and provide the bulk of employment. However, opportunities presented by the globalization and the entwined,
This pressure to go for global innovation is enhanced by given socio-demographic factors, e g. shortage of skilled labour, in many industrialized countries.
and Labour Affairs in Hamburg and co-financed by the European union (EU). The findings of this survey are matched here against perceived opportunities
16 3. 3. 1 Shortage of Skilled Labour...16 3. 3. 2 Financial Problems and State Support...
19 4. 1. 1 Quantitative Availability of Skilled Labour...19 4. 1. 2 Reducing Bottlenecks in Product Pipeline...
20 4. 2. 1 Cheaper Costs for (Skilled) Labour...21 4. 2. 2 State-induced Incentives...
and provide the bulk of employment. Innovative ideas and products are becoming increasingly important to counter the priceoriented competition from low-cost producers from emerging economies
This pressure to go for global innovation is enhanced by given sociodemographic factors, e g. shortage of skilled labour, in many industrialized countries.
and Labour Affairs in Hamburg and co-financed by the European union (EU The findings of this survey are matched here against perceived opportunities
The renowned, Bonn-based Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (Ifm) defines SMES as firms that employ less than 500 workers
This paper unless specified otherwise works with the EC definition primarily since this definition has been adopted by most of the member countries of the EU including Germany thereby building the basis for most public policies
Contrasted against some large corporate houses that generate billions of euros in annual sales and employ hundreds of thousands of workers,
and provided employment to 70.9%of all employed persons in 2006 (Ifm, 2007b). In absolute terms German SMES provided employment and/or apprenticeship to 20.42 million people in 2006 in the country.
Nearly 83%of all apprenticeship placements in 2006 were offered by SMES, which amounted to 1. 36 million (Ifm, 2007b).
Recent calculations by the authors of this paper, based on Germany's official statistics portal data, show that the high percentage of SMES amongst all enterprises continues to remain high.
As on 31.12.2006 large firms (with 250 employees or more) constituted a miniscule 0. 33%of all enterprises.
Of 3, 215,238 enterprises active on the aforementioned date an overwhelming 3, 204,519 were SMES (with less than 250 employees.
and the overall employment generated, SMES in Germany continue to remain week on the revenue front
In Germany as well as in many other EU member countries SMES usually operate under high overhead costs, such as labour costs,
and Eastern europe. 1 Ifm Bonn works with a definition of SMES that differs from the official definition. 2 Definition criteria such as annual turn over
) According to the specifications of the State Ministry of Economic and Labour Affairs (Behörde für Wirtschaft und Arbeit) in Hamburg,
e g. references in the monthly newsletters of involved cluster managers and promotions via diverse online intermediaries,
Despite multiple promotions and reminding activities only 131 respondents filled out the questionnaire, out of which the answers of only 70 could be analyzed.
confirm, or extend the data base with experts from the selected industries like firm representatives, representatives of industry associations and cluster managers.
Abandonment of Innovation Projects owing to Financial Constraints 3. 2. 1. 2 Availability of Skilled Labour Another major hurdle faced by the survey respondents related to the difficulty in finding suitable
However, experienced skilled labour was generally difficult to find. 71%71%21%36%14%7%29%14%0%20%40%60%80%Diploma-holders Engineers
Managers Others With work experience Freshers n=33 Figure 6: Lack of Qualified Human resources as Barrier to Innovation BARRIERS TO INNOVATION IN SMES:
CAN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF R&d MITIGATE THEIR EFFECTS? R. Tiwari and S. Buse (October 2007) Page 12 of 31 This problem is particularly interesting
since both Germany and its Hamburg region endure substantial unemployment with an unemployment rate of nearly 9%.At the same time the industry is unable to fill vacant positions with skilled labour.
To cite an example closely related to the previous issue we can have a look at restrictive labour laws in Germany
the desire to reduce costs by getting access to cheaper labour. Supposedly unfavourable regulatory conditions at home also did not play any worthwhile role in the decision to go international. 3. 2. 3. 2 Challenges of International Innovation The desire to engage in international innovation activities
In the following we describe the two most important aspects of this new research. 3. 3. 1 Shortage of Skilled Labour Firms not only in Germany
but in many other Western countries are faced with scarcity of skilled labour owing primarily to two reasons:
2004) b) Lack of student interest in engineering and natural sciences (see IWD (2007)) In Germany alone firms are facing a severe crunch of skilled labour,
despite high rates of unemployment in certain sections of the society. According to some preliminary calculations the shortage of skilled (technical) labour, primarily of engineers and scientists, is leading to a loss of over 20 billion euros a year in the form of unrealized business opportunities.
The study carried out by Cologne-based Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (Idw) on behalf of Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics
R. Tiwari and S. Buse (October 2007) Page 17 of 31 47,998 engineer job vacancies in 2006 resulting in a loss of 3. 5 billion euros (Koppel, 2007.
SMES with a staff of 50 to 249 employees were found to be suffering more from this scarcity (60%)than did large firms (40%)(BITKOM, 2007b.
recruiting skilled technical labour is increasingly becoming a grave problem (DIHK, 2007). Firms are reporting vacancy periods of 3 to 6 months to fill an engineer vacancy;
while the official labour mediation agency Bundesagentur für Arbeit confirms this trend (Dunkel & Kühnlenz, 2007;
This expected shortfall is based on the assumption that till then there will be no change in the employment basis. In case the employment basis increases by 2. 5%in this period,
SMES are more prone to suffer from the shortage of skilled labour than large firms,
a) Financial constraints b) Finding qualified, suitable human resources c) Finding suitable cooperation partners with knowledge resources d)( International) Marketing of innovative products e
fast-growing markets such as China and India, may offer tremendous opportunities, e g. in the form of vast pools of qualified human resources in science and technology, cheaper labour costs and access to new, fast
2006), suggest that seeking access to know-how (e g. in the form of skilled labour) is one of the most important drivers of global innovation.
4. 1. 1 Quantitative Availability of Skilled Labour The demographically disadvantageous factor of an aging population in many Western countries, including Germany,
With 14 million young university graduates (with seven years or less of work experience) India's talent pool is estimated to be the largest worldwide, overlapping Chinese talent pool by 50%and that of the USA by 100
BMBF, 2007). 3 3 DBR (2005), citing India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion,
Google Inc. cited troubles in obtaining work visas for its prospective employees as a reason to set up its first engineering research and development centre outside the US in Bangalore in India (The Hindu,
2003). 4. 1. 2 Reducing Bottlenecks in Product Pipeline Global innovation activities may ensure that work can be carried out simultaneously from multiple locations and on multiple projects, if needed.
in addition to access to skilled labour, may also contribute to reducing costs of innovation. 4. 2. 1 Cheaper Costs for (Skilled) Labour Global activities,
The labour costs are however going up, see section 5. 2. 4. 2. 2 State-induced Incentives There may be induced lucrative state incentives to indulge in R&d activities abroad if the host country offers significant financial support, e g. in the form of tax
Even China and India are reportedly experiencing shortage of skilled labour with international knowledge standards;
wages of highly skilled labour in India reportedly grow by 10 to 15%and above per annum on average;
) Wage costs for semiskilled or unskilled labour, however, remain significantly lower than in Western, industrialized nations. 5. 3 Protection of Intellectual Property rights (IPRS) The protection of IPRS remains a concern,
For instance, Hirschfeld (2005) reports several incidences of intercultural nuisances in Indo-German software development work.
Fabian and Schmidli (2005) report similar problems in Sino-Swiss projects. 5. 7 Acceptance Issues The parent unit (headquarters) tend to interfere in the innovation work being carried out at the foreign location,
Furthermore, some employees in the R&d units at the headquarters tend to see the new location as a potential threat to their job security leading to resentments, antagonism and even non-cooperation,
and should provide their employees involved in international activities with cross-cultural training. This sensitization to mutual cultural issues may play a key-role in the success of an international venture.
A thorough understanding of internal business processes, organisational backing not only by senior management but also by other employees, especially in R&d departments,
Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Management of Globally Distributed work, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, pp. 451-465.
creating a more dynamic economy and greater employment opportunities. In fact, the national climate for private sector innovation has an impact on businesses of all sizes,
do supported government national, regional and local technology diffusion programmes work? To what extent are adapted such programmes to the specific needs and characteristics of SMES?
Liberalise the hiring of qualified foreign workers. Enhance co-operation between schools, entrepreneurs and branch organisations.
Harmonise vocational training system with innovations and technological change. Inadequate access to technological know-how Foster links between enterprises and research centres and laboratories.
but are restricted in innovative capacity due to their financial and human resources. Similarly, Rosenbusch et al (2011) have identified several factors that affect the relationship between innovation and SME performance.
and interaction of the organizational members while they carry out their work and goals. Innovation is considered as every day issue for members of organizations in defining their problems,
and encourage the employees to participate not only in innovation and learning activities but also be a part of designing activities (Wilhelmsson & Döös, 2009, Kianto, 2008).
Wierdsma,(2004) and Yuan and Woodman (2010) state that innovation is seen as rising trend in day to day work of organizational members
The criterion followed in selection of SMES was based on number of employees not exceeding 150 full time employees.
whether they have been involved in in-house or outside the company R&d acquisition of external knowledge for R&d activities or training their employees in this regard.
The results indicate that on all accounts SMES surveyed were involved less in R&d activities except for the training of employees.
although, these companies are engaged in developing the skills and capacities of their employees through various trainings.
Docherty, P.,Kira, M. ans Shani (Rami) A b s. Creating sustainable work systems. Developing social sustainability.
Innovative behavior in the workplace: The role of performance and image outcome expectations. Academy ofmanagement Journal.
with the aim of strengthening integration and synchronization of national research programmes contributing to the achievement of a European Research Area 6. Work Programme 7 Links:
EN HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014 2015 7. Innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises Revised This Work Programme was adopted on 10 december 2013.
European commission Decision C (2015) 2453 of 17 april 2015) HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 2 of 37
35 HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 3 of 37 11.
35 HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 4 of 37 Introduction Exiting the economic crisis
and achieving the employment and growth targets of the Europe 2020 strategy requires a competitive industry that builds its competitiveness on innovation in all its forms:
While certain Work Programme parts and areas have been identified explicitly as participating in the Pilot on Open Research Data
and areas can choose to participate in the Pilot on a voluntary basis. The use of a Data Management 1 http://ec. europa. eu/regional policy/indexes/in your country en. cfm HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME
Mainstreaming SME support especially through a dedicated instrument SME participation is encouraged throughout this work programme and in particular in the priorities Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges.
The specific challenges of the topics which make use of the dedicated SME instrument are described in the respective parts of the work programme.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 6 of 37 SME-SPACE-1-2014/2015 SME instrument 8 50
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 7 of 37 Scope:
and services as well as access to the financial facilities supported under Access to Risk Finance of this work programme. 5 For topic PHC-12-2014/2015,
demographic change and wellbeing work programme part. 6 The commercialisation plan must demonstrate a credible path to the market also demonstrating the capacities to go from development to the production phase.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 8 of 37 Successful beneficiaries will be offered coaching
and management skills of individuals in the senior management team and developing in-house coaching capacity;
The expected impact should be described clearly in qualitative and quantitative terms (e g. on turnover, employment,
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 9 of 37 CONDITIONS FOR THIS COMMON CALL Opening dates7:
The conditions are described in parts B and C of the General Annexes to the work programme, with the following exceptions:
and threshold are described in part H of the General Annexes to the work programme, with the following exceptions:
If any of the persons identified is an independent expert participating in the evaluation of the proposals for the call in question,
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 10 of 37 Evaluation procedure:
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 11 of 37 Call-Enhancing SME innovation capacity by providing better innovation
which will provide the growth and employment of the future. The reindustrialisation of the EU's industrial base has to focus on the development of long-term internationally competitive goods
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 12 of 37 Scope:
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 13 of 37 Stimulate the creation of new globally competitive industrial value chains across the EU
http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/industrial-competitiveness/industrial-policy/intellectual-property-rights/index en. htm HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015
training, materials and promotion to the demand and to better reach the target group. In particular
2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 15 of 37 Type of action:
or human resources to effectively use and manage IPR. Such entities would be able to better use their intellectual capital if:
and guidance on how to better use professional legal consultants; 2. the professional consultants were prepared better to deal with SME specific challenges 3. cross-border information about IPR issues would be easily available on the internet
and 4. National Intellectual Property Offices (NIPOS) would provide better IPR services to SMES. Scope:
http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/industrial-competitiveness/industrial-policy/intellectual-property-rights/index en. htm HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015
R&d service providers or private consultants to either conduct small innovation projects or to explore the feasibility of larger ones.
and SMES and have proven to be a successful instrument to support the spin-in of technology and HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 17 of 37 knowledge
Coordination and support action 14 See for example http://www. innovation. lv/ino2/publications/Riga declaration. pdf HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES
Commission staff working document SEC (2009) 1197 16 See http://www. vinnova. se/Pagefiles/604825187/The%20ipf%20synthesis%20report. pdf HORIZON 2020
WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 19 of 37 A broad range of new topics
and potential partners (assistance to online collaboration for innovation) So far staff in innovation agencies has hardly skills to assist their clients to establish collaborations on web platforms
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 20 of 37 develop
curriculum and training courses for staff currently providing brokerage services in established networks or SME agencies.
and training material are made available to SME innovation support agencies interested in enhancing the skills of their staff.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 21 of 37 resource optimisation or networking (Vanhaverbeke et al.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 22 of 37 Open innovation will allow SMES to sidestep the commoditisation pressure
-Awareness raising regarding the recruitment opportunities for SME instrument coaching towards appropriately qualified individuals,-Creation of information materials, setup of dissemination events,
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 23 of 37-Organisation of coaching meetings to share best practice examples among coaches,
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 24 of 37 CONDITIONS FOR THIS CALL Opening dates18:
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 25 of 37 Eligibility and admissibility conditions:
The conditions are described in parts B and C of the General Annexes to the work programme, with the following exceptions:
and strategic focus promises significant impact on economic growth and job creation, and has the potential to act as a catalyst by contributing to and/or leveraging other activities supported,
and threshold are described in part H of the General Annexes to the work programme, with the following exceptions:
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 26 of 37-ambition of acceptance of the private foreign service providers.
Professionalisation of open innovation management in SMES HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 27 of 37 Other actions
suitable coaches and support their work that would address the recognised barriers to growth on the basis of a jointly agreed‘coaching plan'.
In each consortium, Network partners willing to HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 28 of 37 participate in this action have to demonstrate that relevant
The eligible costs of the action are restricted to the staff costs of the qualified staff members.
and known typical daily rates of senior staff in the network projects in the country.
The eligible costs of the action are restricted to the staff costs of the qualified staff members and indirect costs at the standard rate for Coordination and Support Actions.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 29 of 37 Type of action:
to make a high-quality assessment tool and trainings available to business consultants, and to develop the market for innovation management consulting by enhancing quality
Transferring the IMP rove project into an independent legal entity shall increase flexibility to reply to needs from regions and Member States while at the same time operating the tools in stable environment with highly qualified staff.
First, by providing a capacity building environment for the innovation advisors (staff of Enterprise Europe Network) that work in regions with a weakly developed consulting base and no own assessment and consulting tools;
'HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 30 of 37 To cover specific costs of operation,
win everywhere, Harvard Business Review Press HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 31 of 37 innovation.
Development of support material for the intermediary organisations, including business associations, for their work with the SMES as well as training material for SMES.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 32 of 37 Type of action:
(i) training their staff working with SME;(ii) for the work with SME and (iii) during the design of new SME innovation support actions.
The activities will be divided in two lots: Lot 1-Analysis and documentation of business innovation Lot 2-Production of awareness and training materials Type of action:
EUR 2. 20 million from the 2015 budget HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 33 of 37 6
but seek to source new ideas and technologies worldwide and to tap into knowledge generation and the pool of scientists and qualified workers in third countries.
EUR 0. 35 million from the 2014 budget 7-Support to Advisory Group Innovation in SMES 22 This action will support the work of the Advisory Group Innovation in SMES.
The Group has been set up to provide stakeholder input on the overall Horizon 2020 scientific and technological strategy, with respect to maximising the SME relevance and impact of the various work programmes and activities.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 34 of 37 Indicative budget:
EUR 0. 02 million from the 2014 budget and EUR 0. 02 million from the 2015 budget 8 External expertise This action will support the use of appointed independent experts
The work of the expert group will be essential to get a better overview of the investment-readiness landscape in Europe,
The experts concerned will be qualified highly with specialist expertise in the field of financial instruments such as bankers, venture capital (VC) and other risk-capital fund managers, business angels,
In order to attract experts of sufficiently high calibre, a special allowance of €450/day will be paid to highly qualified,
This action is linked to an investment readiness measure (Call H2020-BIR-2014 in the Access to Risk Finance Work Programme
I. HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 35 of 37 10-Eureka Annual Membership Fee This action will support coordination
Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European parliament and of the Council of 25 october 2012 HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 36 of 37
2015budget EUR million Experts (expert evaluators, experts groups, monitors) 0. 92 of which 0. 10 from 02.040203 and 0. 82 from 08.020203 1. 14 of which 0
budgets of the common call of the SME instrument is provided in the introduction of this work programme part
and in the budget tables of the individual work programme parts. 27 The budget figures given in this table are rounded to two decimal places. 28 The budget figures given in this table are rounded to two decimal places.
HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2014-2015 Innovation in SMES PART 7-Page 37 of 37 Estimated total budget 36
17 40.03 Contribution to Horizontal activities (08.020500) 2014 Budget EUR million29 2015budget EUR million Dissemination activities (see Part 17 of the work programme) 0
. 06 of which half from 02.040203 and half from 08.020203 0. 06 of which 0. 03 from 02.040203 and 0. 03 from 08.020203 Corporate communication (see Part 17 of the work programme) 0. 03
) Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovative SMES in a Global economy Towards a More Responsible and Inclusive Globalisation Executive Summary of the Background Reports Istanbul,
to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in member countries,
The Commission of the European communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention.
Promouvoir l'entreprenariat et les PME innovantes dans une économie mondialisée OECD 2004 Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for noncommercial purposes
and sets out some policy messages and recommendations that have emerged from preparatory work in the OECD Working Party for SMES and Entrepreneurship.
Still others relate to mobilising human resources in particular women, to realise their full economic potential. 1 A second major focus of the conference is the continuing process of international economic integration
and ways to encourage 1. This work is an important part of the follow-up to the OECD Growth Project (The New Economy:
The main messages emerging from the preparatory work for the conference incorporated in a series of background reports,
such as those affecting labour markets, tax design, competition, financial markets and bankruptcy laws. The PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Employment regulation, which the World bank finds is generally more flexible in advanced countries than in developing economies, limits management flexibility and leads to smaller firm size and less research and development as well as less investment in technology.
and unemployment, including chronic unemployment, have been implemented in many countries. New enterprises can procure a range of benefits that contribute to local development,
rises in employment and incomes; enhanced provision of services for consumers and businesses; and possibly, demonstration and motivational effects.
Determinants of rates of enterprise creation at the local level include demographics, unemployment, wealth, the educational and occupational profile of the workforce, the prevalence of other small firms and infrastructure endowment.
Policy design in areas such as competition, the regulatory framework, the tax system, labour markets, financial markets and bankruptcy laws should take account of the way these areas impinge on SMES and innovation in knowledge-based economies.
Integrate the local development dimension into the promotion of entrepreneurship. The roles of sub-national authorities in the promotion of entrepreneurship are of paramount importance
and should be defined and coordinated with central governments, as appropriate for each country. Ensure that programmes in support of SMES
to permit policy-relevant empirical analytical work to be carried out. The issues that are involved are considered further below.
Fostering women's entrepreneurship Women's entrepreneurship is potentially an important source of growth Women's entrepreneurship has increasingly become recognised as an important source of employment and potential growth.
In the United states 6. 4 million self-employed women provide employment for 9. 2 million people.
Using the US ratio between number of employees and selfemployment, it is estimated that the self-employed women in surveyed European countries might employ around 15 million persons.
Indeed, self employment represents one of the most important job options for women, especially for women in developing economies.
and their prospects for success. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATIVE SMES IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY 14 OECD 2004 Figure 1. Female employers and own-account workers Percentage of total employers and own
-account workers Source: United nations Economic commission for europe, Gender Statistic Database.%%50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 1050 Austriabelgiumbulgaria Czech Republicfinlandgreecehungary Icelandireland Italypolandromania Russian Federationsloveniaturkey United kingdom Selected European countries, 2000 Source:
Progress can be made by removing obstacles to female participation in the labour force, An important area where progress can be made is in removing obstacles to female participation in the labour force.
Family-friendly policies, notably as regards child care, parental leave arrangements and other child-related financial support
can have a positive effect on women's employment generally and entrepreneurial activities more PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATIVE SMES IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY 16 OECD 2004 specifically.
Such policies are part of the wider package of economic and social arrangements in any economy
and SMES looking for risk Key policy recommendations Increase the ability of women to participate in the labour force by ensuring the availability of affordable child care and equal treatment in the workplace.
These are major sources of knowledge about women's entrepreneurship and valuable tools for its development and promotion.
Regulations and supervisor arrangements designed to safeguard the soundness of financial systems can affect the provision of risk finance to SMES.
They can only partly secure such access through markets for goods, services, intellectual property rights and human resources.
therefore, increasingly important for entrepreneurs, inventors, researchers, SMES and business consultants to have a good understanding of the intellectual property system,
private households employing staff and religious organisations. Canada includes the industrial sector. Japan excludes agriculture, forestry, fisheries and mining.
50-299 employees instead of 50-249 and 300 or more instead of 250 or more. For Japan, businesses with 100 or more employees.
For The netherlands, 50-199 employees instead of 50-249. For Switzerland, 5-49 employees instead of 10-49 and 5 or more employees instead of 10 or more.
For Mexico, Businesses with 21 or more employees, 21-100 employees instead of 10-49,101-250 instead of 50-249,151-1000 instead of 250 or more. 3. Internet and other computer-mediated networks.
Source: OECD, ICT database and Eurostat, Community Survey on ICT usage in enterprises 2002, May 2003.100 90 80 70 60 50 Finland 10-49
Swedendenmarkcanada2 Australia Czech republic (2001) Austriajapan2 New zealand (2001) Germanyirelandspain Norway (2001) Netherlands (2001) 2, 3 Luxembourg Switzerland (2000) Italy Portugal (2001
and between firms and consumers. as are skilled human resources. Lack of information and communications technology skills and e-business skills are widespread impediments to effective use of e-business processes once adoption decisions are made.
Whereas large enterprises can afford specialised staff, SMES must often rely on the qualifications and training of their general workforce.
in providing the framework to encourage ICT skill formation at higher levels, in vocational training and in ongoing lifelong learning.
constitute a major source of employment and generate significant domestic and export earnings. In the poorest countries they nevertheless make up a relatively small part of the economy,
contributing less to employment and output than the informal sector (Figure 5). An important policy priority in low-income countries is to facilitate the creation of SMES
and sufficiently healthy and flexibly skilled labour. SME development strategy must be integrated into the broader national PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATIVE SMES IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY OECD 2004 33 development and poverty reduction strategy of transition and developing countries.
Figure 5. Contributions to employment and output Source: M. Ayyagari, T. Beck and A. Demirgüc-Kunt, Small and Medium Enterprises across the Globe, World bank Policy Research Working Paper 3127, WASHINGTON DC, August 2003, pp
. 27-28.70 60 50 40 30 20 100%%70 60 50 40 30 20 100 Employment Output (GDP) Low income
and promotion, led by the appropriate ministry, but which involves participation by all key stakeholders. The overall objective should be to increase the volume and value of exports and the number of exporting companies.
It should also seek to integrate export support and promotion into a well developed and effective business support system.
so that the contribution and the policy and support needs of SMES are recognised fully as central to growth, employment and poverty reduction.
A recurrent theme in the work summarised here is need the for systematic assessment and review of SME policies and programmes.
of Culture, Media and Sport and agencies 332 Department of education and Skills and agencies 138 Regional Development Agencies 274 Department of Work and Pensions 71 Local authorities 300 Tax
A third option is to engage specialist outsiders such as consultants or academics. Both these groups have the advantage of being less clearly subject to capture
A second recurrent theme in the preparatory work for the Istanbul Conference has been the poor empirical basis for informed policy making in the area of SMES and entrepreneurship.
Nonmember economies should be involved in this work where possible. Develop an integrated business statistical register. This requires that countries introduce a single identification number for enterprises,
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