NATIONAL
IT Solutions Marked Down
Acer India has collaborated
with ICICI Bank to make IT solutions easy and affordable for
the SMB, SME and education sectors in India.
A news release said that the
association will significantly enhance and facilitate access
to latest technology for these segments and will aid them
in increasing competitiveness. more
Independent directors may stay off unlisted SME boards
This would come as a big relief
to India’s burgeoning small and medium enterprises (SME)
sector. Unlisted SMEs will be exempted from the proposed new
company law’s requirement to reserve one-third of the
board seats for independent directors. The SMEs will also
be spared of other compliance requirements in accounting and
law. more
SME rating agency to expand operations in northern region
In a bid to cater to the
growing needs of the SME segment in northern region, the SME
Rating Agency of India Limited (SMERA) has announced plans
to set up four offices in Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand
and Jammu & Kashmir.
“We will soon open our
four offices in Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Jammu &
Kashmir with a view to catering to the growing SME segments
in these areas,” SMERA, Regional Manager (North), Sumeet
Mehta said here. more
SAP sees significant momentum for its SME solutions in India
Studies Show Small and Medium
Customers Benefit from SAP's Proven, Easy to Adapt and Affordable
Portfolio of Solutions
SAP India today announced
the addition of over 433 new midsize enterprise customers
over 2006, translating to the addition of more than one new
customer per work day in 2006. SAP All-in-One - SAP’s
solution for the mid market segment and powered by SAP Best
Practices was chosen by over 170 Indian mid-sized enterprises.
With over 263 wins, SAP Business One – SAP’s solution
for the small enterprises - powered ahead in 2006 across all
the regions of India, bringing SAP’s small and mid-size
customer base in India to over 883, doubling the base in just
a year. more
Green Gaze: Small guy’s big polluter
The country’s small
and medium enterprises (SMEs), totaling 4.5 million units,
account for 40% of the industrial output are estimated to
contribute 70% to the total industrial pollution, according
to the Strengthening institutions for sustainable growth:
Country environment analysis for India report by the World
Bank. more
Government to initiate steps to boost SSI Sector
Among the six basic principles
of governance underlying the National Common Minimum Programme
(NCMP) of the Government, sustained "economic growth
in a manner that generates employment" has a pride of
place. The NCMP also describes the small scale industries
as "the most employment-intensive segment".
The small scale industries
of India (including the tiny industries and small scale service
and business entities) have a long history of promoting economic
growth that is employment-oriented and spatially widespread,
and hence inclusive. more
INTERNATIONAL
SME segment to drive SAP revenue growth
Business software provider
SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd expects its revenue to more than double
this year on the strength of growth in the small and medium
enterprise (SME) segment and three industries.
SAP Malaysia country manager
and head of of large enterprise sales Anne Abraham said revenue
for the country is expected to grow by 127 per cent this year
from 2006. more
Government offers SMEs B5bn in help, with focus on management
by Aranee Jaiimsin
The government budget for
promoting small businesses will be raised to five billion
baht next year from three billion this year, reflecting a
greater effort to help the sector at a time of economic difficulty.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 95%
of the businesses in Thailand and can play a key role in the
economy at a time of slow growth, said Pramode Vidtayasuk,
the director-general of the Department of Industrial Promotion
(DIP) at the Industry Ministry. more
IMF forecasts impressive growth in India, China
The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) has forecast continued impressive growth in emerging
markets and developing countries led by India and China in
2007, even with global growth slowing mildly to 4.9 percent.
"Notwithstanding the
ups and downs of financial markets recently, the global economy
is set for another good year in 2007," Simon Johnson,
Economic Counsellor and Director of Research at the IMF, said
at a press conference here on Wednesday. more
HP, IBM pushing into SME market by Robert Mullins, San Francisco
IBM and Hewlett-Packard, in
separate announcements Tuesday, each used words like "simple,"
"reliable" and "affordable" to describe
how each of their new products serves the small-to-medium
business market.
IBM says it is introducing
a new entry-level server, the System i Express, with a starting
list price of US$7995, that can be shared with up to five
end users. Additional licences cost $1250 each. It comes preconfigured
with an IBM operating system and IBM database, security and
system management software, though a customer could substitute
other brands. Previous System i servers started at $12,000,
which put them out of reach for many SMEs. more
Telstra launches partner program for SME sector
Telco giant Telstra ramps
up presence in the SME sector with a new program for channel
partners.
Telco giant Telstra has amped
up its appeal to the SME market with an accreditation program
to further boost the standard of information and communications
technology (ICT) solutions offered to small to medium enterprise
(SME) customers by Telstra’s channel partners. more
Microsoft offers SME Vista discount
Microsoft has revealed that
it is set to offer a 10 per cent discount to small and medium
sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK wishing to install its
new Vista package.
The discount is being offered
as part of the Windows Vista Additional Licence, which has
already proved successful in the US. more
Small businesses as community hearts
One of Britain’s leading
researchers on small businesses says they add value to communities
as well as economies.
Dr Francis Greene says a local
newsagent is a good example of a small business providing
a “heart” for a community. He says research in
the United States and Britain shows that most small business
owners say they are in it less for the money but more for
the lifestyle and interaction with the community. more
ARTICLES
"It’s time we learnt to think small" by Ravi
Srinivasan
The past couple weeks have
seen plenty of heat and dust raised about special economic
zones (SEZs) in India. While opponents have raised the spectre
of large-scale displacement of agriculture and even potential
food security threats, proponents have convincingly argued
the case for creating large-scale infrastructure and global-scale
industry.
But one significant contributor
to the India growth story has gone virtually unnoticed. I
am talking about India’s much maligned small and medium
enterprise sector, which has been receiving far less attention
than it deserves both from the government and the financial
sector. more
"
NGO involvement in SME development" by Syed Ishtiaque
Reza
BANGLADESH'S entrepreneurs
as a class remain traditionally involved in the management
of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With the beginning
of economic reform programmes and trade liberalisation programmes
in the 1990s, the country started getting ready managers and
entrepreneurs with practical experience. The role of SMEs
to economic growth of a country is well-recognised. It is
strongly perceived that SMEs do play a vital role in the industrial
development of any society.
The country for the last few
years has been pursuing a SME-focused growth strategy considering
its immense potentials of providing opportunities for large-scale
employment and its higher labour-capital ratio. Small capital,
a shorter gestation period and comparatively smaller market
to be economically viable are some other key features of SMEs.
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