The global operations of European firms, Bruegel policy brief

POLICY CHALLENGE European countries differ in their trade performance and patterns of global production; these differences mostly relate to differing industrial structures. For all countries, firm growth and consolidation would generate a consider-able increase in exports. Small firms are frequently the backbone of European economies, but they are increasingly unable to overcome the fixed costs of global operations. Structural reforms that make it easier for firms to grow and to move towards more sophisticated forms of management, organisation and innovation, are key to strengthening Europe's com-petitiveness. The European single market is the space in which firms initially grow and policies should aim to ease further the movement of goods within the EU.AT FR DE HU IT ES U