In 1989, the district of Turnhout accounted for some 7% of exports from the whole of Flanders. Yet as much as 80% of the certificates of origin issued to regional exporters by the Kempen Chamber of Commerce go to large companies. This means that SMEs in the region in fact account for only 1.3% of exports from the whole of the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union. Moreover, these smaller firms tend to concentrate mainly on traditional export markets.

However, SMEs do play an important role in economic activity in the region. Companies employing fewer than 50 workers, for example, account for 38% of employment in the Turnhout district, which is higher than the national average (35%).

The Kempen Chamber of Commerce launched a project designed to improve the international market position of the SMEs through an initiative targeted at providing individual professional help and support in the field of exports. The project began with an awareness campaign which was folllowed by a series of introductory sessions aimed at giving SMEs advice on how to improve their internal organisation, to prepare for exporting, to gather information from markets abroad and to develop their image and marketing.

The project began with an awareness campaign (through the distribution of leaflets, announcements in the local media and posters) and a series of lectures by representatives from small businesses that had been successful in the field of exports. This was followed by a series of introductory sessions aimed at giving SMEs advice on how to improve their internal organisation, to prepare for exporting (by evaluating their capacity, their profit margins, production costs, etc.), to gather information from markets abroad and to develop their image and marketing.

These introductory sessions were also designed as «recruitment» drives to identify those SMEs which would benefit most from the subsequent package of individual counselling, consultancy and advice. When these companies had been identified, they were invited to discuss how to im-prove their position with an advisory team of economic and marketing experts. This advice involved drafting a customised business export plan using the information and know-how gained from the earlier stages; drafting an export budget; evaluation; drafting a plan to target export fairs; support for market research; and help during the implementation stage.

The project, which was supported by the European Union, is part of a strategy to encourage socio-economic development in the district of Turnhout. It complements existing plans to develop the transport sector in the region (notably the construction of a freight depot at Meer) and to set up a transport training centre offering instruction on exporting. The opening-up of the district through the development of the telecommunications infrastructure will also help to strengthen export-oriented SMEs.

Membership of the scheme rose from 125 companies at the end of the first year to 393 three years later (out of a possible target group of 600), the majority of which were small firms employing 50 staff or less.

SMEs in Turnhout

Total costs of the project: 708 507 euros, of which the EU contributed 306 658 euros. 

The project was supported by the European Commission

Export Kempen
Liesbeth Mens, tel. +32 14 563 030

01/01/1989

case

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Business support