Workshop on productive articulation for the strengthening and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region

introduction

This workshop represents the first working activity prepared by the Permanent Secretariat within the framework of the Productive articulation programme for the strengthening and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, which is being carried out in collaboration with CAF-development bank of Latin America. In this programme, several activities have been organized with a view to facilitating tools for the determination of inclusive value chains that encourage the productive articulation and export capacity of companies, contribute to greater productivity and promote sustainable growth in the region.

As part of this programme, one of its areas of action includes the development of a set of indicators to assess and monitor trade and the degree of interdependence of national and regional markets, while proposing the creation of a map of productive niches.

In order to achieve this objective, the workshop aims to train participants in three main areas: (i) Conceptualization and characterization of the theory on productive transformation; (ii) core software training; and (iii) use and management of information and implementation of methodology.

Background

Among the main objectives of the Work Programme of the Permanent Secretariat of SELA are the support, accompaniment and training of those institutions that promote policy-making for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region. Specifically, these objectives are framed in the SELA-SMEs Programme, which has gained in significant importance during the last years in terms of the activities carried out and the active participation of its Member States, representing the pillar of the work by the Permanent Secretary.

Since the year 2018, the Permanent Secretariat is developing the Productive articulation programme for the strengthening and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, which hinges on a not-refundable technical cooperation agreement signed with CAF-development bank of Latin America.

This initiative began with the Regional Meeting on productive integration and strategic alliances, which took place at the headquarters of the Mercosur Secretariat in Montevideo, Uruguay, in November 2017. This event was attended by governmental focal points for trade promotion in the Member States, international organizations and experts in the field, who agreed that it was necessary to promote trade, taking into account the productive complementarities in our economies and highlighting initiatives that contribute to the productive articulation and transformation of the business sector, focusing primarily on SMEs.

Within the framework of the Programme, various activities have been carried out with the aim of promoting value chains, encouraging the productive articulation and export capacity of enterprises, and contributing to greater productivity and sustainable growth of them.

Until now, officials directly linked to decision-making and public policy making have been trained; policies and programmes for the formalization of SMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean have been evaluated; and a set of indicators has been developed to assess and track trade and the degree of interdependence of national and regional markets, called Trade Introversion Index.

In addition, the Regional Seminar on productive articulation for the strengthening and development of SMEs was organized at the headquarters of the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) in December 2018 in Guatemala City. On that occasion, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA presented a methodological study on the identification of potential production niches, taking into account the productive capacities of the economies in the region, and allowing for guidance on those economic activities that promote growth and development. This study represents a complementary approach that supports value chains already defined by countries.

The study was empirically tested in El Salvador. However, the objective is to replicate it in the rest of the countries in the region that express their decision to participate in this project, taking into account the availability of statistical figures for each of them. This will make it possible to develop a mapping of production niches that allows for the development of a network of strategic alliances, resulting in the strengthening of the productive linkages and promoting productive articulation at the regional level.

This workshop is the first step to disseminate the proposed methodology. To that end, it includes a detailed explanation of each step required to replicate it. Participants are expected to develop it in their countries and present the results in a next meeting. This important training activity will contribute to the development of robust appraisals for the productive articulation of the SMEs sector in the region.

Objectives

This activity aims to train participants in the management of concepts and tools required for a diagnosis of productive capacities and in the identification of potential production niches at the regional level in each country. To that end, it considers the following specific objectives: i) Disseminate the basic concepts associated with productive capacities and the importance of the national productive transformation; ii) disclose the estimated models that allowed for the preliminary mapping of production niches with a practical example, and iii) train participants in the management of databases and use of estimates through the statistical software package STATA (Software for Statistics and Data Science).

Agenda

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Morning
8:30 – 9:00	REGISTRATION
9:00 – 9:10	SESIÓN INAUGURAL Virginia Cartaya, Director of Studies and Proposals of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) Representative of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Paraguay
	GROUP PHOTO
	THE WORKSHOP METHOD Virginia Cartaya, Director of Studies and Proposals of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)
9:15 – 10:45	SESSION I: BASIC CONCEPTS. COMPETITIVENESS AND PRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT Nahuel Oddone, Head of the Department of Promotion and Exchange of Social Policies. ISM-MERCOSUR Determining factors in competitiveness and productive development
10:45 – 11:00	COFFEE BREAK
11: 00– 12:30	SESSION I: PRODUCTIVE ARTICULATION AND VALUE CHAINS Nahuel Oddone, Head of the Department of Promotion and Exchange of Social Policies. ISM-MERCOSUR Priority areas for the design of public policies for MSMEs Productive articulation and strengthening of global value chains Mechanisms for inter-sectoral accompaniment in production chains
12:30 – 2:00	LUNCH
Afternoon
2:00 – 3:30	SESSION II: STATISTICAL INFORMATION AND MODELS USED FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCTION NICHES Karla Sánchez, Analyst of Studies and Proposals of SELA. Methodological aspects for the determination of production niches. Objective: Present the statistical data required for the creation of the database to be used for the estimation of the model that will identify the mapping of production niches.
3:30 – 3:45	COFFEE BREAK
3:45 – 5:15	SESSION II: STATISTICAL INFORMATION AND MODELS USED FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCTION NICHES(Continuation) Karla Sánchez, Analyst of Studies and Proposals of SELA. Methodological aspects for the determination of production niches. Objective: Explain the statistical models that were used in the mapping of production niches. In addition, these models will make it possible to know the dynamics of the labour market in each identified sector.
5:15 – 6:30	SESSION III: WHAT IS STATA? INTRODUCTION AND BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: Disseminate the basic knowledge on STATA, which will enable participants to know the commands and programming language used in the software.

Thursday, 28 March 2019
Morning
9:00 –10:30	SESSION III: MANAGEMENT OF DATABASES IN STATA Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: Instruct participants on the import of statistical databases, as well as related tools that enable their use.
10:30 – 10:45	COFFEE BREAK
10:45 –12:30	SESSION III: CREATING MODELS IN STATA Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: Present ways of creating models in STATA
12:30– 2:00	LUNCH
Afternoon
2:00 – 3:30	SESSION III: CREATING MODELS IN STATA (continuation) Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: Present ways of creating models in STATA
3:30 – 3:50	COFFEE BREAK
3:50 – 5:30	SESSION III: CONSTRUCTION OF PROBIT MODELS IN STATA Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: Explain how to construct PROBIT models in STATA, which will enable participants to make the necessary estimates for the development of the proposed methodology.
5:30 – 6:00	SUMMARY OF THE DAY Virginia Cartaya, Director of Studies and Proposals of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA)

Friday, 29 March 2019
Morning
9:00 – 10:30	SESSION IV: PRACTICAL EXERCISE Karla Sánchez, Analyst of Studies and Proposals of SELA. Methodological aspects for the determination of production niches. Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: The Permanent Secretariat of SELA will explain the estimation methodology for the development of a mapping of production niches in the case of El Salvador. In this session, it is assumed that each participant knows the step-by-step of the STATA code that allowed said estimation.
10:30 – 10:45	COFFEE BREAK
10:45 –12:15	SESSION IV: REVIEW. PRACTICAL EXERCISE. RESULTS Karla Sánchez, Analyst of Studies and Proposals of SELA. Methodological aspects for the determination of production niches. Gustavo Sánchez, Senior Econometrician and Director of the Technical Services Department at StataCorp Objective: In this session, participants will be able to exchange their views, as well as make queries that are necessary to complete the practical exercise presented in the first part of Session IV.
12:15 – 12:30	COFFEE BREAK
12:30 –1:00	SESSION V: WORK AGENDA Virginia Cartaya, Director of Studies and Proposals of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) Objective: Present the steps to follow for the development of the mapping of production niches by country. Structure a work agenda that includes the necessary technical advice for the development of the programme and the presentation of progressive results by country.
1:00– 1:10	CLOSING SESSION Virginia Cartaya, Director of Studies and Proposals of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) Representative of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Paraguay
1:30– 2:30	LUNCH
Afternoon
	TOURISM ACTIVITY BY THE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE OF PARAGUAY Visits to: Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Presidency of the Republic (Palacio de López)