As with any year, the latter months are often filled with holiday spirit, festivities and good wishes for the year to come. While the state of the economy one year ago may have preoccupied small businesses throughout Latin America as they entered the holiday season and the New Year, this time around they are enjoying the holidays with a sense of motivation for the year to come.

UPS recently launched the fourth edition of the UPS Business Monitor Latin America (BMLA), a study based on the surveys conducted among SME business leaders to gather insight into the latest opinions, attitudes and practices of SME decision makers throughout the region. The 2010 edition of the BMLA, as in other regions of the world, reveals that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) throughout Latin America are finally seeing signs of recovery for the first time since 2008.

The study shows that almost 80 percent of the SMEs surveyed project an economic improvement for their companies over the course of the next 12 months – and they are planning accordingly. Despite not yet returning to pre-crisis business performance levels, SMEs confirmed a considerable decrease in workforce reductions and ranked marketing and sales as their top investment priority in 2011, in addition to citing supply chain management as a strategy for increased competitiveness.

Considering the hardships endured by businesses of all sizes around the world over recent years, this year’s BMLA marks a new chapter is the recovery and opportunity that lies ahead, which is cause for celebration throughout the Region.

The results of the BMLA IV also cover key business topics and main issues that affect business executives, from the impact of the recent financial crisis and its recovery, to the business and global trade environment, to environmental matters, among others. The BMLA IV is comprised of the responses from more than 800 SMEs across seven countries throughout the region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Mexico.

For more results and insight, the BMLA IV is available for download in multiple languages on the UPS Pressroom.