CERTOUR II – For a Better SME Management
It is recognized that the tourism sector in the project area has a very positive impact on employment and income, as it is one of the fastest-growing sectors and still has strong growth prospect. However, in the microenterprises that are dominating the number of tourism businesses in the area, low managerial performance is shown, thus affecting their competitiveness and viability as well as the attraction of the area
Through the project “FOR A BETTER SME MANAGEMENT”, the 6 partners from 5 countries aim at confronting this phenomenon and enhancing the competitiveness by improving the management and upgrading the skills of people of the tourism SMEs, ensuring sustainability (overall objective) The main idea is to upgrade the skills of the SMEs’ people in order to make them able to implement managerial tools and techniques at their enterprises and to improve their competitiveness. Pilot implementations of the management tools, starting the systematic management improvement is a core activity of the project.
The sequence of activities towards this objective is: Development of management tools (models) adapted to the SMEs => Creation of a group of skilled consultants/ mentors (training package, joint mentors’ training programme) => Customization of the management tools to each SME => Pilot implementations (e-training platform, e-training, mentoring) => Experience exchange (study visits) => Networking This sequence is accompanied by project’s management and coordination as well as communication activities
The target groups are: a) Business Support Organisations in the field of tourism (the project partners included), b) Individual professionals (scientists or technicians) to be registered mentors, c) MSMEs (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises) of the tourism sector and d) the general public
The transnational cooperation adds value in the project and offers important benefits to its target groups. Also, the project ensures sustainability and is expected to have springboard and multiplier effect:
- The beneficiary SMEs that will improve their management will act as role models in their areas
- The existing CERTOUR Network that will be reinforced by the project, assures the transferability of the outputs & results in a
wider geographical area and after the project - The mentors’ registry, the management tools, the mentors’ training package and the e-training platform that will be developed,
will be made available to any interested party and they compose an integrated facilitation platform for SMEs’ management
improvement - The wide dissemination of the results will familiarize a wide range of tourism stakeholders with the necessity of SMEs
management and competitiveness improvement and will motivate them to act accordingly
From these points of view, it is clear that this project is a significantly efficient investment in the project area
BSB/17
