AlpCafé first round DT3.2.1 AlpCafè Report (first round)

Transcription

1 AlpCafé first round DT3.2.1 AlpCafè Report (first round) AlpCafé organised by Veneto Innovazione spa Venice, May 11st 2016 REPORT Methodology... 2 Participants and their roles... 3 Main topics emerged from the discussion... 4 List of signature...errore. Il segnalibro non è definito. 1 C-TEMAlp is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme

2 Methodology Please describe shortly how/methodology you organised the AlpCafé The following questions could help you in the description: Have you organised preliminary meetings? Have you sent participants preliminary information? Is the event an ad hoc event or you organised in conjunction with other events (i.e. panels)? With which criteria did you organise the tables? Who were the facilitators? The AlpCafè was organised in conjunction with the Panel. Therefore some of the panel speakers were also invited to attend the afternoon AlpCafé session. Veneto Innovazione in fact worked in cooperation with Unioncamere Veneto for the organization of both the events. We selected together some key stakeholders categories to be invited for the AlpCafé: -technical consultants (fiscal experts, lawyers and psychologist) -local chambers of commerce -business associations -financial professionals (banks, financial regional agency) -representatives of public administrations. See further on the participants description. After identified the people, we contacted them to invite and explain the event goals. A document describing the methodology and the topics of discussion was provided before the event (see attached). We organized three tables. The facilitators were C-TEMAlp staff in order to drive people conversation on the project main topics. A further staff team worked during the AlpCafé rounds as the time keeper. One partner (CSMT) attended also the event as observer. 2 C-TEMAlp is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme

3 Participants and their roles Please describe shortly who attended this AlpCafé and the roles played in your region/area The name of the organisation and two lines describing the competence is enough. ORGANISATION consultants ROLE Lawyer, fiscal expert, psychologists. They provide direct services to companies for specific business transfer aspects. CNA Confederazione nazionale dell Artigianato e della Piccola e Media Impresa Confapi Confederazione Italiana della Media e Piccola Industria Privata Confartigianato Veneto Veneto Region Territorial Cooperation Veneto Region Innovation and Research Chambers of Commerce Entrepreneurial Association (Craftsmen and SMEs). They support companies providing some specific services (such as fiscal advisor, quality, incentives) and training Entrepreneurial Association (SMEs). They support companies providing some specific services (such as fiscal advisor, quality, incentives) and training Entrepreneurial Association (Craftsmen). They support companies providing some specific services (such as fiscal advisor, quality, incentives) and training Office in the Region dealing with European Territorial Cooperation Office in the Region dealing with Research and Innovation policy. Responsible for implementing ROP research and innovation measures. Chambers of Padova, Belluno and Venice. They provide the first informative service to companies approaching Business Transfer Unioncamere Veneto - Eurosportello The Union of the Chambers of Commerce. C-TEMAlp partner. Crédit Agricole Bank providing loans and services for companies that are going to invest Veneto Sviluppo Regional Financial Agency. They provide public incentives and guarantee to companies. Veneto Innovazione Regional Innovation Agency. C-TEMAlp LP 3 C-TEMAlp is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme

4 Main topics emerged from the discussion Please sum up the main topics emerged from the table discussion Please try to clearly report the issues emerged, taking into account the main aims of this AlpCafé session (stakeholders involvement) and the project topic (services for business transfer) Companies have no enough information of business transfer because they are not used to think that it could be part of the business cycle and they usually tackle the issue only when they are in a rush. They often see investors as enemies that could stole the company control. Entrepreneurs of structured companies are more open and they are keen to look for investors if they are guaranteed not to lose the whole company ownership. The presence of a trusted intermediary could help because he/she is seen as a mentor who could drive the company along all the process. The fact that a company is part of a formal network/cluster/aggregations is considered a factor fostering the process. On one side in fact clusters could help attracting investors who can see the company not as a standalone organisation but as part of a vibrant ecosystem. This could also prevent the investors just to pick up the company and go away. On the other side working in network could contribute to improve the business culture of the individual companies. The fact that it is mandatory, before thinking of a BT process, first improving the company culture/mentality is a leitmotiv. Entrepreneurs need to be well prepared. Often touching with hands what other have already experiences with success is pretty useful: awareness campaigns with business testimonials would work in this sense. On the side of the services providers, in Veneto the scenario is scrambled. The services are on the market but they are not mapped, consultants are specialized in specific fields and Chambers of Commerce and Entrepreneurial Associations provide the first informative service. Nonetheless companies often look for services on their own or through their fiscal consultants, who indeed are rarely specialized in BT. A different mentoring path could be selected accordingly to the size and structure of the company. In fact, although even micro companies could be innovative and excellent as well as bigger businesses, it is rather a problem assessing their tangible value which is mainly allocated in the entrepreneur him/herself (e.g. knowledge, experience, contacts). The business transfer path in this case should be more a matter of finding a suitable exit solution which could be for instance connecting this experienced entrepreneur with a young wannabe entrepreneur and foster a path together. Another solution could be the empowerment of employers who can at least temporally get the company control after the entrepreneur s exit (manager BUYOUT). In this case anyway a financial support (i.e. public guarantee) is often required. For structured companies the BT process could be simpler. In this case, the bigger barrier is first finding a proper investor/buyer. In Veneto there are no common platforms or database for business transfer. The connections are made through personal contacts or with the help of consultants. A service consultants mapping does not exist. Companies have often difficulties in finding the proper advisor. C-TEMAlp is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme 4

5 For services providers a correct company profiling system would help in structuring the proper service path. A standard profiling system could be useful for consultants (which could get soon the picture of the company), for finding a possible buyer and even for banks to find out the proper financial product. For public institutions an issue on the agenda is on one side rising the quality of the services offering them in a syncronised and professional way, focusing in particular on the preparation phase: company check up, potentiality /price evaluation, guideline on how using the financial incentives, preparation of the information memorandum, assistance on the first state of Business Transfer On the other side some existing public measures, even if not specifically designed for Business Transfer could be used to foster the process such as the vouchers foreseen for innovation (for potential sellers), for networks/aggregations or the incentives foreseen for internationalization (for potential buyers). Moreover also the regional financial agency offers specific products such as public guarantees, specific incentives for companies in an investing phase, products for cooperatives Another important issue on the table was the need to raise the awareness on Business Transfer and its opportunities. The target group that has to be involved is large because in addition to entrepreneurs even financial institutions, intermediaries (such as Fiscal consultants associations/lawyers Associations) and decision makers should be considered. The awareness campaign should share the good practices already developed but more show the testimonies of successful entrepreneurs. C-TEMAlp is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme 5

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9 Il business transfer transnazionale I servizi alle imprese The process C TEMAlp ALPCAFE round 1 supporting material May 11st 2016 Venice The event will take place on May 11st afternoon, starting at and ending at around 17:00. The World Café methodology ( ) will be used. See a brief description below. THE WORLD CAFE METHODOLOGY Coffee is historically a place where people talk and communicate, in a direct, conversational, pleasant and informal way. The World Café is a methodology that is inspired by the old cafés, creating a work environment that invites participants to a free and passionate discussion. Its particularity is to stimulate self managed discussion by participants within a common framework and under the guidance of some reference questions. The idea behind the World Cafe is simple but revolutionary: working to create relevant conversations, sharing in a creative and unconventional environment, reasoning together on complex projects, but in a concrete, fun and productive way. People sit around tables and discuss the questions posed by the facilitators. As in every coffee they write and draw on the tablecloth (of paper) and if they want, they can get up and change table (this is managed by the facilitators). TIME SCHEDULE 14:00 14:20 : C TEMAlp project presentation and brief introduction on the work methodology. 14:20 15:00 : participants presentation. The aim is to acquaint the participants and their respective responsibilities and interests to facilitate better interaction and participation. 15:00 to 16:30 : table discussions. Participants sit down at the tables. At each one there will be a facilitator who will guide the conversation and will propose a topic of discussion. The writing materials available on the table will enable participants to summarize/outline the main points of discussion. Every half hour participants will be requested to move to another table. 16:30 to 17:00 The facilitators synthesize the main points that emerged from the conversation and agree with the participants how to follow up. C-TEMAlp AlpCafé1 supporting material Venice May 11st

10 The discussion topics C TEMAlp main topic is the business transfer, with the aim of improving the support services so that companies can more easily manage this important phase in the life of businesses, in order to maintain human capital, knowledge and main company's assets in the territory. The following are the three selected themes that will be discussed: TOPIC 1 THE COMPANIES IN THE BUSINESS TRANSFER PROCESS SMEs are the backbone of the European business system, accounting for 99.8% of all enterprises, employing 67% of workers and contributing to 58% of EU GDP. The ability of SMEs to survive and grow in the current economic situation is therefore crucial for the sustainability of the entire system. It is estimated that each year, an average of 450,000 businesses, which employ a total of more than 2 million workers, change their properties in Europe. At the same time Europe is losing about 150,000 companies (representing more than 600,000 jobs) every year solely due to inefficiencies in the business transfer process. Conversely, research shows that companies that are successfully transferred have a much better performance compared to start up both in terms of survival, turnover, innovation and employment. After five years (depending on the industry) against 35 50% of start ups that survives, we find 90 96% of the transferred companies still in business. The two main difficulties encountered in the identification of a potential buyer and, in general, in dealing with the transfer path for SMEs are: The profitability of companies is often closely linked to the skills and the relationships of the owner, which are difficult to transfer The value of the companies in terms of "tangible" assets is quite low while the perceived value by the owner is much larger, since it often includes a very big emotional value. As to your experience, what are the major difficulties for companies that are going to approach business transfer? What kind of companies are they (in terms of turnover, sector, type of ownership...)? In your opinion would they be available/ready to face a transnational transfer? C-TEMAlp AlpCafé1 supporting material Venice May 11st

11 TOPIC 2 THE SUPPORTING SERVICES Recent studies report that, contrary to popular belief, only 20 25% of SMEs find a successor within the family, whereas 40% of companies are looking for outside buyers to the owner's family. To identify a possible buyer and address the transfer path appropriately it is mandatory relying on competent advisors. Unfortunately, however, it is often difficult to adequately support the enterprise because of the following factors: the special interdisciplinary nature of business transfer, which needs different skills and professionals working at the same time; the small size of businesses, which makes it difficult to take advantage of competent professionals in all the needed thematic areas; the lack of information about the availability of professional and visibility of support services; the difficulties in identifying and properly assess the potential buyers. What services does your organisation offer? Looking at the above chart, that shows the business transfer process, where your services are positioned? Would it be advisable, in your opinion, to create standard procedures synchronising multiple services related to business transfer? C-TEMAlp AlpCafé1 supporting material Venice May 11st

12 TOPIC 3 THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Analyses, carried out at EU level, show that national policies tend to focus more on start up and companies growth. On the contrary the Small Business Act already called for an increased attention to the contribution that business transfer could give to companies promotion and growth. There is indeed a role for public administration to intervene in this area, so as to create a more favorable environment for companies which undertake the path of businesses transfer. Four are the areas of possible interest that emerged, where it would be possible to concentrate public intervention: Increasing the enterprises awareness; Raising the standard of support services; Improving the quality of services provided to businesses; Improving access to finance and the transactions tax treatment. In your experience, what are the public intervention measures that would promote the development of a more suitable environment for business transfer? Would it be more useful working on raising awareness or instead encouraging an integrated approach for support services? What could be done by the public administrations to increase the quality of services provided to businesses? Is it possible to conceive tools for a better access to finance or to introduce a more favorable tax treatment? C-TEMAlp AlpCafé1 supporting material Venice May 11st

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