Leveraging Entrepreneurship Training and the Impact on SMEs Performance, A Case of Lombardy Region (Italy) and the State of Berlin (Germany)

Given the fact that SMEs constitute 99% of all companies in the EU, the skills, productivity and innovation of SMEs employees are crucial prerequisites for the sustainable success. However, the training status of SMEs is characterised by a paradox. On the one hand, continuous/lifelong learning among staff are considered as vital elements of competitiveness and on the other hand, statistics show that continuous training and qualification are less likely to be available to employees working in SMEs than to those in large enterprises. The theoretical inquiry in this thesis was driven by the primary research question: how can SMEs managers direct specific forms of training namely entrepreneurship training to promote economic performance of their enterprises? Moreover, the thesis illustrates how training and skills development could successfully be developed and implemented in small and medium-sized companies despite both the internal and external barriers SMEs face in this context. The first chapter attempts to analyse the training structure of small and medium sized enterprises in Italy and Germany, drawing on official statistics of CVET survey at Eurostat. In the second and third chapter, the thesis set out with the concept of entrepreneurship explaining entrepreneurship training (activities) in SMEs. Subsequently based on the collected primary data it explored the status of training in each country discussing strategies concerning content and the methods of training used in each country. The main results of the thesis indicate that, while German SMEs more rely on inhouse and informal learning approach, Italian SMEs predominantly tend to provide formal training, which is offered by external providers. Consequently, the present research study, by outlining some guidelines and a comparative analysis of the results obtained, tries to help Italian SMEs to achieve a better competitive performance.