The Impact of Institutional Environment on Eastern European Economies

International development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has become a well-established phenomenon from both managerial and academic standpoints. If large international groups continue to spearhead the globalization of the French economy, SMEs will become the veritable “hidden champions”¹ of national exports: in 2002, exports represented a quarter of their sales, versus 17.8 percent in 1990. (“Service of Industrial Statistics” from the French “Service des etudes et des statistiques industrielles,” 2003).