Dissection of small businesses in Pakistan: Issues and Directions

The aim of this paper is to offer discussion regarding the pitfalls and shortcoming of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan and discuss about the potential directions of the enterprises. The objective is to dissect the SMEs sector and highlighted the challenges and obstacles faced by them, and offer remedies based on the outside practices and suggestion by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) of Pakistan. The paper is produced based on the preliminary study, mostly from the recent relevant literature on SMEs and small scale manufacturing firm’s performance of last three decades in Pakistan. The approach to dissect the small firms is by looking through issues, challenges and initiative taken by government of Pakistan. This paper discusses the current scenario regarding the small businesses in Pakistan, which is rather alarming, looking from the perspective of small firm manufacturing sector. The conclusion shall be of values to the government, policy makers and also understanding the in depth issues of the small businesses in Pakistan pertaining to the SMEs and also the direction of these firms.