Nijakowska-Augustyn, Anna2014-10-262014-10-262014Business and Non-Profit Organizations Facing Increased Competition and Growing Customers' Demands. Ed. by A. Nalepka, A. Ujwary-Gil. Nowy Sącz : WSB-NLU, cop. 2014. – S. 387-402978-83-62550-98-2http://hdl.handle.net/11199/8147The purpose of this article is to discuss the condition of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and its importance in the Polish economy during the economic slowdown. The SMEs around the world play a significant role in the economic growth of many countries, as well as in the job creation or in the development of selected sectors or whole countries. The paper presents a classification of SMEs and the current state of the SME sector in Poland. In addition, the study attempts to prove that this sector, currently represents a significant segment of the Polish economy in the context of the micro- and macro-economic factors, especially during the economic downturn.enopen accessAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 PolandSME sectoreconomic slowdownimportance of SMEsbookPart