OECD - SME and Entrepreneurship Policy in Israel 2016

This publication presents the OECD country review of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and entrepreneurship policy in Israel. It forms part of the programme of work of the OECDs Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, served by the Secretariat of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development. The report is part of a series of country reviews of SME and entrepreneurship policies undertaken by the OECD in countries that express an interest in co-operating on an external assessment of their policy challenges. Recently reviewed countries include Canada, Italy, Mexico, Poland, the Russian Federation and Thailand. The present review was requested by the Israeli Small and Medium Business Authority on behalf of the Israeli government.

The country reviews aim to provide a comprehensive assessment of the structure and performance of SME and entrepreneurship activity, the business environment and framework conditions for SMEs and entrepreneurship, the strategic framework and delivery arrangements for policy, national SME and entrepreneurship programmes and the local dimension of the policy. The studies also provide international comparisons of data and policy approaches. They offer specific recommendations for the countries concerned, often illustrated with inspiring practices from other countries. They aim to provide valuable insights to the stakeholders involved in making policy improvements in the reviewed countries and to offer inspiration for policy development in other countries.

The country reviews may include chapters of special relevance to the country concerned, as agreed between the OECD and the participating country. This report includes special chapters on entrepreneurship and SME development in the Arab Israeli minority population and on the development of medium-sized enterprises in Israel. Special chapters in other review reports have focused on issues such as cluster development, women entrepreneurship and policy evaluation.

The methodology for the review studies includes completion of a fact-finding questionnaire by national government authorities on SME and entrepreneurship conditions, policies and programmes, a study mission to the participating country by the OECD Secretariat and international experts, comments on the report by a steering group of OECD Working Party members and stakeholders in the reviewed country, and a peer review of the draft report by government delegates in a regular meeting of the Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship.