Business Partnership Programme

 

Problems addressed

The successful participation of any firm in global markets depends heavily on the capacity to innovate. Long-term profitability requires continuously improving a firm's performance to stay ahead of competitors through new products and processes, recombining activities, or exploring new markets. Moreover, the integration of SMEs into global value chains can lead to transfers of know-how, skills and expertise contributing to sustainable development. Achieving this means dealing with issues and time spans, which will often be beyond the range of individualactors. In those cases, the public and private sectors and civil society must cooperate, complementing each other’s development resources (technical expertise, finance, management know-how, etc.).

Services provided

UNIDO involves business partners in multi-sector partnerships on the basis of guiding principles including acceptance of UN values, fairness, transparency and non-exclusivity. This work is based on the principles of the UN Global Compact and promotes public-private partnerships, in the case of UNIDO with a focus on SMEs. UNIDO’s participation is motivated by the need to meet the specific needs of SMEs bringing into the work the Organization’s expertise from its Investment and Technology Promotion Network, the Subcontracting Partnership Exchange, and the UNIDO/UNEP network of National Cleaner Production Centers (NCPCs).

The Business Partnership Programme offers a systematic and generic approach to the enhancement of an industry sector in a given country, focusing on the:

  1. Assessment of the industry sector in a country; determining the partner institution and selecting the target companies;
  2. Definition of scope of work in the programme through an established public-private partnership with regard to the economic, environmental and social performance of SMEs;
  3. Development of the programme services for SMEs with national and/or international business partners, e.g. multinational corporations;
  4. Development of a quantitative and comprehensive assessment and monitoring system for SMEs in the sector concerned;
  5. Provision of practical services for SMEs in a sustainable way, allowing partner institutions to generate income by providing commercially viable services for SMEs and thereby operating independently after a period of 3 to 5 years.

As a result, SMEs participating in the Programme will be equipped to meet challenges so as to enter into and sustain in national and global supply chains as reliable and profitable business partners, therefore contributing to the overall socio-economic development of their respective countries.

Most recently and based on the partnership programme methodology, UNIDO has launched a CSR capacity-building initiative in order to promote the CSR agenda in developing countries in a comprehensive manner. This programme is focusing on establishing a platform, which provides practical services in relation to the implementation of CSR concepts at the policy, institutional and company level.

Projects covering the above services are presently being implemented or planned in Croatia, India, Nicaragua, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Viet Nam.

Documents: Examples of Success Stories: Contact:
Kai Bethke
email: k.bethke@unido.org

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