Volume 24 Issue 2 Article 2 
June 2022 
The Role of Enterprise Europe Network in Export Activities of the 
Western Balkan SMEs 
Bojan Ćudić 
University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia, bojan.cudic@um.si 
Matjaž Klemenčič 
University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia 
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 Part of the International Business Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Ćudić, B., & Klemenčič, M. (2022). The Role of Enterprise Europe Network in Export Activities of the 
Western Balkan SMEs. Economic and Business Review, 24(2), 84-100. https://doi.org/10.15458/
2335-4216.1299 
This Original Article is brought to you for free and open access by Economic and Business Review. It has been 
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Review. 
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Role of Enterprise Europe Network in Export
Activities of the Western Balkan SMEs
Bojan 
Cudi
c*, Matjaz Klemencic
University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Abstract
The Western Balkan region (WB) small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lag behind the EU-28 counterparts in their
export activities. The positive influence of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) on local business support organisations
and the local businesses is identified as a contributing factor to that improvement. To investigate the EEN's role in the
export of the WB SMEs in the period 2014e2017, the authors used available statistical data on export from the WB
countries. The survey was conducted in three phases, with the samples of 1,463, 222, and 12 companies. Analysed results
of the EEN activities in the WB show that EEN had a positive influence on the firms' performance and their international
activities; 67% of supported firms increased their turnover, 62% increased their market share, and the EEN services had a
positive impact on the jobs in 52% of the examined firms. The survey results about the expected and actual impact of the
EEN services proved a positive impact of the Network on the five indicators: market improvement, cost savings, job
creation or maintenance, quality improvement, and innovation. The paper contains important practical implications for
the policymakers and the SME managers alike, and the implications mentioned above are generalisable.
Keywords: Internationalisation, SMEs, Enterprise Europe Network, Western Balkan countries
JEL classification: F13
Introduction
I nternationalisation is defined as increasing en-terprises' involvement in international markets
(Johanson & Vahlne, 1977; Ribau et al., 2016; Sus-
man, 2007). In this paper, the authors investigate the
internationalisation of small and medium enter-
prises (SMEs) in the Western Balkan region (WB). It
is now well known that SMEs play a vital role in the
transition to a market economy, which is also within
the WB region (Gashi et al., 2014). The data are
available for the five WB countries: Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina (BiH), North Macedonia,
Montenegro, and Serbia. The region faces admin-
istrative, political, cultural, tax, legal, and many
other obstacles, which have to be overcome in
increasing SMEs' export activities (OECD, 2019).
Combining both institutional and internatio-
nalisation process theories, Dominguez (2013)
highlights the primary influence of business support
organisations on the decision to enter and commit
resources in turbulent markets. On the one hand,
results show that SMEs' type of support appeared to
differ according to their attitude towards risks.
Indeed, risk-averse firms tended to enter late into
emerging markets, and therefore most of these firms
asked for informational and logistical support to
perform locally. On the opposite, risk-seeking firms
tended to be strongly established locally and mainly
needed financial support to raise their foreign
expansion rhythm and scope (Dominguez, 2013). In
both cases, where institutional support to SMEs in
the process of internationalisation was provided,
success rates were higher than in cases where firms
did not have institutional support (EASME, 2019).
An important topic for SMEs is how to connect
them with international supplier-buyer networks.
Egger et al. (2019) found that an international
Received 16 July 2020; accepted 1 March 2021.
Available online 1 June 2022.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: bojan.cudic@um.si (B. 
Cudi
c), matjaz.klemencic@um.si (M. Klemencic).
https://doi.org/10.15458/2335-4216.1299
2335-4216/© 2022 School of Economics and Business University of Ljubljana. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
supplier-buyer relationship's stability is strongly
associated with a priori knowledge about the sup-
plier's origin as measured by the migrant network
with the same country of origin present in the
buyer's immediate environment. Not only do firms
engage in more stable input trading relationships
and intensify relationships in terms of input trading
volume, but they reduce the total number of sup-
pliers in a given country in response to an increase
of communication from there. Firms diversify their
foreign supplier network to be less susceptible to
potential bad shocks. Once informational barriers
are lifted, firms contract fewer suppliers but pur-
chase a larger volume from each of them. Especially,
micro and small firms are sensitive to supplier
shocks, which in many cases lead to their closure.
This was proved in the WB during the pandemic of
COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. The findings
demonstrate that unexpected events in the global
environment might trigger unpredictable and rapid
changes provoking a negative response of com-
panies e shrinking costs, reduction of resources for
internationalisation, termination of operations that
will affect future performance, and international
activities of SMEs (Ivanova & Kolarov, 2020).
In the paper, the authors compare the WB SMEs'
export activities with the export activities of the EU-
28 counterparts. There is a gap in export activities
between the observed groups, and this gap moti-
vated the authors to identify a model that can
decrease it. The authors focused the research on
international support organisations' work that pro-
vide support to SMEs with international ambitions
in the WB. The great potential of the Enterprise
Europe Network (EEN) for increasing export activ-
ities of SMEs is identified, which offers various tools
for the internationalisation of SMEs (EASME, 2019;
OECD, 2019; 
Cudi
c et al., 2017).
The EENmechanism is the world's largest support
network for SMEs with an ultimate aim to help
businesses grow internationally. The program was
launched by the European Commission (EC) and
includes about 600 organisations from more than 60
countries worldwide. Member organisations include
technology poles, innovation support organisations,
universities and research institutes, development
agencies, chambers of commerce and industry, and
digital innovations hubs. Mixed profiles of experts
engaged in the program within individual consortia
offer three broad ranges of services to ambitious
businesses: international partnership, advice for
international growth, and business innovation sup-
port. Nowadays, EEN addresses the needs of 25
million SMEs worldwide (EASME, 2019). But, there
is a need to investigate the actual role of the EEN in
the export activities of the WB SMEs. So, the main
research question is: What is the real role of the
EEN in the WB SMEs' export activities?
This paper provides the academic contribution to
the field of international business by investigating
the EEN model for internationalisation in the case of
the WB SMEs. However, the biggest value of this
paper comes from its potential for practical use.
Policymakers and SME managers can use the pre-
sented conclusions and recommendations, since
although the article focuses on the WB countries, its
findings are applicable worldwide.
This paper is structured as follows. Section 1 gives
an overview of the theoretical background of the
study. The second section specifies the research
methodology and data collection. Section 3 explains
the research's empirical context. Section 4 describes
the EEN services. Section 5 presents the results of
the survey conducted. Finally, the sixth section
provides conclusions.
1 Literature review
A literature review was carried out by the explo-
ration of international scientific journals in the
IDEAS database. RePEc (Research Papers in Eco-
nomics) indexes over 3,300,000 studies dedicated to
economics. The term ‘internationalisation’ is most
commonly used in the literature when the role of
the EEN in support of SMEs to reach foreign mar-
kets (EASME, 2019; EC, 2019) is discussed. Thus, the
authors looked at frequent publications devoted to
‘internationalisation’ and focused on ‘small and
medium’ enterprises. Articles containing recom-
mendations or implications for internationalisation,
determinants of internationalisation of SMEs, and
the barriers to internationalisation were included in
the selection. The review's clarity is provided by
grouping the articles into two categories: theoretical
and empirical.
1.1 The review of theoretical literature
There are many theories about the international-
isation of businesses. The authors identified three as
the dominant: the Uppsala model, the Born-Global
model, and the Global Value Chain (GVC) model.
The Uppsala model has described a firm's inter-
nationalisation as a process of experiential learning
and incremental commitments, which leads to
evolutionary development in a foreign market
(Ramadan, 2015; Vahlne, 2020). The Born-Global
model is defined for the firms that ‘as business or-
ganisations, from inception, seek to derive signifi-
cant competitive advantage from the use of
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 85
resources and the sale of outputs in multiple coun-
tries’ (Oviatt & McDougall, 2005, p. 549). Nowadays,
GVC model is becoming a major topic in developed
economies. International production, trade, and in-
vestments are increasingly organised within GVCs
where the different production processes are
located across different countries. The concept of
GVC helps in setting a framework to understand
how international supply chains link economic ac-
tivities at the global, regional, national, and local
levels within particular industries (Agrawal &
Smith, 2015; Gereffi, 2014; Gereffi, 2018; WB, 2020).
Modern internationalisation efforts have been based
on the interrelation between three distinguished
factors: (1) firms of all sizes striving for further
growth expanding their markets results in increased
geographical reach beyond the home market, (2)
firms' efforts to overcome the liabilities of ‘foreign-
ness’ and ‘outsidership’ in crossing borders and (3)
the firms' age, timing and rate of growth and inter-
nationalisation (Etemad, 2013). Furthermore, inter-
nationalisation has slowly gravitated towards firms
of a younger generation e firms founded in the last
ten years. Effective detection of opportunities is key
to attaining competitive advantage and pursuing
successful SMEs internationalisation routes, which
seeks institutional support (Lumpkin & Lichten-
stein, 2005; Mathews & Zander, 2007; Minniti &
Bygrave, 2001; Oviatt & McDougall, 2005).
In their research, Helpman et al. (2004) developed
a model of international trade and investment in
which firms can choose to serve their domestic
market, export, or engage in foreign direct in-
vestments (FDI) to serve foreign markets. They
concluded that the most productive firms choose to
invest in foreign markets, while the less productive
firms decide to export. Having in mind the low level
of productivity among the WB SMEs in comparison
to the EU counterparts, they have many additional
challenges in their export activities (e.g. the low
level of functional literacy, the low level of digiti-
sation, undeveloped business support infrastruc-
ture, the low level of subsidies, small allocations for
RandD, innovation and IPR (OECD, 2019; 
Cudi
c
et al., 2017).
As stated by Mainela et al. (2018), attention should
be paid to the different manifestations of interna-
tional opportunities by analysing them as both
collectively shared beliefs and over time. By
bringing the cultural-historical context into the
picture, the systemic view allows us to uncover the
collectiveness and temporality of international
entrepreneurship. When we discuss the WB, we
should be aware of the impact of the war conflicts
from the past on the countries' current economic
cooperation. By overcoming cultural-historical dif-
ferences among the WB countries in doing business,
inhabitants of the region would have meaningful
benefits in increasing their living standard.
In their study, the Chu et al. (2018) developed an
open-economy RandD-based growth model with
two intermediate production sectors that use do-
mestic and foreign inputs, respectively. They find
that strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR)
has a positive effect on innovation in the sector that
uses domestic inputs but both positive and negative
effects on innovation in the sector that uses foreign
inputs. Among the WB firms, innovation is recog-
nised as the necessary vehicle for their develop-
ment, as well as a tool for a better presence on the
international market. Also, IPR based businesses
have a good chance to get involved in international
commercial and research projects. Currently, the
WB SMEs do not use the benefits of the IPR for their
development. The main reason for this is a lack of
awareness about IPR advantages for developing
their businesses. But also, the local SMEs need more
substantial institutional support for the commerci-
alisation of their knowledge. Rahko (2016) indicates
that firms with a greater number of previous in-
novations are more likely to begin international
RandD activities. Moreover, starting RandD inter-
nationalisation further increases the innovative
output of firms.
1.2 The review of the empirical literature
In their work, Kumar et al. (2019) emphasised that
‘Internationalisation is recognised as a key strategic
action for firms from emerging markets’. Their
findings encompassing emerging market firms (over
17 years from 2000 to 2017) suggest that ‘younger’
and unaffiliated firms are more likely to pursue
aggressive internationalisation by conducting their
first cross-border acquisition quicker. Also, in the
WB, ‘younger’ generations of SMEs are more
interested in international markets (OECD, 2019).
The data on the WB export activities in the last 25
years prove this (Savi
cevi
c & Kosti
c, 2020). They are
struggling to make contacts with global partners.
The best results are achieved in the ICT sector, and
this sector is growing faster than any other industry
in the WB (Kleibrink et al., 2018).
Based on a sample of 7515 European SMEs,
Wąsowska (2016) concluded that the relative
importance of different types of export barriers (i.e.
internal versus external) changes along the inter-
nationalisation process. At the very early stages of
this process, internal barriers (e.g. lack of knowl-
edge, financial shortages, and lack of qualified staff)
86 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100
play a major role, as they constitute a mental barrier
preventing managers from considering interna-
tional expansion. In the subsequent stage, external
borders become more critical. The transition from
‘future exporters' (i.e. SMEs considering expansion
in the future) to ‘pre-exporters' (i.e. SMEs under-
taking efforts to enter foreign markets) depends
mostly on overcoming perceived external barriers
(i.e. finding a foreign partner). Although there are
many differences between the WB countries in
terms of export barriers, finding an appropriate
partner on the international market is one of the key
issues (Stipeti
c, 2005).
To question the impact of the globalisation of the
retail sector on the export activity of origin country
agri-food firms, Cheptea et al. (2019) used an orig-
inal firm-level database of French agri-food exports
that identified the domestic suppliers of French re-
tailers through certification with the private Inter-
national Featured Standard (IFS). The results show
that IFS certified French firms are more likely to
export and export larger volumes than noncertified
firms to markets where French retailers have
established outlets. They also showed that when
French retailers stop their market activities, certified
firms reduce their exports to this market in the
following years. The difference in the behaviour of
certified and noncertified exporting firms on mar-
kets where French retailers operate confirms the
network effect that benefits retailers' suppliers,
which is lost when French retailers exit from the
destination country. The WB agri-food firms might
benefit from this networking model, which connects
retailers and suppliers through a certification
model. Small businesses are not well organised in
the WB SMEs compared to the SMEs in the EU-28,
and through a networking model, they might
establish a stronger position in the market.
Minetti et al. (2016) explained the effect of finan-
cial constraints on firms' participation in interna-
tional supply chains in their work. They suggest that
firms more exposed to credit rationing and weaker
relationships with banks are more likely to partici-
pate in supply chains to overcome liquidity short-
ages. This benefit of supply chains is especially
strong when firms forge ties with international
trading partners and when they establish long-term
relationships with large suppliers. In WB many
SMEs intended to establish cooperation with inter-
national supply chains in their early development
stages. But soon, many of them realised constraints
of this kind of collaboration, which could be man-
ifested through the level of margins, long payment
deadlines, loss of identity, etc. The business model
that is more favourable for SMEs is based on a
broader range of partners, since it enables a higher
level of independence in a decision-making process
and a better negotiation position.
1.3 Outcome of the literature review
The novel literature's main findings show that
internationalisation today tends to be the central
axis of SMEs, although it was traditionally seen as a
strategy of growth compared to the others. More
and more SMEs choose to take advantage of
expanding markets and the growing importance of
emerging markets that offer new development op-
portunities. Nowadays, SMEs increasingly attempt
to accelerate and diversify their international am-
bitions and expansion strategies (Dominguez &
Mayrhofer, 2018; Marinova et al., 2017; Solopova,
2019).
The literature review shows that the most
frequently used terms in the context of SMEs'
internationalisation are networking, innovation and
supply chains. To support SMEs in achieving their
international ambitions and reaching foreign mar-
kets, the EC created the EEN. Thus, the authors
started their research with the hypothesis that EEN
‘synthesises’ the terms mentioned above into a
single mechanism that successfully supports export-
oriented firms to achieve their international
ambitions.
2 Research and methodology
The first part of the research is dedicated to the
empirical context of SMEs' internationalisation in
the WB countries. The Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), EC, and
national statistical offices, ministries, and SME
agencies were the source of data about the share of
export in GDP (whole economy and SMEs) in the
period size 2014e2017. This is further elaborated by
analysing the share of export in GDP by com-
pany size and comparison with EU-28 and OECD
countries.
The second part of the research is dedicated to the
EEN. The partnering process and services offered
are analysed in detail. To investigate the real impact
of the EEN services on the SMEs' performance in
WB, a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods is
used.
The third part of the research is based on a survey
conducted in three phases. The first one is a survey
about the overall satisfaction of SMEs that used the
EEN services, the second one is the survey on the
expected impact of the EEN services on the SMEs
performance, and the third one is a survey about the
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 87
actual impact of the EEN services on the SMEs'
performance.
The first phase is based on the bi-annual client
survey carried out by the Executive Agency for
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME).
Companies from the WB countries took part in the
2019 survey which was conducted between 15 April
and 7 June 2019, covering the period 2017e2018 with
a sample of 1463 companies. The survey was con-
ducted by email with the support of the local EEN
partner organisations aiming to assess the overall
impact of the EEN services. Although the survey
deals with the broader context of the EEN activities,
this paper focuses on the part of the study related to
internationalisation. In the survey ‘EEN services for
your business’, firms were asked three impact-
related questions. In 2017e2018, considering the
services, they received from the EEN:
1. Did the EEN's support contribute to an increase
in your turnover (based on the export activities)?
2. Did the EEN's support contribute to an increase
in their market share?
3. Did the EEN's support help you to create jobs?
This phase of the survey was focused on the
export-oriented WB SMEs that achieved results in
foreign markets thanks to the EEN services' support.
The EEN partners and enterprises completed
Questionnaire 1 on expected impact after the de-
livery of the service leading to achievement. The
EEN partner organisations conducted this survey
via online tools and telephone calls. The question-
naire measures the EEN service's impact in terms of
five impact indicators: market improvement, cost
savings, job creation or maintenance, quality
improvement, and innovation.
In the second phase of the survey, only 222 SMEs
that concluded partnership agreements (PA) on the
foreign markets with the EEN support in 2017e2018
were included. It is 15.2% of the total number of
supported SMEs, and the focus of research is pre-
cisely these SMEs. The majority of the beneficiaries
come from Serbia (108), the place of registration was
BiH for 61 SMEs [42 SMEs in the Republic of Srpska
(BiH/RS), and 16 from the Federation of BiH (BiH/
FBiH)], 34 SMEs are registered in North Macedonia,
15 are from Montenegro, and 4 are from Albania.
The surveyed companies answered most of the
asked questions, as presented in section 5.
The third phase of the survey was conducted to
determine the EEN services' actual impact on the
SMEs' performance. The survey was conducted
among the 12 SMEs that participated in the Ques-
tionnaires 1 and 2. The face-to-face interview was
used as the research method. This number should
be sufficient to suggest the extent of the impact of
EEN on the SMEs export performance (Guest et al.,
2016). The survey respondents answered the same
questions as from Questionnaire 1 about the ex-
pected impact. Additionally, there were three more
questions: (1) about the respondents' satisfaction
with the EEN local partner organisations; (2) about
the respondents' satisfaction with the quality of staff
who work within the local EEN partner organisa-
tions; and (3) about the SMEs' awareness of the
opportunities that the EEN provides. The sub-
questions were asked only if a participant's response
to the initial question had not covered certain
topics of interest. The respondents were directors
of ten enterprises from BiH and two from Serbia.
The interviews were conducted in the period
JulyeOctober 2020. The time span of two years
allowed the respondents to get an overall picture of
the EEN impact on their enterprises' performance.
3 Empirical context: internationalisation of
SMEs in WB
By comparing the WB economies' shares of ex-
ports of goods and services in the gross domestic
product (GDP) with those of the EU-28 and the
OECD economies, there is a significant gap. The WB
SMEs have a lower level of export activities shown
in a GDP percentage than SMEs in the EU-28 and
the OECD economies. In 2017, the average EU-28
export was 67% of gross domestic product, and the
average export of the WB countries was only 43.21%
of GDP. Therefore, the difference between the WB
and the EU-28 economies in the level of export ac-
tivities was 23.79%. The OECD economies average
export as a percentage of GDP in 2017 was 60.01%,
and it was 16.80% higher than the WB average.
It must also be emphasised that the difference in
export activities between WB and EU-28 is serious.
In 2014, EU-28 had 28.71% more average export as a
percentage of GDP, and in 2017 the difference was a
bit smaller but still significant at 23.79%. The main
reason for the decrease of the gap in the period
2014e2017 between the observed groups of coun-
tries is the more intensive cooperation between the
WB and the EU-28 economies, where the WB firms
offered more products to the EU-28 economies. The
difference between the WB and the OECD econo-
mies in terms of average export as a percentage of
GDP remains the same in the observed period.
While exports relative to GDP increased in all the
WB economies, Serbia (9 percentage points) and
North Macedonia (7.5 percentage points) witnessed
the most substantial growth between 2014 and 2017.
88 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100
However, compared to the percentage of GDP ex-
ports were significantly higher in 2017, on average,
in EU-28 and OECD than in the WB economies,
which is presented in Table 1.
By comparing the firms' export activities by size
among the WB, large firms, i.e. those with more
than 250 employees, are the size class with the most
significant share of exports in most of the WB
economies (see Table 2).
SMEs' share of exports was relatively constant
throughout the region during the period 2014e2017
except in Albania, whose share increased from 47%
to 61% (Table 3).
Although the share of exports by SMEs as a whole
was relatively constant throughout the region be-
tween 2014 and 2017, the SMEs' exports still have a
significant potential to grow which is not realised,
both in absolute value and as a share of total ex-
ports. Thus, the main issue for the WB SMEs is how
to realise their export potentials.
The authors recognised the positive impact of the
international business support organisations (e.g.
EEN) on the firms with international ambitions. The
tools for the SMEs internationalisation provided by
EEN are presented in the following part of the
article.
4 EEN as a vehicle for internationalisation of
SMEs
The EEN aims to help SMEs make the most of the
business opportunities worldwide. The local EEN
partners have a crucial role in assisting firms in
finding partners for business cooperation, technol-
ogy transfer, and collaborative research. Based on
the documents about the partnership process pro-
vided by EASME, in the following text, the process
of establishing an international partnership with the
support of the EEN services is explained. The part-
nership process's goal is to reach international
partnership cooperation between SMEs or between
SMEs and large firms, research institutes, or other
possible cooperation partners. The process to reach
this goal needs to be efficient and of high quality to
preserve the EEN's good reputation and use re-
sources appropriately.
According to EASME, the partnership process
consists of six steps, all described in Fig. 1. After
having identified a potential client, these steps are:
a) Company Assessment
b) Partnership Opportunity Database (POD)
c) Brokerage Events (BE)/Company Missions (CM)
d) Expression of Interest (EOI)
e) Assistance in Negotiation
f) Partnership Agreement (PA)
Before embarking on the six steps, efforts are
made to promote the EEN services to identify firms
that have the potential for internationalisation.
There are different types of cooperation, but the
procedures to reach success are, in most cases, the
same. The process is standard for all EEN partners.
There is a need for specific consideration regarding
technological, commercial, or research cooperation,
and this is dealt with in connection to the appro-
priate step. Reaching a PA is often a long process,
and it is vital to state the parties' involved re-
sponsibilities, primarily the local EEN partners and
their ‘client firms'.
These responsibilities are set out verbally, in a
letter of commitment, or even a contract. Partners
regularly follow up on the firm's progress. This is
important in all phases of the partnership process.
Through regular followeup activities, partners build
a strong relationship with the firm, and it can offer a
more tailored service.Table 1. Exports as a percentage of GDP (2014e2017).
WB country 2014 2015 2016 2017
ALB 28.21% 27.27% 28.92% 31.52%
BIH 33.99% 34.58% 35.41% 35.97%
MNE 47.66% 48.80% 49.97% 55.11%
MKD 40.14% 42.12% 40.46% 41.02%
SRB 43.38% 46.67% 50.02% 52.45%
WB average 38.68% 39.89% 40.96% 43.21%
EU-28 average 67.39% 68.04% 67.66% 67.00%
OECD average 54.54% 54.83% 54.21% 60.01%
Source: Statistical offices, ministries and SME agencies of the WB
economies, Eurostat.
Table 2. Share of exports by enterprise size class (2017).
WB country Micro Small Medium SMEs Large
ALB 9.11% 17.50% 34.58% 61.19% 38.80%
BIH 11.03% 21.32% 28.89% 61.24% 38.76%
MNE 7.43% 10.13% 14.03% 31.59% 68.43%
MKD 49.37% 25.97% 75.34% 75.34%
SRB 7.95% 11.05% 20.25% 39.25% 60.75%
Average 53.72% 56.41%
Sources: Statistical offices, ministries, and SME agencies of the
WB economies.
Table 3. SMEs' share of exports (2014e2017).
WB country 2014 2015 2016 2017
ALB 47.1% 53.8% 61.7% 61.2%
BIH 62.2% 62.1% 63.7% 61.2%
MNE 36.7% 32.7% 31.6% n/a
MKD 80.0% 76.2% 75.3% n/a
SRB 44.8% 44.1% 40.8% 39.3%
Sources: Statistical offices, ministries, and SME agencies of the
WB economies.
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 89
Targeted marketing activities are essential to raise
awareness about the EEN service. Companies
which, until then, have been unaware are trans-
formed into interested companies. After promo-
tional activities have been carried out, the first
contact can be established.
a) Company Assessment
The process of company assessment is crucial
from the moment the services are introduced to
companies. The objective is to understand the
company's experience, capacity, and motivation to
undertake international partnerships. As a result of
this process, the EEN staff decide which kind of
support, or which tool, is the most appropriate for
the assessed company.
b) Partnership Opportunity Database (POD)
Through EEN, it is possible to create and publish a
profile or disseminate a profile published by one of
the EEN member organisations. There are three
types of profiles: business, technology, and research
profiles.
Cooperation between partners is based on reli-
ance and trust, to ensure that there are personal
knowledge and assessment of the firm behind the
published profile, to provide the EEN POD with
high-quality profiles (based on a set of agreed
standards, which are consistent across any type of
profile). This dissemination method provided good
results among the WB countries and is very much
appreciated by the ‘hosting’ organisation that will
be discussed through the presented cases. This
powerful tool enables a firm to be visible with a
specific offer or request.
c) Brokerage Events (BEs) and Company Missions
(CMs)
Face-to-face meetings are of real value to SMEs as
a means of building trust for future business
agreements. As explained in the previous chapter,
many SMEs cannot deal with different communi-
cation styles or business behaviour. Visiting a firm
and its management team through CM, or physi-
cally meeting a potential counterpart at a BE, helps
establish confidence. Conversely, such meetings can
prevent mismatches at an early stage. BE and CM
are both essential and well established EEN mech-
anisms that facilitate business meetings. However,
organising an efficient and successful BE or CM
takes a lot of effort, where the EEN local partner
PROMOTION
EXIT STRATEGY
CAPACITY 
BUILDING 
COMPANY 
ASSESSMENT 
PARTNERSHIP 
OPPORTUNITY 
DATABASE
BROKERAGE EVENTS 
/COMPANY MISSIONS
ASSISTANCE IN 
NEGOTIATION
EXPRESSION OF 
INTEREST
PARTNERSHIP 
AGREEMENT
Fig. 1. Partnering process within the EEN. Source: Authors' illustration.
90 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100
organisations provide adequate support that SMEs
need. Among the EEN partner organisation in WB,
this is the routinely used tool which provided con-
crete results.
d) Expression of Interest (EOI)
The EEN's EOI stage is one of the partnership
process's underrated steps, but it is essential to
establish potential partners' first contact. The mes-
sage to give to the firm is that EEN brings them into
contact with potential partners. So, it is the EEN
partner organisation responsibility to do a first
quality check of the firm's EOI. This starts with the
way EEN partner organisations organise the
dissemination of the partnership profiles. They
must explain why they are interested in the profiles
(or why they want to fill in an EOI form). The right
firm with a real interest in a profile will see it as an
advantage to provide this information, because it
wants to contact the profiled firm. The EOI is
created through the communication between the
local EEN partners via the IT platform ‘MERLIN’,
and an example of the received EOI is provided in
the appendix.
e) Assistance in Negotiation
The EEN partners' role is to assist firms in the
negotiation process, which includes the following
steps: qualification of the foreign firm, pre-contract
negotiations, preparing a draft of the contract,
negotiating the draft of the agreement, and conclu-
sion of negotiations. The EEN activities' procedures
are described in detail, but it has to be mentioned
that the success of a particular case depends on the
capacities of the local EEN partner and their staff
skills.
f) Partnership Agreements (PAs)
The partnership process's ultimate goal is to
ensure that firms finally sign-up to a long-term
collaboration with proper and adequate firms that
match their needs and expectations.
5 Empirical results
In the period 2017e2018, 58,586 firms received
partnering services from the EEN partners, and they
had 176,016 meetings at BE and CM. Efficiency
increased marginally as regards BE and CM. In the
selected period, 58,586 SMEs receiving individual
partnering support related to the internationalisa-
tion of their businesses. In the same period, the EEN
partners organised 1497 BE and CM, and within
them had 176,016 meetings. In the meantime, the
EEN partner organisations made 48,015 EOIs, and
received 48,018 of them.
SMEs from all EEN countries reached 5740 inter-
national PAs with foreign partners thanks to the
EEN partnering services. The WB SMEs reached
222 PAs, based on the 402 BE/CM organised and
held 7871 meetings. Also, the WB EEN partners
made 837 EOI and received 1156 EOI. In total, the
WB EEN partner organisations directly supported
1463 SMEs. Based on the suggestions of the local
EEN partners, many PAs are not registered. The
main reason for this is a lack of trust between the
EEN experts and the local firms. Table 4 presents
the registered results of the EEN activities in the
period 2017e2018.
The EEN partner organisations across the WB
were not engaged in the same manner in the SMEs
internationalisation. This is proved through the
survey of the firms' satisfaction with the EEN ac-
tivities. The actual impact of all EEN services was
gathered via the bi-annual client survey carried out
by EASME. Table 5 shows the answers of the firms
from WB in the period 2017e2018.
Presented data show that EEN had a positive
impact on the firm's performance. On average,
based on the EEN partners' activities, 63% of sup-
ported firms increased their turnover, 64%
increased their market share, and the EEN services
Table 4. The EEN results in the period 2017e2018 based on the partnering processes.
EEN Services AL BiH NM MN SR Total WB services Total EEN services
SMEs/clients receiving individual partnering support 127 552 353 114 317 1463 58,586
BE/CM organized 41 141 29 28 163 402 1497
Meetings at BE/CM 1010 2781 705 272 3103 7871 176,016
EOI received 73 292 280 130 381 1156 48,018
EOI made 46 338 54 30 369 837 48,015
Pas 4 61 34 15 108 222 5740
Source: The WB’ EEN partner organisations and EASME.
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 91
positively impacted jobs creation in 78% of exam-
ined firms.
5.1 Results of the questionnaire on the expected
impact of EEN services
Almost all companies that have received support
from EEN in finding a new market or new con-
sumers, assistance in improving their own (or
introducing new products to the market), and
improving internal business processes (or creating
new ones), expect to improve their market position.
This is shown by the results of research on the ex-
pected impact of EEN on companies' performance.
The study was conducted after providing services by
local EEN partners to companies in the period
2017e2018 in five countries in the region. According
to the research, more than 60% of companies expect,
through the Network's support, to gain a larger
market share, increase turnover through the sup-
port of the Network, and almost 94% to gain the
ability to access new markets or have already
accessed new markets. 52% of the surveyed com-
panies expect that the support of the Network will
lead to the preservation of jobs. The details of the
results are presented in the following part of the
article.
5.1.1 Market improvement
When asked whether they expected a company to
improve its position on the market through the
Network's support, as many as 200 out of 222, or
90.1% of respondents, answered affirmatively.
Table 6 presents companies' expectations to
improve their market position through the Net-
work's support.
According to the research, 128 or 57.6% of com-
panies expect to achieve a higher market share
through the Network's support, by an average of
6.6%. In percentages, companies from BiH/RS
expect the most to increase their market share e
84.4% of the surveyed 45, and the least companies
from North Macedonia e 44.1% of the observed 34,
while the expected increase in market share is the
highest in Albania, where it amounts to 13.3%, and
the lowest in BiH/RS e 4.3%.
When asked whether they expected to increase
turnover through the Network's support, 147 or 66.2
per cent of companies answered with ‘yes’, and the
average expected increase in turnover to be 6.9%. As
a percentage, the highest number of companies
expecting an increase in turnover is in BiH/RS e
86.7% and the expected growth in turnover is the
highest in Albania e on average 8%. In Albania, 3 or
75% of companies expect to increase turnover by an
average of 8%. The expected increase in turnover in
2 companies is 7%, and in 1 it is 10%. In BiH/RS, 39
or 86.7% expect higher turnover and on average by
5.7%. In 1 company they expect to increase turnover
by 0.2 per cent, in 4 by 1%, in 7 by 2%, in 5 by 3%, in
7 by 5%, in 2 by 6%, in 3 by 7%, in 5 by 10%, in 1 by
15%, in 1 by 20%, and in 1 by 25%, while two
companies did not state what increase in turnover
they expected. In BiH/FBiH, 7 companies or 43.8 per
cent stated that they expected an increase in turn-
over by an average of 4.3 per cent. In 2 companies,
they expected to increase turnover by 1%, in 2 by
2%, 2 by 10%, and in 1 they did not state how much
they expected to increase turnover. In Montenegro,
12 companies or 80% stated that they expected
higher turnover, on average by 5.5%. In 1 company
they expected 0.3% higher turnover, in 2 by 1%, in 3
by 3%, in 3 by 5%, in 1 by 10% and in 2 by 15%. 19 or
Table 5. Improvement of SMEs business performance among the WB
countries.
WB
country
Increased
turnover
Increased market
share
Positive impact
on jobs
ALB 89% 93% 96%
BIH 62% 62% 69%
MNE 83% 83% 83%
MKD 40% 40% 70%
SRB 42% 44% 73%
Average 63% 64% 78%
Source: EASME.
Table 6. The respondents who expect market improvement based on the EEN support across the WB countries (by the number of respondents, the share
of the total number of respondents, and the average expected increase).
WB
country
No. of
respondents
Improved market
position
Increased market share Increased turnover
Share of
respodents (%)
Share of
respodents (%)
Average expected
increase (in %)
Share of
respodents (%)
Average expected
increase (in %)
ALB 4 100% 75% 13.3% 75% 8.0%
BIH/FBIH 45 93.8% 43.8% 5.6% 43.8% 4.3%
BIH/RS 16 95.6% 84.4% 4.3% 86.7% 5.7%
MNE 15 100% 73.3% 5.1% 80.0% 5.5%
MKD 34 82.4% 44.1% 6.4% 55.9% 12.4%
SRB 108 88.0% 50.0% 5.0% 62.0% 5.3%
All WB 222 93.3% 61.8% 6.6% 67.2% 6.9%
Source: The WB’ EEN partner organisations.
92 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100
55.9 per cent of the surveyed companies in North
Macedonia expect higher turnover, on average by
12.4%. In 2 companies they expect turnover to in-
crease by 2%, in 2 by 5%, in 1 by 10%, in 2 by 15%, in
2 by 20% and in 1 by 30%, while 9 did not state the
percentage of the expected increase. In Serbia, 67 or
62% of companies expect to increase turnover by, on
average, 5.3%. The expected increase in 1 company
is 0.5%, in 5 by 1%, in 1 by 1.5%, in 11 by 2%, in 6 by
3%, in 3 by 4%, in 23 by 5%, in 1 by 6%, in 10 by 10%,
in 1 by 15%, in 1 by 20% and 1 by 25%, while 3
companies did not state by how much they had
increased their turnover. 1 company from Albania, 6
from BiH/RS, 8 from BiH/FBiH, 3 from Montenegro,
15 from North Macedonia, and 37 from Serbia do
not expect an increase in turnover.
5.1.2 Cost savings
When asked whether they expected the Network's
support to reduce production costs (material costs,
energy costs, labour costs), 36 companies or 16.4%
answered affirmatively, and the expected average
reduction of these costs is 4.0%. Table 7 presents
expectations of companies related to their cost-sav-
ings through the Network's support.
As a percentage, the decrease in costs is expected
mostly by the companies from BiH/RS e 31.1% of
respondents, and the largest expected reduction of
costs is in BiH/RS e 5%. None of the 4 surveyed
companies from Albania expects a reduction in
production costs. In BiH/RS, the expected reduction
of costs in 6 companies is by 1.5%, in 2 by 3%, in 1 by
4%, in 2 by 7%, in 1 by 8%, in 1 by 10% and in 1 by
15%. In BiH/FBiH, only one company, accounting
for 6.3 per cent of respondents, stated that it ex-
pected these costs to be reduced by 2%. In
Montenegro, 3 companies or 20% expect cost re-
ductions, on average by 3%e1 company expects a
reduction of 1%, 1 by 3%, and 1 by 5%. In North
Macedonia, 6 or 17.6% of companies expect to cut
operating costs. One company expects costs to be
5% lower, while others have not stated a percentage.
In Serbia, 12 companies, or 11.1% expect to reduce
production costs, by an average of 3.7%. 2 com-
panies expect to reduce costs by 1%, in 1 by 1.5%, in
5 by 5%, in 1 by 10%, in 1 by 25%, while 2 did not
answer how much cost reduction they expect. 31
companies from BiH/RS, 12 from BiH/FBiH, 12 from
Montenegro, and 92 from Serbia do not expect a
reduction in production costs. This question was not
answered by 1 company from FBiH and 4 from
Serbia.
74 companies or 33.3% of the total respondents
stated that the reduction of costs would contribute
to being more competitive, and the highest Ta
bl
e
7.
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ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 93
percentage of them in BiH/RS e 57.8%. 1 company
or 25% of respondents from Albania, 26 companies
or 57.8% from BiH/RS, 3 or 18.8% from BiH/FBiH, 6
or 40% from Montenegro, 11 or 32.4% from North
Macedonia, and 27 or 25% from Serbia believe that
cost reduction would result in increased competi-
tiveness. 3 companies from Albania, 19 from
BiH/RS, 12 from BiH/FBiH, 9 from Montenegro, 23
from North Macedonia, and 77 from Serbia do not
expect reducing costs would contribute to their
better competitiveness. One company from
BiH/FBiH and 4 from Serbia did not answer this
question.
When asked whether they expected the company
to improve its ability to increase the added value of
products/services, 192 respondents or 86.5%
answered affirmatively. All 4 companies from
Albania, 41 or 91.1% from BiH/RS, 8 or 50% from
BiH/FBiH, 14 or 93.3% from Montenegro, 30 or
88.2% from North Macedonia, 95 or 88% from
Serbia expect to improve their ability to increase the
added value of products/services. This question was
answered negatively by 4 companies from BiH/RS, 7
from BiH/FBiH, 1 from Montenegro, 4 from North
Macedonia, and 10 from Serbia, while the answer
was not given by 1 company from BiH/FBiH and 3
from Serbia.
Next, 198 or 89.2% of respondents stated that they
expect their company to gain the ability to enter new
markets or had already entered new markets,
including all 45 companies from BiH/RS and 15
from Montenegro. In Albania, 3 companies or 75%
expect to gain the ability to access new markets, in
BiH/FBiH 12 or 75%, in North Macedonia 30 or
88.2%, and Serbia 93 or 86.1%. 1 company from
Albania, 2 from BiH/FBiH, 4 from North Macedonia,
and 12 from Serbia do not expect to gain the ability
to access new markets. 1 company from BiH/FBiH
and 3 from Serbia did not answer this question.
When asked whether they expected the company
to improve its ability to strengthen its position in
existing markets, 165 or 74.3% of respondents
answered affirmatively, including all 4 companies in
Albania and all 15 in Montenegro. As a percentage,
the smallest number of companies expecting to
improve their ability to strengthen their position in
existing markets was in North Macedonia e 41.2%.
39 or 86.7% of companies from BiH/RS, 11 or 68.9%
from BiH/FBiH, 14 or 41.2% from North Macedonia,
and 82 or 75.9% from Serbia expect to improve their
ability to strengthen their position in existing mar-
kets. This question was answered negatively by 5
companies from BiH/RS, 4 from BiH/FBiH, 20 from
North Macedonia, and 23 from Serbia, while 1 from
BiH/FBiH and 3 from Serbia did not provide
answers.
5.1.3 Jobs creation or maintenance
According to this research, 53 or 24.1% of com-
panies expect that, through the support of the
Network, new jobs will be created in a company,
from 1 to 20 jobs, and the estimated average creation
of new jobs is 3.4. Table 8 presents companies' ex-
pectations to create new jobs or preserve existing
ones through the Network's support.
The highest percentage of companies expecting to
create new jobs is in BiH/RS and Montenegro e 40%
each, while this percentage is the lowest in Serbia e
15.7%. Out of that, 2 companies expect to create 1
job, 3 companies 2 jobs, 1 company 3, 1 company 20,
while one did not state how many new jobs they
expected. In Serbia, 17 or 15.7% of the surveyed
companies expect to create new jobs e 8 companies
1 job, 6 companies 2, 2 companies 3, and 1 company
5 new jobs. 3 companies in Albania, 27 in BiH/RS, 12
in BiH/FBiH, 9 in Montenegro, 26 in North
Macedonia, with 88 in Serbia which do not expect
the creation of new jobs, while 1 company in BiH/
FBiH and 3 in Serbia did not answer this question.
101 or 45.5% of the surveyed companies expect that
the support of the Network will lead to the preser-
vation of jobs.
Table 8. The respondents who expect jobs creation or maintenance based on the EEN support across the WB countries (by the number of respondents,
the share of the total number of respondents, and the average expected increase).
WB
country
No. of
respondents
Create new jobs Maintain/preserve jobs
Share of
respodents (%)
Average expected
increase (in No.)
Share of
respodents (%)
Average expected
increase (in No.)
ALB 4 25% 2.0 75% 1.7
BIH/FBIH 45 18.8% 1.7 18.8% 2.3
BIH/RS 16 40% 3.6 73.3% 3.6
MNE 15 40% 1.6 73.3% 2.2
MKD 34 23.5% 4.4 38.2% 2.1
SRB 108 15.7% 1.8 35.2% 2.1
All WB 222 27.2% 3.4 52.3% 3.4
Source: The WB’ EEN partner organisations.
94 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100
In percentage terms, job preservation is most
expected by companies in Albania e 75% of re-
spondents, and the least in BiH/FBiH e 18.8%. In
Albania, 3 or 75% of companies expect preservation
of jobs, 2 companies 1 and 1 company 3 jobs. In
BiH/RS, 33 or 73.3% of companies expect to preserve
jobs. In 9 companies they expect to save 1 job thanks
to the support of the Network, in 6 companies 2, in 3
companies 3, in 1 company 4, in 5 companies 5, in 1
company 7, in 1 company 10 and 1 company 15 jobs,
while in 6 companies they did not state how many
jobs they expected to be saved. In BiH/FBiH 3 or
18.8% of companies expect to preserve jobs. Thanks
to the support of the Network, they expect to save 1
job in 2 companies, and 5 jobs in 1 company. In
Montenegro, 11 or 73.3% of companies expect to
preserve jobs. In 5 companies, they expect that
thanks to the Network's support, they will save 1
job, in 4 companies 2, in 1 company 3 and 1 com-
pany 5 jobs. In North Macedonia, 13 or 38.2% of
companies expect jobs to be preserved. In 3 com-
panies they expect to save 1 job thanks to the sup-
port of the Network, in 2 companies 2, in 1 company
3 and 1 company 4, while in 6 companies they did
not state how many jobs they expected to be saved.
In Serbia, 38 or 35.2% of companies expect jobs to be
preserved. In 14 companies they expect to save 1 job
thanks to the support of the Network, in 12 com-
panies 2, in 4 companies 3, in 1 company 4, in 1
company 6, in 2 companies 10 jobs, while in 4
companies they did not state the expected number
of saved jobs. 1 company in Albania, 12 in BiH/RS,
12 in BiH/FBiH, 4 in Montenegro, 21 in North
Macedonia, and 67 in Serbia believe that the Net-
work's support will not lead to the preservation of
jobs. This question was not answered by 1 company
in BiH/FBiH and 3 in Serbia.
5.1.4 Quality improvement
When asked about quality improvement, 173 or
77.9% of respondents expect that the Network's
support has a positive impact on the company in
terms of improving the quality of products and
services. Table 9 presents the quality improvement
expected among the companies through the Net-
work's support.
As a percentage, the highest number of com-
panies expecting a positive impact is from
Montenegro e 93.3%. The positive impact is ex-
pected by 3 companies or 75% from Albania, 38 or
84.4% from BiH/RS, 13 or 81.3% from BiH/FBiH, 14
or 93.3% from Montenegro, 16 or 47.2% from North
Macedonia, and 89 or 82.4% from Serbia. 1 company
from Albania, 7 from BiH/RS, 3 from BiH/FBiH, 1
fromMontenegro, 18 from North Macedonia, and 17
from Serbia expect that there will be no positive
impact in terms of improving the quality of products
and services. 200 or 90.1% of respondents expected
that the Network's support will have a positive
impact on a company in terms of customer and
business partner satisfaction. All 4 surveyed com-
panies in Albania and all 15 in Montenegro expect a
positive impact, in BiH/RS this opinion is shared by
42 or 93.3% of companies, in BiH/FBiH by 13 or
81.3%, in North Macedonia 24 or 70.6%, and in
Serbia 102 or 94.4% of companies. 3 companies from
BiH/RS, 2 from BiH/FBiH, 10 from North
Macedonia, and 4 from Serbia answered this ques-
tion negatively. One company from BiH/FBiH and 2
from Serbia did not answer the question.
When asked whether they expect the Network's
support to impact the company in terms of envi-
ronmental protection positively, improvement of
working conditions and improvement of health
and safety standards, 88 or 39.6% of respondents
answered ‘yes’. In percentage, most companies
expecting a positive impact are from Albania e 75%.
3 companies or 75% from Albania, 15 or 33.3% from
BiH/RS, 7 or 43.8% from BiH/FBiH, 7 or 46.7% from
Montenegro, 6 or 17.6% from North Macedonia, 50
or 46.3% from Serbia expect a positive impact. 1
company from Albania, 30 from BiH/RS, 8 from
Table 9. The respondents who expect quality improvement based on the EEN support across the WB countries (by the number of respondents and the
share of the total number of respondents.).
WB
country
No. of
respondents
Increased quality of
products/services
Increased customer and
business partner satisfaction
Improved environmental protection, working
conditions, health and safety standards
Share of respodents (%) Share of respodents (%) Share of respodents (%)
ALB 4 75% 100% 75%
BIH/FBIH 45 81.3% 81.3% 43.8%
BIH/RS 16 84.4% 93.3% 33.3%
MNE 15 93.3% 100% 46.7%
MKD 34 47.2% 70.6% 17.6%
SRB 108 82.4% 94.4% 46.3%
All WB 222 76.5% 91.7% 43.8%
Source: The WB’ EEN partner organisations.
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 95
BiH/FBiH, 8 from Montenegro, 28 from North
Macedonia, and Serbia answered ‘no’ to this ques-
tion. The answer was not provided by 1 company
from BiH/FBiH and 2 from Serbia.
5.1.5 Innovations
When asked about innovations, 98 or 44.1% of
companies expect that the Network's support will
enable a company to improve its competitiveness or
sustainability by accepting innovations, innovative
technologies or processes. Table 10 presents expec-
tations of companies to enhance their innovation
capacities through the Network's support.
This number includes 1 or 25% of Albanian
companies, 26 or 57.8% from BiH/RS, 8 or 53.3%
from BiH/FBiH, 5 or 33.4% from Montenegro, 19
from North Macedonia, and 39 or 36.1% from
Serbia. This question was answered with ‘no’ by 3
companies from Albania, 19 from BiH/RS, 7 from
BiH/FBiH, 10 from Montenegro, 15 from North
Macedonia, and 66 from Serbia, and the answer was
not provided by 1 company from FBiH and 3 from
Serbia. 117 or 52.7% of companies expect that the
Network's support will enable a company to
improve its competitiveness or sustainability
through the introduction of new business strategies.
3 or 75% of companies from Albania, 32 or 71.1%
from BiH/RS, 9 or 56.2% from BiH/FBiH, 6 or 40%
from Montenegro, 19 or 55.9% from North
Macedonia, and 48 or 44.4% from Serbia expect to
improve competitiveness. 1 company from Albania,
13 from BiH/RS, 7 from BiH/FBiH, 9 from
Montenegro, 15 from North Macedonia, and 57 from
Serbia do not expect that the support of the Network
will enable a company to improve its competitive-
ness or sustainability through acceptance of in-
novations, innovative technologies or processes.
Three companies from Serbia did not answer this
question.
Finally, the overall questionnaire results on the
EEN services' expected impact show that companies
across the WB countries had very high expectations
from the EEN services in 2010e2018. The highest
expectations are in the field of access to market,
where 93% of respondents expect to improve their
market position, 92% expect to increase customer
and business partner satisfaction, 87% to enter new
markets, and 85% of respondents expect to increase
the added value. 79% of respondents expect to
strengthen their position in the existing markets,
76% to increase the quality of products or services,
67% to increase turnover, and 62% to increase
market share based on the EEN support. 57% of
respondents expect to improve innovation strategy
or innovation capacities, 52% to maintain or pre-
serve jobs, 44% to improve environmental protec-
tion, working conditions, health and safety
standards. The same percentage of companies
expect to enhance innovation or an innovative
technology/process. The companies' lowest expec-
tations are in the field of generating competitiveness
with the EEN support (33%), creating new jobs
(27%), and 14% of respondents expect to reduce
production costs with the support of EEN.
5.2 Results of the questionnaire about the actual
impact of the EEN services
Results of the research on the impact of EEN on
the companies' performance show that the com-
panies' expectations have been met. The research
covered 10 companies from BiH/RS and 2 from
Serbia. All interviewed companies answered posi-
tively to the question of whether they improved a
company's position on the market through the
support of the Network. In all companies, they
stated that they had achieved a higher market share
through the support of the Network, on average by
2.8%. On average, BiH/RS's companies increased
their market share by 2.8% e 1 company by 1%, 3 by
2%, 4 by 3%, 1 by 4%, and 1 by 5%. On average,
companies in Serbia increased their market share by
Table 10. The respondents who expect enhancement of the innovation capacities based on the EEN support across the WB countries (by the number of
respondents and the share of the total number of respondents).
WB
country
No. of
respondents
Embracement of innovation or
an innovative technology/process
Improvement of innovation
strategy or innovation capacities
Share of respodents (%) Share of respodents (%)
ALB 4 25% 75%
BIH/FBIH 45 53.3% 56.2%
BIH/RS 16 57.8% 71.1%
MNE 15 33.4% 40%
MKD 34 55.9% 55.9%
SRB 108 36.1% 44.4%
All WB 222 43.6% 57.1%
Source: The WB’ EEN partner organisations.
96 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100
3% e 1 company by 1% and 1 by 5%. Through the
support of the Network, all companies increased
their turnover by an average of 3.3%. Companies in
BiH/RS on average increased turnover by 3% e 1
company by 1%, 3 by 2%, 4 by 3%, 1 by 4% and 1 by
5%. On average, companies in Serbia increased
their turnover by 5% e 1 company by 4% and 1 by
6%. In none of the surveyed companies, through the
Network's support, there was a reduction in pro-
duction costs (material costs, energy costs, labour
costs). Reducing costs has contributed to the greater
competitiveness of 6 or 50% of companies. In
BiH/RS, cost reductions contributed to the greater
competitiveness of 5 or 50% of companies and
Serbia of 1 or 50% of companies. This question was
answered negatively by 5 companies from BiH/RS
and 1 from Serbia. The ability to increase the added
value of products/services has been improved by 9
or 75% of companies. This question was answered
positively by 8 or 80% of companies from BiH/RS
and 1 or 50% from Serbia. 2 companies from BiH/RS
and 1 from Serbia stated that they had not improved
their ability to increase the added value of products/
services.
In the end, 9 or 75% of companies directly
answered that they were satisfied with the EEN local
partner organisations, 2 were partly satisfied, and 1
was not so satisfied; 8 or 66.7% of companies were
satisfied with the quality of staff who work within
the local EEN partner organisations, 3 were partly
satisfied, and 1 was not so satisfied, and 7 or 58.3%
companies answered that they are familiar with all
the services that the EEN provides, while 5 or
41.67% answered that they are familiar with some of
the EEN services. As stated by the respondents,
there are differences in their satisfaction with EEN.
The three reasons are dominant for the declared. (1)
There are differences in the institutional commit-
ment to EEN, where some EEN local partner in-
stitutions are more dedicated to the EEN activities
and others are less; (2) In some cases, the staff
within the local EEN partner organisations is not
adequately trained; (3) Many firms are not aware of
the opportunities that the EEN provides or even
they are not ready for the international cooperation
(e.g. they do not have a product for the international
market or they do not have capacities for the inter-
national collaboration).
6 Conclusion
The WB SMEs are lagging behind the EU-28
counterparts in their export activities. In 2014, the
average export as a percentage of GDP in EU-28 was
considerably higher (67.9% compared to 38.7% in
the WB countries). In 2017, export activities were
increased and WB countries were not lagging so
much. The positive influence of EEN on the local
business support organisations and local busi-
nesses is identified as a contributing factor to that
improvement.
Analysed results of the EEN activities in WB show
that EEN had a positive impact on the firms' per-
formance and international activities. Based on the
EEN partners' activities in WB, 67% of supported
firms increased their turnover, 62% increased their
market share, and the EEN services positively
impacted the jobs in 52% of examined firms. The
survey results about the expected and actual impact
of EEN services proved a positive impact of the
Network on the five indicators: market improve-
ment, cost savings, job creation or maintenance,
quality improvement, and innovation.
There are differences between the SMEs' satis-
faction with the local EEN partner organisations and
its staff. To improve the work of the local EEN
partner organisations operating in WB, local au-
thorities need to pay more attention to the EEN's
work and make its services more accessible to
SMEs. Moreover, EEN partner organisations should
put more effort into increasing the skills of their
employees. All the mentioned activities lead to more
quality support in the internationalisation of SMEs.
As a result of the recommendations' implementa-
tion, the EEN might significantly impact the
decrease of the gap between export activities of
SMEs in the EU-28 and the WB SMEs.
Funding statement
The article is created within the postdoctoral
research, the programme group P6-0372, and is
supported by the Slovenian Research Agency
(ARRS) e No. 5442-1/2018/89.
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Appendix
Case study 1: An example of received EOI: The
UK distributor requests timber garden furniture
products manufacturers (garden furniture, decking,
sheds, fencing, arches, etc.) in BiH, Serbia, and
Macedonia.
EOI sent by UK partner organisations:
Description: Established 15 years ago and
employing around 200 staff, the UK company has a
strong history of growth with a continuing rise in
demand for its products. The company distributes
timber garden furniture to over 500 garden centres
and builders' merchants UK wide and 30 online
retailers, and it has sales revenues of V12.5M. The
client will also consider diversified products
combining metal with timber such as (metal legs
with timber tabletop) as part of their new product
strategy. In this phase, the company uses a single
country (Poland) as its supplier source and would
like to expand the number of suppliers and coun-
tries of the original.
Currently, 85% of goods are imported from 5
different Polish suppliers, via traditional road and
ship logistics. The products should be softwood
(pine or larch). The majority need to be pressure
treated for durability and prevention of rot. The
company will provide design and either arrange
uplift of product from the partner's factory gates or
accept delivery to the UK depending on the
agreement.
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought: The
business is looking for reliable high standards of
finish to supplied items. The products should be
softwood (pine or larch). The majority need to be
pressure treated for durability and prevention of rot.
Also, partners who receive designs for manufacture
from the company and so will need to demonstrate
both good quality-assurance control of received
drawing versions and procedures to manage the
company's IP (drawing/design files) securely to
prevent misuse.
Any potential partner would be working with an
established major company with access to tradi-
tional major multiple customers and a well-devel-
oped online presence, giving good visibility for any
products sold through their sales channels.
Type and Role of Partner Sought: The company
seeks supplier agreements and/or manufacturer
agreements for the UK market with potential for
mutual growth as the product segments and prod-
uct categories are consolidated and supported with
increasing trading volumes. The company antici-
pates that suitable and interested potential partners
may be based in BiH, Serbia, and Macedonia.
Business Partners Sought: manufacturers of soft-
wood garden furniture and associated products. The
company can either arrange to collect manufactured
products from a partner's factory gate (ex-works) or
accept products brought to the customer's premises
(delivered).
After the local EEN partner from BiH received
the EOI, it disseminated the EOI to BiH firms from
the wood sector. Four firms positively answered to
the EOI and expressed their interest in the cooper-
ation. After that, the EEN partner from BiH sent
detailed profiles of interested firms to the UK EEN
partner to pass it to the UK firm. In the end, the UK
firm chose to negotiate cooperation only with one
BiH firm.
Case study 2: Interview with the CEO and co-
founder of the WB IT firm supported by the EEN
Consortium from the Republic of Srpska (BiH).
Fig. A1. The EOI flow within the EEN. Source: Authors' illustration.
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100 99
In WB, there is a trend among young people
to start a business in the field of IT. These firms
are concentrated on international markets and
cooperation with IT firms from Western European
countries. Resultantly, most of the PAs in WB are
from this sector of business. For example, an IT
firm from BiH was invited by the EEN consortium
of the Republic of Srpska (EUNORS) to take part in
the BE ʻBalkan Technology Match’. Likewise, a
Slovenian IT firm was invited by the Slovenian
university, partner of EEN, to attend the BE. The
firms decided to take part, and during the event,
they made initial contact. The BiH's firm's interest
was to find potential clients in the web or mobile
applications sector, and the interest of the Slove-
nian firm was to find a mobile service provider.
During the EEN event, it was agreed that the BiH
firm will upgrade the Slovenian firm's mobile
application.
‘There was a mutual interest to develop business
cooperation, which is established thanks to the EEN’,
CEO explained.
‘Through this and similar activities enabled by the
EEN, we increased the number of employees from 10
in 2016 to 22 in 2018, and in the same period, turn-
over was increased by 95%’, CEO concluded.
This case study from BiH shows how the EEN's BE
was useful for the firm, but also reveals the path to
other SMEs from developing countries to use the
opportunities that the EEN provides.
100 ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2022;24:84e100