The second international training course for business clusters from Poland and Lithuania was completed by the InterCom project. The training took place in Poznan, Poland, on 16-17 April 2015.
Business clusters remain at the forefront of European Union and national policies. The European Commission (2008) describes clusters as: “a group of firms, related economic actors, and institutions that are located near each other and have reached a sufficient scale to develop specialised expertise, services, resources, suppliers and skills.”
Since January 2014, the InterCom project has been working with a group of business clusters in Poland and Lithuania to improve their commercialisation, internationalisation and online marketing skills. This project takes place at a time when many business clusters in Europe are struggling to gain economies of scale and support their members through export-led growth and internationalisation.
The Second Cluster Training session was dedicated to four subjects: Internationalisation; Budgeting and Finance; International Project Management; and Communications Skills.
The training was delivered by Philip Ammerman of Navigator Consulting Partners (UK), Maciej Pietrzykowski of the Foundation Partners for Local Government (Poland) and Sarunas Pundzius of the Lithuanian Human Capital Research Foundation.
The training was attended by seven Polish clusters
and four Lithuanian clusters:
These training courses are being converted into an online Learning Management Platform, and will be available for wider use from September 2015 onwards.
For further information, please contact us.
Training Agenda
The summary training agenda is:
Thursday, 16 April 2015
09:00 - 12:00
Internationalisation of Business Clusters
Trainer: Philip Ammerman
Determining business cluster internationalisation strategy
Legal forms of international cooperation
Selecting target markets and counterparties
Scheduling activities
Gaining resources and cluster member commitment
Measuring return on investment
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break
13:00 – 16:00
Financial Management for Business Clusters
Trainer: Philip Ammerman
Determining Cluster Financial Strategy
Developing an Annual Budget for Business Clusters
Activities-Based Budgeting
Calculating Break-Even per Strategic Initiative
Calculating Break-Even Contribution per Cluster Member
Accessing External Financial Resources
Measuring Return on Investment
16:00 – 17:00
Discussion and Closing
Friday, 17 April 2015
09:00 - 12:00
International Project Management
Trainer: Maciej Pietrzykowski
Principles of International Project Management
Partner Selection and Contracting
Project Planning
Planning Tools, Scheduling and Milestones
Project BudgetingRisk Management
Measuring Return on Investment
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break
13:00 – 16:00
Communication Skills for Business Cluster Managers
Trainer: Sarunas Pundzius
Communicating in an International Environment
Email Writing Techniques
Letter Writing Techniques
Presentation Techniques
Verbal Presentation Techniques
16:00 – 17:00
Discussion and Closing
For further information, please contact: Philip Ammerman
Navigator Consulting Partners