• Home
• NZ Economic Development
• Small & Medium Enterprises
• Structure and Dynamics
• Archive
• Structure and Dynamics - 2002
• SMEs Internationally

• Small & Medium Enterprises

• Structure and Dynamics

• Archive

• Structure and Dynamics - 2007
• Structure and Dynamics - 2006
• Structure and Dynamics - 2005
• Structure and Dynamics - 2004
• Structure and Dynamics - 2003
• Structure and Dynamics - 2002
• Structure and Dynamics - 2001
• Structure and Dynamics - 2000
• Structure and Dynamics - 1999

SMEs generally account for 95% of enterprises and 60-70% of employment in most economies

SMEs form a significant component of modern economies, both in terms of the number of firms in an economy and their contribution to a country's employment level.

When defined as firms with fewer than 500 employees, SMEs generally constitute around 95 percent of enterprises and account for 60 to 70 percent of employment.²¹

Table 8 gives an overall level of employment comparison between selected countries, using Internationally defined size categories.

Table 8: Distribution of Establishments, Persons Employed and Production by Size Class

Note: Enterprises for: New Zealand, Sweden, Finland and Italy

Source: http://www.oecd.org/doc/M00021000/M00021591.doc page 32 (except New Zealand statistics, supplied by Statistics New Zealand).

The New Zealand manufacturing sector shows a higher proportion of SMEs than most other countries

The OECD also collects statistics on the significance of SMEs in the manufacturing sector. This sector comprises 9 percent of all enterprises in New Zealand, accounting for 18.5 percent of all FTEs.

As illustrated in table 9, the New Zealand manufacturing sector has a higher proportion of SMEs than most other countries, with 90.6 percent of enterprises employing 1-19 FTEs. This compares with an average of 70.5 percent for the countries considered in table 9. Correspondingly, the percentage of total employment generated by SMEs in New Zealand is significantly higher than average, with New Zealand (27.3 percent) recording the second highest proportion, behind Italy (38.7 percent).

New Zealand manufacturers have the lowest average number of employees

Table 10 shows the average size of establishments/enterprises by employment size class for the manufacturing sector. The average size of a New Zealand manufacturer in the 1-19 FTE size class is the lowest of all countries considered in the table, at only 3.8. For the three larger size groups, New Zealand firms have an average size close to or larger than the average of all countries considered. However, overall, New Zealand manufacturers record the lowest average number of employees, reflecting the predominance of small firms in the Industry.

Table 9: Size Distribution of Manufacturing Industry²²

Note: Statistical unit - establishment except for the United States, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal (enterprises). Size classes differ: Canada, New Zealand: 0-19; Mexico: 1-15, 16-100; Norway: 1-19, 20-99, 100-199, 200+; Czech Republic: 0-24; 25-99.

Source: OECD, Small Business, Job Creation and Growth: Facts, Obstacles and Best Practices (Paris: OECD, 1997), Table 1.1.

Table 10: Average Establishments by Employment Size Class - Manufacturing

Note: Statistical unit - establishment, except United States, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal. Size classes vary across countries: Canada, New Zealand: 0-19; Japan: 4-19; Mexico: 1-19, 20-99, 100-199, 200+; Turkey: 10-19.

Source: OECD, Small Business, Job Creation and Growth: Facts, Obstacles and Best Practices (Paris: OECD, 1997), from Table 1.3a.

²¹OECD, Small Business, Job Creation and Growth: Facts, Obstacles and Best Practices (Paris: OECD, 1997). SMEs defined as those firms with fewer than 500 employees.

²²Whilst we acknowledge that the data for Tables 9 and 10 is not up to date, this data is the next most readily available.