SMEs-small, but significant in international trade

摘要

SMEs constitute the vast majority of enterprises in Europe. The companies of up to 250 employees, the usual definition of SMEs in Europe, make up 99.8 percent of the approximately 19 million enterprises of the European Union.What is more important, 93 percent of companies are micro-enterprises having less than 10 employees. Micro-enterprises provide 35 percent of the total employment in the European Union (EU), ahead of large companies that employ 34 percent of the total. Even more significantly, micro-enterprises have added employment during the last 10 years up to 2000, while all other segments of enterprises have shed employees. Significant numbers of micro-enterprises have also grown into small enterprises (10 to 49 employees) between 1993 and 2000.