Stakeholder action to support the development of small and medium size enterprises in the northern part of Cyprus.

The overall aims of the research are to identify the actions needed for supporting the development of SMEs to encourage private sector development in the northern part of Cyprus and to contribute to national debate on SME policy. These will also contribute to the work based learning aims of the researcher to develop consultancy capacity of his employer organization, to develop a resource for further SME research, to provide data and recommendations for the efforts of international bodies, local authorities and civil society organizations and to provide a Report for donors and implementing organizations. Therefore, this research study sets out to examine the actions for stakeholders in order to support the development of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the northern part of Cyprus. The research aims to provide analysis of results and recommendations in the report so that the researcher and the stakeholders, such as business support organizations, other third party international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and relevant authorities, shall benefit from it especially in their action design and policy-making processes. The vast majority of enterprises in the northern part of Cyprus are under small and medium size classification and are the main driving force of the northern side’s private sector in trade, industry and tourism sectors. Trade, industry and tourism sectors are the main economic sectors of GDP, with a total share of 23% (DPO, 2007, p.8), that are mostly led by private initiatives in imports-exports, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors in the northern part of Cyprus. After the literature review, the methodological approach of the research is threefold; first qualitative data is collected from representatives through interviews, and the second is to gather data form representative sample of SMEs in trade, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors through a telephone survey. The last stage is to triangulate the results of these two processes together with a desktop study in order to reach comprehensive conclusions and recommendations. So, ideas of SMEs in these three particular sectors are measured through a survey study in order to establish assessment on the actions of relevant stakeholders for SMEs. The results of this assessment are compared with the ideas of interviewees from important stakeholders in order to suggest some actions needed in policies for SMEs in the northern part of Cyprus. The Study provides a report in order to contribute both to methods of data gathering and to action design and policy generation for the SMEs in trade, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors by international and local support organizations including all other stakeholders. Dissemination of this research study to relevant authorities, business support organizations, business related NGOs and international support organizations is also provided within the Summary Report. Besides organizational dissemination, the Summary Report is also presented through a conference to be held at the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the outcome of the research study improves the knowledge and ability of the researcher to develop and provide effective and efficient services at work for the benefit of SME development in the northern part of Cyprus by, also, producing the Lists of Stakeholder Actions and Policies as well as the the Guide for Supporting the Turkish Cypriot SMEs, which were also disseminated to the key stakeholders. Positive feedback for the above mentioned outputs has been received during dissemination and this has encouraged the impact of the whole research study. While conducting the study, discussion within literature is examined to establish an analysis of the policies and actions undertaken for the development of small and medium size enterprises by some major international organizations at international level, such as the EU and OECD. Furthermore, literature in the northern part of Cyprus is also examined in order to understand more about the situation of small and medium size enterprises at the local level. In addition to this, emerging issues from the literature review are discussed in order to understand more about the areas emphasized in supporting the development of SMEs. These emerging areas also guide and shape the semi-structured interviews, which are the first step in the pilot research study. In the second step, an analysis of interviews is linked to questionnaire design during the survey process in order to test and establish comparison between the findings of the survey and the stakeholder interviews. For the first time, this study conducts a questionnaire survey with 215 SMEs and reflects the feedback from the demand side, which are the local small and medium size enterprises within the context of the study, and establishes a comparison of the feedback from the demand side with the feedback from the key stakeholders. This two way approach makes it possible to compare the results of the survey and interviews with an additional desktop research and allows the research process to achieve outcome with actionable conclusions and recommendations for the actions and policies to support the development of SMEs in the trade, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors as the real players of the private sector within the northern part of Cyprus. The overall conclusions of these research actions are led by the Short term Actions in: • Human Resources, Financing and Policy Generation for Investment followed by Medium term Policies in: • Taxes,Business Constraints, Regulation and Entrepreneurship areas. The concluding action and policy areas are explained in List of Stakeholder Actions and List of Stakeholder Policies in turkish with additional recommendations. What is more, the research concludes with a proposition of a SME Development Strategy and additional recommendations by the researcher which are reflected in the Summary Report. All of these processes have also contributed to the development of knowledge, cognitive and practical skills of the researcher whose reflection on research process shows the impact of the gained knowledge and abilities on the professional work as well

Global Innovation Policy Index

Ranks fifty-five nations' strategies to boost innovation capacity: policies on trade, scientific research, information and communications technologies, tax, intellectual property, domestic competition, government procurement, and high-skill immigration

Industrial Relations in Europe 2002

[Excerpt] Industrial relations are at the core of the Member States\u27 economic and social organisation. They play their part in creating an area of solidarity within Europe, where people rally together and participate. The first edition of this report described the distinctive features of the Europeanisation of industrial relations and the significant changes over recent years. We saw the extent to which the development of industrial relations was linked to that of European integration. The 2002 report reviews a number of notable trends, in particular the organisation of new European players at sectoral level and the preparations for enlargement, and outlines the principal advances in labour relations in Europe in the course of 2000 and 2001

New policy challenges from financial integration and deepening in the emerging areas of Asia and Central and Eastern Europe

Since the mid-nineties international financial integration has advanced gradually in the emerging areas of Asia, while it has progressed rapidly in Central and Eastern Europe. This process has helped provide long-term benefits for the economies of the two regions in terms of faster productivity growth and deepening of domestic financial markets. The strong surge of international capital inflows since the early years of the current decade has, however, also potentially increased the financial vulnerability and the external sources of contagion for a number of countries, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe that have seen a significant increase in their foreign borrowing, and also those with still relatively underdeveloped financial systems. We thus analyze the risks of financial instability and asset bubbles in the emerging economies of the two regions, taking into account the degree of development of their domestic financial systems. We conclude by discussing possible policy responses to these challenges by the monetary authorities of the concerned countries.Asian economies, Central and Eastern European economies, capital markets, international financial integration

Labour Migration From EaP Countries to the EU - Assessment of Costs and Benefits and Proposals for Better Labour Market Matching

It is reasonable to expect steady migratory flows from Eastern Parntership nations in the future, and that migration would be a desirable phenomenon (based on the so-far advantageous migratory flows from EaP nations). They cause no negative wage effects on native workers

Nonbanks and risk in retail payments

This paper documents the importance of nonbanks in retail payments in the United States and in 15 European countries and analyzes the implications of the importance and multiple roles played by nonbanks on retail payment risks. This paper also reviews the main regulatory safeguards in place, and concludes that there may be a need to reconsider some of them in view of the growing role of nonbanks and of the global reach of risks in the electronic era.

The quality of public finances and economic growth

Improving the quality of public finances (QPF) has become a new focus for European policy makers. This focus is largely a response to preparing the European economies for the dual challenge of ageing populations and increased exposure to global competition. At the EU level, the Stability and Growth Pact and the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs provide, in principle, the appropriate tools for fostering a greater role of QPF in fiscal surveillance but this has not yet fully materialised in practice. This is partly because a broad-based conceptual framework on what makes up QPF has been missing. This paper attempts to close this gap by developing a multi-dimensional approach on QPF. Moreover, it reviews how EU Member States fare in each dimension and summarises empirical findings on the links between QPF and growth, including through a growth-accounting approach using discriminant analysis.Public finances, fiscal policy, public spending, fiscal governance, expenditure efficiency, revenue systems, growth accounting, Barrios, Schaechter

Building Information Modelling adoption in the European Union: An overview

Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the most promising recent developments in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) industry. However, its adoption remains a challenge for the AECO industry because it requires a shift to a new way of working, leading to a current discrepancy in the adoption of BIM in the EU. The paper aims at assessing the gaps in the BIM adoption between the 28 EU countries and the barriers related to its implementation. The methodology adopted here is twofold: first, secondary data are given by a systematic literature review, completed with the review of current projects funded by the European Commission, and dealing with fostering the BIM adoption. Second, primary data are provided by a questionnaire survey to classify BIM initiatives regarding policies, the level of adoption and the barriers encountered in the 28 EU countries. In order to grade the heterogeneity of BIM adoption in the EU, we have classified the countries into four categories with different levels of awareness, from early adopters (BIM already mandated) to countries without any plan. The survey has enabled the analysis of twenty barriers to BIM adoption using the four grades in relation to the respondent country. We found barriers that are acknowledged by all countries irrespective of their level of BIM adoption. Other barriers have been already tackled by the early adopters but not by the newcomers who have yet to experience some of these issues. Finally, the assessment of the disparities of BIM adoption within the EU can help the European Commission towards unifying European standard on BIM