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ISSUE Vol. V, No. 3 June 2010 ERENET PROFILE CONTENT __________________________ SUMMER MESSAGE 2 PAPERS PUBLISHER Dr. Péter Szirmai – Editor Opening Statement of the BSEC Deputy Secretary Dr. Antal Szabó – Scientific Director General in Tirana 4 Attila Pethe• – Website Editor Ambassador Traian Chebeleu Tamás Tóth – Designer The Impact of the Economic Crises on SMEs in INTERNATIONAL BOARD Selected CEE Countries 6 Desislava Yordanova Antal Szabó and Associates St. Kliment Ohridski University Feeling and Opinion of German Entrepreneurs in the Dr. Sanja Pfeifer Time of Crises 29 University of Osiek Prof. Hans-Jürgen Weißbach Dr. Hans-Jürgen Weißbach Role of SMEs in Creating Favourance Economic Fachhochschule Frankfurt am Main Environment and Reducing Impact of Economic Crises 33 in Albania Dr. Dumitru Matis Bashkim Sykja Babe•-Bolyai University SMEs Development in Albania in 2009 38 Dr. Szabo Zsuzsanna Tefta Demeti University of Tirgu Mures The Microfinance Industry in Albania as a Good Dr. Eric Dejan Example 40 University of Belgrade Bajra Muca and Altin Muca Dr. Mateja Drnovsek National SME Policy in the Republic of Macedonia 50 University of Ljubljana Prof. Dr. Marija Zarezankova-Potevska Dr. Toni Brunello Economic Situation in SEE with focus on the impact of Studiocentroveneto Crises on SMEs 56 Dr. Renata Vokorokosova, Eric Dejan – Gordana Vukotic-Cotic – Isidora Beraha University of Kosice Living Labs, A New Method of Collaboration in Dr. Krzysztof Wach Innovation 67 Cracow University Imre Hronszky - Katalin Kovács – József Veress Dr. Sonia Heptonstall CONFERENCE PAPERS UBIS Geneva Dr. Sybille Heilbrunn · Workshop on SMEs in Time of Global Crisis, Tirana 74 Ruppin Academic Center · Gaining Scale in Microcredit – EU Report 77 Dr. Dilek Cetindamar Sabanci University INSITUTIONAL PROFILE Dr. László Szerb · European Progress Microfinance Facility 78 University of Pécs · Foundation for Regional Enterprise Promotion for the 79 Dr. Zoltán Bajmócy town of Székesfehérvár University of Szeged CALLS – EVENTS – NEWS Published by: · European Cluster Conference 2010 – EC, Brussels 81 · ERENET-KAS Workshop on the Role of Belife in ERENET NETWORK Doing Business, Wesseling 82 Small Business Development Centre, · The Condition of Creation and Development of Corvinus University of Budapest Enterprise: Gender Analyses, Chisinau 85 PUBLICATION [email protected] www.erenet.org · Technology Management by Dilek Centindamar & associates 86 © ERENET PROFIL, 2010 · Undertaking Wisely by Edit Ferik 87 ISSN 1789-624X ERENET Profile Vol. V, No. 1. www.erenet.org SUMMER MESSAGE OF THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR Dear Readers, Distinguished Friends, Recently the weather has been very unstable and the turbulence reflected in European politics. The turmoil began on 10 April 2010 with the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and many of Poland’s political, military, and economic elite. It was a catastrophe not only for Poland, but equally for Poland’s allies in Europe and, especially, those in the Visegrad-countries. Following the tragedy, left wing parties in several countries lost their mandate. The failures began in the UK. Here the Conservative party won the greatest number of individual votes in the May 2010 election. However, in a contest, where three major parties Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat were competing, meant that this number of ballots did not translate into sufficient constituency seats to provide the Conservatives with an overall majority in the House of Commons. They had to go into coalition with the Liberal Democrats. In Hungary, the June elections saw the centre-right opposition, Fidesz party claim a two thirds parliamentary majority. This ended eight years of Socialist rule mired in suspicions of corruption and mendacity. Since the fall of communism, the upheaval marked the most emphatic electoral victory for the right. Two weeks later in Slovakia, the former authoritarian Premier, Vladimir Meciar, was forced out of office along with the Fico's SMER-Social Democracy, a party full of antagonism toward the Hungarian minority. They had to hand over government to a centre right coalition. The latest signs of disaffection come from the recent Belgian election. The results were not clear cut but indicated further support for a separation between the Dutch speaking and French speaking areas of population. This is in spite of Belgium providing the headquarters for the European Union and so supposedly a beacon for cooperation. As the proverb says “the dog gets mad in welfare.” I have the sense that a good deal of the Belgian angst and talk of separation is the result of politicians hunting for power rather the benefit of all their communities. Despite the arrival of spring, it failed to bring warm sunshine. Instead, there were storms characterised by floods and monsoon type rains across Central-and Eastern Europe. Ten thousand people lost everything and were homeless. Despite this misfortune, there was also good news. As editor I was glad to see that our neighbour, Romania was the the fist country which provided humanitarian aid to cope with the flood. At the same time from our Western neighbour Austria we heard that a decision had been made to site an incineration plant close to the Hungarian border. It is really a pro-Hapsburg so called “labanc” gift for the Hungarian people. The world-wide financial and economic crises continue to affect North America and all European economies. Already this year in the US nearly 80 banks have gone bankrupt The saga of the largest ever man made ecology disaster continues in the Mexico Gulf The average GDP of 27 European Union countries fell by 4% in 2009,; industrial production dropped back to the levels of the 1990s and 23 million people - or 10% of the active population - are now unemployed. The global recession plunged Central and Eastern Europe including those countries which are newly members of the European Union into crisis, - an unfortunate way to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Some financial pundits, such as Georges Soros, speculate that the economic crisis might be ending and the Asian economy led by China and India will pull the world out of its slump. Whatever happens, the economic crisis indicates that the free market economy is not a panacea and not a perfect system for safeguarding the economic welfare of the mankind. Photo by Dr. Antal Szabó © 2 ERENET Profile Vol. V, No. 1. www.erenet.org In May 2010 within the framework of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), a Workshop on “SMEs in Time of Global Crises” was held in Tirana (Albania). The Workshop was financially and technically supported by the Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. ERENET provided assistance in nominating key-note speakers and compiling the conclusions and recommendations. The majority of our papers were delivered during this event. I am very happy to say that Albania is not only a country of the legend of Skander beg, and the brandy named after this hero, but a country of friendly people and rapid economic development. Finally it is a great honour and pleasure to record that the Hungarian Branch of the ERENET – nearly 30 experts – elaborated a ten points Declaration on the Tasks needed to improve Hungarian Government policy in the interest of SMEs .. This is the Gy•r Declaration – after the name of the city where this document was prepared. It has been well received by the new Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. For the coming weeks I wish everybody excellent holidays. Dr. Antal Szabó Scientific Director of ERENET Flood in Budapest, June, 2010 Photo by Dr. Antal Szabó © 3 ERENET Profile Vol. V, No. 1. www.erenet.org Ambassador Traian Chebeleu Deputy Secretary General Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, PERMIS Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: [email protected] OPENING STATEMENT AT THE BSEC-KAS WORKSHOP ON “SMEs IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL CRISES” 1 Excellency Vice Minister, Distinguished Resident Representatives, Distinguished Participants, I am honoured and privileged to address you on behalf of the Permanent International Secretariat of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Let me express my thanks and appreciation to Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) for co-organizing this Workshop which allows us to exchange views and hopefully formulate recommendations on the future and potential activities of SMEs at a crucial time for them in the current economic context. Today’s workshop is dedicated to a specific topic – SMEs in the time of Global Crises. It aims at contributing to the endeavours undertaken be governments and non-governmental organisations at national, regional and international levels to find out ways and means of alleviating the financial constraints on SME and orienting and guiding the small business in the time of financial crisis. And these endeavours are fully justified, as the SMEs are in fact the greatest creators of jobs everywhere. The economic potential of SMEs should not be undermined by a crisis that they have neither created nor contributed to. The adverse effects caused by the global financial crisis included a rise in unemployment and inflation, as well as a decrease in foreign exchange reserves, in exports, in capital inflows from abroad, in foreign direct investments (FDI), in bank deposits, in confidence to the banking institutions. They also included a greater difficulty for SMEs to have access to operating capital and loans. While businesses of all sizes have been affected by the crisis, the SMEs stand to be the most vulnerable to the potential global and regional ramifications of the ongoing financial crisis. In addition, the financial crisis the world economy is still experiencing includes a crisis of confidence. Therefore the right response to it should include restoring the confidence, particularly when it comes to consumers and small enterprises. The financial crisis has made it more difficult and more costly for SMEs to receive credits and loans. Or, access to sources of financing is vital for small business.