Support measures for internationalization of European SMEs – a comparative analysis

Abstract

The article is focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the European Union that are a potential source of employment and economic growth, often referred to as the “backbone of the European economy”. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview and to critically compare and identify three groups of internationalization measures declared by EU28 member countries within the SBA Policy Measures. Group one consists of positively assessed solutions, group two of potentially good ideas but vaguely planned and group three measures that are rather unlikely to be efficient and successful. The analysis is conducted using the latest available data published by the European Commission.

Keywords

• SME
• internationalization
• supporting enterprises
• Small Business Act (SBA)