SMEs have a dominant share in the number of firms and employment in all G20 countries, and so can play an important role in economic development and job creation in each country. In Japan, for example, SMEs (firms with either less than 300 employees or 300 million yen in capital in general) account for 99.7% of firms, employing approximately 70% of the workforce.

In the manufacturing sector, they produce about a half of value added. The legal or statistical definitions of SMEs differ across countries and also across sectors. Moreover, SMEs are quite heterogeneous even within a single country. Therefore, it is difficult and even no use to propose one-fits-all policy proposals for all types of SMEs in each country.

Nevertheless, we selected some major issues that may be common challenges for SMEs in the G20 countries and proposed some policy measures that may help SMEs to play their roles appropriately in the economy (Read more…).