Smes in asia and the pacific

Table 1. Some differing definitions of SMEs in South-East Asia
Country
Definition
Cambodia
Firms that employ between 11 and 50 employees and have fixed 
assets of $50,000 to $250,000 are categorized as small. Firms with 51-
200 employees and fixed assets of $250,000 to $500,000 are medium-
sized. Source: SME Development Framework of 2005.
Indonesia
Fewer than 100 employees.
a
Lao People’s 
Democratic 
Republic
“Small enterprises are those having an annual average number of 
employees not exceeding 19 persons or total assets not exceeding 
two hundred and fifty million kip or an annual turnover not exceeding 
four hundred million kip”.
“Medium sized enterprises are those having an annual average number 
of employees not exceeding 99 persons or total assets not exceeding 
one billion two hundred million kip or an annual turnover not exceeding 
one 1 billion kip”.
Malaysia
Depends on the business sector. Different criteria, based on the 
number of employees and annual sales turnover. For details, see 
www.smeinfo.com.my/pdf/sme_definitions_ENGLISH.pdf. 
Philippines
Fewer than 200 employees, and less than P 40 million in assets.
a
Thailand
Depends on the business sector. Different criteria, based on number of 
employees and fixed capital size. For details see http://cms.sme.go.th/
cms/web/homeeng. 
Viet Nam
SMEs are independent production and business establishments that 
are duly registered according to the current law provisions, each with 
registered capital not exceeding VND 10 billion or annual labour not 
exceeding 300 people.
Sources: Cambodia, SME Development Framework of 2005 (Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy).
Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Decree 42/PM on the Promotion and Development of Small 
and Medium Sized Enterprises (Vientiane, 2004), art. 2.
Malaysia, Definitions for Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia (Secretariat to National SME 
Development Council and Bank Negara Malaysia, 2005), available at www.smeinfo.com.my/pdf/
sme_definitions_ENGLISH.pdf.
Viet Nam, Decree on Support for Development of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (Hanoi, 
Ministry of Planning and Investment, 2001), chap. 1, art. 3

---

5
Perhaps the one common denominator is that SMEs typically make up more than 
90 per cent of all registered enterprises in any country. Thus, in terms of the number 
of incorporations at least—if not always in terms of aggregate asset size or cumulative 
productivity—SMEs tend to dominate the corporate community. Economies differ, however, 
in the extent to which they rely on SMEs to generate a greater or lesser proportion of total 
output.