Italy: current challenges before SME 2016-2018

This statistic shows the most important challenges that small and medium enterprises (SME) face in Italy from February 2016 to January 2018. From the responding SMEs in January 2018, 56 percent stated that their most important challenge was attracting new customers and 48 percent the uncertainty over the economic conditions to be a challenge.

Most important challenges the SME faces in Italy from February 2016 to January 2018*

Characteristic	Attracting customers	Maintaining profitability	Uncertainty over economic conditions	Retaining/recruiting skilled employees	Developing new products/innovation	Finding/working with suppliers	Securing financing for business as usual	Securing financing for expansion	Other government regulations (e.g., compliance, technical regulation, patents, reporting)	Tax laws and rules	Increasing revenue	Regulatory and other barriers to exports **	Selling to foreign markets **	Other
Feb '16	58%	47%	51%	26%	18%	16%	21%	27%	9%	37%	60%	5%	-	6%
Mar '16	60%	46%	50%	28%	17%	16%	21%	22%	9%	35%	61%	4%	-	5%
Apr '16	60%	46%	53%	29%	19%	16%	17%	23%	9%	38%	62%	4%	-	5%
May '16	56%	45%	49%	27%	16%	18%	20%	23%	9%	38%	56%	5%	-	6%
Jun '16	59%	46%	49%	27%	20%	14%	19%	23%	10%	33%	63%	5%	-	5%
Jul '16	59%	46%	51%	28%	21%	17%	18%	23%	8%	35%	60%	2%	-	5%
Aug '16	59%	45%	50%	27%	20%	15%	19%	23%	8%	34%	61%	4%	-	6%
Sep '16	56%	46%	47%	28%	16%	14%	17%	24%	9%	39%	55%	4%	-	5%
Oct '16	59%	42%	49%	24%	21%	14%	24%	25%	10%	39%	61%	-	14%	6%
Nov '16	60%	49%	47%	28%	18%	16%	20%	26%	7%	36%	65%	-	14%	5%
Dec '16	59%	50%	50%	30%	20%	14%	18%	20%	8%	40%	63%	-	13%	5%
Jan '17	60%	49%	49%	29%	20%	15%	18%	24%	8%	39%	62%	-	12%	6%
Feb '17	57%	44%	49%	26%	17%	13%	21%	22%	8%	43%	57%	-	17%	4%
Mar '17	60%	44%	50%	29%	20%	20%	24%	29%	8%	38%	65%	-	17%	5%
Apr '17	58%	43%	49%	28%	22%	18%	19%	28%	7%	37%	65%	-	15%	3%
May '17	65%	46%	49%	31%	19%	18%	16%	28%	9%	43%	63%	-	17%	4%
Jun '17	61%	45%	51%	32%	21%	18%	20%	24%	11%	43%	60%	-	14%	4%
Jul '17	59%	45%	48%	32%	18%	19%	23%	30%	8%	45%	63%	-	10%	5%
Aug '17	56%	47%	44%	32%	25%	16%	24%	28%	7%	41%	58%	-	14%	6%
Sep '17	59%	48%	42%	32%	23%	21%	23%	27%	10%	41%	60%	-	17%	4%
Oct '17	56%	48%	44%	36%	20%	16%	21%	27%	9%	42%	64%	-	12%	5%
Nov '17	61%	47%	45%	32%	20%	16%	21%	25%	7%	40%	60%	-	13%	5%
Dec '17	59%	44%	43%	27%	17%	17%	23%	27%	8%	38%	64%	-	15%	4%
Jan '18	56%	48%	45%	36%	18%	16%	19%	29%	9%	43%	60%	-	13%	5%

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Release date

March 2017

More information

Region

Italy

Survey time period

February 2016 to January 2018

Number of respondents

Various***

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

* Source question: What are the most important challenges your business currently faces?
** Regulatory and other barriers to exports is deleted since October 2016.
** Selling to foreign markets is new since October 2016.
*** Survey sample group size varies:
Feb '16 = 2,099
Mar '16 = 998
Apr '16 = 482
May '16 = 420
Jun '16 = 419
Jul '16 = 461
Aug '16 = 436
Sep '16 = 589
Oct '16 = 488
Nov '16 = 520
Dec '16 = 507
Jan '17 = 494
Feb '17 = 445
Mar '17 = 439
Apr '17 = 540
May '17 = 405
Jun '17 = 373
Jul '17 = 533
Aug '17 = 469
Sep '17 = 557
Oct '17 = 468
Nov '17 = 684
Dec '17 = 354
Jan '18 = 532.