Abstract
Industrial policy, which includes policies on SMEs promotion, if successfully implemented, has the potential to restructure economies of developing countries. However, when it comes to industrial policy implementation issues, a very frequent problem that developing countries face is the presence of limited capabilities among policy actors in charge of managing the implementation process. In Malawi, despite having well designed industrial policies, the SME sector is still underdeveloped, and this has partly been attributed to weak SME support institutions. The present study aimed at investigating and identifying implementation capabilities gaps in state SME support institutions in the country. With reference to literature on industrial policy implementation notably by Chang (2011, 2012), Khan (2015), Warwick (2013) and UNECA(2016), which highlight the role of implementation capabilities in the policy implementation process, the analysis seeks to fill existing gaps by revealing specific areas of implementation capabilities requiring more attention by scholars, researchers and policy makers...
M.Phil. (Industrial Policy)