Volume 1 Cedric - revised luca Final - RUIG-GIAN

Executive summaryThe goal of the project was to show how the creation of successful SMEs in whichthe partners originate from different ethnic groups (chiefly Slavs and Albanians, but alsoothers including Turks and Vlachs) could make a signal contribution to economic progressand social harmony by demonstrating that stakeholders in successful enterprises becomeipso facto stakeholders in a society at peace with itself. Economic growth, employmentpromotion and community reconciliation should rightly be considered twin goals for SMEdevelopment policies and programmes. The primary aim of the proposed research projectwas to ascertain what policies and policy instruments, both national and international,could be most effective in promoting the sustainable development of inter-ethnic enterprisepartnerships in Macedonia.This study is grounded on the assertion that SMEs are to be seen as both economicand social actors of the community-level civil society. The analysis conducted on the basisof a survey of economically successful small to medium-sized multi-ethnic enterprises inMacedonia highlights the positive side-effects of these specific types of establishments oninter-community dialogue and cohesion. Furthermore, the inter-ethnic nature of theenterprises has been shown to be positive for business operation, chiefly by attractingcustomers of different ethnicities. By prospering, inter-ethnic small businesses strengtheninter-ethnic dialogue and reconciliation, which in turn, benefits to a more investment-proneand business-friendly context.Promoting inter-ethnic SMEs is, essentially, promoting the SME sector at large. Ananalysis on the basis of the features and limitations of the sample SMEs, and at the light offurther desk research is proposed, to further the efforts of the FYROM in support to thiscrucial sector for the economy in terms of growth and employment. Private sectordevelopment and SME sector promotion are thematics that gained considerableproeminence in contemporary economic agendas (and across the North-South divide).Such an analysis is compounded, in the case of Macedonia, by the intertwined challengesof inter-community (and security) crisis, the breakdown of the regional political andeconomic order and the (consequent) transition to the market economy. The analysisprovided addresses the twin objectives (social and economic) of SME development at thelight of this complex crisis context.108