Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia employ 66% of the workforce, but face low productivity and competitiveness. Their integration into global value chains can bring significant productivity gains and better jobs, however, SMEs struggle to meet quality standards and certification requirements, while the support system remains fragmented. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), in partnership with ICT Hub, has launched the SME Hub with the aim of supporting 80 manufacturing SMEs in Serbia through tailored transformation plans.
This is the first intervention of its kind for SDC, so the organization has engaged CEVES to conduct a four-year longitudinal evaluation of the project. As an independent evaluator, CEVES is monitoring a representative panel of 20 SMEs over time, assessing outcomes in competitiveness, employment, sustainability, and long-term knowledge application.
Key results
• Designed and implemented a longitudinal methodological framework combining repeated in-depth interviews with SME founders, benchmarking studies using the SME Compass tool, and enterprise-level case studies.
• Conducted baseline and follow-up assessments covering SME competitiveness, workforce satisfaction, and environmental practices.
• Documented early evidence of job creation, productivity growth, and improved working conditions in the evaluated SMEs.
• Produced qualitative case studies illustrating transformative changes and the long-term utilization of tools and knowledge gained through the Hub.
• Generated evidence confirming or challenging the SME Hub program's theory of change, thereby strengthening SDC's institutional learning on the PSE model (private sector engagement for development).
• Provided policy-relevant findings that can contribute to the potential scaling of the SME Hub model in Serbia and other similar economic contexts globally.
