The East opens up new possibilities

The booming markets of eastern and southern Europe provide opportunities for internalisation and market development, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Currently, one third of all Austrian foreign investments and around 20% of the Austrian export go to these countries. Over the last four years the countries of southern Europe have reached a real economic growth of 23%, and during the next few years the economic growth will be growing.

However, the structure of Austrian economy has some special features – most of its enterprises are small and medium-sized, which can lead to difficulties in entering new markets. It could happen due to the following reasons:

Shortage of information and its high costs.

Entering a new market always implies information demand. For SME’s these costs are usually disproportionately high due to the lack of highly-qualified employees who could conduct a market analysis.

Risks.

Entering a new market can be very risky compared to the sales volume of SME’s. Co-operation agreements could be a solution to this problem.

Financing problems.

Capital resources of SME’s are usually insufficient, which can lead to shortage of liquidity and venture capital. Co-operation agreements could be a solution to this problem.

Lack of support.

SME’s often lack sufficient support, both at home and abroad.

Participation in the Forum offers a unique opportunity not only to take part in discussions together with high-ranking politicians and renowned economic researchers but also to find new partners and close new business transactions. Participants of the Forum are high-ranking politicians, renowned economic researchers and representatives of manufacturing plants, finance corporations and service enterprises from eastern and southern Europe. ACEF can offer suitable networks and partnerships to all kinds of corporate structures – affiliated companies, SME’s and even sole traders.