Good practice:

Action - Training

Micro-SMEs have difficulties to access funds due to the lack of resources and specific knowledge. They need to increase management skills to initiate processes of change and innovation. Industrial associations are near companies and can help them to access funds, by assuming the management of resources. Action-training GP aim to increase the specific competencies or skills of companies and their workers in relevant.
These projects are launched by an association under a technical thematic (Management, TIC; Innovation, etc.) and gather a group of Micro and SMEs interested in the development these skills, with support of specialized entities or consultants.
The activities are:
Diagnosis and Action Plan – made in each company to define the action plan, which consists on training interventions and specialized consultancy aiming to respond to the identified gaps;
Consultancy (training-action) activities develop in company assured by specialized mentoring answering each company specific needs.
Training to improve the specific needs of the workers to assure the change aimed.
These projects can be developed in a maximum period of 24 months;
The stakeholders of GP are
Micro or SME–direct beneficiaries
Management Association or Entity-indirect beneficiaries be knowing better the companies needs
Trainers and Experts-indirect beneficiaries by knowing and help solving real needs
Managment and Funding Authority–made avaiable funds to smaller companies with less resources

It involves the management authority supporting 90% of training-action budget which include the management of the project design to the specific group of SME, the consulting entity to implement the actions, the companies (which bear 10% of the costs) and its manager and a minimum of 6 workers.

This good practice it was very important to improve the competitiveness of both micro and SME in terms of innovative practices in the product development process and in organizational methods.
The demand for this type of support by micro and SMEs has been increasing.
The latest available evaluation report indicated that, in 2018, 6088 companies were support by this type of program.

The biggest challenge found was to demonstrate to small companies the advantages of participating in this project for the first time. The next challenge is to be able to include small artisans in the next project editions

This good practice promotes innovation and competitiveness in ceramic SMEs as it intensifies the training of entrepreneurs and managers for the reorganization and improvement of management competencies, as well as of workers preparing them for organizational change and the implementation of good practice.
It´s developed in SMEs, adapted to their needs, in order to make improvements or a change identified with the company during the diagnosis. It may spread along 24 months and the different actions promotes the active involvement of several actors. It does not require a very high financial effort by the company (10% of the project budget), minimizing the risk of companies participation in these projects aiming promote improvement and enabling / motivating them to incorporate internal innovation practices.
The methodology was designed to support the change in strategic areas for the competitiveness of micro and SMEs in small and sustained steps.