Observatory of European SMEs publishes first three reports
The first three reports from the Observatory of European SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) have been posted on the European Commission's Enterprise DG web site. The observatory was established by the Commission in 1992 to improve the monitoring of the economic performance of SMEs in Europe whilst providing information to policy makers, researchers, economists and SMEs themselves. 'SMEs in Europe' provides basic statistics on European SMEs, including size, productivity, employee characteristics and key sectors. It has found that over 99 per cent of Europe's 20 million non-primary sector private enterprises are SMEs, employing 122 million workers. Two-thirds of all enterprise sector jobs are in SMEs, with very small firms (under 10 employees) providing one third of jobs. The average enterprise size in Europe is 6 workers, the report found, compared to 19 in the USA and 10 in Japan. In addition, European SMEs provide a larger share of private sector employment, providing 66 per cent as against 46 per cent in the USA and 33 per cent in Japan. The report also includes data on SMEs in EU candidate countries. 'Highlights from the 2001 Survey of European SMEs' presents the findings of a 2001 business survey of nearly 8,000 enterprises throughout Europe. Findings include the fact that women now own 22 per cent of European SMEs, and that SMEs point to a lack of skilled labour as the main constraint on their growth. The report also discovered a jump in the number of SMEs with international business contacts from a quarter in 1999 to a third in 2001. 'Regional clusters in Europe' examines 34 business clusters across Europe, half in science-based industries and the rest in 'traditional' sectors. It classifies the clusters and discusses policies supporting the development of enterprise clusters at national and EU level.