Small emerging markets may pay off better in the long term than the lofty BRICS.

That’s according to State Street Global Advisors, which reports that smaller emerging market economies outperformed the BRICs by a whopping 39% in the period from 1996 to March, 2011.

Investors focusing only on Brazil, Russia, India and China may be missing out.

Compared with developed economies, the numbers are even more stunning.

For example, when you look at retail sales of licensed merchandise, emerging markets registered a 22.7% increase from 2009 to 2010.

“The Licensing Letter,” an independent trade publication, also reports a 2.2% decline in retail sales of licensed merchandise globally for the same period, and a 4% drop in the United States and Canada.

So while others shrink, the EM’s just keep growing.

Indonesia is just one of the small emerging markets cited in recent small emerging market reports; Its growing consumer class and economic growth have been the focus of special coverage on World Business today all this week.

CNN