A Comparison of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Europe and in the USA by Karmel Solomon;Bryon Justin;

Author:Karmel, Solomon;Bryon, Justin;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2011-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

Government procurement opportunities

SMEs are often barred from government procurement contracts. SBA, in common with the European Commission, has been promoting greater access by SMEs to these contracts. Government also benefits from greater competition. In addition to access, the agency has also been promoting the concept of prompt payment.

Summing up the US case

It cannot be said that the US is extremely coherent in its policy, or far more coherent than Europe. The SBA alone hosts a hodgepodge of programmes, ranging from managerial advisory work (e.g. the Service Corps of Retired Executives, or SCORE, which helps over 12,000 people provide advice in almost 400 chapters around the country) to VC-style support. But the majority of the work described above, besides guaranteeing or providing small commercial loans and buying some tiny equity investments, focuses on open administration and open access to information. In terms of real VC work, during the election year 2000, President Clinton proposed only $2.5 billion in venture capital assistance under the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) programmes, plus $150 million for new market venture capital companies, and $30 million in technical assistance.9 Equity and debt investments for 1999 were similar, with the majority of the direct financial assistance granted to businesses in the form of loans or loan guarantees.

Table 4.2 SBA loans and loan guarantees (1999)

And it should be noted again that a focus on the SBA highlights financial support efforts that are not central to most of what the US government does for small businesses. The work of more powerful organisations than the SBA, such as the SEC or Justice Department, is de-emphasised here. At a macro-level (looking at the government’s annual budget of more than $1 trillion), financial support is very low, the SBA budget is very small (less than $1 billion in operating expenses), and ‘strategic planning’ generally is not a particularly prominent aspect of what the US government does.

Closing this section, a chronology of US SME policy is provided below.10

See Table

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