This publication presents the report of the OECD country review of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and entrepreneurship policy in the Slovak Republic. It was prepared at the request of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic and undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. It forms part of the series of OECD Country Reviews on SME and Entrepreneurship Policy undertaken by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. In addition to the Slovak Republic, country reviews have covered Canada, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, the Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam.

This report examines how government policy in the Slovak Republic can stimulate growth-oriented entrepreneurship and develop more innovative and internationalised SMEs. It covers SME and entrepreneurship characteristics and performance in the Slovak Republic, the business environment, the policy formulation and delivery framework, national programmes, the regional dimension of SME and entrepreneurship policy, SME digitalisation, and the role of inclusive entrepreneurship policies in supporting the labour market integration of the Roma population.

This chapter presents the overall assessment and recommendations of the OECD review of SME and entrepreneurship policy in the Slovak Republic. It summarises the key messages of the report. It covers SME and entrepreneurship performance, the business environment for SMEs and entrepreneurship, the strategic framework and delivery arrangements for policy, national SME and entrepreneurship policies and programmes, the local dimension of SME and entrepreneurship policy, SME digitalisation, and entrepreneurship for the Roma population.

This chapter describes the structure and performance of SME and entrepreneurship activity in the Slovak Republic. It describes the number of firms, employment and value added distribution by firm size class. It reports progress on key business demography indicators, including firm entry and exit, churn rate, and occurrence of high-growth enterprises. It describes levels of SME productivity, internationalisation, and innovation. It also covers attitudes towards entrepreneurship and spatial disparities in SME and entrepreneurship rates across the Slovak Republic. The chapter identifies policy priorities based on this assessment.

This chapter describes the strengths and weaknesses of the business environment for SMEs and entrepreneurs in the Slovak Republic. It first considers macroeconomic conditions in the Slovak Republic, and then provides a description of the regulatory environment, followed by the innovation system. This chapter also describes education and skills that are relevant for SMEs and entrepreneurship, and investigates issues related to infrastructure policy, as well as the tax system for SMEs and the access to finance environment. The chapter also describes the environment for foreign direct investment and trade. It concludes with policy recommendations related to the business environment.

This chapter assesses the strategic framework and delivery arrangements for SME and entrepreneurship policy in the Slovak Republic. It examines the key strategic documents setting out SME and entrepreneurship policies and programmes, the co-ordination of the policy across different government actors, and consultation and dialogue on policy development with the private sector. It also examines the policy mix or portfolio of SME and entrepreneurship interventions as indicated by the budgets by type of intervention and policy target group. The chapter discusses monitoring and evaluation arrangements for SME and entrepreneurship policies and programmes. It also examines arrangements for delivery of policy support to SMEs and entrepreneurs, including the key policy delivery organisations and the accessibility of SMEs and entrepreneurs to public support. Policy recommendations are offered in all of these areas.

This chapter assesses SME and entrepreneurship development programmes in the Slovak Republic. The programme areas covered are business development services, innovation, internationalisation, entrepreneurship training, SME skills development, access to finance, public procurement and inclusive entrepreneurship.

This chapter assesses differences in regional conditions for entrepreneurship and SME development within the Slovak Republic and the regional-level policies aimed at supporting development in the whole country. It assesses regional conditions for SME and entrepreneurship development and considers current arrangements for the tailoring of SME and entrepreneurship policies to different regional needs. A number of policy recommendations are proposed.

This chapter assesses policies to support the adoption of digital technologies by SMEs in the Slovak Republic. It assesses the current level of digital development by SMEs in the Slovak Republic and identifies strong and weak points compared with other countries. It also assesses existing Slovak Government interventions to enable SMEs and entrepreneurs to digitalise, including measures to support SMEs that are already innovative and digitally-attuned as well as those that lag behind.It formulates a number of policy recommendations.

This chapter explores how policy measures for self-employment and social entrepreneurship can help support labour market integration among the Roma community in the Slovak Republic. It shows that the Roma community has low participation in self-employment in the formal economy and explores the reasons. It examines current policies to support Roma people in business creation and self-employment and the barriers they encounter when seeking to access government entrepreneurship-related supports. It also examines the potential for social enterprises to provide a pathway to labour market attachment for the Roma population. It offers a series of policy proposals.