The Role of Universities in Developing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Future Challenges for Bahrain

Abstract

The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in world economy has been momentous, especially in increasing GDP and enhancing employment opportunities. SMEs have played and are still playing an outstanding role in the development of several developed and developing countries mainly due to the fact that SMEs comprise a major part in the industrial and economic activities in the economies of these countries. It must be emphasized that the role of SMEs is considerably high in the economic development irrespective of the fact whether it is a developed country or a developing one. Furthermore, not only the financially subsidized promotion but the strategic implementation becomes very important for the sustainable development of SME sector as well.
Key words: SME’s; Universities; Human capital; Entrepreneurs