Rationale SMEs working in international markets are more innovative, more competitive and generate more employment. Businesses from European Union’s Southern Neighbourhood stand to gain through greater internationalisation which in turn brings value and prosperity to home nations. Further, European neighbourhood policy, which applies to all countries undertaking this SBA assessment, provides for more gradual integration of each country with the EU internal market. Training has an important role to play in supporting the SMEs to access European and wider markets. While SME internationalisation may include areas such as foreign direct investment, importing and technical cooperation, for the purposes of this indicator, internationalisation refers to SMEs capacity to export. Objective The objective of this indicator is to boost SMEs export potential through enhanced knowledge and skills. Note Training should be considered in its widest sense and may include coaching, mentoring, The defining factor is that the activity must have a specific learning outcome(s). For the purposes of this indicator trade missions, international trade fairs or advice & consultancy services do not satisfy the training requirements of the indicator unless they have a specific and clearly articulated learning outcome. Also networking as an activity is not recognised as training unless it has a specific learning outcome(s). Level 1 Ad hoc training services related to some aspects of SME internationalisation are available. At this level there are examples of training programmes to support SME internationalization but without a clear policy context. These could include regulatory training for specific sectors (e.g. trading with the EU or more generic training (e.g. applied language training for new markets i.e. how to negotiate a deal and finalise a commercial contract with Chinese customers). Trade fairs are not training events but are information and networking events and would therefore not be sufficient evidence for the indicator unless the trade fair is part of a wider learning programme. See example from Enterprise Lithuania (Annex 4) which was an ETF good practice in 2015. Level 2 Bullet 1 Policy dialogue on development of training for SME internationalisation. This bullet requires evidence that training to support SME internationalisation has already engaged policy interest. While it does not require a specific policy position (required at Level 3), it does demand that discussions on policy options are at least being considered between at least two stakeholder organisations. Examples to satisfy this bullet are:
Rationale SMEs working in international markets are more innovative, more competitive and generate more employment. Businesses from European Union’s Southern Neighbourhood stand to gain through greater internationalisation which in turn brings value and prosperity to home nations. Further, European neighbourhood policy, which applies to all countries undertaking this SBA assessment, provides for more gradual integration of each country with the EU internal market. Training has an important role to play in supporting the SMEs to access European and wider markets. While SME internationalisation may include areas such as foreign direct investment, importing and technical cooperation, for the purposes of this indicator, internationalisation refers to SMEs capacity to export. Objective The objective of this indicator is to boost SMEs export potential through enhanced knowledge and skills. Note Training should be considered in its widest sense and may include coaching, mentoring, The defining factor is that the activity must have a specific learning outcome(s). For the purposes of this indicator trade missions, international trade fairs or advice & consultancy services do not satisfy the training requirements of the indicator unless they have a specific and clearly articulated learning outcome. Also networking as an activity is not recognised as training unless it has a specific learning outcome(s). Level 1 Ad hoc training services related to some aspects of SME internationalisation are available. At this level there are examples of training programmes to support SME internationalization but without a clear policy context. These could include regulatory training for specific sectors (e.g. trading with the EU or more generic training (e.g. applied language training for new markets i.e. how to negotiate a deal and finalise a commercial contract with Chinese customers). Trade fairs are not training events but are information and networking events and would therefore not be sufficient evidence for the indicator unless the trade fair is part of a wider learning programme. See example from Enterprise Lithuania (Annex 4) which was an ETF good practice in 2015. Level 2 Bullet 1 Policy dialogue on development of training for SME internationalisation. This bullet requires evidence that training to support SME internationalisation has already engaged policy interest. While it does not require a specific policy position (required at Level 3), it does demand that discussions on policy options are at least being considered between at least two stakeholder organisations. Examples to satisfy this bullet are:
SBA%20assessment%202017%20ENPI%20South_%20Indicators%20and%20guidelines_ENG.docx