Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Andrea Kő, Péter Fehér and Krisztián Varga
Because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> combined approach (questionnaire and case studies), <strong>the</strong> research was able to
explore <strong>the</strong> properties and current challenges <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> EU SMEs. Results <strong>of</strong> this research are expected
to be <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>r EU-wide questionnaire based researches. This paper is aimed to present <strong>the</strong>
first results, and identified areas for fur<strong>the</strong>r research.
<strong>European</strong> perspective <strong>of</strong> this research are partly acquired from research project on “Empowering
Business Ecosystems <strong>of</strong> Small Service Enterprises to Face <strong>the</strong> Economic Crisis”, with <strong>the</strong> thankful
donation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> EU FP7 Framework Programme, and this actual research project in financed from <strong>the</strong>
TÁMOP-4.2.1/B-09/1/KMR-2010-0005 project on ICT-based analyses <strong>of</strong> knowledge transfer, sharing
and knowledge codification fields.
3. Research results
3.1 Collaboration Habits and Needs
The results show that SMEs are more protective on <strong>the</strong>ir existing activities, like procurement,
production, or collaborating on <strong>of</strong>fering existing products and services, instead concentrating on future
developments.
In collaboration needs and habits, SMEs value <strong>the</strong> most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir internal capability
basis, in sharing existing technology and practical expertise. Although <strong>the</strong>re are differences between
organisational practices, generally organisations value more <strong>of</strong> creating a good basis for product and
services, opposite to just selling new solutions. In <strong>the</strong>se topics SMEs collaboration with shared ecommerce
portals, web pages, and even in strategic partnerships.
As a good example, in Spain <strong>the</strong> research observed <strong>the</strong> following strong collaboration:
The partners involved in a collaborative agreement, will be benefited with products or
services <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r partner have, at <strong>the</strong> same time, <strong>the</strong>y have to provide <strong>the</strong>ir own
products or services, to make an integrated <strong>of</strong>fer, and toge<strong>the</strong>r get specific advantages.
The most important issue, is to have clear <strong>the</strong> responsibilities, benefits, risks, solutions in
case <strong>of</strong> something goes wrong, etc, <strong>the</strong> partners have to fulfill, to obtain successful
results. Every organization is specialized in a specific area, and organizations considered
<strong>the</strong> summary <strong>of</strong> different knowledge and expertise, as a capability to create innovative
products and services. Although <strong>the</strong>se collaboration forms, <strong>the</strong> organizations considered
to be important to define very well topics like IPR at <strong>the</strong> moment <strong>of</strong> making collaborative
agreements.
Sharing technology expertise
Share practical expertise
Collaborative <strong>of</strong>fers <strong>of</strong> new products/services (inovation)
Shared product development
Common commercial activity towards current customers
Developing common R+D projects
Common commercial activity towards new customers
Integrated <strong>of</strong>fer <strong>of</strong> existing products/services
Shared trainings
Collaboration in negotiation with financing organisations
Shared production location
Shared procurement <strong>of</strong> goods and services
Figure 6: Which type <strong>of</strong> collaboration in regular in your company (average on scoring 1-5)
530
2,08
2,33
2,25
2,25
2,40
2,38
2,61
2,53
2,71
2,67
2,83
3,42