Concept note for identified area of CBC (WP5 and WP6): B6. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (GULF, RUSSIA, CHINA, LATIN AMERICA) Date: 16 July 2014 File:TEX-MED Clusters_ Concept note for identified areas of CBC
1. Identification Sector Identified area for CBC Coordinator: Contact Person (email skype address phone n.) EU Programs International Development (Gulf, China, Russia, Latin America) TEXFOR Mònica Olmos international@texfor.es SKYPE: monica.olmos.plaza Mobile: +34 606 41 41 43 2. Target: Clusters organisations This initiative is addressed to: Enterprises Both 3. Short description of the Initiative (i.e.: relevance for our project, objectives, specific issues and tools to implement it, expected results) 2
Relevance for our project Although Internationalization has a very wide meaning and many aspects could be included in this concept, in this case we will talk about internationalization from the commercial point of view, access to new markets, strategic marketing, and promotional activities, among others. As already mentioned in the Access to US concept note, the joining of forces to increase the partners competitive advantages must be a constant in the TEXMED initiatives. A well designed internationalization collective strategy can give numerous opportunities to the companies of our clusters, as well as to the clusters themselves, to improve their visibility, to develop strategic partnerships between complementary companies from the different countries to be more competitive, the possibility to build on the identified good practices, access to new markets, access to a wider customers base, etc. Objectives The main objective of this initiative is to help companies to increase their sells or to open new markets giving them the right tools and proposing strategic promotional activities to reach the proposed goal. We should focus in two kind of activity and relations: 1- Promotional activities where any company could participate with their own product, with no need to have any other contractual relation with other participants. One example could be to participate in an international fair, let s say for example the Federal Trade Fair in Moscow, as TEX-MED Cluster. To rent a big space where any of the companies members of our cluster could exhibit in. As for previous experiences, this kind of activities are very well accepted for the companies because there is a saving in costs, there is an attraction of buyers who can find different products in just one place, there is a sharing of information between participating companies, and there is always the possibility to build new collaborations between the companies due to the trust build during the time they are spending together. Of course this is just one of the possible activities, but there are many other examples we could use like Trade Missions, Promotional Events, Exhibition 3
Missions, Networking meetings, etc. 2- Grouped Actions. In this case the joint of different companies of the value chain is necessary to reach the goal. As examples: To create consortiums to apply to international public procurements. To create a consortium to go together to a specific market, sharing marketing costs, promotion activities costs or sales human resources in the market. In this case there are also many different possible activities to implement. The diversity of the members can help us to get closer to the different objective markets due to cultural and traditional similarities. To address a market with a higher success guarantee we should split the leadership by areas taking into account the knowledge and cultural approach of the market. So far, for the initially proposed markets, Russia, China, Gulf and Latin America there are two areas with a clear affinity with our TEX-MED members: Latin America- TEXFOR Gulf JGATE / UPTI If there is any other partner interested in leading Russia or China will be welcomed. If not, Texfor will lead internationalization in this two other countries. Specific Issues and tools to implement it The first thing to design a good internationalization strategy should be to create a commission to work on that. We think, in Internationalization field all our partners have great experience in their own organizations and a working session can bring the best experiences to implement in our project. 4
6. Next Steps (Operational Plan) - Create a Commission for Internationalization - To draft the Internationalization Plan for each single market - Provide a budget for the activities - Spread the information between the cluster members. 7. Any useful additional information: 5
Disclaimer: The 2007-2013 ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme is a multilateral Cross- Border Cooperation initiative funded by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). The Programme objective is to promote the sustainable and harmonious cooperation process at the Mediterranean Basin level by dealing with the common challenges and enhancing its endogenous potential. It finances cooperation projects as a contribution to the economic, social, environmental and cultural development of the Mediterranean region. The following 14 countries participate in the Programme: Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Syria (participation currently suspended), Tunisia. The Joint Managing Authority (JMA) is the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy). Official Programme languages are Arabic, English and French (www.enpicbcmed.eu). This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme. The content of this document are the sole responsibility of CETTEX and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union or of the Programme s management structures. 6