2017 APEC SME O2O Initiative
APEC SME O2O Initiative
Enhancing SME Digital
Competitiveness and Resilience towards Quality Growth
Chinese
Taipei; the Philippines; Malaysia
1. Introduction
In
response to APEC Leaders’ instruction in 2015 and APEC theme 2016 regarding the
“Quality Growth” and “Modernization of SMEs”, the promotion of competitive and
resilient SMEs in digital economy is a direct way to actualize these priorities.
Asia
Pacific region has become the largest market of digital economy, accounting for
33% of total market scale, powering SMEs’ growth and creating jobs (eMarketer, 2015).
However, only a few SMEs in APEC are currently taking full advantage of new
digital opportunities. How we support more SMEs to turn these
opportunities into business will be a key
driving force for our future growth.
In
addition, 60% of SMEs experienced a cyber-breach and the average cost for each
worst case was from 100 to 180 thousand US Dollars (PwC, 2014). Thus, lacking
the awareness and capability of digital security will make SMEs the
“sweet-spot” for cyber attackers. This will disrupt the global supply and value
chains, reducing the value by 3 trillion
US Dollars in 2020 (McKinsey, 2015).
Therefore, building upon
the momentum of APEC Accelerator Network (AAN) and Business Continuity Planning
(BCP) initiatives, this 2nd phase of O2O Initiative is a cross-border
platform providing training, networking and showcasing opportunities
for SMEs. This initiative will assist SMEs in seizing O2O business opportunity
and well preparing for digital challenges, leading to a more competitive and
resilient APEC SME community toward Quality Growth.
2. Objectives
This initiative directly echoes “Digital Economy
Action Plan” and “Boracay Action Agenda to Globalize MSMEs”, which encourage
institutional support for promoting SME O2O business and BCP to move
toward a more sustainable and resilient APEC communities. Our aim is to:
1) Optimize the digital
innovation ecosystem
2) Enhance SMEs digital
competitiveness and resilience
3) Capitalize
on O2O opportunities for SMEs
3. Cooperation
with Other Fora and Organizations
This proposal will be carried out in cooperation with other APEC Fora such as ABAC, EPWG, HRDWG and PPWE. Non-APEC stakeholders such as International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), Intel, Siemens, Google, Trend Micro, Belfor, Acer, PwC, McKinsey and O2O commerce platforms will
also be engaged to enhancing SMEs’ competitiveness and resilience toward
quality growth.
4. Main
Activities Proposed
This Initiative will be conducted with the following
main activities to maximize the project impact:
1)
Establish an APEC SME O2O Expert Network and provide
policy recommendations.
2)
Holding 6 serial summit and fora, providing SMEs the
training, networking and showcasing opportunities.
3)
Publish the APEC SME Guidebook & Monitor
to further the project impact.