A Study on Inclusive Growth on APEC Economies: Focusing on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)

The latest development model, known as “inclusive growth,” is a practical solution to current issues: wealth gap, income inequality, severe environmental pollution, and waste of resources. APEC promotes inclusive growth with different initiatives and frameworks to strike a balance between economic and sustainable development. This paper explores and examines SMEs as potential sources for APEC member economies’ inclusive growth as SMEs contribute about 20 percent to 50 percent of GDP in most APEC economies. However, SMEs only account for 35 percent or less of direct exports. This shows that there is some room for improvement in SME’s contribution to international trade. In this regard, SMEs have been APEC’s focus for inclusive growth with advancing youth and women’s engagement to economic activity. Youth has been a significant part of APEC’s agenda since 1998. Women have been listed as an important agenda in APEC since 1999 and listed as one of four priority areas of APEC in 2019. Youth and women are often referred to as economically vulnerable groups. However, if they are empowered with adequate policies and practices, they can generate individual income and develop successful small and mediumsized businesses. In this regard, we examine definitions and current status of SMEs in APEC member economies, explore good policies and practices regarding the subject and provide recommendations for future policies and practices for these cross-cutting issues in APEC.