Small business

II. THE USES OF THE GUIDE
This guide focuses on the policy/strategy level rather than on the legal framework for SME development.
It is designed to:
• Provide a framework against which policy makers at the national, regional and local level (private
and public) can review their own programmes;
• Facilitate the integration of SME policy within the broader social economic goals of government;
• Act as a strategic vehicle for harmonising the SME development activities of different government
departments;
• Provide a framework for harmonising the activities of business support agencies at the national,
regional and local level;
• Facilitate benchmarking internally (within the country) and externally (with other countries);
• Help create awareness of gaps in policies and programmes and of the imperative to fill these;
• Facilitate experience exchange and transfer of ideas both within and outside  the country;
• Create awareness of what central government can and cannot do and what needs to be done at the
local and regional level;
• Enable governments to insert their own distinctive ideologies and priorities in the light of differences
in culture and stages of development and needs of different groups in society;
• Facilitate the integration of promotional efforts, for example the development of finance, business
services, professional services, education, technology and infrastructure; 
• Create awareness of the role that the private sector can play in SME development in partnership
with government and alongside NGOs; 
EFFECTIVE POLICIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS - © OECD 2004
Introduction
18

---

• Provide a framework for effective communication with society as a whole and all key stakeholders and
illustrate the potential for engagement;
• Help donors to target more effectively their distinctive contributions to SME development and thus
avoid unnecessary overlap and differentiation.