INtergenerational Succession in SMEs’ Transition Erasmus Project

Project Title

INtergenerational Succession in SMEs’ Transition

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships addressing more than one field

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

A lot before the start of the Insist project due to a series of projects focussed on SMEs, Budapest Business School had become one of the main SME-training providers in Hungary. This series encompassed research projects and curriculum development, bilateral and multilateral European proposals. This allowed BBS to compose a reliable and multicolour international partnership as well.
During the research activities the partners came across an imposing phenomenon: time was coming soon when the SMEs of the Central and Eastern European countries, where private entrepreneurship started to develop just after the change of the regime, would be confronted the first time with the problems of their generational transition (GT), ownership and governance included. An intensive preparatory research pointed out that it is a major problem in the Western part of Europe though there, massive research activities had been led in this field. So while the experience accumulated in these latter countries seemed to be promising for the Eastern partners, the Westerners found their interest in a joint GT-research, in a common curriculum development and all partners saw the positive long-term homogenisation effect of the trainings.
Another innovative approach was declared as an objective by the partners: parallel with the curriculum development aimed at facilitating the smooth GTs of SMEs, a teaching module for the training of SME-mentors was planned.
So the objectives of the project were:
– an exploratory and comparative research of Generational Transition issues in the participant countries,
– based upon the results of this research a curriculum development for SME owners and managers on one side and for future SME-mentors on the other,
– embedment of the teaching modules into the curriculum systems of the participating training institutions,
– carrying out massive dissemination activities and inviting new partners for more extensive follow-up projects.
The well-balanced partnership was composed of three universities (Leeds, Cracow and BBS) having experience in SME-related training development, a France-based international company operating SME-mentor networks for a certain time, a Polish and a Hungarian SME federation and a Brussels based company experienced in Quality Management of EU-projects as non-university partners.
The work distribution was conceived according to the partners’ profiles and the following results were achieved:
– The preparatory research was carried out by the three universities, a team led by Hungarian experts; the report was assessed and feed-backed by the SME federations.
– The teaching module development went on in cooperation of all partners with the following leadership distribution: Leeds led the development of the strategic issues’ module, Cracow the legal and social/cultural issues, BBS the financial themes and the French partner the SME-mentor training module. All the four module developments have been continuously assessed and feed-backed by the non-university partners.
– The four training modules, in four languages each, have been piloted under the direction of the non-university partners. The test trainings were carried out with the participation of the foreseen number of entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs. The outcomes of the pilots allowed fine-tuning and finalising the courses.
– The courses have been and are being embedded into the regular courses of the training institution partners. For Masters students in entrepreneurship Masters the modules are already going on as regular courses with the total participants’ numbers over 100.
– A robust dissemination work package has been carried out. The non-university partners’ multiplier events with the foreseen number of participants were duly organised.
– The results of the research and the pilot tests of the courses gave major outcomes as far as further cooperation is concerned. First, partners realised that the flexible mentoring approach is more acceptable and even necessitated by the companies. This gave the idea to elaborate on this issue and devote a proposal to the necessary knowledge, skills and competences of the mentors. A European project, named Trust me had been worked out on that and the already accepted project is going on today. Secondly, the generational transition issue needs to be deepened and also this issue must be extended towards the larger scale subject, the sustainability of the SMEs. These two ideas gave birth to a higher education project with the shorthand Fame, accepted in the HE cooperation strand of the Erasmus+ programme and started this January. The third exploitation idea is even more ambitious: on the basis of the Insist and Trust me courses an international certification of the mentor courses and a brand development process for SME-mentors are planned to be elaborated and, on that basis integrated networks of mentors in different European regions are foreseen in the frames of Interreg cooperation.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 292510 Eur

Project Coordinator

BUDAPESTI GAZDASAGI EGYETEM & Country: HU

Project Partners

• Malopolski Zwiazek Pracodawcow LEWIATAN
• Azur Valorisation
• UNIWERSYTET EKONOMICZNY W KRAKOWIE
• LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY
• BUSINESSHUNGARY
• MAC-Team aisbl