The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • There are more than 70 million micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia today that employ over 140 million people and account for 99% of all businesses in the region. • However, there appear to be many “missing businesses,” with significant underre...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.iseas.edu.sg/category/articles-commentaries/iseas-perspective-2020/ http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80486 |
| _version_ | 1848764222997004288 |
|---|---|
| author | Schaper, Michael |
| author_facet | Schaper, Michael |
| author_sort | Schaper, Michael |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• There are more than 70 million micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
in Southeast Asia today that employ over 140 million people and account for 99%
of all businesses in the region.
• However, there appear to be many “missing businesses,” with significant underreporting and very low figures of SMEs on a per capita basis. As many as 80-90%
of SMEs in some countries may be excluded from official counts.
• This may be due to the existence of a large informal business sector which is not
monitored in many countries; poor data collection methods; or economies being less
entrepreneurial SME-focused than elsewhere.
• Measuring the true size of the SME sector is difficult because there are no standard
definitions across the region, and the quality of published data varies significantly
among states.
• Governments across the region should consider working through ASEAN to adopt
a standardised set of SME definitions and reporting frameworks. This will help
identify where the unreported SMEs currently exist. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:15:56Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-80486 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:15:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-804862020-08-24T08:16:29Z The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia Schaper, Michael 1605 - Policy and Administration EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • There are more than 70 million micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia today that employ over 140 million people and account for 99% of all businesses in the region. • However, there appear to be many “missing businesses,” with significant underreporting and very low figures of SMEs on a per capita basis. As many as 80-90% of SMEs in some countries may be excluded from official counts. • This may be due to the existence of a large informal business sector which is not monitored in many countries; poor data collection methods; or economies being less entrepreneurial SME-focused than elsewhere. • Measuring the true size of the SME sector is difficult because there are no standard definitions across the region, and the quality of published data varies significantly among states. • Governments across the region should consider working through ASEAN to adopt a standardised set of SME definitions and reporting frameworks. This will help identify where the unreported SMEs currently exist. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80486 English https://www.iseas.edu.sg/category/articles-commentaries/iseas-perspective-2020/ https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ISEAS_Perspective_2020_79.pdf ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute unknown |
| spellingShingle | 1605 - Policy and Administration Schaper, Michael The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia |
| title | The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia |
| title_full | The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia |
| title_fullStr | The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia |
| title_short | The Missing (Small) Businesses of Southeast Asia |
| title_sort | missing (small) businesses of southeast asia |
| topic | 1605 - Policy and Administration |
| url | https://www.iseas.edu.sg/category/articles-commentaries/iseas-perspective-2020/ https://www.iseas.edu.sg/category/articles-commentaries/iseas-perspective-2020/ http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80486 |