European small and medium-sized enterprises in the pandemic context: national recovery and resilience plans, SME challenges, and banking system role

Abstract

Purpose. The main purpose of this paper is to highlight and analyse the measures directed to SMEs contained in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans of EU member states.

Design/methodology/approach. After a general overview of the SME sector in the EU and the impact caused by the pandemic, the work proceeds with the analysis of different factors related to the content of the texts of the recovery plans, respectively the weight of the SMEs topic, the keywords, and the collocations.  The analysis also includes a picture of the resources allocated to SMEs challenges in the near future. Following the overview of the European context, the paper analyses at the micro-level how the SME scenario is changing due to the interventions of the recovery plan, taking Italy as example. Finally, it focuses on the role of the banking system in supporting the economy and SMEs during the crisis. The data for the analysis were mainly extracted from official documents of the European Commission, and regarding the textual factors, the analysis was performed through Python codes.

Findings. The main finding emerging from this work is the identification of the intervention fields for SMEs, e.g. digital transformation and green transition, and afterwards, it is also shown how the cooperation between the different components of the European production system works: enterprises, governments and banking system.

Practical and Social implications. This paper shows the lines of action that EU has decided to take on SMEs, providing a basis for discussion for further investigation and moreover enriches the literature on the pandemic and recovery plan, which is still quite limited at the moment given the recent age of these events.

Originality of the study. The paper offers a general view of a relevant topic such as the challenges of European SMEs during and after the pandemic, performing various types of analysis using different approaches.