Summary Report of APEC Symposium

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SME 06 2016A

CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT FOR SMEs MARKET-ORIENTED INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Ha Noi, Viet Nam

17 18 January, 2017

Summary Report

Purpose: Information

Submitted by: Viet Nam

ContentsNo table of contents entries found.

CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT FOR SMEs MARKET-ORIENTED INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Ha Noi, Viet Nam

17 18 January, 2017

Summary Report

I. Introduction

On 17 and 18 January 2017, the APEC Workshop onCapability Developmentfor SMEs Market-Oriented Innovation Management, initiated by Viet Nam and co-sponsored by Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore was held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. Speakers and participants came from representatives from private sector, business associations; international organizations and research institutions and APEC member economies relevant Ministries and agencies from Chile; China; Indonesia; Korea; Mexico; Peru; the Philippines; Russia; Thailand; Chinese Taipei; and Viet Nam.

APEC Workshop on Capability Development for SMEs Market-Oriented Innovation Management was aimed at the following objectives: (i) Exploring and gaining the understanding of the state of the market-oriented innovation management in SMEs in the APEC member economies; (ii) Increasing the innovation management competences of APEC enterprises, especially SMEs in the APEC region through enhancing their capacity to implement best practices and specific methodologies for conceiving, developing, producing and selling innovative products and services; (iii) Contributing to increase the R&D+I management competences of institutional policy and decision-makers; and (iv) Making recommendations to SMEWG on how to promote capacity for SMEs in market-oriented innovation management, in response to the APEC Leaders instruction in the APEC Accord on Innovative Development, Economic Reform and Growth, including the establishment of an APEC SMEs Database on innovative best practices as specified in the Accord.

II. Background

Nowadays, innovation is increasingly recognized as one of the crucial factors to enhance the businesss competitiveness and gain success in the global market driven economy. According to some credible surveys, it is indicated that firms that know how to manage innovation can seize new business opportunities, become key players in growth industries and turn themselves into highly profitable companies. It is true not only for big enterprises but also remains the case for small ones as it might serve as a key to differentiate themselves from the rivals.

SMEs accounting for more than 95% of enterprises in the APEC region could be very well placed on growth momentum when efficiently taking advantages of market-driven innovation management capability. However, the fact is that while most organizations highlighted innovation as a priority, a large proportion admits that they are not effective innovators in a sense that they might not know or not good at initiating and/or managing innovation process to meet up with market demands or penetrate into the markets. It might be due to their inexperience and/or incapability in managing innovation approaches and processes or lack of finance or incentives to implement market-oriented innovation management.

In 2014, APEC Leaders stated in The APEC Accord on Innovative Development, Economic Reform and Growth that We will promote cooperation in science and innovation....We encourage members to strengthen support for innovative activities by SMEs, and support the establishment of an APEC database on innovative best practices...

As innovation is recognized as an important driver for inclusive growth in general, for fostering MSMEs participation into the regional and global markets in particular, this project well addresses the APEC Leaders priorities and commitments by focusing on sharing best practices, case studies for and among SMEs in enhancing their capacity to manage their market-oriented innovation management, therefore, increasing their competitiveness in the regional and global markets.

The SME Strategic Plan for the period 2013 2016 underlines clearly their missions as fostering the Development of Innovative and Green SMEs and MEs and promoting Entrepreneurship and Management Capabilities of SMEs and MEs, Including Youth, Women, and Minority-Owned SMEs and MEs. So as to achieve the missions, the Strategic Plan identifies one of their priorities as Building Management Capability, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, especially to promote innovation as a key competitive advantage for SMEs and MEs by fostering innovative SMEs.

This project directly addresses the SME Strategic Plan 2013 -2016 as it aims at fostering SMEs capacity of market oriented innovation management, hence fostering innovative SMEs in the region. The best practices, case studies shared in the Project will support SMEs in the APEC region in gaining experiences in innovating themselves for better competitiveness and integration into the regional and global markets.

The project is designed to, through holding a series of SMEs case studies and one information exchange workshop on SMEs market-oriented innovation management which is generally understood to manage the process of innovation related to product and organizational innovation, to raise understanding and find out the approaches and capabilities for innovation management as well as the extent of application of proper tools and techniques for this purpose. The practices and experiences shared on the selected SMEs cases in APEC members will help promote innovation in general, SMEs innovation management capacity in particular, hence, enable them to better integrate and compete in the regional and global markets.

III. Key Issues

1. Opening remarks

Ms Pham Quynh Mai, Deputy Director General, Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, stresses that innovation is increasingly recognized as one of the crucial factors to enhance the businesss competitiveness and gain success in the global market driven economy. It is indicated that firms that know how to manage innovation can seize new business opportunities, become key players in growth industries and turn themselves into highly profitable companies. It is true not only for big enterprises but also remains the case for small ones as it might serve as a key to differentiate themselves from the rivals. However, it is a fact that while most highlight innovation as a priority, a large proportion admits that they are not effective innovators in a sense that they might not know or not good at initiating or managing innovation process to meet up with market demands. It might be due to their inexperience and/or incapability in managing innovation approaches and processes or lack of finance or incentives to implement market-oriented innovation management.

As committed by the APEC Leaders in The APEC Accord on Innovative Development, Economic Reform and Growth; realized in the SME Strategic Plan for the period 2013 2016; and further pursued as a key priority in the APEC Year 2017 hosted by Viet Nam, APEC should further strengthen its cooperation on capacity building for APEC SMEs in promoting innovation and competiveness.

2. Case Study of Chinese Taipei (Tea)

Within the case study, the researcher cites five case studies that highlight the various ways in which the different SMEs set out their marketing and innovative strategies to enhance the long term sustainability of the tea industry. It specifically set out to examine the marketing and innovative strategies for actors across the tea industry from producers to consumers and how these strategies may interact. Of course, understanding the need for change within the tea sector, and the principles that would make a sustainable tea sector, is only the beginning of the journey. Innovative action is now needed by all parts of the sectors value network.

Black tea was once the main export crop of Chinese Taipei during World War II. After the War, ChineseTaipei started to grow rapidly. This resulted in high local labor costs, lost competitiveness in the international market for back tea industry, and decreased in exports. With the case of Dong-Feng Manor, the black tea industry is facing a stiff competition with the betel nut farmers. With high price of betel nut, which is the economic source of many farmers, it will be difficult to persuade betel nut farmers to shift to tea farming. If the government wants to increase the price of black tea, it needs to restrict the import of foreign black tea, control the cultivation of betel nut and promote the production of black tea domestically.

Today, the cost of production and human resources in agriculture is too high which has a negative effect on the profit of many emerging SMEs like Chang, Fu Chin Tea House. With the advancement of technology, traditional farming needs to be transformed in order to be more competitive. Despite the governments efforts in promoting the transition of SMEs to achieve exquisite quality, inadequate capital and promotion has been a hindrance for farmers to actively engage in farming. It is expected that the government can focus more on changing certain regulations and encourage the strategic alliances of different fields.

Discussion:

According to the discussant, Dr. Lee and Mendy has done a very informative study that helped get knowledge about the tea industry in Chinese Taipei. She also made some recommendations, as followed:

About the methodology: the study was carried out with the application of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, especially the interviews with the founders of the five SME in the tea industry in Chinese Taipei. This is a good methodology supplying reliable and good information to withdraw lessons for other SMEs. Although the number of SMEs selected is not high, the firms are outstanding and successful cases.

About the objectives: the objectives of the case were mentioned in a clear way at the beginning. These goals include (i) collecting important theoretical concepts of SMEs on marketing and innovation, (ii) understanding each companys inside of its brand extension process and innovation adopted. However, these objectives should be better clearly explained in the case study.

About the main content: The study was presented in a good structure and it has provided lots of information.

+ The cases study get an overview about the tea industry of Chinese Taipei, which is quite special to the extent that it has both increasing demands for export (for black and green tea) and domestic consumption (for Paochong and Oolong tea). Even the need for tea beverages has grown bigger and bigger, leading to the mass production of many bottled products. In my point of view, this is a very important base for the firms motivations for innovation to meet the rising demand.

+ Secondly, the study shows six characteristics of SMEs in tea industry in Chinese Taipei, including leadership, quality employees, macro-economic policies, organizational structures, market opportunities, and innovation. It should also illustrate more about the inclusion of macro-economic policies and market opportunities as characteristics of SMEs, because they are mentioned from macro-perspectives, which are not controlled by SMEs.

+ Thirdly, each of five SMEs in tea industry in Chinese Taipei was taken into consideration. In addition, reasons for the successes of each case were explained well and they are very useful for other economies with their strengths in agricultural products, especially tea. However, there is still a lack of summary and assessment from the authors about the key determinants for these five SMEs in tea industry (although at the beginning of the study, the findings were mentioned, they are not clearly summarized and analyzed later).

The discussant makes some recommendations for these determinants/strategies of firms, as followed:

Building own brands which help customers easy to distinguish them with other firms

Producing and differentiating own products with outstanding features, such as tastes, organic production process, such as Taiwan Tea No. 18 and Assam tea of Dong-Feng Manor; different tea products with special designs from Precious Tea Shop; Dong Ding Oolong Tea of Jia Jan Tea Co. Ltd; 38 Fruit Tea and red oolong tea of Lin Wang Tea Production Plant

Supplying other tea-related services, such as services of introducing the special way of drinking tea, services of guiding the tour around the places and plants where tea is grownAlmost all of five cases provide these services.

3. Case Study of Viet Nam (Tourism)

The case study of Viet Nam focuses on tourism sincetourism industry is one of important economic sectors in the Vietnamese economy. According to the General Statistics Office, in 2015, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the tourism industry reached 402,66 trillion Viet Nam dongs, representing 5.75 per cent increase over 2014. GDP from the tourism industry accounts for 9.6 per cent of the GDP of the whole economy. Most of GDP comes from food and accommodation services, with the total value of 372.24 trillion Viet Nam Dong, contributing up to 92 percent. The travel services are rather small, with the total of 30.41 trillion Vietnamese dongs, making up only 8 percent.

The number of international and local tourists has been dramatically increased for the last 5 years. Compared to 2011, the number of Vietnamese tourists in the inbound tourist market doubled to reach 57 million trips in 2010, and the number of international tourists coming to Viet Nam increased by 57 percent to 7.94 million. The most important foreign departure market for Vietnamese inbound tourism is China, accounting for 22.4 percent of the number of international visitor trips, followed by Korea(14.0 percent), Japan (8.5 percent), U.S.A. (6.2 percent), Chinese Taipei (5.5 percent), Malaysia (4.4 percent), Russia (4.3 percent) and Australia (3.8 percent)(GSO, 2016). Therefore, APEC economies are very important for Viet Nam tourism industry, making up almost 70 percent of the number of international tourists.

In innovative Vietnamese SMEs, the capacity for market-oriented innovation is highly dependent on the role of the business owners. A number of case studies have been developed to illustrate how innovation takes place in SMEs in various industries. It has been found down that there are three important factors: market experience, linkage with customers and design capacity. They are usually rooted from the owners and developed over time with his/ her strategic view.

Through the case study, the researcher recommends as followings:

Recommendations for SMEs

SMEs should keep up with the global trends in the international tourism market and invest more in innovations.

Build the design team. The onwer is the soul, but he cannot do every thing properly.

Use your own people, materias, skills and books to make value added products and services.

Recommendation to the government

The role of the architect

provide a fund to assist new innovations of the young people.

Improve the copyright licensing process and have a deadline for feedback.

Organize training for farmers and businesses on market-oriented innovation event.

4. Case Study of Korea (Electronics)

This study has analysed how Korean SMEs proceed with technology innovations and management by focusing on the electronics industry, including IT sector where Korea has a competitive edge. Currently, the pace of technology development is accelerating but its life cycle is shortening, and timely technology innovation and management is projected to make or break businesses in the future. A classic example of that is the electronics industry, where SMEs are experiencing grave difficulties vis--vis large firms. For this study, the researcher conducted a quantitative analysis on technology innovation and management activities of SMEs in the electronics sector by using data from Korean Innovation Survey in 2014, and also ran literature analyses and in-depth interviews on ten firms in an attempt to understand how businesses are faring with innovation management.

In the electronics sector, R&D investment and securing the management capacity to back it up matters more than other sectors. According to the quantitative analysis using data from Korean Innovation Survey in 2014, the performance of innovative firms represented as INNO-Biz turned out to be higher than regular firms in terms of product, process, organizational and marketing innovations as well as R&D.

Moreover, the case study on ten SMEs in electronics sector shows that their performances could double when the strategic IP planning and management, a creative organizational culture, and implementation of an assortment of marketing strategies are all implemented in connection. This study has been done from the perspective of IP-R&D, brand and design management, technology partnerships, and HR and organizational management.

Innovation management is the tool that SMEs with insufficient resources must have to generate profits through innovations, and requires highly strategic approaches. It definitely needs efforts and attempts at the corporation level; but given SMEs capacity is still marginal, the government needs to have in place scrupulous support through policy. First, R&D-driven SMEs need to receive education and promotion on necessity and application of innovation through non-R&D aspect. Second, education and consulting should be provided throughout the cycle of planning, acquisition of IPRs, and commercialization so that the outcomes of R&D can generate real benefits. If necessary, guidance should be offered on design-around and how to cope with patent infringements, etc. Third, SMEs need to understand the need to utilize not only patents but also other IPRs. Non-patent IPRs have many different areas involved on top of technology, so they need to be approached from the perspective of convergence. Fourth, external knowledge sources and networks need to be closely linked even for securing potential markets once technology innovation is achieved. Fifth, firms need to have assistance with funds and manpower for innovation management, chronic problems in technology innovation. With industries such as electronics where R&D and innovation are crucial, it is necessary to reinforce measures Remuneration for Employee Invention or Employee Proposal that encourage the members of organization to take part in achieving innovation. Last but not least, best practices and cases of technology innovation management need to be continuously discovered and shared with the SME community.

Discussion:

Based on the case study of electronics development in Korea, the discussant focused on sharing that in Viet Nam with the objectives of finding the similarities as well as differences for making proper recommendations.

Though Viet Nam now ranks as the 12th largest electronic exporters in the world with the fastest growth of IT service sector according to the Forbes' survey in 2016, Viet Nam is still a late comer and the electronic industryis still at the very infant stage of developing domestic electronic companies, which now becoming more and more inferior to the FDI electronic companies.

In reality, FDIenterprises have been making a significant and dominant contribution. Specifically, 99/100 big electronic company are FDI ones, only oneis the domestic state electronic company of Vietnam.

Contrasting the big size of FDI companies, the local ones are very small scaled. According to the Saigon Times, on average, there is about 24 workers in a Vietnamese electronic company while there are 630 workers in an FDI company in the same field of production, onlyaccounting for 4% of the total number of workers in the industry.

Regarding the patent and the IPRs, it appears that Korea has strong enforcement of the law in this field from side of the authorities and the enterprises and it is successful in Korea according to the research. However, according to reliable statistics, trafficking in counterfeit goods, infringement of IPRs and the violation tends to increase both the quality and seriousness in Viet Nam not only in the electronic field though the dissemination of common law on IP, the state authorities, as well as to promote business, integrating the work of IP is increasingly closer to society. Additionally, the procedure for patent application from the filing date til the granting date still complicated and time consuming, which causing a lot of difficulties for businesses.

Regarding the R&D, like Korean SMEs, Vietnamese businesses and government are fully aware of the needs and significance of R&D in the electronic industry. However, like Korean business, the Vietnamese companies also have been facing many challenges such as insufficient funds, workforce and market instability as mentioned in the research. In fact, R&D is undertaken by most of FDI businesses in Viet Nam. According to the Hanoi Municipal People's Committee, Samsung Electronics Vietnam will build a US$300-million R&D centre in Hoang Mai district. The project will replace Samsung's existing R&D centre at PVI Tower in Cau Giay district as the workplace for more than 1,600 engineers and workers. The centre will become Samsung's largest R&D project in Southeast Asia. Samsung is not the only foreign group expanding its investment in R&D in Vietnam. Apple Inc, a rival of Samsung in the mobile phone and tablet market, is preparing to invest US$1 billion in building a data and R&D centre in Hanoi. In fact, a few years ago, foreign groups began to invest in R&D activities in Vietnam. Hewlett-Packard (HP), one of the world's leading computer manufacturers, invested in building a R&D centre at Quang Trung Software City in Ho Chi Minh City in 2012, HP's first R&D centre in the Southeast Asian region. Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio also built a R&D centre beside its plant in Vinh Phuc province which serves Piaggio operations in Asia. Other multinational groups including Panasonic, Yamaha and General Electric also have their own R&D centres in Vietnam. In the years following the implementation of Doi Moi, FDI inflow into Vietnam has mainly covered light industry using low technology including garments and textiles, footwear and real estate. With R&D projects, Viet Nam has the opportunity to move to production with higher added value in addition to a quicker technology transfer process thanks to the increasing presence of Vietnamese workers in large corporations.

However, this R&D trend really makesit more and more difficult for the domestic electronic companies to stay competitive. Before 1990s, Viet Nam still has many local electronic companies such as Viettronics Tan Binh, Thu Duc, Bien Hoa, Hanel Hanoi. As said, Viet Nam's electronic industry is on the rise, making up 23.4% of GDP in 2014, up from 5.2 % in 2010. The target the government expected export to reach USD 40 billion by 2017 according to the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency. However, FDI accounted for most of the nation's total electronic export turnover around 90% and holding 80% of the local market share, according to a report from the Viet Nam Electronics Industries Association. At the same time, the number of FDI enterprises represent only one third of electronic enterprises in Vietnam. However, FDI is killing the competitiveness of the local electronic companies.

In terms of governmental support, the Viet Nams Government has been giving many special incentives to lure large foreign electronics investors esp. regarding admin procedures, taxation. Even the government accepts the loss of tax collection for the corporate tax exemption in many years. This also causes many difficulties to the local ones which already have many weaknesses in competitiveness. While it targets to increase the number of local electronic companies, exporting overseas, esp. under the Vietnamese brand names will still be quite challenging. It is a dilemma for Viet Nam as more and more efforts must be placed in such as bettering the quality, strategies to better advertise products, establishes after sale services and better distribution network... Many Vietnamese electronic companies including the leading electronic brands are Vietronic ( a brand developed by the Dong Da Electronic company), Da Lan and Chau Electronics producing DVD players have been put under competitive pressure now as foreign companies receive a lot of incentives then the electronic parts are more and more expensive for them to stay competitive and the foreign products dominate the market.

5. Case Study of Chile (Biotechnology)

This case study focuses on Chilean Biotechnology firms to explore good practices in the development of innovation capability for SMEs. In the first part of this case study, Chiles background in the biotechnology industry is described, its origins and its link with SMEs and the kind of firms emerging from research and development. The second part gives a description of the Biotechnology industry. In the third, Chilean biotechnology firms and their innovation capability best practices are described. At the end of this study are a set of recommendations for firms and governmental institutions involved in promoting this sector.

Considering the typology of Chilean firms, innovation capabilities and strategies, in most cases of Chilean biotechnology firms belongs to the technology-based firms. For this study a set of four firms, as examples of Chilean Biotechnology-types innovation capability management has been used.

In this analysis, a number of key activities have been described: Alliances and agreements, Technological antenna, Customer relationship (Networking), R+D and Capture public and private funds. This shows how those firms, which are able to develop innovation, promote capability development. In this sense, it is possible to classify the firms under analysis as scarce, low, medium and high level of capacity to develop the capability for market-oriented innovation management.

In conclusion, the Chilean biotechnology sector requires cooperation more than competition. Chile has not defined an industrial policy. Nevertheless, during its history there have been public policies which have supported some specific sector or cluster financially. In the case of Biotechnology, this has allowed for the creation of research centres and the increase in the number of highly qualified human resources. Currently, the lack of clear public policies that government gives to science, technology and innovation as an economy development motor, has led to little commitment to the biotechnology sector. The member economy has an installed capacity (infrastructure and institutions), public and private, which is involved in science and specifically in biotechnology. Therefore, we recommend, amongst many other aspects: to promote strong linkages between people involved in biotechnology as a way to obtain new ideas and innovations and create a long-term development program for the sector, involving all the actors. There are ideas, there are specialized people, there are capabilities, there are linkages, but they all seem to be isolated, without direction, without a reason why, under a permanent uncertainty which does not allow for successful advancement in a highly competitive business environment.

Discussion:

Based on the Chilean case study on biotechnology, the discussant also shared about that in Viet Nam. For member economies in tropical zone like Viet Nam, biotechnology is believed to play an important role in ensuring food security, economic transformation, and sustainable development; providing basic and necessary products for health services; protecting the environment, etc.

It is estimated that investment for biotechnology is not over 10,000 billion VND, a very limited rate compared to that from other economies in the region and in the world. It just accounts for about 1/5 or 1/6 of investment of big enterprises in Germany, Korea or Japan.

However, in the past 10 years, numerous strategies, policies and biotechnological programs in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, medical technology, industry, and environmental protection have been promulgated and established at the national and regional levels. Building the infrastructure and training human resources for biotechnology are also investment priorities. Research and development standards for biotechnology in basic technology areas are being strengthened. Biotechnology has started to actively contribute to the socio-economic development of Viet Nam. Several initiatives are needed to strengthen and increase the contributions of this emerging technology to our socio-economic development. Those initiatives include establishing the infrastructure and the human resources for biotechnology; widely and effectively applying biotechnology in daily life; and establishing and developing the bio-industry.

It has brought about a great deal of practical results and success in various areas such as new plants, seeds, etc., with high productivity. It has also started to be produced on large scale/industrial scale such as production of seeds of rice, corn, vegetable, mushroom, etc. In the area of medicine, there have been some outstanding achievements in production of vaccines, bio products to serve for health treatment and gained the high quality and reputation in the region. In the area of environment, biotechnology is to help produce with products dealing with environment pollution (water waste management, industrial water management, solid waste management, etc.).

These outcomes are attributed to the Instruction 50-CT/TW promulgated on 4 March 2005 regarding promotion of biotechnology and application to foster industrialization and modernization.

Although we have gained some achievements in the field, it is still recognized that compared to the region and the world, in many areas, we are still left behind. We have not been able to focus on key products; the investment is still around and lacks of connection between the relevant stakeholders or areas. The allocation between research on application, implementation and basic research are not yet reasonable; the involvement of enterprises in this area is not as high as expected due to lack of promotion mechanism or incentives.

It is recommended that now Viet Nam needs to promote enterprises in markets; attract foreign investment in biotechnology; provides finance assistance to biotechnology application in production; etc; encourage technology transfers; provide incentives for local enterprises to apply biotechnology in production to increase competitiveness; etc.

6. Sharing experiences in promoting market-oriented innovation management for SMEs from APEC member economies

Datuk Mark Rozario, Chief Executive Officer, Agensi Inovasi Malaysia: According to the speaker, the world has changed from agriculture-based economy to industrial & service-oriented economy and now needs to transfer to innovation economy through the transformation of mindset and entire eco-system to enable innovation to thrive. In Malaysia, the Agensi Innovasi Malaysia (AIM) was set us through an Act of Parliament in December 2010 to promote the economys innovation. The AIM is administered by a 14 member Governance Council and chaired the Prime Minister. The AIM aims at enhancing Malaysia market-oriented innovation management for SMEs by through encouraging and increasing design thinking and future innovative society and leaders; leveraging on experts from academia that can be used to solve real company & industry problems & increasing collaboration between industry players and academia experts; decreasing in governments spending in social services by encouraging and leveraging on the private sector via incentives and a clear social finance model; etc.

Mr Zhou Tao, Co-founder, Beijing 10city Creative Technology Ltd., China: Han Chungsheng & Zhou Tao defines in the Methodology and Tools for Enterprise Innovation that Innovation is the whole process of satisfying the existing demands by using new technologies, new methods or new business models, or creating new demands and satisfying them and identifies four levels of innovation namely: (i) Invention; (ii) Radical innovation; (iii) sustaining innovation; and (iv) imitation and copy. In China, it is considered that 80% of the enterprises innovation lies in sustaining innovation and imitation & copy. Enterprises innovation ability are focused on three elements, namely (i) the ability of managing innovation; (ii) the innovation capability of employees; (iii) innovation methodology and tools.

Mr Bagus Rachman, Director of Business and Marketing, Marketing Services Agency, Cooperatives and SMEs of the Republic of Indonesia: The speaker focuses Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM cycle); Healthiness of Business Ecosystems (HEBEX cycle); and Human Entrepreneurship cycle. The GEM cycle identifies the roles of researchers/academicians; business practitioners; and policy makers. Meanwhile, the HEBEX cycle measures the health of business of an economy through entrepreneurship; creativity; and productivity, in which all the SMEs, startups, cooperatives, NGOs, etc., are involved.

IV. Recommendations and Conclusions

Through the sharing of case studies and experiences among APEC member economies at the Workshop, speakers and participants have shared views on how APEC governments can facilitate SMEs market-oriented innovation management. Recommendations are as follows:

Develop and promote innovation culture so that every single enterprise can be equipped with innovation management capability to growth and develop.

Establish innovation centres/incubators, especially those of specific industry sectors to do research and support enterprises, especially SMEs in enhancing their innovation capability.

Generate links between the private and public sector.

Ecosystem.

Develop and provide post education to the entrepreneurs.

Open labs and techno parks.

Facilitate the links between the academics and technology centres to ensure that the research outcomes are most taken advantages of.

Provide technology and staff training and education.

Provide support in terms of harmonizing and simplifying regulations including tax support.

Provide support to universities in transfer of technology, IP strategy, Patent, etc.

Provide financial Support.

Support women entrepreneurship PPP.

Encourage host of and participation in competitions that support, develop and enhance SMEs market-oriented innovation capability.

Promote advertisement/ awareness programs to raise the awareness of the society and enterprises of innovation importance.

Support export by enhancing SMEs innovation management capability to better compete in the regional markets.

Better link with international partners/organizations to enhance their SMEs.

Develop business models that support market-oriented innovation management and capability.

Long term and short term strategies for specific industries.

Promote Intellectual Property Rights (IPs)

APEC should also take the important roles in promoting SMEs market-oriented innovation management.

Promoting information, best practices and experience sharing through organizing APEC workshops, seminars, etc., like this one.

Establish a taskforce team in innovation for SMEs.

Enhance university network.

Establish industry clusters to promote innovation.

Promote the sharing of innovation achievements among APEC economies.

Carry out more case studies of SMEs market-oriented innovation in other industries.

Road Map model of the successful companies.

Define APEC Model.

Establish APEC innovation fund.

Grant awards to companies/stakeholders/persons of outstanding innovation achievements to encourage and raise awareness of innovation.

Enhance cooperation with other international organizations in innovation area.

Develop an APEC website as a database for innovation.

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