2007-01-08

O papel das PME

Innovative SMEs are the backbone of the private sector and have a significant role to play in economic development in general. They share a number of characteristics that make them attractive for targeting innovation projects. They are able to react quickly and efficiently to market changes.

Studies of small firms confirm that they can function as a
powerful engine for economic growth and performance. However, because the sector is extremely heterogeneous, volatile, and differs greatly in developed and developing economies, actions must be targeted efficiently.

SMEs need to be effectively connected with global markets, to find buyers for their products and suppliers for their inputs. This requires
developing skills, technology, information and research, all of which can benefit from partnerships, be they amongst SMEs themselves or between SMEs and large enterprises.

Innovation can act as a bridge to these kinds of projects. In developing economies, SMEs often offer the only realistic prospects for
employment increase and adding value. In short, SMEs can contribute to sustainability for the following reasons:

  • SMEs tend to lead to a more equitable distribution of income than larger enterprises. In addition, they are less concentrated in urban areas than the larger companies and thus create employment in rural areas;

  • SMEs contribute to a more efficient allocation of resources in developing economies. They often adopt labour intensive production methods and thus reflect the resource endowment in developing economies where labour is plentiful and capital is scarce;

  • SMEs support the building of productive capacities. They help to absorb productive resources at all levels of the economy and contribute to the establishment of dynamic and resilient economic systems in which small and large firms are interlinked.

  • SMEs in developing economies suffer from problems such as the lack of: capital, access to markets, finance, qualified personnel, training, and technological and marketing capabilities. Due to
    globalization, liberalization of markets, rapid advances in information, communication and production technologies, the new production dynamics have created stiff competition. Local SMEs face the competition of international competitors entering into local markets.

    in UNEP


    Em Portugal, lutar pelas PME significa fortalecer 99 por cento das empresas, 75 por cento do emprego e 60 por cento do volume de negócios nacional...

    Quando os governos europeus perceberam que a competitividade das respectivas economias passava pela diminuição significativa da fiscalidade sobre os contribuintes, em particular as empresas, o governo português é o único na Europa a insistir numa posição altamente conservadora, não seguindo a tendência geral UE.

    in Mário Azevedo, CTOC

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