Measurement and comparison of industrial infrastructure of SMEs among Iranian provinces

The creation of small manufacturing enterprises is considered by many governments and donor agencies, as the key to economic and social development in countries regardless of development level. Furthermore, review of the literature show evidence that SMEs are understood as a source of technology development. At the same time they are vulnerable to a number of restrictions such as access to finances, skilled labor, public support and suffer from survival rate problems. First, this research aims to shed lights on the role that small manufacturing enterprises play in the process of industrial and economic development across provinces of Iran. Second, the status of industrial infrastructure is investigated. The data is used to estimate parametrically and non-parametrically a number of composite infrastructure indices to investigate the capacity, resource, education, credit and capital assets components. Finally based on the findings, lessons and conclusion, guidelines for policy formulation will be suggested. For our study, use of sub-indices and a new composite of Development Infrastructure Index (DII) can help provinces to evaluate their status of industrial infrastructure.