ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SME GROWTH: FACTS FROM ALBANIA & KOSOVO

The SME sectors' development creates sustainable economic growth, employment and lowers the country poverty. Policy-makers and academics are expressing their interest in the influencing factors to growth in the SME-s field. This paper aims to examine the impact of firm size on the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in two Balkan countries at two stages of development. It compares Albania (24 year after the communist regime) with Kosovo19 (six years after the independency). At a practical level, this paper aims to help economists, firm managers, government and related bodies in implementing practices and strategies in order to enhance the performance and growth of SMEs in developing countries. To explore SMEs growth this paper uses data from both countries regarding entrepreneurship and firm size, growth sales and employment growth. This paper tends to contribute to the literature by emphasizing the entrepreneur role and some influencing factors to SMEs growth.