Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Start-Ups, and Platform Companies – Competitiveness, Innovation, Networking, Internationalization I.

Abstract

The study examines the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups, and platform companies in Hungary in a rapidly changing international economic environment. The research is timely given the prolonged stagnation of the domestic SME sector, which lags behind the EU average and its regional competitors in terms of both value added and international competitiveness. While the sector plays a significant role in employment (65.7%), its share of exports (12.8%) and investment activity (26.2%) have declined significantly compared to 2014. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the research results of the past decade, covering the areas of digitalization, innovation, sustainability, and internationalization, based on the analysis of more than eighty domestic and international publications. The literature review highlights that the performance of domestic SMEs is primarily determined by internal capabilities—strategic thinking, leadership competencies, and organizational learning—while the effectiveness of uniform development policy tools is limited due to the internal heterogeneity of the sector. The paper has been published in two parts.