Small & Medium Enterprises: The Global Scene Today

Book ID: ISED-230

Book Type: Soft Copy

Description

"There are three long- term trends in the global economy today: First, globalization and interconnectedness. The opening up of trade and financial flows has helped to raise global growth and welfare, but without eliminating poverty in all economies-it also poses major challenges like rising inequality, which is increasingly noticeable around the world today. It is projected that, in the coming decades, powerful forces of globalization-communication technology, financial flows, migration-will continue to influence the world we live in. Second is demographic change. Life expectancy in many countries of the North has led to a swelling of the dependency ratio. Other societies, especially in Asia, will also go through a dramatic aging of the population in the future. All these will have enormous ramifications-socially, politically, and economically. Third is technological innovation. Technological progress is having a revolutionary impact in many ways-it raises people’s expectations in this hyper-connected world, but will also make a lot of traditional jobs obsolete. These underlying drivers create both opportunities and challenges for MSMEs. Of course, through difficult steps, they need to identify and sustain their space. India’s MSMEs have several positives in a relative sense, though much of it still remains yet to be tapped."