Clusterkraft e-Newsletter (Vol.27)

NATIONAL

  • Making SME clusters IT-enabled for prosperity
  • Study on Coimbatore foundry cluster conducted
  • Brazil Beats India in Adoption of Information & Communications Technology in SME clusters
  • Texprocil expresses concern over non-extension of TUF scheme for clusters

INTERNATIONAL

  • Capacity building seminar, workshop for SMEs held IN Philippines
  • Essential elements to enhance and develop export markets for Jordanian clusters
  • ICT needs of SME clusters
  • Pakistan Auto industry uplift plan for auto clusters
  • ICT Adoption Savings for SMEs
  • European SMEs don't invest enough in tech
  • Namibian SME clusters think that ICT Can Be Too Expensive
  • Moving Towards an ICT Literate SME Workforce in Brunei
  • Saudi Arabia to start National Industrial Cluster Development Program

ARTICLES

  • Steps to make Turkish clusters globally competitive and knowledge-based
  • The competitive advantage of India in the Demand Economy By Harish Bijoor
  • Nurture new technology and innovation, stay competitive

NATIONAL

Making SME clusters IT-enabled for prosperity

The Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner for Small Scale Industries, Union Government said, 'Time is ripe to take some positive steps to give thrust for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. Addressing a seminar on 'IT for SME manufacturing', organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in the city recently, he said, 'IT has now become a recipe for the development of many manufacturing clusters, which remained unorganised for years. Only a few of the SME sector were IT-enabled. The impact of information technology is showing some signs of growth in manufacturing sectors.' More...

Study on Coimbatore foundry cluster conducted
Coimbatore foundries have more export opportunities to tap with growth in the end user segment, according to a draft report of a study on Indian foundries by the ICRA Management Consulting Services. The Coimbatore foundry cluster has about 600 units and most of them are small-scale. They produce 40,000 to 45,000 tonnes of castings a month. More...

Brazil Beats India in Adoption of Information & Communications Technology in SME clusters

NASSCOM has adopted a cluster development model where they will be collaborating with industry clusters to firstly identify the IT adoption challenges in the cluster and secondly prepare recommendations and action plans to address the user concerns. As part of this strategy, they are currently working with the auto component manufacturing industry. Going forward in 2007, they will be targeting other clusters including textiles, leather, agriculture, retail etc which have low IT adoption. The comparative study that they did targeted manufacturing firms in six key verticals namely auto-components, soaps and detergents, electrical components, machine tools, wearing apparels and plastic products. More...

Texprocil expresses concern over non-extension of TUF scheme for clusters

The cotton textiles export promotion council (Texprocil) has expressed deep concern over suggestions that the government at the highest levels may not grant an extension to the Textile Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), Shri Prem Malik, Chairman, Texprocil stated in a press release. The suggestion has sent shockwaves in the textile industry both amongst the manufacturers and exporters as the TUF scheme which launched in 1999 had provided a fresh lease of life to the textile industry which was now coming into its own, after facing severe restrictions for years both in the domestic and international areas. More...

INTERNATIONAL

Capacity building seminar, workshop for SMEs held IN Philippines
THE regional office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), convener of the industry clusters in the region, has conducted capacity building seminar for the second batch of DTI-Southern Mindanao staff and employees of local government units (LGUs). The seminar, dubbed as SME Development Capacity Enhancement Seminar (SMEDCES), is anchored towards learning, which DTI officials have acquired during their training under the Public Sector Linkages Program (PSLP) in Australia. More...

Essential elements to enhance and develop export markets for Jordanian clusters

Recent years have witnessed a major increase in Jordan's exports to new markets through capitalising on various trade agreements, which Jordan enjoys with many countries. The US market has topped the list as being the major destination for many Jordanian exports through benefiting from the Jordan-US Free Trade Agreement, the Qualified Industrial Zones and the Generalised System of Preference. The diversification and high standards of products and services offered by Jordanian entrepreneurs have contributed to an increase in demand worldwide and the commitment of the government through taking steps towards a market-oriented economy and placing increased emphasis on the private sector. More...

ICT needs of SME clusters

Most technology vendors are still having trouble figuring out what the small and medium enterprise user looks like. After imagination comes investigation. Cisco, for example, recently released the fifth annual Net Impact study, where it commissioned research firm Illuminas to survey a number of Canadian SMEs about their buying habits. The good news: apparently they’re buying lots of networking products! The bad news: they’re starting to look a lot more like enterprises, which will not necessarily make the job of vendors any easier. More...

Pakistan Auto industry uplift plan for auto clusters

The Draft Auto Industry Development Programme (AIDP) has been designed to strengthen the auto sector by making the vendors and the manufacturers more interdependent, which will go a long way to expand and strengthen the auto industry. More...

ICT Adoption Savings for SMEs

Just like most businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) also rely on technology to propel their businesses forward. Smaller SMEs (small -and medium-scale enterprises) spend between RM5, 000 to RM20, 000 a year on ICT (information and communication technology) infrastructure, said MCA ICT Resource Centre CEO Andrew T.F. Wong. More...

European SMEs don't invest enough in tech
The ICT Taskforce, whose membership includes technology giants such as Microsoft and IBM, have claimed that small businesses are not investing in business technology that could improve business processes. A wider integration of ICT by businesses throughout Europe would significantly contribute to improve effectiveness and productivity and could potentially revolutionize and maximize processes and organizations in a number of key sectors.
More...

Namibian SME clusters think that ICT Can Be Too Expensive

The high cost of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is seriously hampering the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in many African countries including Namibia. This is contained in research done by Nepru and Research ICT Africa on the impact of ICTs on private sector development and how ICTs can contribute to a vibrant SME sector as well as economic growth in the context of developing countries. More...

Moving Towards an ICT Literate SME Workforce in Brunei
In an effort to encourage and promote the development and expansion of ICT including advancing skills and knowledge of manpower in Brunei, the Authority for Info-communication Technology Industry Brunei is embarking on a long-term InfoComm Competency Training Programme that will support e-Government initiatives and boost SME's ICT skills.

Saudi Arabia to start National Industrial Cluster Development Program
The National Industrial Cluster Development Program was also unveiled by the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) which has already approved the project. The idea of cluster development is to give a boost to the non oil GDP of the Kingdom, which is currently well below the international average. The program aims to boost the industrialization efforts in the country, generate gainful employment for its people and substantially increase the non oil-related GDP of the Kingdom.
More...

ARTICLES

Steps to make Turkish clusters globally competitive and knowledge-based

One of the greatest challenges of globalization is economic -- in particular, the re- emergence of India and China as global players. These countries (which together with Russia and Brazil form the BRIC) will step up the spread of globalization and its benefits -- probably not to the pleasure of todays developed countries, though. Turkey has much to gain in this process only if it can become an economy that is knowledge based and globally competitive.
More...

The competitive advantage of India in the Demand Economy By Harish Bijoor
This article talks about the strengths that will re-define the competitive advantage of India in the world market. The India ahead as the new consumer super-power of the world. The new intellectual capital of the world and of course the new seat of buying, selling, marketing and facilitating super-power of the world. The new role of India the buyer, India the seller and India the broker.
More...

Nurture new technology and innovation, stay competitive
India has been on the high growth trajectory for some time now. The Indian economy is considered to be among the fastest growing economies of the world, registering balanced growth, especially with the manufacturing sector having picked up steam over the last three years. However, for the momentum to continue, a number of policy areas need urgent government attention: labor laws, tax structure, innovation and IT, high cost of power, technology funding policies, are just to name a few. These factors are critical for Indian manufacturing to increase its share in GDP to the proposed 30%.
More...


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Disclaimer:

This newsletter is published by clusters.org , a portal dedicated to Cluster Development Professionals. It aims at creating a platform and a resource for networking of Cluster Development Professionals. This email and the attached newsletter are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the members who have subscribed to it. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and primary and secondary data sources and do not necessarily represent those of ‘Clusterkraft.'

If you are not the intended recipient of this email and the newsletter, you must take no action based upon them, nor must you copy or show them to anyone.

Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email by mistake. If you want to unsubscribe from our mailing list, you can do so by replying to this mail with the subject as “unsubscribe”. Or click on the link below.