| The OECD Ministerial Conference on
SMEs, Istanbul 2004
The Istanbul Conference was the second
OECD Ministerial Conference on SMEs and Globalisation that took place on
June 4-5, 2004 in order to take forward the Bologna Process. The event
was jointly organised by the OECD through the Directorate for Science,
Technology and Industry (DSTI) and the Turkish Ministry of Industry and
Trade through KOSGEB.
87 countries were invited to
participate in the conference. Among them, 30 are OECD countries and 57
non-OECD. At the end of the Ministerial Conference a final declaration
was released, where Ministers reaffirm the need to support the
development of the best set of public policies that foster the creation
and rapid growth of innovative SMEs. At page 2 of the Declaration, a
reference to INSME is made.
A Business Forum on "SMEs: Innovation,
Technology & ICTs" took place during the days preceding the Ministerial
Conference. It outlined conclusions provided to ministers for
discussion. The Business Forum comprised two events: a Business
Symposium (3 June 2004) and a Global Marketplace (2 to 6 June 2004). The
subject of both events was focused and limited to the topics of new
technologies, innovation and ICTs.
A website dedicated to the Istanbul
Ministerial Conference is available for further information at
http://www.oecd-istanbul.sme2004.org.
Dr. Serge Golovanov, General Manager
of GOLEM IMS GMBH and UNIDO International consultant and the Member of
Austrian Delegation for the Conference was invited as speaker to
contribute to discussions which took place in The Business Symposium
"SMEs Competing in a Knowledge Economy". The Business Symposium offered
business organisations and individual firms (both small and large) the
opportunity to strengthen their co-operation at international level and
to influence government policies and the international agenda for SMEs.
The Symposium was attended by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of SMEs
and large firms, representatives of federations of entrepreneurs at the
national and supranational level, providers of SME financing (e.g.
banks, financial institutions) and agencies providing business services
for the globalisation of SMEs. Representatives of international
organisations were also invited to participate in the Business
Symposium.
The presentation of Dr. S.Golovanov
“Recognition of Knowledge Capital in Knowledge Economy: The price of
ignorance” was focused on issues of losses occurring due to lack of
know-how, managerial skills, effective ICT tools for performance
management and various inefficiencies common to majority of enterprises
in different countries. Taking the latest results of the training
programmes implemented in UK and Colombia he estimated the loss in
magnitude of 10%-25% of annual company gross profits depending of
company size, life history and education of management. Most of the SME
entrepreneurs are not aware of these loses and relevant actual figures
and the level of potential improvements based only on use of internally
available resources.
The conclusions outlined in the
presentation were as follows:
1. The Knowledge Economy shall
incorporate the practices and costs of SME training as its default
component to develop Knowledge Capital, improve sustainability and
competitiveness. The training of SME entrepreneurs in
productivity, quality and performance management shall become the
default component of any national policy implemented by governments.
2. OECD may and shall take initiative
in setting up recommendations on training Programme Standards following
COTE definitions including measurement of efficiencies and results. The
developing of standards defining the content, quality and implementation
measurement of such training would avoiding growing reservations of
entrepreneurs toward content and efficiency of service providers at the
national and international levels.
Additional links:
Presentation by S.Golovanov (click
here to
download a file in .ZIP format)
Overview of the events in detail and photo gallery:
www.insme.com
(click on to enlarge)
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