The SOERED Project in China 2000-2003
The 'State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring and Enterprise Development' project (SOERED) was launched in December 1999 as a joint Sino-British activity to assist in the reform and restructuring of the many large state-owned enterprises in China, and encourage the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their place.
It was jointly funded by Chinese local and national government and the British 'Department for International Development' (DfID), and implemented in two provinces - Liaoning in the NE of China and Sichuan in the SW.
The project was managed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and involved three components:
- restructuring selected state-owned enterprises, and setting up restructuring agencies
- building up and managing credit-guarantee funds for SMEs
- setting up three pilot Business Advice Centres in each province.
Other Durham Business School staff had provided a range of training on business adviser skills, and different aspects of SME management. My role was to round this off by helping them become self-funding by providing an excellent and well-managed service for their clients. I visited China three times.
July 2002: Liaoning. Training needs analysis, followed by courses and coaching on client management and project management.
November 2002: Liaoning and Sichuan. Follow-up in Liaoning, followed by courses and coaching in Sichuan on client management and project management.
April 2003: Liaoning and Sichuan. Courses on Growth Profiling and Operations Management in both locations, plus SME visits and several short courses for local SMEs.
A key part of my role was 'training the trainers' so that they could deliver the same material (all of which was left with them) to their clients, as well as use it themselves within the BACs.
Client and Project Management for SMEs
The training needs analysis confirmed our expectation that most BAC staff needed help in finding SME clients, managing projects for them, and carrying out follow-up activity that could lead to further business.
(More details shortly)
Growth Profiling and Operations Management
The growth profiling training was partly reinforcement of earlier courses (by other staff). Operations management was an area that had not been covered before, and was in demand from client SMEs.
The purpose of the course was to enable the advisers to identify operational issues in their small business clients, to give them some basic advice, and to signpost them to expert help if needed.
The following topics were covered over three days:
- Assessing the growth potential of an SME
- Identifying applications for IT
- Improving the quality of products and processes
- Applying 'lean' principles to the business