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| Research
Project 95-2118-R |
| Operating Finance
and Credit for Business in Central and Eastern Europe |
Objective of
the Project: On the demand side, to find out how small
and medium-sized, domestically owned private companies within
a group of countries in central and south-eastern Europe are
coping with the problem of obtaining operating finance and
managing working capital. On the supply side the project examines
the extent to which an infrastructure of formal and informal
provision is developing to match demand in each detailed category
of finance and credit. The research concentrates on specialised
operating finance and credit needs, particularly those related
to specific classes of short-life capital assets and items
of working capital, as opposed to more general short and medium
term bank lending, although this source of funds will not
be ignored.
| Soros
Open Foundation Research Support Scheme |
| Accession, Internationalisation
and the SME in Central and Eastern Europe |
Objective of
the Project: To identify the needs of small and medium
sized enterprises within four countries in Central and South-Eastern
Europe as they seek to internationalise their business operations,
and to establish the extent to which the emerging business
support infrastructure is able to meet those needs. The countries
included in the study include: the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Romania and Bulgaria. The project aims to establish the state
of play, draw useful inferences for policy within the Small
and Medium Sized Enterprise sector and set down a benchmark
by which progress can be measured in the future.
| British
Academy |
| Personal
Research Grant to Lester Lloyd-Reason |
Objective of
the Award: To facilitate collaborative research work
in central and eastern Europe. The award was made in recognition
of the research work of Lester Lloyd-Reason to cover travel
and subsistence costs to facilitate the continued collaboration
of an established international research team over a two-year
period of the award. Lester Lloyd-Reason was one of only six
UK academics working in the region of central and eastern
Europe to be awarded this honorary research grant by the British
Academy awarded a research grant to
| East
of England Development Agency (EEDA)
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| Competing Effectively
in International Markets |
Objectives of
the Project: To undertake a detailed analysis of the
needs of small and medium sized enterprises throughout the
East of England region in the internationalisation of their
business operations. We aim to build upon existing information
to closely map international activity within the region, identify
obstacles to internationalisation, identify how those obstacles
and needs change as the enterprise moves through the internationalisation
process and identify examples of best practice to capitalise
on the skills, core competencies and collective learning of
the clusters of highly successful, high growth enterprises
within the region. This will include a focus on the generic
and country specific market information, intelligence and
networking skills developed by successful exporting companies.
The work will greatly improve the understanding of SME international
activity within the region which in turn will inform future
policy interventions aimed at facilitating the transfer of
skills and knowledge within the SME sector.
| Download the full paper here > |
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| East
of England Development Agency (EEDA) |
| Review of Revised
International Business Strategy for the Eastern Region |
Objectives of
the work: To assist the East of England International
Trade Forum to develop a revised International Business Strategy
for the Eastern region. The work includes a critique of the
strategy revision process itself, a comprehensive review of
the revised strategy document and the facilitation of a workshop
to present the revised strategy to the key players within
the Eastern region prior to publication.
| UK
Trade and Investment (UKTI) |
| International Trade
Development in the Eastern Region |
Objectives of
the work: To assist Trade Partners UK (TPUK) in the
development of the ‘Passport to Export’ Programme.
The work includes an identification and determination of market
size and an assessment of customer acquisition and marketing.
The project brief also includes a market segmentation of the
service sector within the Eastern region. The empirical work
involves desk research, telephone interviews with 150 enterprises
and a series of face-to-face interviews with enterprises and
key players within the business support community.
| UK
Trade and Investment (UKTI)
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| Review
of data collection methods by International Trade Teams |
Objective of
the work: Through running a series of workshops in
each of the six counties of the region, establish the data
collection practices of each of the regional International
Trade Teams and report back to UKTI.
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Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF2), i10
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| High International Growth and the Higher Education Resource (H.I.G.H.E.R.) |
Objective of
the work: To identify medium sized, potential high growth international SMEs in the Eastern region, to understand the challenges preventing these firms reaching their potential and to facilitate skills and knowledge transfer from and between these firms and Higher Education Institutions in the region to help address these challenges.
| Download the full Deliverable 1-3 reports here > |
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| Download the full Deliverable 4-12 reports here > |
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris
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| A Joint OECD/APEC project - Removing Barriers to SME Access to International Markets |
Objective of
the work: To act as external advisers to the OECD on a joint OECD/APEC project to identify and address barriers to SME access to international markets. To provide analysis and reports on a 45-country supply-side survey of current levels of government support and a demand-side survey of SMEs in each of the countries to identify perceived barriers. To present a final report that includes policy recommendations to each of the countries plus the European Commission and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to a high-level OECD conference in Greece.
| Download the full paper here > |
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Advanced Handling Ltd.
Brainjuicer Ltd.
Business Web Software
Catomance Ltd.
CLR Global
Demco World Wide Ltd.
Exxcom Ltd.
Europartnerships
Generics
Jaltek Systems Limited
NetSupport
Opera Group
Siderise (Special Products) Ltd.
TranscenData
Tristel
Vebra Solutions Ltd.
Visual Planet
Webtec Products
WoodHolmes Group
Zeuss Technology
Global Business
Management
This module describes the driving forces in international
business and their impact on organisations, managers and individuals.
It exposes managers to issues and tensions in business operations
and relationships across national cultures. It will make the
manager aware of interpersonal skills and market knowledge
which permit better decision-making in international business
and management. Case studies will be used to improve students’
understanding of these key issues and to explore better techniques
for effective management of complex problems in international
business.
Managing the
International SME
This module is based on a large scale empirical research project
undertaken by the authors for the East of England Development
Agency (EEDA) – Competing Effectively in International
Markets. The authors interviewed 1200 companies in order to
identify successful aspects on international business planning,
resource management, international networking, market intelligence
gathering and global skills and knowledge development. A typology
was developed from the study and, using case studies, this
module will explore how these skills and knowledge needs vary
across companies. The cases will focus on innovation and skills
development as key requirements for sustained international
success across all business sectors.
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