The CODESNET Approach to SME Networks Analysis

Abstract

The overview of SME clusters and networks in some European countries, and the description of approaches and actions to promote the emergence of new aggregations – presented in Chap. 3 – include also the main concepts and ideas which originated from the EU-funded CODESNET project. Since the definition of the project proposal, the scope was not to produce a collection of data by which to generate statistics, but to create a new conceptual model of a SME aggregation, sufficiently general to be used to describe a supply chain as well as a complex multistage line. Also, the descriptive model investigated, is mostly oriented to be a tool for describing and evaluating the performance of the underlying networked industrial body. Therefore, the scope of Chap. 4 is to illustrate the model generation as well as the performance analysis methodology, which has been designed on the basis of the model itself. There are two complementary goals: on one side, to generate a performance evaluation method to compare two different industrial systems, such to identify which one presents the strongest features; on the other hand, the same method should help the analyst to understand why an industrial system appears to be effectively stronger than others. Then, such a methodology needs to be supported by a catalogue of SME networks presentations, to allow comparisons, and by an archive of technical reports, from which to derive concepts and suggestions to understand and justify either the weakness or the strength of a network.