Building a Better Business: A Flexibly Delivered SME Skills Program

Dr Patrice Braun and Mary Hollick

Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness

School of Business

presentation overview

• Project Overview

- Key SME & micro tourism firm issues

• Project Plan

- Phases- Partners- Portal Technology

• The Future

weaknesses of small tourism firms

• Lack of economies of scale• Poor core competencies and strategic direction relative to the advantages of new economies and technologies • Accessibility to training (office-bound)• Poor business/financial management & resources• Lack of entry barriers & industry standardisation• Poor recruitment practises, low turnover • Dependence on larger destination marketing organisations• Lack of supporting markets/networking• Information technology illiteracy

• Source: based on Buhalis, D. 1998. Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and information Technology: Challenges and Opportunities. Gesellschaft fur anwendungsorientierte Tourismus-und Freizeitforschung, (Hrsg.), Internationale Tagung, St. Wolfgang, (1999), pp. 240.

the bbbonline project

• The building a better business (bbb)online pilot project involves flexible delivery of learning modules and tourism business case examples to support (especially women-owned/managed) small business learning, industry accreditation, uptake of ICT, and general industry capacity building.

the bbbonline project

• The bbbonline pilot project is designed as a multi-modal learning program with

– Web-based content– CD-ROM based content– Face-to-Face workshops– Technical Support– Mentor Support

bbbonline -eLearning

• Takes place Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace - uses electronic means for small business information gathering & knowledge transfer

• Includes a wide range of learning strategies and technologies, including CD-Rom, online support, mentoring and face-to-face workshops.

• Small enterprises in tourism can participate in online learning environments, which are designed as tutorial systems over the Internet; in their own time and place.

  

 

Building A Better Business Pilot Program

  funded by   

project partners

 • Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria

• Tourism Victoria• Clusters Asia Pacific• Goldfields Tourism• Ballarat Tourism• Bendigo Tourism

• Hepburn Shire Tourism• Central Highlands Area Consultative Committee• Central Victoria Area Consultative Committee

    

project plan

• Phase 1: Goldfields region pilot (completed)

– Multi-modal content development, – online platform launch – July 2004– Awareness Building –June/July 2004– Regional Workshops – July through Dec 2004– Action Learning Reflection & Program Evaluation – Dec 2004– Content modification for Phase 2 – Feb/March 2005

• Phase 2: repeat cycle April-Nov 2005

Pilot Program ends December 2005

portal technologyPublic Area Administration Area

Home page Web Managed

Program content Password protected log-in access

Events calendar Promotion of awareness raising sessions & workshop schedule

Links and resources Relevant websites & partners

Discussion forum Online discussion structure

Evaluation Online – data dynamically generated – awareness of survey raised via email

Syndicated resources Syndication via Business Entry Point

Program support Online Help Desk

Mentor support Active phone link

Industry Associations & Networks Purpose built database

Search Customised user interface to search index

Site Statistics Backed by comprehensive website statistical package to monitor traffic

project issues to date

• Technical barriers – lack of band width; operator browsers;

• Need for integration, simplification of technology across multiple systems

• women especially interested in learning• No use of forum• deregulated tourism industry reflected in

industry know-how• silo thinking vs. whole-of-destination thinking• fear of collaboration/knowledge sharing• small firms enthusiastic about the program,

but still lack time & ICT skills/resources

the future

• Embed existing infrastructure into various tourism (institutional, educational, industry) organisations and websites

• Deliver the model in other regional settings, both domestically and internationally

• Continue to share research in the area of micro and

small enterprise skill and capacity building.

Dr Patrice Braun &Mary Hollick p.braun@ballarat.edu.aum.hollick@ballarat.edu.au

www.bbbonline.com.au