| Abstract | The overall aims of the research are to identify the actions needed for supporting the development of SMEs to encourage private sector development in the northern part of Cyprus and to contribute to national debate on SME policy. These will also contribute to the work based learning aims of the researcher to develop consultancy
capacity of his employer organization, to develop a resource for further SME research, to provide data and recommendations for the efforts of international bodies, local authorities and civil society organizations and to provide a Report for donors and implementing organizations.
Therefore, this research study sets out to examine the actions for stakeholders in order to support the development of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in
the northern part of Cyprus. The research aims to provide analysis of results and recommendations in the report so that the researcher and the stakeholders, such as business support organizations, other third party international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and relevant authorities, shall benefit from it especially in their action design and policy-making processes.
The vast majority of enterprises in the northern part of Cyprus are under small and medium size classification and are the main driving force of the northern side’s private sector in trade, industry and tourism sectors. Trade, industry and tourism sectors are the main economic sectors of GDP, with a total share of 23% (DPO, 2007, p.8), that are mostly led by private initiatives in imports-exports,
manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors in the northern part of Cyprus.
After the literature review, the methodological approach of the research is threefold; first qualitative data is collected from representatives through interviews, and the
second is to gather data form representative sample of SMEs in trade, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors through a telephone survey.
The last stage is to triangulate the results of these two processes together with a desktop study in order to reach comprehensive conclusions and recommendations. So, ideas of SMEs in these three particular sectors are measured through a survey study in order to establish assessment on the actions of relevant stakeholders for SMEs. The results of this assessment are compared with the ideas of interviewees from important stakeholders in order to suggest some actions needed in policies for SMEs in the northern part of Cyprus. The Study provides a report in order to contribute both to methods of data gathering and to action design and policy generation for the SMEs in trade, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors by international and local support organizations including all other stakeholders. Dissemination of this research study to relevant authorities, business support organizations, business related NGOs and international support organizations is also provided within the Summary Report. Besides organizational dissemination, the Summary Report is also presented through a conference to be
held at the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the outcome of the research study improves the knowledge and ability of the researcher to develop and
provide effective and efficient services at work for the benefit of SME development in the northern part of Cyprus by, also, producing the Lists of Stakeholder Actions and Policies as well as the the Guide for Supporting the Turkish Cypriot SMEs, which were also disseminated to the key stakeholders. Positive feedback for the above mentioned outputs has been received during dissemination and this has encouraged the impact of the whole research study.
While conducting the study, discussion within literature is examined to establish an analysis of the policies and actions undertaken for the development of small and medium size enterprises by some major international organizations at international level, such as the EU and OECD. Furthermore, literature in the northern part of
Cyprus is also examined in order to understand more about the situation of small and medium size enterprises at the local level. In addition to this, emerging issues from the literature review are discussed in order to understand more about the areas emphasized in supporting the development of SMEs. These emerging areas also guide and shape the semi-structured interviews, which are the first step in the pilot research study. In the second step, an analysis of interviews is linked to questionnaire design during the survey process in order to test and establish
comparison between the findings of the survey and the stakeholder interviews.
For the first time, this study conducts a questionnaire survey with 215 SMEs and reflects the feedback from the demand side, which are the local small and medium size enterprises within the context of the study, and establishes a comparison of the feedback from the demand side with the feedback from the key stakeholders. This
two way approach makes it possible to compare the results of the survey and interviews with an additional desktop research and allows the research process to achieve outcome with actionable conclusions and recommendations for the actions and policies to support the development of SMEs in the trade, manufacturing and touristic accommodation sectors as the real players of the private sector within the northern part of Cyprus.
The overall conclusions of these research actions are led by the Short term Actions in:
• Human Resources, Financing and Policy Generation for Investment followed by Medium term Policies in:
• Taxes,Business Constraints, Regulation and Entrepreneurship areas.
The concluding action and policy areas are explained in List of Stakeholder Actions and List of Stakeholder Policies in turkish with additional recommendations. What is more, the research concludes with a proposition of a SME Development Strategy and additional recommendations by the researcher which are reflected in the Summary Report. All of these processes have also contributed to the development of knowledge, cognitive and practical skills of the researcher whose reflection on research process shows the impact of the gained knowledge and abilities on the professional work as well. |
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