrated benefits, and, if possible, evidence of how SMEs in particular have been
helped by the programme.
 A questionnaire survey of a carefully selected sample of SMEs in OIC Member States. This
may include both current and potential exporters. The survey would intend to: