The Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurs (WPSMEE) at the OECD aims to reduce biases against SMEs in public policies related to taxes, R&D financing, export financing, and risk guarantees. It assists countries with designing, implementing, and assessing SME policies. The WPSMEE produces the Scoreboard on SME and Entrepreneurship Finance, which provides data on debt, equity, and financing conditions in 31 countries. It also conducts SME Country Reviews and Regional Reviews through the SME Policy Index, which has assessed policies in 32 countries across four regions. Current thematic studies by the WPSMEE include SME innovation, internationalization, and

1. SMES,
ENTREPRENEURS
AND THE WORKING
PARTY
OECD Southeast Asia Regional Forum – Consultative
Meeting: SME Policy
24 March 2014 – Bali, Indonesia
Sergio Arzeni,
Director of Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local
Development (CFE)
Head of the LEED Programme
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

2. Participants:
• 34 OECD member countries
• Key partners, invitees
• International Organisations (EIB, EIF, WB, IFC, ADB, IDB, MIF/FOMIN)
Aims to increase awareness among policymakers about the
importance of reducing the bias against SMEs in public policies
• Tax treatment
• R&D Financing
• Export financing
• Risk guarantees provision
Assists countries in the design, implementation and assessment
of policies
The Working Party on SMEs and
Entrepreneurs (WPSMEE)

3. SMEs
• Higher cost of compliance with regulation
• Face problems in access to finance
• But, overprotect incumbents
Entrepreneurs
• New enterprises make economies and
societies more dynamic
Why do we care?

4. • Offers reliable data in an opaque
topic
• Participation is free to all countries
• Need to nominate an expert with
access to data on debt, equity and
general framework conditions to
SMEs to compile 13 indicators
• 31 countries in the 2014 edition (from
SA: Korea), forthcoming participation
of China, Japan and Malaysia
Scoreboard on
SME and
Entrepreneurship
Finance
WPSMEE Areas of work:

5. Recent ones:
• Thailand
(2011),
• Mexico (2013),
• Italy (2014),
• Russia (2014)
SME Country Reviews

6. • Seven SME policy assessments completed between 2007-
2014:
– SME Policy Index: ASEAN 2014
– SME Policy Index: Middle East and North Africa 2013
– SME Policy Index: Western Balkans and Turkey 2012;
– SME Policy Index: Eastern Europe and the Caucasus 2012;
– SME Policy Index: Western Balkans 2009;
– SME Policy Index: Middle East and North Africa 2008;
– SME Policy Index: Western Balkans 2007.
• In total, the SME Policy Index encompasses 32 countries ,
mostly medium income countries, which belong to four
regions.
Regional Reviews:
The SME Policy Index

7. SME Innovation
SME Internationalisation
SMEs and Green growth
Alternative sources of finance for
SMEs and Entrepreneurs
Role of PFIs in fostering SME
access to finance
Thematic studies:

8. Benchmark of SME policies
Regulation and SMEs
• Main barriers
• Recent policy trends
• Good policy practices
• Recommendations
Forthcoming studies

9. Knowledge Products for SMEs & Entrepreneurship
Know-how and Policy Formulation
Your Logo
OECD Global
Platform for
SMEs
Evidence-based studies on key
challenges facing SMEs, with
clear formulation of policy
recommendations
Comprehensive international
dataset for monitoring SMEs’
and entrepreneurs access to
finance over time
Benchmarks of policies for
stronger SMEs performance,
based on binding constraint
analysis and impact evaluation
In-depth country reviews of
SMEs policies and issues, both
at national and local levels, with
peer review mechanism
SMEs Financing
Scoreboard
SMEs Policies
Outlook
Country
Reviews
Thematic
Studies

10. THANK YOU
Sergio.arzeni@oecd.org