Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMEs: A Regional Skills Ecosystem Case Study

In 2009-10 the OECD LEED programme implemented a multi-country project on Leveraging Training and Skills Development in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). New Zealand was a participant in the project, submitting a case study on its Canterbury region in the South Island. The case study focused on Canterbury’s regional skills ecosystem, paying attention to the special issues faced by SMEs in accessing formal and informal training opportunities for their staff. This paper explains the conceptual framework for the study and presents the major results of the research. It finishes with an analysis of differences revealed in the data between highly innovative and less innovative SMEs. The large differences between the high and low innovation firms were in their participation in: marketing and promotion training; business planning training; research and development training; and job-specific technical skills (formal training). This suggests the innovative fi rms may be more driven by the search for new market opportunities. Acknowledgements This paper has been prepared as part of an OECD research programme on Leveragin