Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that scale up have long raised policy attention for their strong potential to create jobs, stimulate innovation and raise competitiveness in countries and regions. However, the conditions under which SMEs scale up remain poorly understood. The programme contributes to reducing knowledge gaps on who scalers are, how they transform and grow, and what governments can and are doing to support them.
Helping SMEs scale up
Across the OECD, about 10-15% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that scale up contribute around 50% of new jobs. Which SMEs are scalers? How can policy makers support them?
About the programme
Who are the scalers?
Scaling up encompasses the capacity of a firm to operate, in a sustained manner, on a larger scale and at a higher level of productivity, which may imply innovating, competing in a broader product space, entering new or international markets, or partnerships, or expanding networks. For the purposes of this programme, scalers are identified through employment- or turnover-based (high) growth. High-growth enterprises are defined as firms with at least 10 employees that grow at a yearly rate of 10% or more in either employment or turnover over 3 consecutive years.
Our mission
As governments aim to build resilience and speed the transition towards more sustainable and inclusive growth, they turn towards SMEs that scale up and the exceptional potential of productivity, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation they can bring. Scalers are however diverse and little is known about them and the types of transformation they go through. Public policies accordingly have tried to focus on those firms with the highest growth potential, e.g. often by targeting start-ups in very narrow (tech-related) sectors, and often with no clear and comprehensive overview of what works in promoting scale-ups. Yet, there are opportunities to unlock productivity, growth, and job creation across many different types of scalers, provided the right business conditions and policy mixes are in place.
Which SMEs scale up? What makes them different from their peers? How do they transform along their growth journey? Do public policies address the diversity of scalers’ profiles, needs and trajectories?
The programme aims to understand how OECD countries can create the conditions for SMEs to scale up and inform the design of improved scale up policies. It contributes to a better understanding of the characteristics and trajectories of scalers, as an essential precondition for more effective policy design. It also aims to understand how scale up policies shape across countries to identify possible gaps or inefficiencies.
How it works
Countries are invited to join the OECD’s efforts to widen the evidence base on SMEs scaling up and the policies that support them. Participation implies engagement in one or two of the following areas:
Measurement and empirical analysis
By working with the OECD on gaining access to suitable microdata and /or implementing the proposed methodology to develop indicators in their country.
Policy mapping and analysis
By working with the OECD on mapping national policy practices and mixes and coordinating feedback of relevant stakeholders in their country.
Programme output
38
Countries
A deep-dive into five specific issues of scalers transformation, covering policy areas such as scale up finance, data governance, innovation networks, trade and internationalization, and skills.
2577
Policies
Up to 2/3 scalers maintain their new scale over time, and 20% succeed to grow again in the three years after, suggesting that the right scale up policies can pay off. Yet, the policy attention given to specific aspects, actors or drivers of SME growth is spread unevenly, which may leave blind spots in other areas.
877
Institutions
Public action to foster SME scale up often falls beyond the SME and entrepreneurship policy domain, calling for sound coordination across the board and for a further mainstreaming of SME growth considerations across policy areas.
Latest insights
Most scalers consolidate their new scale and many even continue to grow. Scalers’ transformation is grounded on multiple forms of productivity and performance improvements, driven by innovation, investment, and network expansion.
Scalers retain a presence in the home region but expand in a new region by branching out. Scalers are about 3 times as likely to expand as comparable firms.