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    Competitiveness of SME`s in the Arab Countries
    Competitiveness of SME`s in the Arab Countries
    Competitiveness of SME`s in the Arab Countries
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    Competitiveness of SME`s in the Arab Countries

    By Hussein Elasrag

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    About this ebook

    This book`s aim is to layout some general principles of support to enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs in the Arab countries. To do so, the paper Divided to two sections; in section I: Small and medium enterprises in the Arab countries (definition and importance), It starts by identifying the General problems of the Arab economies, and then goes on to discuss definitional aspects of SMEs. After that, the study then summarizes the SMEs definition in the Arab countries and concludes the important of SMEs in the Arab countries. In SectionII . Enhancing the competitiveness of the Arab SMEs in the knowledge economy. It discusses the concept and the characteristics of the knowledge economy. Then goes on to discuss the competitiveness of SMEs in the context of economic globalization and then concludes by offering some recommendations, which concentrate on the discussion of the important criteria that needs to be followed by SME support institutions to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs and hence their role in economic growth in the Arab countries,
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHussein Elasrag
    Release dateMay 29, 2018
    ISBN9788828329985
    Competitiveness of SME`s in the Arab Countries

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      Competitiveness of SME`s in the Arab Countries - Hussein Elasrag

      References:—

      I. 

      Introduction:

      Due to their increasing importance to production growth and vital relation with various productive sectors in society, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have become one of the key instruments to face economic and social problems and achieve development objectives in most industrial and developing countries. They contributions to employment creation, productivity improvement, and income generation are underutilized in the Arab countries at a time when economic transformation is shifting the onus for productivity from the public sector to the private sector. Population growth and economic restructuring in many Arab countries make the creation of substantial new employment   opportunities a necessity.

      SMEs play a significant role in Arab countries, both in terms of the total number of enterprises, as well as their contribution to employment levels.

      Statistics show that SMEs represent 90% of total companies in most of economies worldwide and provide 40-80% of total job opportunities in addition to contributing largely to GDPs of many countries. For example, SMEs constitute more than 99%1 of all non-agricultural private enterprises in Egypt and account for nearly three-quarters of new employment generation. for Kuwait, this sector constitutes approximately 90% of the private workforce, including labor and imported an estimated 45% of the labor force, employment and national rates of less than 1%, in Lebanon, more than 95% of the total enterprises, contribute about 90% of the jobs. In the UAE , small and medium enterprises accounted about 94.3% of the economic projects in the country, and employs about 62% of the workforce and contributes around 75% of the GDP of the state. In addition, they account for 96% of the GDP in Yemen in 2005, and about 77%, 59%, 25% in Algeria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, respectively, during the same year.

      This clear indication that SMEs play an important role in economic growth and export promotion, as well as employment creation.

      SMEs are considered strictly as developmental tools for poverty alleviation and employment creation; Moreover, SMEs are more capable of helping Arab countries attain higher rates of economic growth in the short, medium and long terms.

      It is often argued that the Governments should promote SMEs because of their greater economic benefits compared to the large firms in terms of job creation, efficiency and growth.

      Following are the major driving force to strengthen SMEs in the Arab countries:

      (1)  SMEs are the important vehicle in terms of employments and poverty alleviation. SME employs a large share of the labor force in many Arab countries.

      (2)  SMEs make significant contributions to the national economy of the country; and can be a tool to accelerate the growth of exports.

      (3)  SMEs foster an entrepreneurial culture and make the economy more resilient to the global fluctuations.

      Despite remarkable progress in a many Arab country, most of the developing countries have found that the impact of their SME development programs on enterprise performance has been less than satisfactory. However, it has been acknowledged that Micro enterprise and SMEs are the emerging private sector and these forms the base for private-sector led growth.

      With increased globalization, accelerated technical change and the growing demand for higher quality modem products, many traditional small and medium sized enterprises SMEs, in the Arab countries face closure or very difficult upgrading.  Even modem SMEs in  developed  countries  face  very  difficult competitive challenges in the emerging setting. To do so, Arab enterprises must favorably face increased competition in both local  and export market through improvements in product quality and work place efficiency. Sheer survival in theses business conditions forces both large companies and SMEs to restructure themselves to meet the global competition.

      This book`s aim is to layout some general principles of support to enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs in the Arab countries. To do so, the paper Divided to two sections; in section I: Small and medium enterprises in the Arab countries (definition and importance), It starts by identifying the General problems of the Arab economies, and then goes on to discuss definitional aspects of SMEs. After that, the study then summarizes the SMEs definition in the Arab countries and concludes the important of SMEs in the Arab countries. In SectionII . Enhancing the competitiveness of the Arab SMEs in the knowledge economy. It discusses the concept and the characteristics of the knowledge economy. Then goes on to discuss the competitiveness of SMEs in the context of economic globalization and then concludes by offering some recommendations, which concentrate on the discussion of the important criteria that needs to be followed by SME support institutions to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs and hence their role in economic growth in the Arab countries.

      II.

      Understanding SMEs

      The influence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the structure, performance and future prospects of a nation’s economy is the subject of increasing interest among policymakers at the national, regional and global level. This reflects the fact that in most countries, SMEs constitute the overwhelming majority of firms and are major sources of employment. Add to this evidence that SMEs, and in particular young small firms, have been net contributors to employment growth since the 2008 financial crisis, and the rationale behind the greater focus on SME performance becomes clear.(International Trade Centre (ITC), 2015)

      Small and medium-sized enterprises have positive contributions in providing and maintaining balanced economic and social development. They also play an important role in decreasing the

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