SME numbers hit record 1.33 million in Taiwan

2014-09-17

The number of small and medium enterprises in Taiwan reached a record 1.33 million last year, comprising 97.64 percent of firms nationwide, according to Ministry of Economic Affairs Sept. 12.

“Taiwan’s SMEs also accounted for 78.3 percent, or 8.59 million, of the workforce,” an MOEA official said. “These healthy numbers underscore the significance of stable and prosperous SME development as the country’s economic baseline.”

But SME revenues inched down 0.53 percent from 2012 to NT$11.32 trillion (US$375.7 billion), a decline attributed by the MOEA to the growth in business scale of many of the firms covered in the 2013 survey. “This phenomenon is reflected in substantial export hikes posted by large enterprises during the same period,” the official said.

Although services industry SMEs saw particularly strong performances last year, recording growth in domestic and overseas revenues, original equipment manufacturers remain the local sector’s mainstay. The latter boasts strengths in transnational production and management, as well as utilizing personal networks to source orders.

The MOEA has various policies in place to sustain SME development, including financing and investment, localization and internationalization, R&D, and startups and incubation. In addition, it is working to upgrade Taiwan SME manufacturing capabilities as a way of expanding the footprint of the local sector in emerging and mature markets.

“Some of the measures on the table are reindustrialization through bringing high-end manufacturing capacities back to Taiwan and tapping business opportunities created by the development of cutting-edge technologies,” the official said.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=221666&CtNode=413)