I-EAS-IT enables SMEs facing an acute business crisis to precisely determine the crisis status, identify causes and initiate appropriate countermeasures. At the same time, (future) entrepreneurs are trained to implement early crisis detection mechanisms to prevent future company crises. The project achieves a sustainable impact by directly securing jobs on the one hand and by professionalizing VET organizations, management consultants, entrepreneurship and SME support infrastructures and by providing first of its kind resources to be implemented into their curricula and services. Experts are increasingly speaking of a renewed impending economic crisis. This crisis will hit the European economy - which has just largely recovered from the previous crisis - particularly hard. This is particularly true for SMEs, often referred to as the backbone of the European economy. Various studies assume that, depending on the country, between 7% and 25% of small and medium-sized enterprises are already in advanced stages of crisis as so-called zombie companies, without having often realised this. The more advanced the stage of the crisis, the more complex and unlikely a successful restructuring becomes. While entrepreneurship support justifiably occupies a special position in European policies, the creation of crisis resilience for SMEs and start-ups must be given greater attention in future. Based on our daily experience and many projects with VET, consultants and support infrastructures, we are realising a great demand for this topic area. At the same time, it becomes clear that the people involved are often overburdened and underestimate the consequences of a looming corporate crisis. Therefore, we build on the existing phase theory on corporate crises and initially research early stage crisis indicators for SMEs. Comparable, practice-relevant studies on this subject area do not yet exist. Building on this, we will develop an app-based, interactive crisis analysis model as well as specific learning resources which will enable SMEs to develop suitable countermeasures. In order to achieve the most sustainable impact possible, we also focus on future generations of entrepreneurs by developing resources that can be integrated into the entrepreneurship curriculum and help to implement crisis prevention mechanisms. To guarantee the widest possible use, we involve VET organisations, trainers, management consultants and support structures (incubators, chambers e.g.) in our work and enable them to professionalise themselves and their services. Specifically, we will: 1-Identify the most relevant early phase crisis indicators for SMEs (IO1) 2-Develop an innovative curriculum and learning framework for (future) Entrepreneurs (IO2) empowering them to implement early warning systems into their organisations to become more crisis resilient (Stand-alone Online-Course as well as curricula to be implemented by trainers, consultants, VET and Entrepreneurship/SME support structures) 3-Develop an interactive crisis analysis tool (IO3) that enables SME owners/managers to identify the phase, the extent and the causes of the crisis. On this basis, individual countermeasures are proposed, and the specific knowledge is provided 4-To ensure wide and free access, all produced resources will be shared together with a large variety of additional information on our interactive knowledge exchange platform as OERs (IO4) In doing so, the project addresses the following needs of our target groups and will create sustainable impact for them: a) SME Owners/managers and future entrepreneurs gain a profound understanding of the importance of early detection mechanisms and indicators and are enabled to take appropriate countermeasures. b) VET organisations, trainers, management consultants and support structures such as chambers or incubators are put in a position to sustainably professionalise their services and increase their impact. c) By enabling companies to identify crises at an early stage and take appropriate measures before a crisis causes irreversible effects, we make a sustainable contribution to securing jobs at regional level. Against the background of networked value chains, this strengthens the resilience of the economy at national and EU level. d) Project partners will acquire new strategies, tools and methods for improving the effectiveness of their services. They will improve their own competences in knowledge sharing and strategic relationship building and have a clear understanding of how to sustain and grow the project in the long term. The results of the project are basically universal and, in combination with our multidimensional impact and dissemination strategy, will have a sustainable effect beyond the partner regions. The project is important because we need to ensure that local, mostly SME-based economies are strengthened to be more crisis resilient in order to strengthen the European Economy as a whole.
The project wanted to achieve the following key outputs: (IO1) Identify the most relevant early phase crisis indicators for SMEs. (IO2) Develop an innovative curriculum and learning framework for (future) Entrepreneurs, trainers, consultants, VET and Entrepreneurship/SME support structures to implement early warning systems into their organisations. (IO3) Develop an interactive crisis analysis tool to identify the phase, the extent and the cause(s) of the crisis. Following an assessment, individual countermeasures are proposed, with specific knowledge provided. (IO4) Produce resources with wide and free access on an interactive knowledge exchange platform as OERs. The implementation of these outputs would enable: -Relevant stakeholders to understand the importance of early detection mechanisms and indicators and consider/implement appropriate countermeasures prior to an irreversible crisis. -Support VET organisations, trainers, management consultants and support structures to sustainably professionalise their services and increase their impact. -The project partners to acquire new strategies, tools and methods for improving the effectiveness of their services in a sustainable and impactful way.
The collective experience of the I-EAS-IT partnership in the areas of business crisis, consultancy, SME support and education, has contributed to their understanding of the continuous risks that an acute business crisis poses to SMEs. Often referred to as the backbone of the European economy, the survival of SMEs is critical. As a result, the partnership wanted to research and further understand early crisis indicators to allow them to develop suitable learning resources to educate SMEs on the types of early crisis warning indicators and on the various countermeasures that can be applied in such situations, to improve business survival and increase crisis resilience.