This IDC study shows the results of detailed research on Western European business demographics across multiple sources, such as national statistic offices, Eurostat, OECD, and Dun & Bradstreet.

The analysis provides an outlook for the SMB market structure and size across 16 Western European countries and 21 subvertical markets. The main points analyzed include SMBs' number of enterprises by vertical market and total employment by employee size class.

"Western Europe is a very diverse and fragmented region, with different economic structures by country. An effective IT planning strategy must rely on a comprehensive understanding of country differences from a company size distribution of enterprises and vertical market perspective," said Nina Bonagura, senior research analyst, IDC European Vertical Markets.