This reader’s guide provides practical orientation for navigating the SME Policy Index 2026 and interpreting its findings. First, it dives into the structure of the report, including novelties of this edition, and how the different components of the report can be used for distinct analytical purposes. Second, it offers guidance on how to read, understand and apply its findings in a policy context.
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Reader’s guide
Copy link to Reader’s guideOverview of the SME Policy Index
Copy link to Overview of the SME Policy IndexThe SME Policy Index 2026: Western Balkans and Türkiye is a benchmarking tool designed to support governments in assessing and strengthening policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. Its core value lies in generating comparable and structured evidence across economies and over time, thereby supporting more informed and evidence-based decision making. At the same time, the Index provides a harmonised framework that enables the tracking of reform progress and helps guide SME policy prioritisation in line with evolving EU and OECD standards and good practices.
The publication is composed of two main parts. The regional report presents cross-economy analysis, synthesising key trends across the Western Balkans and Türkiye (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye). Complementing this, seven economy profiles offer detailed assessments of individual performance, combining analysis of the current policy landscape with an overview of recent progress, persistent challenges and forward-looking reform priorities.
How to navigate the SME Policy Index report
Copy link to How to navigate the SME Policy Index reportStructure of the regional report
The regional report provides a synthesis of key SME policy trends, challenges and reform priorities across the region, offering a comparative perspective on progress and remaining gaps. It is structured to move from contextual analysis to thematic insights and, subsequently, to more detailed technical assessment.
It opens with an overview of recent economic developments across the region, together with key characteristics of the SME sector. This contextual framing is essential for interpreting the analysis that follows, as it situates policy developments within broader economic trends and structural conditions.
Building on this, the report presents regional key findings organised around four thematic clusters. These clusters bring together related analytical aspects within the respective policy dimensions (see Methodology Annex) to reflect the evolving economic landscape and to highlight cross-cutting issues affecting SME competitiveness and resilience across the region:
Creating an enabling environment for SMEs and entrepreneurs assesses the extent to which regulatory frameworks, institutional arrangements and support programmes are adapted to SME needs and contribute to reducing administrative and operational burdens.
Fostering SME sustainability and resilience evaluates policies that support firms in responding to economic shocks, transitioning towards greener business models and adapting to changing trade and environmental conditions.
Supporting the digital transformation of SMEs examines the policy environment for digital adoption, including access to digital infrastructure, development of digital skills, uptake of emerging technologies and cybersecurity readiness.
Harnessing human and social capital explores how policies support the development of skills and entrepreneurial competences across the life cycle, while also considering the role of the social economy in fostering a skilled and adaptable workforce.
Reader pathways
The SME Policy Index is designed to accommodate a range of analytical purposes and audiences. The following pathways provide guidance on how to approach the report depending on specific needs and priorities:
For economy-focused policy analysis (e.g. policymakers, public administrations, national stakeholders), the economy profiles offer the most direct entry point. These chapters provide a consolidated view of SME policy performance within a given economy, including strengths, remaining challenges, and clearly articulated reform priorities supported by actionable recommendations and examples of good practice.
For regional or comparative analysis (e.g. development partners, regional organisations, researchers), the thematic clusters in the regional report provide a high-level overview of common trends and shared constraints across economies. This approach facilitates identification of regional patterns and areas where co-ordinated action or peer learning may be particularly relevant.
For technical or dimension-specific analysis (e.g. subject-matter experts, analysts, academia), the dimension chapters provide detailed assessments across all thirteen policy areas. These sections include granular scoring across sub-dimensions and policy-cycle stages, as well as explanations of the factors driving progress, stagnation, or decline. The Methodology Annex should be consulted alongside these sections to fully understand the underlying assessment criteria and scoring logic.
Novelties of this edition
The 2026 edition introduces several methodological and analytical enhancements aimed at improving both the robustness of the assessment and its policy relevance.
Cluster-based narrative: This new approach strengthens the analytical framing by linking related policy areas and highlighting cross-cutting challenges. It improves usability for policymakers by presenting findings in a way that reflects how policy issues manifest in practice. At the same time, dimension-level analysis is retained via dedicated dimension chapters for each economy to ensure continuity and comparability with previous assessment cycles.
New policy dimension on digital transformation: A thirteenth policy dimension has been introduced to assess how policies support SMEs in adapting to an increasingly digital economy, reflecting the growing importance of digitalisation for competitiveness.
Recalibrated scoring methodology: The weighting of policy cycle stages has been adjusted to better reflect current priorities and performance patterns. Greater emphasis is placed on monitoring and evaluation, while the relative weight of planning and design has been reduced, strengthening the focus on policy delivery, outputs and outcomes. For additional detail, refer to the Methodology Annex.
Introduction of quality criteria: For specific questions, the methodology now evaluates not only the existence of policies or measures but also their depth and effectiveness. This enables clearer differentiation between basic compliance and high-quality implementation, improving the accuracy and credibility of the assessment over time.
How to interpret the SME Policy Index results
Copy link to How to interpret the SME Policy Index resultsInterpreting scores
Within each dimension, as well as across constituent sub-dimensions and thematic blocks, economies receive scores on a scale from 1 to 5 to reflect the relative maturity of their development, implementation and efficacy. A score of 1 indicates that no or very limited policy framework is in place; conversely, a score of 5 indicates a well-developed framework with evidence of effective implementation and systematic use of monitoring and evaluation to inform policy adjustments, signalling strong alignment with EU and OECD standards (see Methodology Annex).
Scores should not be interpreted as a mere ranking of economies. The SME Policy Index is designed as a diagnostic tool that captures the maturity of policy frameworks and their alignment with good practices. Accordingly, the analytical focus should be on understanding performance across dimensions and what this reveals about SME policy development, rather than purely on relative positioning within the region.
Interpreting performance
A comprehensive interpretation of results requires consideration of multiple analytical angles:
Trends over time provide insight into reform dynamics. Where comparable data from previous assessment cycles are available,1 changes in scores indicate whether progress is being made, whether reforms are stagnating or whether performance is declining in specific areas.
Balance across policy dimensions is an important indicator of the overall coherence of the SME policy framework. Strong performance concentrated in a limited number of areas may indicate structural weaknesses elsewhere, whereas more even performance across dimensions suggests a more integrated and effective policy approach. At the regional level, recurring weaknesses across multiple economies may point to systemic challenges affecting the broader policy ecosystem.
Gaps between policy design and delivery can be identified by comparing scores across the three policy cycle stages – planning and design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation – both within individual policy dimensions and at the level of overall economy performance. Discrepancies between these stages highlight areas where policies may be well designed but insufficiently implemented, or where monitoring mechanisms remain underdeveloped.
Using the report’s findings
The SME Policy Index is intended to support action-oriented policy processes. Beyond evaluating the level of development of SME policy frameworks and their alignment with good practices, the Index and its findings can help identify priority reform areas, as dimension- and cluster-level results highlight where policy gaps are most pronounced and where targeted interventions may yield the greatest impact.
The SME Policy Index can also support the sequencing of reforms by identifying areas where foundational improvements are required before more advanced measures can be effectively implemented. Its findings further enable benchmarking, allowing economies to contextualise their performance relative to regional peers and to EU and OECD standards.
Complementing these uses, the SME Policy Index provides a structured evidence base to inform policy dialogue among government institutions, development partners, private sector representatives and other stakeholders.
Using the Data Hub
To further enhance the accessibility and usability of the SME Policy Index, a dedicated Data Hub has been developed as a key complement to the publication. This interactive platform translates complex findings into user-friendly insights, enabling more dynamic exploration of results and supporting both analysis and ongoing monitoring of SME policies across the region.
The Data Hub allows results to be interpreted through multiple entry points. Users can explore performance across the thirteen policy dimensions to identify strengths, gaps and trends; examine individual economy profiles to assess performance over time and in comparison with the regional average; or consult the regional overview for a concise snapshot of key findings and headline indicators. By offering these different lenses, the platform provides a more flexible and accessible way to engage with the Index and derive actionable insights.
Note
Copy link to Note← 1. Please note that for two policy dimensions, Dimension 6 and Dimension 11, comparisons with previous editions of the SME Policy Index are not possible. Dimension 11 is newly introduced in the 2026 assessment cycle, while Dimension 6 has undergone substantial structural and methodological changes. Further details on these changes are provided in the Methodology Annex.