Impact of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) on the Sustainable Development in Yemen during the Period from 2000 to 2018: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This study aims to identify the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises on Yemen's sustainable development, and the role these enterprises play at the levels of the industrial sector and the economy as a whole. This is done through descriptive and statistical analysis of collected data for exhibiting the progression of the most significant indicators of sustainable development in Yemen in all its aspects, economic, social, environmental, and institutional, and the progression of small and medium-sized enterprises, their role and contribution to employment, production, and the value-added. The study follows the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for analyzing the data of the selected variables during the period from 2000 to 2018 using the statistical program SmartPLS3. The study findings show that, though indicators of sustainable development were low, the small and medium-sized enterprises had a favorable effect on Yemen's sustainable development during the period selected for this study.