SMEs and start-ups that grow rapidly contribute significantly to job creation, economic growth and competitiveness. Indeed, scalars, i.e., SMEs that grow by one-third over a three-year period, contribute about as much to job creation as large firms. However, there are barriers to SMEs scaling up and opportunities to better leverage their potential. This report examines and identifies the characteristics of scalers and, in turn, the policies that can support them.
The report draws on firm-level data for 17 OECD and accession candidate countries for the period 2014-20 and includes a mapping of more than 2 500 SME and entrepreneurship policies of 520 institutions across OECD countries.
The central message of this report is that all types of SMEs, no matter their size, economic activity, age or location, can scale up, but that the likelihood is higher for some types of SMEs than others. An effective policy mix needs to cater to both realities. This means setting favourable framework conditions and broad-based support for all types of SMEs to grow, as well as targeted interventions to support those SMEs with high growth potential.