Brief 2: Barriers and Opportunities for Micro-, Small-, and Medium-Sized Enterprises under Demand-side Legality Policies
Little and Legal: Micro-, Small-, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) within the Emerging Timber Legality Paradigm
By Andrea Johnson - CATIE-Finnfor View PublicationThis series of briefs attempts to contribute greater clarity to the debate by disaggregating the diversity of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and providing a conceptual starting point for more coherent dialogues and targeted, impactful policy and research design. It encompasses the diversity of MSMEs because the globalized reach of many wood product supply chains, and the rapid increase of South-South trade flows, obscure the lines between local and international trade. Further, all but one Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) signed to date in Africa and Asia include the aspirational goal of achieving legality in domestic trade as well, making national markets a necessary part of the discussion. Brief 2 examines the full range of interconnected barriers faced by MSMEs: barriers to achieving and maintaining legality, barriers to demonstrating legality, and barriers to competitiveness. We look more closely at whether and to what extent legality measures present new barriers and opportunities, and briefly discuss best practices for supporting MSMEs within this context.
Brief 1: Unpacking the Diversity of Micro-, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises