Craft as a Business Development Challenge: Latvian and Serbian Craftsmen's Views

Since 2000, when the EU Council approved the “European Charter for Small Enterprises”, micro and craft (-type) enterprises have been receiving increased attention. The national and local environments, in which SMEs operate, are very different and so is the nature of SMEs themselves (including crafts, micro-enterprises, family owned or social economy enterprises). The purpose of the study was to identify similarities and differences in craft in Latvia and Serbia and find out the main challenges from the perspective of trends. Regardless of the range of problems faced by the craftsmen, in both countries they tend to increase the output of their goods/services as well as introduce new goods/services. A government craft promotion programme designed and implemented in the country may tackle development challenges.