External determinants of the development of sme's located in marginalised regions

Small and medium-sized enterprises are important actors in the regional economy since the growth of this sector stimulates the economic and social development of the given region contributing to balancing regional development disparities, which leads to the improvement in the regional economics and the standard of living of local communities. SMEs that operate in a given region contribute to forming the market equilibrium, increasing competitiveness, creating demand-export balance, decreasing the unemployment rate, promoting entrepreneurial attitudes and diffusion of innovations, etc. At the same time, however, SMEs are impacted by many regional factors which may stimulate as well as limit the development of these business. Regional determinants are frequently directly related to the environment of small and medium-seized enterprises, i.e. the external environment which is a set of factors that affect the functioning and development of these enterprises.

The paper attempts to identify and classify factors in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises based on the study of literature. In its first part, the paper concentrates on the analysis of external factors that result from the environmental conditions, the second part is devoted to the analysis of the influence these factors exert on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The study was conducted in the years 2011-2012 among the owners of small and medium-seized enterprises located in marginalised regions in Poland. The selection of enterprises for the study was random and proportional to the number of companies in each category (micro, small and medium) in the given region. The main objective of the study was the analysis of external determinants of the growth of SMEs based in marginalised regions. These determinants encompass a group of factors that have a positive impact on the development of a company (development stimulants) and a group of factors that have a negative impact (development barriers).

The results of the carried out study indicate that small and medium enterprises based in marginalised regions have fewer development opportunities compared to enterprises based in socioeconomically developed regions as these business entities: (i) mostly operate in the local market and in the low-wage environment; (ii) employ cheaper yet less skilled labour; (iii) are characterised by low predisposition for introducing innovation and change; (iv) and are managed by low-skilled owners.

Therefore, it is necessary to formulate programmes for the development of small and medium enterprises based in marginalised regions. These programmes will enable the creation of permanent mechanisms to support these business entities by:

-  availing of the endogenous potential of the particular region (e.g. its location, internal resources, knowledge and social resources, scientific research potential);

-  improving the quality and professionalism of services for SMEs and adjusting their offer to the needs of these companies,

-  providing improved access to external sources of funding (access to loans, better functioning of loan and guarantee funds, assistance in acquiring co-funding and applying for EU funds),

-  wider application of instruments to support SME development on the part of local authorities and closer cooperation between territorial self-government and entrepreneurs.