Introduction / Chiara Guglielmatti -- The global economic crisis and its impacts on SMEs -- The US financial crisis : a long day's journey into night / Steven Rosefielde -- The EU crisis seen from the bottom : the perspective of vulnerable economies on eurozone troubles / Bruno Dallago and Chiara Guglielmetti -- Financial crises and labour markets : comparative evidences / Marcello Signorelli -- European policis to promote the access to finance of SMEs / Elisabetta Pederzini Part II: SMEs' Vulnerability and Resilience -- Vulnerable or resilient? : SMEs and the economic crisis in the UK -- Access to finance, access to markets, excess of bureaucracy : the three problems of SME development / Andrej Rus -- Polish and Hungarian SMEs facing the crisis / Karoly Attila Soos -- Riding the economic downturn : cooperatives in Europe / Michele Rondinelli and Anna Sarateanu -- SMEs and local development -- Industrial districts in front of the financial crisis : network structure, variety, risk sharing, and resilience / Giulio Cainelli, Sandro Montressor, and Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti -- Economic structure, reaction to the crisis and entrepreneurs' expectations in a mature regional economy : the case of Lombardia / Donatella Baiardi and Marco Percoco -- Who are the entrepreneurs that help the economy emerge from crisis? / Ferran Vendrell-Herrero, José Luís González-Pernía, and Iñaki Peña-Legazkue -- Federal grants for local development to stop economic decline? : lessons from Germany / Peter Haug and Martin T.W. Rosenfeld.