Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly turning to alternative sources of financing, while new bank lending is declining in a number of countries. Many SMEs remain over-reliant on bank credit, however, and the take-up of instruments other than straight debt varies greatly from one country to another, according to a new OECD report.

22-23 February 2018 (Mexico City): The Ministerial Conference on SMEs will offer a crucial platform for addressing how governments can provide SMEs with the right conditions to maximise their contributions to productivity growth and social inclusion.

In order to safeguard their competitiveness in an increasingly digitalised global economy, governments across OECD and emerging economies are implementing a range of policy measures/programmes to support investment in and use of robotics. This paper assesses the extent to which robotics impact the organisation of production through offshoring and backshoring.

Inconsistent penalties, insufficient checks on small parcels, and a lack of information on shipments in free trade zones allow criminal networks to traffic billions of dollars worth of fake and prohibited goods each year. Today, the OECD introduced a new phase in its efforts to help governments counter these enforcement gaps and better protect consumers and businesses.

The OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría called on the governments of steel-producing economies to address the root causes of today’s steel crisis through multilateral approaches, and in particular through the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity.

The OECD Steel Committee Chair statement was issued today by Lieven Top, Chairman of the OECD Steel Committee, following a meeting of the Committee in Paris on March 5-6, 2018.

Rapid growth in free trade zones – where economic activity is driven by reduced taxes and customs controls, light regulation and limited oversight – is unintentionally fostering growth in counterfeit goods trafficking, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

The digital transformation has positive impacts on productivity for many firms, but has not yet translated into stronger productivity growth at the economy-wide level. This background report for the March 2018 G7 Innovation Ministers' meeting focuses on the impacts of digital transformation on jobs and productivity.

29/03/2018 - The OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct is seeking candidates for a new Chairs to assist in implementing and promoting the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

The consultation on appointing authorities and the selection of arbitrators in investor-state dispute settlement paper and comments received are being made available in order to foster informed public and inter-governmental debate.

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance is being used as the basis and benchmark by many industry initiatives created to ensure the responsible sourcing of minerals. This report presents the findings of a pilot alignment assessment of five industry programmes against the recommendations of the OECD Guidance to gauge the coherence, effectiveness and credibility of these initiatives.

Many governments seek to promote and facilitate inward investments that they expect will benefit their economy. This paper looks at the merits of an international framework to facilitate investment in support of sustainable and inclusive growth.

This paper examines the implications of digitalisation and digital technologies for international investment and investment policy, with a particular focus on digital policies relating to national security and digital policies directed at business operations.

L’OCDE a mis au point un cadre pour l’évaluation de la qualité des statistiques macroéconomiquesqui se concentre sur sept dimensions de la qualité : la pertinence, la précision, la crédibilité, l’actualité, l’accessibilité, l’interprétabilité et la cohérence. Le présent rapport utilise ce cadre pour évaluer les statistiques d’IDI du Maroc.

Ministers from OECD and developing economies have committed to step up their efforts to promote responsible business conduct by companies in order to drive more inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Governments adhering to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are required to set up a National Contact Point (NCP) that functions in a visible, accessible, transparent and accountable manner. This report contains a peer review of the Chilean NCP, mapping its strengths and accomplishments and also identifying opportunities for improvement.

Governments adhering to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are required to set up a National Contact Point that functions in a visible, accessible, transparent and accountable manner. This report contains a peer review of the French NCP, mapping its strengths and accomplishments and also identifying opportunities for improvement.

Governments adhering to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are required to set up a National Contact Point (NCP) that functions in a visible, accessible, transparent and accountable manner. This report contains a peer review of the German NCP, mapping its strengths and accomplishments and also identifying opportunities for improvement.

This study explores the role of the National Contact Points in dealing with cases relating to the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises with a particular focus on labour issues and social dialogue.

Global trade in fake Italian goods such as luxury handbags, watches, foodstuffs and car parts is taking a bite out of Italy’s economy equivalent to around 1-2% of GDP in terms of lost sales, according to a new OECD report.

20 June 2018 - This Liber Amicorum was prepared for Roel Nieuwenkamp. It offers a wide-ranging and comprehensive message to governments, business, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to collectively widen and deepen the adherence and practice of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises worldwide.

Weak labour productivity growth continues to mark the world’s advanced economies and risks compromising improvements in living standards, says a new OECD report.

ASEAN countries have made progress in SME policies – especially on GVC integration, business development and e-commerce – but future productivity growth will depend on continued reforms, says new joint OECD-ERIA-ASEAN report

A new OECD report, the 2018 Business and Finance Outlook, highlights a number of major risks having the potential to disrupt global economic growth. It notes that the gradual normalisation of monetary policy in an environment of growing debt will be a major test of whether the Basel III regulatory reforms have achieved their goal of ensuring safety and soundness in the financial system.

As only a tiny proportion of new firms eventually grow, policy makers face two alternatives: target specific firms predicted to be highly innovative in the future, or foster experimentation among firms and streamline both entry and exit. The Italian "Start-Up Act" combines these two approaches with an eclectic mix of policy tools.

Considerato che solo una minima parte delle nuove imprese riesce a svilupparsi, i decisori pubblici si trovano di fronte a un'alternativa: concentrarsi sulle imprese che presentano un alto potenziale di innovazione, o favorire la sperimentazione e semplificare sia l'ingresso che l'uscita delle imprese dal mercato. Lo "Startup Act" combina i due approcci con un mix eclettico di strumenti di policy.

A steady economic expansion in Indonesia is boosting living standards, curbing poverty and offering millions of people greater access to public services.

The world’s consumption of raw materials is set to nearly double by 2060 as the global economy expands and living standards rise, placing twice the pressure on the environment that we are seeing today, according to a new OECD report.

This report provides an inventory of existing practices in Investment Promotion Agencies across 32 OECD countries. It covers a wide range of areas pertaining to investment promotion and facilitation with a view to enhancing peer-learning amongst practitioners.

This report provides an inventory of existing practices in Investment Promotion Agencies across 32 OECD countries. It covers a wide range of areas pertaining to investment promotion and facilitation with a view to enhancing peer-learning amongst practitioners.

Business and government should work more closely together to reduce inequality and foster inclusive growth. To help achieve this, at the Paris Peace Forum, Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff, G7/G20 Sherpa and leader of the OECD’s Inclusive Growth Initiative, and Emmanuel Faber, Chairman & CEO of Danone, launched the Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) Platform.

70 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our recognition of the “inherent dignity of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” has further strengthened the alignment between responsible business conduct and human rights.

As part of the implementation strategy for the recently adopted OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector, the OECD is conducting a series of surveys that target SMEs operating within the sector.

This joint OECD-UNIDO report identifies investment and related policies to enhance linkages between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia and multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their impacts on SME outcomes in Southeast Asia.

This report builds on national reviews of seven countries in Southeast Asia. It looks at common challenges across the region and at the interplay between regional initiatives and national reforms.

This paper sheds light on their potential costs in terms of foregone investments. Applying an augmented gravity model, covering 60 advanced and emerging countries over the period 1997–2016, it estimates the elasticity of bilateral FDI positions and cross-border M&A activity to FDI restrictions as measured by the OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index.

Based on the OECD Analytical AMNE database, this paper analyses the domestic linkages of MNE affiliates in host economies in order to get better insights in the role MNEs play across countries.

The Steel Committee held in-depth discussions on global and regional steel market conditions, steel trade policy developments, the continuing challenge of excess capacity, technological developments contributing to sustainable practices in the steel sector, and OECD work on subsidies and other forms of government support that contribute to excess capacity in the steel sector.

Low growth prospects for the global economy, slowing demand for steel and virtually unchanged steelmaking capacity are driving severe and persistent excess capacity in the steel sector, the OECD Steel Committee said at the end of its meeting this week. The Committee reiterated the need for capacity reductions in relevant economies and for the removal of subsidies and other support measures that are distorting steel markets.

This paper provides a first assessment of the degree to which public research contributes to innovative entrepreneurship, using data on start-ups and venture capital.

This paper presents a framework for measuring the digital transformation of manufacturing industries, and maps the impact of digital technologies across these several dimensions: firm productivity growth, business dynamism, industry concentration, firm mark-ups and mergers and acquisition activity.

Countries deploy a variety of policy instruments to promote science-industry knowledge exchange. While these instruments are often discussed in isolation, they are implemented collectively and may negatively affect each other or add excessive complexity. This paper develops a conceptual framework to map policy instruments for knowledge exchange and assess interactions.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are turning to non-bank financing sources at a faster pace than in the past, as bank lending to them has risen less than expected given today’s favourable credit conditions and business environment.

25/04/2019-Global value chains (GVCs) have sharpened the interdependencies between trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Using a novel micro-level dataset covering about 27 000 corporate relationships of 147 multinational enterprises (MNEs) in 13 sectors, new evidence is provided on how firms organise their production globally by combining trade with investment, and on a range of non-equity, contract-based partnerships.

Employment is rising in OECD countries but most jobs continue to be created in relatively low-productivity, low-wage activities, says a new OECD report.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been a significant driver of employment growth in recent years, mainly through the creation of new firms, including in high-growth sectors such as information and communication technologies (ICT).

This report provides an inventory of existing practices among IPAs in eight southern Mediterranean (MED) economies: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, and Tunisia. Each MED country has one national IPA with the exception of Tunisia, where three agencies have investment promotion functions.

The objective of this paper is to shed light on some of the determinants of success in early-stage venture capital financing bids. In particular, the work focuses on the effect of founders’ gender on investors’ funding decisions. Results from empirical analysis show that start-ups with at least one woman in the team of founders are less likely to receive funding by 5-10%.

This publication brings together contributions from leading female policy makers and thought leaders from all across the world on how to shape our economies.

The annual reports on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises provide an account of the actions the adhering governments have taken over the previous 12 months to enhance the contribution of the guidelines to the improved functioning of the global economy.