Entrepreneurship and SME Policy Forum

Date:	Tuesday 31 January 2012
Time:	1200 - 1700
Venue:	ND4, Tannock Hall of Education, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle - 44 – 48 Cliff Street, Fremantle, Western Australia
Cost:	$100 - includes a light luncheon (1200 - 1300) and an afternoon refreshment, plus forum notes etc.

An afternoon of policy focused discussion preceding the ACERE-DIANA Conference:

• featuring invited presenters from research institutions and policy units
• covering topics related to delivery and assessment of entrepreneurship and SME policy initiatives
• discussion of processes to enhance cooperation between researchers and  government

The final program (subject to minor amendment) can be downloaded below.



Registration fee is $100 per person and includes a light luncheon (noon to 1pm) and an afternoon refreshment (around 3.30) plus forum notes etc. Participants are invited to join the ACERE DIANA welcome reception in the evening.

Registration is via the ACERE-DIANNA online registration accessible at the Conference website www.aceredianaconference.com.au

For further information contact the forum convener, Brian Gibson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

CONFIRMED PRESENTERS

Patrice Braun



Patrice is Interim Director at the Centre for Regional Innovation & Competitiveness (CRIC) at the University of Ballarat, which has a focus on sustainable regional development and innovation. She is also spearheading the development of an Asia-Pacific Centre for Women & Technology, one of ten globally networked not-for-profit centres to empower and mainstream women in the knowledge economy. Patrice has a PhD in regional network innovation underpinned by information and communication technologies (ICT). She also has a Masters by Research on the use of the Internet for community informatics. An action researcher, her work integrates female entrepreneurship and sustainable socio-economic practices in both developed and developing economies. Patrice draws on extensive global networks. She is active in APEC; on the Steering Committee of the International Taskforce for Women and Technology (ITF); a regional champion for the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and development (UNGAID); on the Advisory Boards of the Latin American Centre for Women & Technology and the National Education & Employment Foundation, and a Fellow of the AMI Education Academic Panel. Patrice consults with government and industry, both in Australia and abroad, on gender and SME policy, network and collaboration strategies, and ICT for Development (ICTD) processes for entrepreneurial and community resilience.

• The Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry¹s national business women owners research project – A report on methodology, systematic approaches and a general overview of the first national research project of its kind in Australia.

Claire Massey



Claire is Professor of Enterprise Development and Head of the School of Management in the College of Business at Massey University in New Zealand. Previously she was founding Director of the New Zealand Centre for Research into Small and Medium Enterprises at Massey University. Claire has published extensively on the topic of SMEs and has had three books published by Pearson. Claire is a Past President of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ) and a former Senior Vice President of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB).

• Challenges of targeting (in the context of high-growth firms) this presentation draws on the BusinesSMEasure (the New Zealand Centre for Research into Small and Medium Enterprises longitudinal dataset) and so has an empirical base to it – as well as a conceptual angle.
 

Brian Gibson



Brian is recently retired as Professor of Accounting at The University of New England. He currently holds a fractional appointment as director of research and curriculum development at TOP Education Institute in Sydney and as Conjoint Professor at The University of Newcastle. Brian is a Past President and a Wilford White Fellow of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) and is currently President of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ). He also continues his research involvement and maintains positions on the editorial boards of several journals.

• The focus of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Policy in Australia - Brian will present a paper that is intended to provide a basis for an evaluation of the small business and entrepreneurship policy focus in Australia. The inclusion of both a small business and an entrepreneurship focus is important, because while they are related they are not the same and there is need for a government policy focus on both. Many of the identified issues in this paper support arguments initially presented in the CPA Australia Discussion Paper “Small Business Policy: Where To From Here?” released in November 2003. Innovative approaches to the issues outside Australia (especially in Europe) are also used to identify points of discussion in this paper.

Michel Schaper



Michael is currently the Deputy Chairman (Small Business) of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, where he has special responsibility for SME, franchising and related issues, and chairs the Commission's research forum. He is also an Adjunct Professor with Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia and a member of Griffith University's franchising advisory board. Dr Schaper brings extensive experience in the area of small business through his previous roles as ACT Small Business Commissioner, an adviser to several state and federal Ministers, Dean of Murdoch University Business School in Western Australia and head of the School of Business at Bond University in Queensland. A previous president of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand, he has also worked as a professional small business advisor. In 2009 he was recipient of the “National Small Business Champion Award” by the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia.

• Building More Effective Links Between Academic Researchers and Regulators - There is often a gap between the expectations of academia and those of public agencies when it comes to commissioning, undertaking and reviewing small business research. As Peter Shergold, former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, recently noted, " A wealth of valuable academic research is failing to find a practical use in public policy." Why does this occur? Often there are misunderstandings and differential goals and expectations from both sectors, yet these need to be understood and overcome if researchers are to form a more effective partnership with government.

Phillip Kemp

Phil is the Executive Director of Business Foundations Inc, a not for profit provider of enterprise development services to the community of Western Australia. Clients range from people wanting to start a small business, existing small to medium sized businesses, manufacturers and small business tenants. Services range from business incubation, one to one advisory sessions (virtual incubation) to group training and mentoring. Phil has qualifications in agricultural science, small business facilitation and company management and is recognised as an industry expert in the field of small business development. He has published widely on SME and micro-enterprise development issues with particular reference to international best practice in business incubation operation and has conducted international research and published comparative international studies on the provision of SME and micro-enterprise business advisory and support services. He holds key positions on a number of national boards and associations including Chairperson of Business Innovation and Incubation Australia and Director of the Asian Association of Business Incubation.

Ayman El Tarabishy



Ayman is the Executive Director of the , International Council for Small Business (ICSB); Research Professor in the Department of Management, School of Business, The George Washington University; Associate Editor, Journal for Small Business Management; Associate Editor, Asia Pacific Journal of Small Business; and, Associate Director, Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence (CFEE), The George Washington University.

Tim Mazzarol



Tim is a Winthrop Professor within the UWA Business School where he specialises in marketing, strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation. He is a Qualified Practising Market Researcher (QPMR), as well as an affiliate Professor at the Burgundy School of Business, Groupe ESC Dijon Bourgogne, France. He joined UWA in 2001 and was the founder Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Management and Innovation (CEMI) at UWA from its inception in 2002 until 2007 when it was closed. From 2008 to 2009 he was Director of Doctoral Programs at the UWA Business School. Prior to this he was at Curtin University of Technology from 1994 until 2000. In that time he worked as a Research Fellow with the Business School's Institute for Research into International Competitiveness (IRIC), Executive Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship within the School of Management. In 2010 Tim revived CEMI as a virtual centre and focal point for research and industry outreach into entrepreneurship and innovation. Tim also has ten years of experience with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade including three years in the Australian Embassy Bangkok as Second Secretary. Following the completion of his MBA Tim worked as an Assistant Agency Manager with National Mutual in WA where he managed sales teams and dealt with numerous small business clients. He has been a non-executive director for two companies as well as managing his own consulting business.