Strategies of the Development of Entrepreneurship and SME

enterprises. According to TURKSTAT, the total number of enterprises in Turkey in 2003 was1.720.598. Out of them, the number of enterprises operating in manufacturing industry wasaround 246.899 in 2003, and increased up to 280.000 in 2005. The increase in number ofenterprises was about 3% annually. Based on 2005 figures of the Statistical Institute, -takingthose enterprises employing up to 250 workers into account-, SMEs operating in themanufacturing industry employ 922,715 people. SMEs constitute % 99.63 of all the enterprisesin the manufacturing industry, and they account for 55.65% of employment in this sector.Manufacturing enterprises constitute 14.35 %, while commercial ones make up 46.19 % of allenterprises.Distribution of manufacturing industry establishments by scale is given in Table 29.Almost 90% of the manufacturing industry is composed of micro scale establishments with 1-9persons engaged and their ratio is approximately 27.6% in total employment. The secondlargest portion is 8.24% collected by establishments with 10-49 persons engaged. In addition,except the establishments with 1 person (owner), for each range of number of workers, theamount of establishments is less than 1000.Distribution of Manufacturing IndustryTable 29.Number of Number ofworkers EstablishmentsEstablishments (%) Employment (%)1 (Owner) 1,509 0.611 – 9 220,030 89.1227.610 – 49 20,325 8.24 20.950 – 99 2,453 0.99100 – 150 946 0.3834.9151 – 250 719 0.29250 + 917 0.37 30.5Total 246,899 100Source: Special Report on SMEsAs directly or indirectly indicated in several plans such as Medium Term Plan 2008-2010,SME Strategy and Action Plan, Ninth Five Year Development Plan, etc., the basic targets of SMEpolicies are to increase the productivity of the sector, its share in total value added and itsinternational competitiveness. To realize this aim, Turkey has implemented several policies indifferent areas. In financial area, it has been aimed to increase the share of SME credits withinthe total credit volume of the banking system and to strengthen institutional capacity in thefield of venture capital (VC), finance investment partnerships, and real estate investmentpartnerships in order to enable SMEs to use these modern financial instruments. In nonfinancialarea, it has aimed to increase the effectiveness of support by means of developingcommunication and interaction between service providers and SMEs, and professionalorganizations representing SMEs. Furthermore, greatest importance lies in strengthening of theinstitutional capacities and partnership skills of all service providers, public institutions andorganizations and professional organizations, in order to deliver higher quality services to ahigher number of SMEs. In addition, concentrate supports have been implemented in the areasof training, consultancy and R&D directed to the development of the technologicalinfrastructure of firms. To achieve these aims, several steps have been taken, such as with thecontribution of all the related institutions, a web portal 47 was published to provide the SMEswith necessary information on the best practices, strategic road map application has beeninitiated by Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) to give an insightabout how to conduct business in the medium term, Technological Development Centers47www.kobi.gov.tr128