There are two ways of competitiveness for SME in the present global economy. “Low“ road includes low wages, non-observance of labor and ecological standards, disregarding of safety working processes, escaping taxes, etc. “High” road assumes upgrading of products and production processes, and creation of more qualified jobs. For SME in the new acceding EU countries the second road involves the implementation of the EU standards on quality, safety and environment protection as a condition for further improvement. A great number of Bulgarian SME count exclusively on the internal market with a great segment of low income and not requiring consumers. This leads many enterprises to follow the “low” road and namely those enterprises are mostly threatened by the obligatory implementation of the EU standards. The delay in their upgrading will lead to lots of bankruptcies with heavy social and economic consequences in terms of employment and living standard. At the same time the standards implementation creates a chance for some SME to renew their production, equipment and processes if they whish to stay on the market.
The basic research goal of the research project is to study the social and economic effects of the obligatory implementation of the EU standards on quality, safety and environment protection on SME in the food and textile sectors in Bulgaria. The two sectors are chosen because of their importance for EU consumers (food), significant part in the country export (textile), and local employment. The theoretical framework of the research is based on the concept of learning organization in the context of a global economy. Between extreme pessimistic and optimistic views about the future of the Bulgarian SME in the single market we propose the idea that local firms can upgrade their activities, management, etc. through learning. The failure of other firms to modernize will keep the low level quality of work, production, wages, etc., especially in some regions.