ABSTRACT
This is beginning to be recognized by international bodies such as the World Bank and the American Development Fund. It would not be an exaggeration to speak of the internationalization of interest in small business. For example, between 1964 and 1971 the OECD carried out only a few sporadic studies of small business, and yet in the last four years it has created a standing analysis committee and launched several sizeable research projects. It will shortly be creating an International Institute for Small Business Research.. Similarly, the International Labour Office’s International Institute for Social Studies in Geneva has produced a number of reports on the rise of small business and its impact on job creation and local development (Sengenberger et al., 1990). The OECD has also entered into an agreement with the European Community’s statistics office, EUROSTAT, for the gradual creation of a data bank on small business development in the industrialized world, to enable comparison of detailed data between countries. In the Frenchspeaking world, the Agence de cooperation culturelle et technique (Cultural and Technical Cooperation Agency) has recently defined the training of small business research teams in developing countries as one of its priorities.
