Brussels, 06/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - The results of a survey on the degree to which European SMEs are active internationally show that SMEs that are more internationally active yield better results. Although only 25% of European SMEs export or have exported over the past three years, SMEs operating internationally create more jobs, with a 7% growth rate compared to a 1% growth rate for companies without international activities. There is also a direct link between the level of internationalisation and the size of the company. The larger the SME, the more it operates internationally. Also, there is a close link between internationalisation and innovation. Twenty-six percent of internationally active SMEs introduced products or services that were new for their sector in their country. For other small businesses, this is only 8%. Nonetheless, international activities are mostly geared towards other countries inside the internal market and only about 13% of EU SMEs are active in markets outside the EU. On the other hand, at global level, European SMEs are more active than American or Japanese SMEs.
The findings of the study, with provides a complete overview of the level of international activity of European SMEs, are based on a survey carried out during spring 2009, of 9,480 SMEs in 33 European countries. The survey analyses all the activities that put SMEs into any meaningful business relationship with a foreign partner - exports, imports, foreign direct investment, international subcontracting and international technical cooperation - and reviews 26 separate sectors.
The percentage of international SMEs is the highest in the wholesale trade, mining, manufacturing and the sale of motor vehicles. Within services, the sector “research” scores very highly. Sectors of activity with the highest share of exporting SMEs are mining (58%), manufacturing (56%), the wholesale trade (54%), research (54%), sales of motor vehicles (53%), renting (39%) and transport and communication (39%). The survey is available at the following address: http: //ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/market-access/internationalisation/index_en.htm. (E.H./transl.jl)