New European Commission study on internationalisation of European SMEs is online

The study maps the level of internationalisation of European SMEs and identifies the main barriers and advantages of internationalisation. According to the study, there is a direct link between internationalisation and increased SMEs performance.

25 percent of EU 27 SMEs export or have exported at some point during the last three years. Internationally active SMEs report an employment growth of 7 percent whereas the figure stood at 1 percent for those without any international activities. There is also a strong relationship between internationalisation and innovation. 26 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 percent. However, international activities are mostly geared towards other countries inside the internal market and only about 13 percent of EU SMEs are active in markets outside the EU.
The highest percentage of internationalised SMEs is found in wholesale trade, mining, manufacturing and sale of motor vehicles. Within services, the sector 'research' scores very highly. The study also provides some recommendations for SME Policy Support:

• awareness and use of public support programmes need to be promoted;
• easier access to support measures for micro firms: they are the ones that need and would benefit more from support programmes;
• innovation and internationalisation are closely related. This strongly suggests the coordination of policy measures aimed at stimulating innovation and internationalisation or even merge the agencies that implement these two types of policies;
• import is a stepping stone to export. Public support programmes should take this fact into account.

The study and tables of survey results by sector, SME seize and country are available on DG Enterprise and Industry website http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/market-access/internationalisation/index_en.htm.