Regional disparities of small and medium-sized enterprises in Algeria

For an economy in transition, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered by theorists and practitioners as key elements for the successful transition from a planned economy to a market economy. In the case of Algeria, it represents an average share of 98% of the total number of active companies. Although the number of SMEs created shows positive results over time, spatially there is an uneven dispersion of SMEs created. The objective of this article is to identify regional disparities in the development of SMEs in Algeria. To do this, we used the index-chain technique to compare the changes between the numbers of SMEs; time series analysis, a non-parametric method for studying statistically significant differences, and correlation analysis. According to the results obtained, we foresee an increase in the number of SMEs in Algeria over the next four years, an increase represented mainly by small companies. In addition, the development of SMEs is very different in some regions in Algeria, due to the factor of proximity to cities and large companies. For development policy, we suggest support for SMEs, considering the differences in entrepreneurship between regions.