SME Policy Index for Western Balkans and Türkiye 2026

Annex C. Western Balkans Business Survey - Navigating the Digital and Green Transition

Purpose and analytical scope of the survey

Objective

The Western Balkans Business Survey: Navigating the Digital and Green Transition was designed to assess the level of digital and green maturity among SMEs across the region, identify key gaps and bottlenecks, and highlight enabling factors to inform policy priorities. For the SME Policy Index 2026, its scope was exceptionally expanded to include Türkiye. Covering a broad range of topics relevant to SME development in the context of the twin transitions, the survey offers a structured overview of current practices and challenges, while capturing first-hand insights from private sector respondents on their motivations, constraints and investment drivers.

Policy relevance

The survey strengthens the evidence base on how SMEs in the WBT region are engaging with the digital and green transitions, while identifying areas requiring further policy attention and in-depth analysis. By generating comparable quantitative data across economies, it enables benchmarking both within the WBT region and against OECD and EU member countries. Furthermore, the survey highlights priority areas for policy dialogue, supporting evidence-based discussions that can inform the adaptation of reform priorities.

Geographical coverage

The survey covers the Western Balkan economies, and Türkiye, gathering comparable evidence for the SME Policy Index 2026 flagship report. Consequently, the sample includes SME respondents from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Türkiye.

Target population

The target population consists of SMEs from the aforementioned economies as per the EU definition based on staff headcount (Table A C.1):

Table A C.1. SME target population in Western Balkans and Türkiye, 2025

Category	Micro	Small	Medium-Sized
Staff	< 10	< 50	< 250

Source: (European Commission, 2026[1]).

An additional category for “self-entrepreneurs” was included, capturing firms without employees beyond the survey respondent.

Reference period

The Western Balkans Business Survey: Navigating the Digital and Green Transition was conducted between April and June 2025, whereas data collection for Türkiye was undertaken separately between July and September 2025.

Survey design and questionnaire structure

Overall structure

The questionnaire was structured around three main sections: general characteristics, digital transformation and green transformation (Table A C.2). These were further divided into thematic modules reflecting the key analytical dimensions of the digital and green transitions.

Table A C.2. Western Balkans Business Survey: Navigating the Digital and Green Transition - Sections and subsections

Section	Sub-section
General questions	Business structure and operations
Digital transformation	E-commerce
	Digital tools
	Skills and training for the digital transition
	Cybersecurity and data
	Digital innovation and use of advanced tools
	Artificial intelligence
	Government support for business digitalisation
Green transformation	Green products and services
	Environmental footprint
	Environmental monitoring
	Skills and training for the green transition

Question types

The questions were selected based on their relevance to SMEs and to the twin digital and green transitions, while ensuring cross-economy comparability. Minor adaptations were introduced in the Türkiye survey to enhance contextual relevance while preserving overall comparability. The questionnaire included several types of questions:

• Single-choice list: Respondents could select one option from a predefined list

• Multiple-choice list: Respondents could select multiple options from a predefined list

• Binary response: Respondents could choose between two options (e.g. Yes/No)

• Five-point Likert scale: Respondents could indicate the strength of their opinion, with responses ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”

In addition, several list-based questions included an “other” option, allowing respondents to provide open-ended answers in their local language.

Data collection and sample

Data collection method

The survey was administered online using LimeSurvey, enabling broad dissemination and facilitating data processing and analysis. The online format also allowed partially completed questionnaires to be retained and included in the dataset, thereby maximising response use.

Language

The survey was developed in English and subsequently translated into Albanian, Bosnian/Croatian/ Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS), Macedonian and Turkish. All language versions were disseminated alongside the original English questionnaire.

Economy-level implementation

The survey was disseminated through a multi-channel outreach strategy to ensure broad regional coverage. It was initially circulated to a stakeholder network of approximately 400 contacts across the Western Balkans, supported by coordination with SME Policy Index 2026 focal points and representatives of the Digital and Green SMEs project. In Türkiye, dissemination was facilitated through KOSGEB, which shared the survey materials directly with its network of SME stakeholders. To further expand the respondent pool, the team conducted targeted outreach to regional, national and international chambers of commerce, and promoted the survey via LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter) and the OECD South East Europe Division newsletter. The survey received strong representation from Türkiye, while participation from other economies varied (Table A C.3).

Table A C.3. SME respondent sample in the Western Balkans and Türkiye, 2025

Economy	Responses	% of all responses
Albania	148	17%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	47	5.4%
Kosovo	77	8.9%
Montenegro	40	4.6%
North Macedonia	28	3.2%
Serbia	149	17.2%
Türkiye	377	43.5%

Notes: Response rate varies by question. The above table outlines the unique respondents by economy. A further 409 respondents did not report their location of operations and their response rate was very low across all questions.

Data processing and quality assurance

Prior to analysis, the dataset was cleaned and processed to ensure consistency and alignment with the target population of SMEs. As the survey focused exclusively on SMEs, large firms (i.e. those with more than 250 employees) were excluded from the sample (20 in Albania, 4 in Montenegro, 2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 in North Macedonia, 1 in Kosovo and 17 in Türkiye). Free-text responses were translated using AI-supported tools and, where feasible, recoded into existing structured response categories; responses that could not be reliably classified were retained under “other”. A series of data validation and logic checks were subsequently conducted. All available responses were retained, including partially completed questionnaires, with each item analysed based on the number of valid (non-missing) responses.

Limitations and caveats

This survey is subject to several limitations that should be considered when interpreting the results. The sample is non-random and based on voluntary participation, introducing potential self-selection bias. As the survey focuses on the digital and green transitions and was administered online, firms that are more digitally engaged or have a stronger interest in these topics may be overrepresented.

Sample sizes vary significantly across economies and do not reflect the relative distribution of SME populations, with some country samples too limited to support robust conclusions. In addition, partial completion of questionnaires results in varying numbers of observations across questions.

Finally, the data are self-reported and may therefore be subject to reporting inaccuracies or social desirability bias. Taken together, these limitations imply that, while the survey provides valuable and original insights into SME digital and green maturity in the region, the findings should not be interpreted as representative of the overall SME population in the surveyed economies.

References

[1] European Commission (2026), SME Definition, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/smes/sme-fundamentals/sme-definition_en.