A CHARACTHERIZATION OF PORTUGUESE SME COMPARING EUROPEAN UNION - CASE STUDY ABOUT SETÚBAL REGION

Considering the European Union definition for Small and Medium Enterprises and their importance in EU economy we refer the most relevant matters of this kind of companies in the European development. Next step broaches the importance of Portuguese SME for the domestic economy, referring their social and economic role, as well its weight in Gross Domestic Product and employment. The main goal of this study is to characterize Setúbal region concerning its small and medium enterprises (SME) comparing its performance indicators with the reference indicators of EU’s SME. The higher education institution where we are lecturing stays in Setúbal. Most of our students come from this region, so we thought it would be interesting to analyse an important stakeholder cluster of our community – the SME. We work with a significant sample of regional SME trying also to understand if there are activity sectors or companies’ characteristics we can refer as relevant for regional development.