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Regional Training Program on Business Resrach and Database

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Regional Training Program on Business Resrach and Database Regional Training Program on Business Resrach and Database Development in the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) November 14 - 18, 2016 Mekong Institute (MI) Khon Kaen, Thailand ii Acknowledgements We acknowledge the active engagement of the participants from 19 provinces along the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (CMTV) in the regional training program on Business Research and Database Development in the SEC. The participants successfully completed all the program activities during the training program, actively participated in the discussion and group work and came up with the Action Plans (AP) which they will implement in their respective provinces in the next 4 months. Active engagement by the participants resulted in the success of this training program. This training program could not have been accomplished without the kind and generous support from the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). Furthermore, we wish to express our thanks to internal and external resource persons for providing technical expertise and sharing knowledge and best practices in the field of business research and database development. Lastly, our sincere appreciation also goes to the Project Team of Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) Department and all the Mekong Institute (MI) staff members for their support and assistance to ensure the successful completion of this regional training program. Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) Department Mekong Institute Khon Kaen, Thailand November 2016 iii Executive Summary Mekong Institute (MI) conducted a one-week regional training on “Business Research and Database Development in the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC)” from November 14 - 18, 2016 at Khon Kaen, Thailand. The training is part of the ongoing project, “Enhancing Competiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) of ASEAN Mekong Subregion (AMS)”, funded by Japan – ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). The training program aimed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills on business research and structure and development of business database that will serve as an interactive platform between and among interested small, medium and large enterprises and investors. In particular, the training program aimed to enhance capacities of the local / provincial authorities, Business Development Service (BDS) providers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from the 19 provinces along the SEC in developing business database in the SEC. A total of 34 participants attended the training, representing business chambers and associations, provincial trade and industry-related departments and SME product clusters from 19 provinces along the SEC in CMTV. The training program was conducted covering interrelated themes on Basics of Business Research and Facilitation of Trade through Online Database; Growth and Prospect of E-Commerce and Scope for SMEs; Profiling companies / SMEs, Provinces, Chambers of Commerce and Industries (CCIs) / Business Associations (BAs) and Technological Requirements; and Final Template Design. Upon completion of the learn-to-do phase under the modular training program, the participants will implement the action plans (AP), known as do-to-learn phase, to collect information that would later be used as input to design and populate SEC Database covering i. provincial profiles; ii. Company / SME profiles iii. CCI / BA profiles and iv. Technology support requests in 19 provinces along the SEC in CMTV. The information collection will be completed within 4 months with the support and assistance by the team of Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) Department. The participants will return to MI to report on the results of AP implementation (share-to-learn phase) in May 2017. To assess the capacity of the participants as well as the effectiveness of the training program, selected evaluation methods were employed. The organizing team conducted the pre- and post- training self-assessment. The result shows that participants increased their knowledge and understanding on the business research and database development through the training program. The organizing team also conducted after event assessment which evaluates the training program. With an overall average rating of 3.70 in a scale from 1 (least) to 5 (excellent), participants indicated that training program has contributed to the increase of knowledge and skills significantly which is relevant to their work. As for training program contents, participants reported that training program met their expectation and they have acquired iv additional knowledge on the subject. Especially, participants considered e-commerce, provincial profiling, company profiling, and CCI / BA profiling as some of the most important topics they have learned from the training program. In terms of competency development, the participants indicated that they improved competency, especially on ‘team / group work skills,’ ‘cross-cultural knowledge and skills,’ and ‘critical thinking skills.’ Responding to training and M&E methods, participants reported that the applied methods were appropriate and effective. They especially liked ‘internet searching,’ ‘class activities / exercises / assignments’ and ‘group work / discussion.’ Responding to the support from the organizer, participants showed satisfaction with the logistics arrangement provided, especially, training facility and venue and simultaneous translation services in their local languages. Overall, participants were satisfied with the training program, with the average rating of 4.26. On the other hand, some participants felt that program schedule was quite tight as they had to learn and do exercise in limited period of time. Participants also noted that certain sessions were too short and the training program should have allocated more time for each session. Finally, participants also suggested the training materials to be available in their local language. v Acronyms AP Action Plan BA Business Association BDS Business Development Service B2B Business to Business B2C Business to Consumer CC Chamber of Commerce CCI Chamber of Commerce and Industry CMTV Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam JAIF Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund MI Mekong Institute MSME Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprise OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development SEA Southeast Asia SEC Southern Economic Corridor SME Small and Medium sized Enterprise TIF Trade and Investment Facilitation vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ iii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. iv Acronyms ................................................................................................................................ vi Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. vii 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2. Program Objectives and Outcomes ................................................................................... 1 2.1. Program Objectives ...................................................................................................... 2 2.2. Program Outcomes ...................................................................................................... 2 3. Participants and Resource Persons ..................................................................................... 3 3.1. Participants ................................................................................................................... 3 3.2. Resource Persons and Facilitators ................................................................................ 4 4. Modular Training Concept .................................................................................................. 5 5. Program Contents ............................................................................................................... 7 5.1. Getting to Know Each Other ........................................................................................ 7 5.2. Setting Norms and Expectation ................................................................................... 7 5.3. Board of Directors (BODs) Explanation ........................................................................ 9 5.4. Project Overview .......................................................................................................... 9 5.5. Training Modules ......................................................................................................... 9 5.6. Action Plan (AP) .......................................................................................................... 23 6. Program Evaluation ........................................................................................................... 23 6.1. Evaluation Method ..................................................................................................... 23 6.2. Evaluation Results....................................................................................................... 23 6.2.1. Pre/ Post Assessments on Competency on Training Program ............................ 23 6.2.2. Board of Director (BOD) .....................................................................................
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