CURRENT ISSUES CONCERNING REGIONAL POLICY AND SMEs IN ROMANIA

This paper investigates the main features and the significance of the SME sector development for approaching the regional question in Romania, with a particular emphasis on the quantitative, qualitative and sectoral aspects of the territorial distribution of SMEs and their role in territorial development and competition. The main conclusion is that the Romanian SME sector can represent an important source of local and regional dynamism and, thus, a source for economic and social cohesion. Even though the big firms remain a key factor of restructuring the productive system, from regional viewpoint the SME activity appears as a strategic one for each region’s economic reconstruction, provided SMEs be included in a well-structured environment, in a coherent territorial network, involving links, relations, exchanges between them and other economic agents in the region. The policy measures meant to improve the frame conditions for SMEs and overall regional development should constitute a coherent ‘package’ including economic, legal, infrastructure, cultural and socio-political elements. The aim of the package must be the definition of a ‘regional profile’, stressing and taking advantage of specific feature of each local area. JEL Classification: O18, R38, R58