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Research outputs
Partnerships for Small Enterprise Development
Prepared by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Emerging Markets Group as a resource document for the workshop Partnerships for Small Enterprise Development, held on January 15 and 16, 2004 in New York City, this document highlights some concrete examples of initiatives by large companies (Corporations) that support small enterprises in developing countries. |
Eco-Efficiency for SMEs in the Moroccan Dyeing Industry
This short publication documents an innovative pilot project carried out by a partnership of BASF, UNIDO and UNEP within the context of the Global Compact. In Morocco, the dyeing industry plays a vital role, providing significant employment by many SMEs. In order to stay competitive in an environmentally sound and economically viable manner, it is imperative for the companies to continuously change and modernize their production systems. This not only requires resources, but first and foremost, access to methods of analysis and introduction of new production processes at the highest international standard. However, these technologies and methodologies are difficult to obtain and, moreover, to apply at the SME level.
UNIDO, BASF and UNEP have therefore conducted a pilot Eco-Efficiency Programme for SMEs in the Moroccan dyeing industry. During phase I (February to September 2002) of this project developed an eco-efficiency analysis tool so as to help small scale dyeing enterprises to produce and manufacture competitively in an environmentally sustainable manner, adhering at the same time to international standards of safe working conditions. Case studies illustrate how this innovative partnership helped the Moroccan dyeing industry to improve their eco-efficiency.
In 2006, BASF received the BDI Environment Award in the category “Partnerships for Sustainable Development”, the most prestigious national business award for the environment of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). The award was given for the project “Partners for Sustainable Development,” a public private partnership involving UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) and BASF in Africa. BASF was also one of the nominees for the 2006 European Business Award for the Environment in the category "International Cooperation".
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Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications for Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries
This study reviews the relevance and implications for SMEs in developing countries of the increasing adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by transnational corporations (TNCs). It first looks at the current state and future directions of CSR globally and in terms of regional and sectoral patterns of CSR practice. Furthermore, it considers the role of the UN system, and UNIDO in particular, in facilitating the development of TNC-SME relations in global value chains to promote economic prosperity while improving social and environmental performance towards 'small business responsibility'. This study would be of interest to both practitioners actively engaged in CSR-related activities in the field and executives at TNCs seeking to enhance the firm's CSR performance within its entire value chain. |
UNIDO Partnership with Private Business: Rationale, Benefits, Risks and Approaches
This is a summary of proceedings (presentations and discussions) of an expert group meeting held at the Vienna International Centre in October 2000. The participants recognize the chances and risks of globalization and stress the necessity of a more equitable distribution of its benefits. To this end closer partnerships between transnational corporations and small industrial enterprises have to be developed, whereby increasing pressures by developing economies have to be taken into account. The positive responses to the Global Compact, launched in 1999 as a UN-platform for promoting good corporate practices in the areas of human rights, labour and environment, are especially welcomed. |
Integrating SMEs in Global Value Chains: Towards Partnership for Development
This report was produced in an effort to establish a sound conceptual basis for UNIDO's partnership programme with the business community. It surveys the changing role of the private sector in economic and industrial development, reviews how the formation of TNC-SME linkages and the insertion of SMEs into global value chains can contribute to SME development, and assesses the measures that national and multinational bodies such as UNIDO can take to promote such development in partnership with the business community. It therefore provides a valuable insight into the purposes and benefits of entering into such development-oriented partnerships with the business community. This is of relevance not only to UNIDO but to all researchers and practitioners of development-related activities. |
UNIDO Partnership Programme: Joining Hands with Business to Promote Industrial Development
The paper demonstrates how international industrial partnerships can contribute to the development of small and medium enterprises by integrating them into the production networks of transnational corporations. In its first part the paper provides empirical evidence on the overwhelming predominance of the private sector in economic and industrial development. The paper then introduces the concept of global value chains and argues that issues related to systemic competitiveness and related governance structures need to be addressed if SMEs are to benefit from inclusion in such value chains. This is followed by presenting the case for public-private partnerships in bringing about conducive policies, effective institutional support systems and concrete support programmes for enterprise upgrading. Such partnerships increasingly also involve cooperation between UN system and the business community. In its final part, the paper presents an innovative Partnership Programme developed by UNIDO. |
UNIDO Partnership Programme: Automotive Component Sector in India (Impact of Phase I)
This paper provides an account of the impact achieved by the UNIDO Partnership Programme as applied for the first time in the case of the automotive component industry in India. It contains a concise three-page brief on the structure and salient features of the UNIDO Partnership Programme and the main characteristics of the approach adopted in its first phase, and a summary account of the impact of the UNIDO Partnership Programme in India, achieved in 1999, on the participating enterprises in terms of both productivity enhancement and awareness creation as well as towards stimulating joint learning and networking of small and medium enterprises. |
Industry at the Edge: E- and M-Business for Industrial Development
To promote the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries, UNIDO has joined hands with L.M. Ericsson in order to formulate an integrated approach to SME participation in electronic and mobile business (EMB) from technical application to policy making. Based on studies of present trends in EMB and brief case studies of Egypt, Sri Lanka and Uganda, future joint projects of a more general nature will be initiated. UNIDO's industrial development mandate and Ericsson's special expertise would give future support to SMEs, concentrating on awareness and training, governance, information systems for SMEs, integrating SMEs into value chains and shared local infrastructure. |
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