A/HRC/35/32 protection and promotion of human rights within their company ethos. Those that take such a position may have a strategic advantage within the marketplace because those measures may cut production costs. It is therefore imperative that a level playing field be created within a given industry. 39. In fact, lessons on the ground also show that restrictive contracts with small and medium-sized subcontractors may generate adverse human rights practices in certain circumstances, as larger business enterprises knowingly outsource human rights risks to these enterprises. That is an issue that larger business enterprises need to take into account in their own human rights due diligence. 52 40. The lessons on the ground also suggest that larger business enterprises, including transnational corporations, need to do much more to support and share lessons of social responsibility with the small and medium-sized enterprises in their supply chain. This is not to say that some transnational corporations have not increasingly prioritized training for smaller enterprises in their supply chain in recent years. Some companies have, for example, made policy commitments to promote human rights in their supply chains and provided training and guidance to suppliers.53 C. Role of States in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises 41. In the experience of the Working Group, small and medium-sized enterprises expect guidance from Governments, including with regard to their responsibility to respect human rights. In that regard, the above-mentioned report of the International Organization of Employers and ILO confirmed that such enterprises were clear in terms of the support they expected from Government, which was to provide effective guidance to business enterprises (76 per cent), draft and enforce clear laws (75 per cent) and deny access to public support services to firms abusing human rights (49 per cent). 42. The development of small and medium-sized enterprises is a central part of government policy, including through the subsidies, grants and training provided. In economies with significant informal sectors, governments can provide a systematic plan for lifting such enterprises from the informal to the formal economy. Those policy tools and others employed to develop and support enterprises provide opportunities for raising awareness of the concepts in the Guiding Principles and affirm government expectations that all business enterprises within its jurisdiction meet the responsibility to respect human rights. Governments can embed the Guiding Principles as a central policy objective of their programmes relating to enterprises, including as a key part of the training and capacitybuilding activities that government departments offer. The implementation of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights should also be made a requirement for receiving government subsidies and grants. 43. In countries that are in the process of transitioning informal sector activities to the formal sector, programmes aimed at formalizing the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises provide an entry points to support government promotion of the implementation of the Guiding Principles by enabling outreach to a large section of the enterprise community. 44. A key consideration for Governments in these contexts is the need to “translate” the Guiding Principles and the implications of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights into concepts that are understandable to the local business community and that reflect local human rights challenges. General guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises, 52 53 12 See M. Anner, J. Bair and J. Blasi, “Toward Joint Liability in Global Supply Chains: Addressing the Root Causes of Labour Violations in International Subcontracting Networks”, Comparative Labour Law and Policy Journal (2013) p. 35. See also R. Locke, The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labour Standards in a Global Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 126. See, for example, http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/sustainability/sourcing/workplaces-humanrights.html; www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/human-rights-policy; and www.nestle.com/aboutus/suppliers.