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Minister Martin Launches Report on SME Management Development in Ireland

The availability of management talent and skills will have a large impact on Ireland´s enterprise development, according to a report published today by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs in association with Enterprise Ireland and FÁS. The Report, entitled, SME Management Development in Ireland, looks at the skills of managers in the 200,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland and makes recommendations on necessary actions to ensure that key skills are developed for the future.

Launching the report, Mr Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment highlighted the importance of focusing on managers in small businesses. "The report of the Enterprise Strategy Group identified management skills as one of the four fundamentals for Ireland´s enterprise development. The need for skills including management skills will only increase over the coming years as Ireland increasingly engages in more complex and innovative activities. The Small Business Forum, which I established to examine issues facing small businesses, has looked in detail at this issue and this report published today will form an important input to its deliberations," commented Minister Martin.

"The report indicates that demand for management training often remains covert, and that the cost of such training can be prohibitive. These conclusions are of concern. At this stage, and with our recent history of business growth and development, there is an onus on more than just the Government to identify and address management training needs. Businesses, and their representative organisations, must be conscious of the direct linkages between skilled management, competitiveness, growth and development. I want also to again draw attention to the very significant levels of funding that has been, and is being, provided through FAS, Skillnets, Enterprise Ireland and County Enterprise Boards to help meet management training needs in smaller companies. Thousands of such companies are availing of this support. Those that are not, and where management development is key to growth and development, should avail of the range of State funded supports and other options available," the Minister added.

On behalf of the Expert Group, Anne Heraty, Chairperson, stated, "There are many good SME managers in Ireland. Indeed, there would not be so many successful small businesses if their managers and owners were not getting things right. There is, however, a pressing and compelling need to improve management skills to meet future business challenges. To best meet the needs of SME managers, flexible, practical and often non-formal methods will be needed including mentoring, peer to peer discussions, networks and work-based projects."

Main Findings

• Managers, including many owner-managers, are the key drivers of SMEs. There is an internationally-proven link between management skills and business success.
• Irish SME managers are typically strong in one or two areas of management but are weaker across the full range of skills such as marketing, planning and finance.
• Many of the existing management development activities are not sufficiently focused on the needs of SME Managers and are provider rather than demand-driven.
• The lack of relevance of courses, time pressures, and cost were identified as major barriers to increased SME manager participation in management development.
• Subsidies should be provided for the provision of training in particular areas including: indigenous business development, managers taking their first steps in training/development and where management training would have a large spin-off in increasing training of other employees. pump-priming of initial training efforts and enhancing the spin-offs to further employee development.
• There is a need for greater coordination and coherence in the supports currently available to SMEs. The Expert Group suggests that consideration be given to the establishment of a coordination committee or forum to drive the effectiveness of SME management development activities.

The full bulletin can be accessed at www.skillsireland.com

Downloads

PDF Press Release [28KB] PDF Report [1.5MB]

©2006 EGFSN The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, Wilton Park House, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel: +353 (0)1 607 3116

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