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Small & medium enterprise Competitiveness Atlas

Deepen understanding of small and medium-sized enterprises competitiveness worldwide by assessing their strengths and weaknesses in a clear, accessible way, shedding light on opportunities to increase sales at home and abroad.

SMECS

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What is competitiveness?

Competitiveness is the ability of a firm to design, produce and commercialise a good or service that meets market demand, while connecting with the business environment and earning returns in a sustainable way. The more competitive a firm, the more likely it is to export.

At ITC, we assess firm competitiveness along three pillars – Compete, Connect, Change and three levels of competitiveness – Firm Capabilities, Business Ecosystems, National Environment.

Competitiveness Themes

Each pillar of competitiveness has three themes, which allow identifying where the strengths and weaknesses of a firm lie.

The health of a country’s economy is closely linked to the competitiveness of its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Collecting data at the firm level should be the first step to support their growth, as we must know the strengths to be leveraged and weaknesses to be addressed.

How does ITC obtain data on small businesses competitiveness?

To collect the data accurately, ITC developed the SME Competitiveness Survey.

SME Competitiveness Survey is more than a questionnaire – it assesses the strengths and weaknesses of enterprises in a country in a clear, accessible way, shedding light on opportunities to increase sales at home and abroad.

The data collection and analysis process is anonymised to protect the privacy of participating firms.

Geographical Coverage

More than 36,000 companies in over 57 countries have been surveyed to date using the SME Competitiveness Survey.