Over the past few years, Argentina has been in a process of major policy reforms aimed at stabilising the economy and laying the foundations for better living standards. Those efforts have included the upgrading of SME and entrepreneurship policy as an important mechanism for a sustainable and inclusive economy. This report notes that there is a rich offer of support schemes for SMEs and entrepreneurs. The analysis also points to the good performance in access to finance, especially in terms of the regulatory environment and the availability of alternative sources of funds. Argentina could build on those achievements and use SME policy as a strategic tool to achieve wider national goals such as creating employment, increasing productivity and enhancing living standards. The results of this report note that Argentina could benefit from further strengthening the framework for SME policymaking, improving the business environment and strengthening innovation in SMEs.

Chile places SME and entrepreneurship support as an important element of its economic policy agenda and its efforts to achieve a more diversified and competitive economy. It has in place a number of good international practices in terms of business development services, supporting SME innovation and productive transformation. This is reflected in a policy performance consistently above the regional average. As it moves from a productive transformation-oriented approach to a more horizontal approach aimed at improving the general business environment and reducing barriers to enterprise entry and competition, Chile could benefit from a number of initiatives. It could consider integrating closer dialogue with the private sector to identify and address the main barriers to SME development. It could also develop more detailed and integrated strategic frameworks on business and entrepreneurial development services and on innovation. Chile could also improve the legal and regulatory framework for access to finance and increase public knowledge about the benefits of regional integration connected to existing FTAs and corresponding business opportunities.

Colombia performs relatively well in this first SME Policy Index assessment focusing on Latin America, outperforming the LA7 average across the majority of the assessment dimensions. SME strategic orientations for the period covered by this assessment were defined in the framework of the country’s National Development Plan 2014-18, as well as its Productive Development Policy 2016-2025 (CONPES Document 3866 of 2016), and supported by a well-established “National SME Support System”, which includes institutionalised mechanisms for public-private consultation, and specific programmes targeted to subjects such as productive transformation and innovation.Going forward, while the country does have a large existing SME support offer and a relatively strong planning and design culture, Colombia could consider a re-assessment of its existing strategic documents and institutional organisation related to SME development, prioritising the clear definition of roles and responsibilities; integration of measurable, impact-oriented KPIs; and clearer communication of the integrated support offer. The changing of political administrations in the country, which took place at the close of this assessment, offers a particularly timely moment to consider these possible next steps.

Ecuador currently seeks to implement SME policy both as an instrument to achieve productive transformation and as a tool for social promotion. While this approach has a rationale rooted in the country’s particular development challenges, in practice, effectively managing these two separate objectives is a challenging task. In order to effectively advance these dual priorities, Ecuador should consider the development of an integrated SME strategy and redesign its policy implementation framework accordingly to improve the targeting of policy actions and devote substantially more resources to SME development. Actions oriented to business development services (BDS) and the promotion of innovation and technology are particularly lacking, with even existing initiatives threatened by ongoing budget cuts in place since 2016. Furthermore, while a government-wide monitoring and evaluation system does exist, current strategies lack specific, performance-oriented key performance indicators (KPIs) and most programmatic information remains internal to the government, leading to information gaps concerning the public support already readily available.

Mexico has continuously worked to develop its SME policy since the establishment of initial institutions and support programmes in the early 2000s. Alongside that process, Mexico has undertaken two in-depth SME policy reviews (in 2007 and 2013, through the OECD Working Party on SME and Entrepreneurship) that have helped to identify important areas of reform. Those efforts have contributed to Mexico’s good performance in this first SME Policy Index assessment focusing on Latin America. Mexico is currently at a crucial point in defining its strategic orientations for both overall economic development and SME development, as the new administration is in the process of elaborating the new national plan of economic development and the new strategy for SMEs. Going forward, the country could consider a closer involvement of INADEM (the SME agency) and other public agencies in the implementation of SME support programmes, re-assessing the current call-for-proposal based programme delivery system and identifying opportunities to expand co-operation with the private sector. At the same time, efforts should be continued to develop partnerships with state and local administrations.

This first OECD SME Policy Index assessment of Peru demonstrates that the country has a solidly developing range of programmes and initiatives in place to support SME development; indeed, beyond general SME development support, these efforts include targeted, often pilot, programmatic efforts to support productivity-enhancing measures for SMEs. However, Peru consistently falls below the LA7 average across this assessment’s dimensions, demonstrating room for peer learning. Overall, Peru could consider a reassessment of its existing strategic documents and institutional organisation related to SME development, with a view to strengthening the linkages between strategic orientations and programme implementation and more clearly monitoring and evaluating SME policy efforts. Alongside these actions, Peru should continue prioritising the improvement of its business environment.

Uruguay performs relatively well in this assessment, outperforming the LA7 average for the assessment dimensions related to business and entrepreneurial development services (Dimension 4) and access to market and internationalisation (Dimension 7). This is due to the large offer of SME support services currently available in Uruguay for these dimensions, as well as their delivery by specialised agencies. However, Uruguay never reaches the level of a top LA7 performer, demonstrating room for peer learning, especially in the area of access to finance (Dimension 3).While Uruguay does not have an explicit SME strategy, it is in the process of linking its SME support programmes to the country’s First National Plan for Productive Transformation and Competitiveness (2017-2021). It has made good progress in the strategy elaboration and planning phase, but is still in an ongoing phase of developing a new institutional architecture to support the implementation of this Plan and strengthening it through the introduction of effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms.