Foreword

I am pleased to see this series of reports as outputs from the recent collaboration between ILO and UNDP in Thailand in the form of the Micro and Small Enterprise Development and Poverty Alleviation Project in Thailand. As the UN agency with special responsibility for employment matters, the ILO is concerned about employment in all sizes of enterprises, in both the formal and informal sectors. The ILO is equally concerned about the quality, as well as the quantity, of jobs created. This point is well amplified in the recent report on “Decent Work” by the ILO Director-General, Mr Juan Somavia.

From related studies carried out by the ILO following the financial crisis in East Asia, it is apparent that both the level of employment and the quality of employment conditions in Thailand have both adversely affected by the crisis. Consequently, the work being undertaken by this project is most timely, assessing as it does the role of micro and small enterprise (MSE) development in poverty alleviation and employment creation.

Governments are no longer expected to be the principal providers of jobs - jobs are created by successful, well-managed private sector enterprises. However, governments do have a vital role to play in ensuring that the policy environment is ‘enterprise friendly’. The path into enterprise should be smooth, and entrepreneurs should be able to receive relevant advice and support (both financial and non-financial) in a highly effective manner from both government and private sector agencies. The needs of the MSE sector should be clearly identified, and linked with a better understanding of the scale and scope of the enterprise sector and its role in national development.

All of these important aspects are addressed in this set of six working papers. Together they provide a substantial body of knowledge and significant inputs for policy-makers and decision-makers in Government, the private sector, international organizations and the donor community, as well as for entrepreneurs themselves.

Given the prominence of the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in Government policy, this information is being made available at an appropriate time. It is also highly relevant, coming as it does at a time when the ILO is carrying out a Country Employment Policy Review in Thailand, as well as providing support to make its Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) training materials available for extensive use in Thailand.

W R Simpson
Director, ILO/EASMAT
Bangkok, Thailand
July 1999