Consultancy systems for small and medium enterprises (SME) and a proposal for Turkey

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have significant roles in countries? economic and social development. However, global competition environment forces SMEs to adopt changing conditions and increase their standards. Thus, SMEs? need for professional consultancy services increases. Several countries in the world have developed consultancy systems in order to increase SMEs cOmpetitiveness. In Turkey, there are institutions that conduct consultancy services for SMEs, however a structure that can be called as a consultancy system does not exist yet.The aim of this study is to propose a consultancy system structure that would be compatible with the expectations and needs of Turkish SMEs, by looking into the SME consultancy systems in several countries. With this purpose, SME consultancy systems in the USA, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan are analysed with focus on the services, state aids and standardization practices. Then, the institutions in Turkish SME consultancy sector are studied. Finally, the experiences and preferences of SMEs are researched by a survey done on Turkish production sector SMEs.According to these analyses, suggestions are done on the main subjects such as the structures to give the consultancy services to SMEs, SME consultancy certification system, standardization of consultancy services and firms, and financing of the consultancy service fees.