Policy Handbook
SME POLICY EFFECTIVENESS IN JORDAN USER GUIDE 1: REINFORCING SME POLICY CO-ORDINATION AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE DIALOGUE
The project “SME Policy Effectiveness in Jordan,� implemented by the OECD and the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation from 2016-19 helped to improve SME and entrepreneurship policy making by reinforcing institutional co-ordination and dialogue, advocating for better monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes, and identifying ways to improve business and entrepreneurship statistics. Three User Guides are the main outputs of the project: User Guide 1: Reinforcing SME policy co-ordination and public-private dialogue gives guidance on how to orchestrate efforts among the many actors providing SME support. User Guide 2: Effective monitoring and evaluation of SME and entrepreneurship policies and programmes provides advice on how to assess the impact of SME support. User Guide 3: SME statistics and entrepreneurship indicators in Jordan offers useful guidance on how to improve the evidence base for SME policy making. The User Guides build on international practice and provide concrete areas of action for Jordan, but can also be of interest to other countries wanting to improve the effectiveness of their SME policy making. The project was funded by the MENA Transition Fund and was implemented jointly by the Global Relations Secretariat; the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities; and the Statistics and Data Directorate of the OECD. www.oecd.org/mena/competitiveness/smes-and-entrepreneurship www.oecd.org/cfe www.oecd.org/sdd
SME POLICY EFFECTIVENESS IN JORDAN . USER GUIDE 1
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs have the potential to become important drivers of change and development in Jordan. Private businesses employing one to nineteen people account for over half of employment in the business economy and from 70 to 80% of jobs in sectors such as professional services, real estate, and wholesale and retail. Yet, the productivity and performance of Jordanian SMEs is limited. For example, over 54% of those working in service-sector businesses employing fewer than four people are unpaid workers (e.g. family members), compared to just 8% in businesses with 5 to 10 workers, and 0.23% of businesses with 20 or more workers.
SME Policy Effectiveness in Jordan User Guide 1: Reinforcing SME policy co-ordination and public-private dialogue