2015 SBA Fact Sheet Turkey

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Internal market, industry,

2015 SBA Fact Sheet

Turkey

Key Points

Past & future SME performance: Since 2009, SMEs have fully participated in the upswing of the Turkish economy. Until 2012, their total value added and employment grew by almost 28 % and 35 % respectively, even though their number only increased by approximately 6 %. From 2013 to 2014, registrations of new firms increased by more than 16 %, from around 109 000 to around 127 000. Real GDP is expected to grow by 7 % until the end of 2016. Thus, further growth in SME employment and value added can be expected.

Implementing the SBA: The SBA profile of Turkey is balanced. The performance on most principles is broadly within the EU average. Entrepreneurship stands out on the positive side. Only in ‘responsive administration’ is the performance slightly below the EU average. Overall, since 2008 the country has kept a stable SBA profile. The SME Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2018) and the Entrepreneurship Strategy and Action Plan (2 015-2018), waiting for final approval, address several SBA principles. Recently, few significant policy measures were implemented, concerning entrepreneurship and access to finance.

SME Policy priorities: Regarding skills, the gap between SME needs and available skilled labour needs to be addressed. Vocational training and higher education programmes will be indispensable to bridge this gap. In general, various policy measures need to address 'traditional' SMEs and not just highly innovative ones. There is room for improvement in coordination among public bodies in implementing the SBA. Administrative requirements related to trade (customs documents) are still too burdensome. SMEs would also benefit from enhanced support for their internationalisation, such as training and coaching.

About the SBA Fact Sheets

The Small Business Act for Europe (SBA) is the EU’s flagship policy initiative to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It comprises a set of policy measures organised around 10 principles ranging from entrepreneurship and ‘responsive administration’ to internationalisation. To improve the governance of the SBA, the 2011 review of it called for better monitoring. The SBA fact sheets, published annually, aim to improve the understanding of recent trends and national policies affecting SMEs. Since 2011, each EU Member State has appointed a high-ranking government official as its national SME envoy. SME envoys spearhead the implementation of the SBA agenda in their countries.

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1. SMEs – basic figures

Number of enterprises Number of persons employed Value added

Turkey EU28 Turkey EU28 Turkey EU28

Number Share Share Number Share Share Billion € Share Share

Micro ₂₃₆₂₉₉₅ 97.0% 92.7 % 5 312 800 45.2 % 29.2 % 33 20.5 % 21.1 % Small ₄₈₂₂₉ _2.0_% _6.1_% ₁₄₉₁₉₉₅ _12.7_% _20.4_% ₂₀ _12.8_% _18.2_% Medium-sized ₂₀₆₉₂ _0.8_% _1.0_% ₂₀₇₂₄₄₈ _17.6_% _17.2_% 33 20.6 % 18.5 % SMEs ₂₄₃₁₉₁₆ _99.8_% _99.8_% ₈₈₇₇₂₄₃ _75.5_% _66.9_% ₈₆ _53.9_% _57.8_% Large ₃₈₅₈ _0.2_% _0.2_% ₂₈₇₉₇₁₂ _24.5_% _33.1_% ₇₄ _46.1_% _42.2_% Total ₂₄₃₅₇₇₄ _100.0_% _100.0_% ₁₁₇₅₆₉₅₅ _100.0_% _100.0_% ₁₆₀ _100.0_% _100.0_%

These are data for 2012 provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute and Eurostat (Structural Business Statistics Database) and were processed by DIW Econ. The data cover the 'non-financial business economy', which includes industry, construction, trade, and services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to J, L, M and N), but not enterprises in agriculture, forestry and fisheries and the largely non-market service sectors such as education and health. The advantage of using Eurostat data is that the statistics are harmonised and comparable across countries. The disadvantage is that for some countries the data may be different from those published by national authorities. Please note that the size class definition of the Turkish data differs from the Eurostat data as micro enterprises are defined as enterprises with 1 to 19 persons employed (Eurostat: 0-9) and small enterprises as enterprises with 20 to 49 persons employed (Eurostat: 10-49). Therefore, comparability between the national and the European data is limited regarding micro and small enterprises. However, the comparison between SMEs as a group and large enterprises is not affected.

SMEs are an important driver of the Turkish ‘non-financial business economy’, providing 3 out of 4 jobs and producing more than half of the country's value added. Most SMEs operate in the wholesale and retail trade sector, accounting for roughly one third of SME employment and roughly one third of SME value added. In terms of value added, the same is true for the manufacturing sector, which however accounts for about a quarter of SME employment.

Since 2009, SMEs have fully benefitted from the upswing of the Turkish economy. Until 2012, their total value added and employment grew by around 28 % and 35 % respectively, even though the number of SMEs only increased by approximately 6 %.

The accommodation and food service sector is among the sectors with strong growth in employment and value added.

Since the crisis, employment in SMEs in this sector has risen by around 45 %, with an even bigger increase of 72 % in value added. This positive development has been mainly driven by further growth in the tourism industry. The number of visitors rose from 27 million in 2009 to 32 million in 2012, an increase of 17%.1_{However, national consumption changed as well. An}

increase of 15 % in consumer confidence encouraged a change in consumption patterns.2_{Out-of-home consumption has}

increased from 5.2 % in 2009 to 5.8 % in 2012.3

Traditionally, internal demand is the main driver of Turkish economic performance. Therefore, the wholesale and retail trade sector plays a key role. Since 2009, value added of SMEs in this sector has grown by 25 % and employment by 10 %. However, the wholesale and retail trade sector is changing, focusing more on large shopping malls and retail chains. This restructuring is

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also the result of a rise in national credit card ownership and an increase in per capita income.4_{Consequently, value added of}

micro-firms dropped, while it has grown in all other size classes.5

Large businesses are growing the fastest. It will be essential for SMEs to adopt new e-commerce strategies and to keep up with more sophisticated customer demand.6,7

The positive economic trend is mirrored in the number of newly registered firms. From 2013 to 2014, registrations have increased by more than 16 %, from 108 930 to 126 635.In the same period, only 39 051 businesses have deregistered.8_While

2014 numbers cannot be compared to the amount of deregistration in 2013, when all inactive companies had to deregister,terminations in 2014 were still 80 % below the level of 2012.9_{Hence, not only did registrations increase, but at the}

same time, the number of deregistrations fell. On a yearly basis, since 2009, new registrations have consistently outnumbered company deregistrations, resulting in a cumulative increase of 227 629 newly registered businesses.

In 2014, the wholesale and retail trade and the construction sector were once again the main drivers of start-up activities. With 22 281 newly registered businesses in the construction sector and 32 981 in wholesale and retail trade, these two sectors accounted for almost 45 % of all newly registered firms. Both sectors have profited from increased internal demand, particularly due to the growing appreciation of real estate as a safe investment option by the private sector. Moreover, the demand for construction activities is also fuelled by consistent housing demand and high, continuing public spending on infrastructure.10

Along the lines of GDP growth of almost 24 % from 2008 to 2014, real GDP is expected to grow by 7 % until the end of 2016.11_{Given that the economy is dominated by SMEs, which}

have fully participated in the recent economic upswing, further growth in SME employment and value added can be expected.

2. SBA profile

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The SBA profile of Turkey is balanced, with performance in most areas being broadly within the EU average. Entrepreneurship stands out on the positive side. Only on ‘responsive administration’ is the performance slightly below the EU average. Some data are missing, thus overall results need to be interpreted with caution. The country has kept a stable SBA profile since 2008.

In 2014 and the first quarter of 2015, which is the reference period of this fact sheet, Turkey has implemented 3 policy measures addressing 2 out of the 10 policy areas under the Small Business Act: entrepreneurship and access to finance. In addition, one measure was announced in the SBA area of internationalisation. The new networking platform ‘Borsa Istanbul Private Market’ was established within the stock

exchange entity ‘Borsa Istanbul’, acting as a networking platform for entrepreneurs and investors. The newly adopted ‘Technological Products Investment Support Programme’ provides investment in technological products arising from R&D activities. The ‘Technology Transfer Accelerator’ was set up as well, targeting the development of SMEs, spin-offs, and firms located in technology development zones. No progress was made in the areas ‘second chance’, ‘think small first’, ‘responsive administration’, state aid & public procurement, single market, skills & innovation, and environment. In these seven SBA areas, no significant new measures were either implemented or announced.

An interesting envisaged measure is the ‘International Incubation Centre’ programme, which was announced after the 28th

meeting of the Supreme Council of Science and Technology on January 6th_{, 2015. KOSGEB, the Turkish Exporters Assembly}

(TIM), and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) are responsible for its implementation. It is expected to facilitate access to international markets for technology firms. In this context, KOSGEB started a study to analyse the best way to realize such a centre. It is expected to help design a support model in the near future. The study benefited from country experiences with the USA, Singapore, and KOSGEB’s 20 year experience in running Technology Development Centers.

The government has not adopted a comprehensive national strategy for implementing the SBA. However, the Prime Minister's circular of June 5, 2011 addresses the SBA and requests all governmental organizations to take its principles into account for any policies, programmes, and measures related to SMEs.

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Two strategic plans, the SME Strategy and Action Plan 2018) and the Entrepreneurship Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2018) are being prepared and waiting for approval of the High Planning Council (chaired by the Prime Minister). These strategic plans address various SBA principles. It is also worthwhile mentioning the new Turkish Industrial Strategy Document (2015-2018). It was implemented after approval by the High Planning Council decision. This strategy includes amongst others SME-specific actions.

In the context of innovation and research, one of the main strategic targets of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy (2011-2016) approved by the Supreme Council for Science and Technology (SCST) is to invigorate the role of SMEs within the National Innovation System and to integrate more SMEs into R&D. Futhermore, the SCST adopted three decrees regarding entrepreneurship and SMEs aiming at developing policy tools to activate and increase the number of R&D intensive start-ups, developing policy tools to trigger innovation and entrepreneurship in universities, and to promote an entrepreneurial culture.

Several government agencies put in place measures directly affecting SMEs. Among them, the Small and Medium Enterprises

Development Organization (KOSGEB) and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) are the two main institutions managing programmes targeting SMEs. KOSGEB is the coordinating agency in charge of SME policies. It also prepares and coordinates the SME Strategy and Action Plan in cooperation with public and private stakeholders. TÜBİTAK is currently developing and implementing policies aimed at creating new technology based firms (NTBF) and the improvement of innovation skills.

One of the main barriers to the implementation of the SBA is the suboptimal coordination between different public agencies. Furthermore, impact assessments are not implemented systematically. However, overall, it can be considered that the government policies and measures for 2014 (in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy) are aligned with the expectations of the SME sector and the SBA principles. Nonetheless, SME stakeholders underline the limited number of measures implemented and SBA areas addressed. While the R&D related, technology-based SMEs are the main target of these new measures, there are few which address the SBA areas of skills & innovation and state aid & public procurement for 'traditional' SMEs.

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SBA performance of Turkey: state of play and development from 2008 to 2015

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3. SBA principles

14 3.0 ‘Think Small First’

The 'think small first' principle is meant to be a guiding principle for all and law-making activities. It requires policy-makers to take SME interests into account at the early stages of the policy-making process. The principle also calls for newly designed legislation, administrative rules and procedures to be made simple and easy to apply.

In the reference period, no specific new measures were adopted or implemented. The policy consultation process is effectively utilised in the preparation of the SME Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2018). Its draft is awaiting approval by the High Planning Council.

As regards the process of adopting new laws, SME stakeholders are consulted through working committees and on-line and offline mechanisms. The views expressed by them are checked against the governmental priorities. Thereafter, a common

ground is sought to implement as many of the SME stakeholders' proposals as possible.

Impact assessment on competitiveness is not conducted when preparing new legislative proposals, and Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA) are not systematically implemented. Although there is the legislative base for the RIA (i.e.e the Prime Minister’s circular of 2007 and guidelines for implementation), only a few such assessments have been conducted until now. The project ‘Introducing Regulatory Impact Analysis into the Turkish Legal Framework’ already carried out a pilot analysis in 2010, but a follow-up to this would be helpful to sustain the RIA approach in the Turkish administration.15

The ‘SME test’ is not implemented. The draft SME Strategy and Action Plan contains the ‘SME test’, however.. After the approval of the plan, the test can be systematically and regularly implemented by the relevant public body.

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Another requirement of the SBA that still needs to be tackled is common commencement dates, as they are not yet used. The legislative process is based on a coherent and consistent approach. Revisions and amendments are reviewed as part of this process. There are sunset clauses in some pieces of legislation. If needed, this legislation can be amended as appropriate to extend its validity.

The implementation and enforcement of existing laws are managed at central governmental level. Controls and inspections can be cumbersome, especially for SMEs. Financial auditing services, as well as consultancy services for different areas (environment etc.) are available, but may be costly and not easily accessible for SMEs.

3.1 Entrepreneurship

Turkey scores well above the EU average on entrepreneurship, which is also its best performing area. Since 2008, the country has maintained this strong profile. A significant improvement was achieved in entrepreneurial intentions, which went up from around 14.7% to 28% from 2012 to 2013. Contrary to that, during the same period deterioration occurred in early stage entrepreneurial activity (down from 12% to 10%), in established business ownership rate (down from 8.7% to 5.7%), and also in media attention (down from 57% to 53%). The rest of the indicators remained mostly unchanged. Remarkable are the excellent scores in terms of school education having helped develop entrepreneurial potential. Such education significantly enhances entrepreneurial intentions.

On the policy side, the government has paid significant attention to this area. In the reference period, one important new measure

was implemented. The platform ‘Borsa Istanbul Private Market’ was established as a member-based web platform, aimed at giving entrepreneurs and investors the possibility to buy and sell shares of firms without being listed. The platform operates alongside the existing markets within the stock exchange 'Borsa Istanbul' and connects start-ups and fast growing companies with business angel investors, offering them access to equity financing and liquidity facilities. In the long run, the main beneficiaries of the initiative are expected to be SMEs, as they will have easier access to funding without being subject to the restrictions of the Capital Markets Board, which is the financial regulatory and supervisory agency of Turkey for capital markets.

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3.2 ‘Second chance’

‘Second chance' refers to ensuring that honest entrepreneurs who have gone bankrupt get a second chance quickly. Turkey is on a par with the EU average in this area. Compared to last year and the beginning of the SBA in 2008, the overall picture remained stable. The performance in terms of cost and time to resolve a bankrupt company is still below the EU average,

whereas the population fears failure less and failed entrepreneurs are more encouraged to restart a business than their EU peers.

In the reference period, no new measures were taken.

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3.3 ‘Responsive administration’

'Responsive administration' refers to public administration being responsive to the needs of the SMEs. In this area, Turkey scores under the EU average. This is also its least performing one. However, the overall score is mostly pulled down by the indicator relating to the relatively low share of Turkish SMEs that interact online with public authorities. However, the most recent corresponding data available on this specific indicator is from 2010,.. On the policy side, a lot of effort has in the meantime been put into electronic infrastructure, thus it is expected that new scores will present the country in a better light. For example, online filing systems for tax returns, the social security

system, pensions, cadastre, public procurement, company registration, VAT declaration, and environmental permissions are already in place. The other indicators remain mostly unchanged, with the exception of the paid-in minimum capital, which was from 2014 to 2015 reduced from 13.2% to 12.1% of income per capita. Overall, Turkey has slightly improved in this area since 2008.

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3.4 State aid & public procurement

There is no sufficient data available for Turkey in this domain, so drawing general conclusions on its performance is not possible. One can however see that the country performs above the EU average in terms of the average payment delays of public authorities, which are shorter in Turkey than in the EU. However, compared to last year, this average national delay has risen from 11 to 12 days, while the EU average has slightly improved. On the policy side, as far as procurement is concerned, it is possible to divide tenders into small lots., There is no strong legislative framework for late payments in force. The EU Late

Payments Directive was partially aligned under the revised Commercial Code (article 1530), which entered into force in 2012. Yet, the law does not apply to public organisations, or to public procurement. However, the draft of the SME Strategy and Action Plan includes an action taking the EU Late Payment directive into account. Furthermore, information about public tenders is available online. Public procurement is also open to foreign companies. Against this backdrop, no new measures were taken during the reference period.

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3.5 Access to finance

On access to finance, six available indicators rank Turkey on a par with the EU average. The individual indicators however show divergent situations. The scores relating to financing offered by the public sector or banks show that Turkey’s SMEs did not feel the credit crunch as much as their EU peers. Slight deteriorations occurred from 2013 to 2014 in the payment delays of private customers which rose from 79 to 81 days. Bad debt loss in the case of a customer going bankrupt slightly increased as well, from 5.8% to 6%. The legal framework, measured by the World Bank's 'strength of legal rights index', is, however, still less strong than in the EU Member States on average. Since 2008, the overall performance in this area has slightly declined. On the policy side, this area, followed by entrepreneurship, is the area into which the government has put most effort since 2008. Several measures were launched in the form of project supports, angel investments, venture capital funds, loans as well as credit guarantees addressing the funding needs of SMEs. Almost all new funding mechanisms have a specific clause regarding SMEs. In the reference period, two new measures were introduced. 1) The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Industry started the ‘Technological Products Investment Support Programme’, a new grant scheme for investments aimed at supporting production of

technological products arising from R&D activities. SMEs can receive up to 10 million TL (€ ~3.5 million) for their investment projects, whereas larger firms are limited to one fifth of this amount. The objective of the programme is to fund the investment costs of mass production of technological products developed either through public funding and in-house research activities, targeting high and medium-high technology products. 2) In addition, a new instrument called ‘Technology Transfer Accelerator’ (TTA Turkey) was set up, providing € 44.6 million by means of two venture capital funds targeting SMEs, spin-offs, and firms in technology development zones. The TTA Turkey is an initiative designed by the European Investment Fund (EIF) in cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Industry, and Technology. TTA Turkey is co-financed by the EU and the Republic of Turkey under the Regional Development Component of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds and managed by EIF. The Regional Development Component of IPA is managed by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. It targets the commercialisation of investment opportunities arising from university or research centres, proof-of-concept projects, and Intellectual Property (IP) projects. It is expected to enhance the development of the technology transfer market, with particular emphasis on spill-overs to less developed regions.

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3.6 Single market

As Turkey is not an EU member state, no relevant comparable data is available regarding the single market.

In terms of the policy measures relating to the EU single market, worth mentioning is the draft of the national standardization

Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2019) which includes measures to enhance the participation of SMEs in the development of standards, such as organised training courses, seminars, and meetings on standardization.

3.7 Skills & innovation

Turkey performs on a par with the EU in this area. Its performance has improved since 2008. Compared to last year, there is additional and somewhat updated data available. As regards innovation, some scores previously dated back to 2006. New figures are available referring to 2012, but only minor changes in comparison to the EU average have happened. The deterioration occurred in the share of SMEs introducing marketing and organisational innovations, which decreased from around 50% to around 43%. Within those six years also the share of innovation made in-house declined from around 28% to around 23%. Also, collaboration with other innovative SMEs decreased from around 5% to around 4% of companies practising it, while the share of those introducing product or process innovations decreased from around 30% to 24%. On the contrary, there was a significant improvement in the sales of innovations (measured as percentage of turnover), which more than doubled from around 16% to around 34% during the same period. The two newly available scores (arising from 2010) for the indicators on e-commerce see Turkish SMEs performing below the EU average.

On the policy side, the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Science, Technology and Industry, KOSGEB, and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) have implemented several measures since the beginning of the SBA in 2008. These measures include programmes to provide funding and training to SMEs, incubators for entrepreneurs and SMEs, and access to mentoring services. However, the skills gap between SME needs and available labour still needs to be addressed. SMEs need highly qualified labour, but lack the funds to attract the scarce, highly qualified workforce. Vocational training and higher education institutions should develop and enhance corresponding programmes in order to increase the supply of such labour. Against this backdrop, during the reference period, no new measures were taken. However, following-up the 7th Framework Programme, Turkey is associated to the Horizon 2020 Programme which actively supports SMEs by providing both direct financial support and indirect support to increase their innovation capacity. In order to encourage their participation in the programme TUBITAK launched the ‘Support and Award Programme to Encourage Participation to International Cooperation’ at the beginning of 2014.

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3.8 Environment

Turkey performs well above the EU average as far as environment is concerned, according to the most recent data available (2013). Turkish SMEs benefitted to a higher degree from public support measures for reducing energy consumption or to offer environmental-friendly goods or services than their EU peers. However, they are also struggling with a very low market penetration, with only 14% of all SMEs offering green products.

On the policy side, few measures have been introduced since 2008. Some initiatives of the regional development agencies provided funding which aimed at increasing environmental awareness and related production capacity of SMEs. These initiatives should complement each other and be in line with a coherent government agenda. The SME Strategy and Action Plan

of 2011-2013 defined environmental strategies and included actions for the implementation of the ECO-Efficiency Programme. These actions included a roadmap of KOSGEB on the identification of negative effects on the environment by SMEs, awareness raising of SMEs on chemical aspects, environmental licences, energy efficiency, and greenhouse emissions, as well as training aimed at enhancing SMEs’ capacity in energy efficiency and the development of energy management standards. All actions were implemented, but not all of them within the deadlines. The roadmap of KOSGEB has been announced for 2015 and should develop a new programme to stimulate SMEs to use a clean production approach. In addition, the national Recycling Strategy and Action Plan 2014-2017 ensures the sector will receive financial support from KOSGEB till the end of 2017. During the reference period, no new measure was taken

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3.9 Internationalisation

Turkey performs broadly within the EU average and has held that position since 2008. There has been no change in the indicators compared to last year. However, as some EU averages have decreased, Turkey's has risen to almost match them. However, last year it was still below the EU average. Most of the indicators show that the country is broadly on a par with EU member states. Only the number of documents required to either import or export is much higher than in average in the EU.

On the policy side, since 2008, only a few measures have been introduced. There are some funding mechanisms available for SMEs to increase their presence in international markets, either on a stand-alone basis or in a cluster. However, a majority of SMEs still need assistance even for basic market research. Measures such as providing training on internationalisation for SMEs should be introduced.

In the reference period, in accordance with the ambitious 2023 targets of Turkey, SME internationalisation was embraced as a new strategic field in the SME Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2018). Under the coordination of KOSGEB, Turkey is participating in the Enterprise Europe Network. The network has been enlarged to 11 consortia consisting of 44 partners, now covering the whole country. One policy measure was announced, targeting the establishment of international incubators. It aims to facilitate technology firms' access to international markets and expose them to new technologies and potential investors.

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4. Interesting new initiative

Below is an example of a new initiative from Turkey to show what governments can do to support SMEs:

Technological Products Investment Support Programme

This programme is implemented by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. It aims to support manufacturing firms and targets R&D performing enterprises. The programme provides grants to enterprises for their investments in production facilities to commercialise their R&D results. Costs of machinery, equipment, business expenses, and interests on commercial loans are financed within the programme. SMEs can receive up to 10 million TL (€ ~3.5 million) of funding for their investment projects, whereas larger firms are limited to 2 million TL. The first call for proposals was closed on October 13th, 2014 and received 182 applications, of which 78 will be supported by the Ministry for a total amount of around 71.8 million TL. The second call for proposals was opened from February 2nd, 2015 until April 3rd, 2015.

This initiative is expected to reduce the gap between R&D and the commercialisation of its results. Especially high technology related, young, and financially weak SMEs will benefit from it, as conventional (commercial) funding mechanisms like bank loans require collaterals for investment funding, which are too complex and costly for these SMEs.

References:

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Important remarks

The Small Business Act (SBA) Fact Sheets are produced by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) as part of the SME Performance Review (SPR), which is its main vehicle for economic analysis of SME issues. They combine the latest available statistical and policy information for the 28 EU Member States and 7 non-EU countries which also contribute to the COSME programme. Produced annually, the fact sheets help to organise the available information to facilitate SME policy assessments and monitor SBA implementation. They take stock and record progress. They are not an assessment of Member States’ policies but should be regarded as an additional source of information designed to improve evidence-based policy-making. For example, the fact sheets cite only those policy measures deemed relevant by local SME policy experts. They do not, and cannot, reflect all measures taken by the government over the reference period. More policy information can be found on a database accessible from the SPR website.

SME Performance Review:

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/performance-review/index_en.htm [email protected]

Small Business Act:

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/small-business-act/index_en.htm

European Small Business Portal:

http://ec.europa.eu/small-business/index_en.htm

Endnotes

1 _Tourism _Report _Vol: _6, _Turkish _Hoteliers _Federation,

http://www.turofed.org.tr/PDF/DergiTr/Turizm_Raporu-rapor%20turizm%20turofed.pdf

2_{Consumer Confidence Index, TUIK-Turkish Statistical Institute,}_{http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo.do?istab_id=1455}_{, last}

accessed 11.3.2015

3_{Household consumption expenditure by types of expenditure, Turkey, 2002-2013, TUİK-TUIK-Turkish Statistical Institute,}

http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo.do?istab_id=330, last accessed 11.3.2015

4_{Turkey Retail Sector Report 2011, The Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey,}

http://tobb.org.tr/Documents/yayinlar/2012/PerakendecilikMeclisiSR.pdf

5_{The definition of size classes differs from the EU definition. Micro-firms have 1-19 employees, while small-firms have 20-49}

employees and medium-firms are businesses with 50-249 employees.

6_{Some basic indicators by size, classes, and economic activity, 2012 [Except programming and broadcasting activities, financial}

and insurance activities], Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Statistics, TUIK-Turkish Statistical Institute,

http://www.tuik.gov.tr/HbGetir.do?id=18521&tb_id=1,last accessed 11.3.2015

7_{Some basic indicators by size, classes, and economic activity, 2010-2011 [Except programming and broadcasting activities,}

financial and insurance activities], Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Statistics, TUIK-Turkish Statistical Institute,

http://www.tuik.gov.tr/HbGetir.do?id=15881&tb_id=1,last accessed 11.3.2015

8_{Business registration and deregistration statistics, The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in Turkey,}

http://www.tobb.org.tr/BilgiErisimMudurlugu/Documents/ResmiDosya/2014/2014-12.xls

9_{Business registration and deregistration statistics bulletin December 2013, The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges}

in Turkey, http://www.tobb.org.tr/BilgiErisimMudurlugu/Documents/ResmiDosya/2013/aralik2013.doc

10_Housing _Price _Index, _Central _Bank _of _Turkey,

http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/wps/wcm/connect/TCMB+TR/TCMB+TR/Main+Menu/Istatistikler/Reel+Sektor+Istatistikleri/Konut+Fiyat+Endek

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11_AMECO,_{http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/ameco/user/serie/ResultSerie.cfm}_{, last accessed 11.3.2015}

12_{The 2015 SBA fact sheets benefited substantially from input from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in}

Ispra, Italy. The JRC made major improvements to the methodological approach, statistical work on the dataset and the visual presentation of the data.

13_{The quadrant chart combines two sets of information. Firstly, it shows current performance based on data for the latest}

available years. This information is plotted along the X-axis measured in standard deviations of the simple, non-weighted arithmetical average for the EU-28. Secondly, it reveals progress over time, i.e. the average annual growth rates for 2008–15. The growth rates are measured against the individual indicators which make up the SBA area averages. Hence, the location of a particular SBA area average in any of the four quadrants provides information not only about where the country is located in this SBA area relative to the EU average at a given point in time, but also about the extent of progress made between 2008 and 2015. All SBA principles, with the exception of the ‘think small first' principle for which there is not enough statistical data available, are calculated as composite indicators following the OECD/JRC Handbook guide. For more information on the methodology see Saisana and Dominquez-Torreiro 2015 on the webpage of the SME Performance Review:

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/performance-review/

14_{The policy measures presented in this SBA fact sheet represent only a selection of the measures taken by the government in}

2014 and the first quarter of 2015. The selection was made by the national SME policy expert contracted by CARSA Spain (DG GROW’s lead contractor for the 2015 fact sheets). The experts were asked to select only those measures that, in their view, were the most important, i.e. were expected to have the highest impact in the specific SBA area. The complete range of measures that the experts compiled in producing this year’s fact sheets will be published alongside the fact sheets in the form of a policy database on the DG GROW website.

2015 SBA Fact Sheet Turkey