New Directions for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Policies

New Directions for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Policies.pdf

The new government has upgraded the Small Business Administration (SBA) to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. This paper suggests that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups should implement SMEs policies from an innovative perspective very different from the past. In other words, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups should move away from supporting SMEs from a patronizing standpoint and become a communication partner of the overall economic policy so that SMEs could become the actual leaders of the economy. Furthermore, the creation of ecosystem for the growth of SMEs through the development of a factor market is necessary and the goal for SMEs policies should be redesigned as well.  

The major direction of the policies must be shifted from direct support for individual companies to forming ecosystem. Also, it is not desirable to substitute the existing factor market in a way designed by the policy designer to support SMEs. Rather, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups are required to support SMEs through the development of technology, funds, manpower, and other services markets (factor market) that are necessary for SMEs.   Furthermore, it is necessary to specify and embody employment creation through the growth of SMEs as the major goal of the SMEs policies.