207-227

• Vadnjal, Jaka

The need for external business support for small and medium enterprises has been an issue for many governments around the world. Government agencies have developed several initiatives and the scheme presented in this paper is targeted at support in the form of counselling, combined with provision of information and training to small and medium-sized enterprises. The program was started in Slovenia in 2000 and in 2006 the know-how for the system was transferred to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. After the pilot phase, the need for its assessment evolved. An opportunity also for the transfer of methodology for its evaluation came clear. Thus, the same approach was used in both countries, which enabled an excellent benchmarking opportunity for further development of the scheme in the two countries. This paper presents the fundamental concept of the voucher system. The assumptions for an effective system are analyzed and comments from evaluations are discussed. The potential for further development of the system in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is discussed.

• Economics and Business
• Political Science

• Πολιτική επιστήμη
• Επιχείρηση
• Statistics

support for small and medium-sized enterprises, policy measures, government, transition economy, market failure, counselling, consultants, local enterprise centre, small and medium-sized businesses, performance, voucher system, satisfaction level

Περιέχει πίνακες και βιβλιογραφία, JEL Classification: M13