The Political Economics of Secession :
  - Barcelona Report
Eurasia Stability
Eurasian Economic Integration
Small and Medium Enterprises in Georgia
Eurasia Leadership Roundtable Series

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN GEORGIA

Rationale
This project intends to contribute to the success of small and medium businesses in Georgia. The project is organized around two workshops drawing upon six case studies developed from local experiences of success and failures of domestic and international business. The workshop and working group formats will provide a collaborative forum to identify challenges and propose solutions. Local case studies will serve as relevant, real-world examples. A workshop facilitator will focus participants' contributions toward identifying opportunities and developing solutions to the strategic and practical challenges enterprises face. The project will compile and disseminate the results of the workshops. Economic opportunities and policy recommendations will be in the form of a memorandum of understanding between participants. This memorandum will serve as a common plan for action to improve the economic opportunities of small and medium businesses in Georgia.

Problem Analysis
Despite some progress on macro-economic issues, domestic and international businesses still face challenges contributing to and benefiting from a successful economy. Some of these challenges are strategic in nature, common to new open economies, and others are more practical, specific to Georgia's current circumstances.

Strategic challenges include reliance on basic factors of production, poor understanding of customers, unawareness of relative competitive position, poor inter-firm cooperation, dependence on government paternalism, and others.

Practical challenges include political instability, infrastructure, constraints to foreign investment, legal ownership and taxation issues, marketing knowledge and skills, financial and non-financial services, and others.

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Procedures
Project staff will develop a focused qualitative survey of the challenges and opportunities of an open market economy. This survey will be at the beginning and end of the project to indicate any change in participants' knowledge, attitudes and practices.

A consultant will develop an initial training case study based on a successful local enterprise, facilitate the workshops and train six local consultants on these activities. An initial Training Workshop will employ the training case study to raise issues of opportunities and obstacles to success in business in Georgia. The goals of this workshop are to develop a common language and a common understanding of the issues and to begin working towards common solutions. Workshop participants will include local and international leaders in business, government, the non-profit sector and academia.

Local consultants will prepare follow on case studies that will be composite examples of six representative businesses of different sizes, from different sectors, and a mix of domestic and international enterprises. Participants will be expected to provide data and remain involved in the research for these case studies. An Analysis Workshop will use these six case studies in working groups and in full meetings to describe lessons learned, to develop policy recommendations and to identify opportunities for business.

Project staff will then analyze qualitative survey results as an internal evaluation of project goals. Local consultants and project staff will document and disseminate the case studies (as a learning tool and an example of domestic and international business experience in Georgia) as well as the outcomes and results of the workshops.

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Products
In addition to the participatory aspects of the workshops, the project will also produce the following documents:

Case Studies of Small and Medium Businesses in Georgia
Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic and Practical Solutions for Successful Business in Georgia

The Political Economics of Secession :
  - Barcelona Report
Eurasia Stability
Eurasian Economic Integration
Small and Medium Enterprises in Georgia
Eurasia Leadership Roundtable Series