CMA-CityU Center for Entrepreneurial Development

CMA-CityU Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) is a joint venture of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong (CMA) and the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). It aims to act as the catalyst for the growth and development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Vision
To be one of the best role models of synergism between academia and industrialists; and the leading professional mentor for entrepreneurial development.

Mission
1. To provide professional services to member companies of CMA and its allied Business Chambers in Hong Kong and the Mainland in the following areas:

• Total Business Solution Consulting – organization of developmental workshops for professional consultants;

• Entrepreneurial Development – organization of developmental workshops for start-up entrepreneurs and continuing entrepreneurs;

• Business Process Benchmarking – organization of business process improvement workshops, provision of web-based business process improvement consulting service and casebooks;

• Brand Development and Management – organization of brand development workshops, provision of web-based brand development and consulting service and casebooks;

• Knowledge and Skill Transfer in International Management – organization of intensive workshops in cooperation with leading industrialists and overseas universities for CEOs and management staff.
  

2. To provide professional service to the community in general in the following areas:

• To provide educational bridges to facilitate secondary school leavers’ entry to the associate degree program in Commerce, and associate degree diplomas in Commerce to articulate into the related degree qualifications;

• To contribute to SME development in Hong Kong through the continuous bidding of SME Development Fund Projects financed by Government SME Fund and to transfer the new knowledge created from such projects into applicable skills.
  

Industrial Projects launched

1. Student Consulting Project for SMEs
The CED conducted this project during 2002 September to 2003 April. Under the tutorship of professional experts from CED, groups of CityU students provided consulting services to participating companies, helping them to improve in a variety of areas, such as business strategy, marketing, product development, business process enhancement, human resources management and e-commerce. Participating companies were provided with tailor-made written proposal and reports. There were 23 SMEs participating in the project.

2. SME Development Fund – “Enhancing Competitiveness of SMEs Through Best-practice Business Process Benchmarking”
Sponsored by the SME Development Fund of the Trade and Industry Department, HKSAR Government, CED will carry out the captioned one-year project from 2003 March 1 to 2004 February 29, using the technique of business process benchmarking to review and analyse the best practices in the business processes of 30 excellent local companies in Hong Kong. The knowledge created and the skill identified for the best business processes for SME operations will be made available to the SMEs in Hong Kong in the form of training workshops, seminars and on-line facilities.

3. “One Company One Consultant” Scheme
The Scheme was launched in 2003 early March. It is an integral part of the Total Business Solution (TBS) Consulting Workshop, a joint project of CED and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Hong Kong (ACCA HK). During 2003 March to May, ACCA HK members with years of experience in accounting practice will be delivering free management consulting to SMEs, using the TBS approach learnt from the workshop. Supervised by experienced consultants of the CED, these professionals will conduct an in-depth review on many aspects of the participating companies’ operation, culminating in a set of consultancy reports, such as Organizational Viability Review, Management System Review, Market Competitiveness Review, Strategic Review and Strategy Formulation Report. In its first running, the Scheme enrolled 32 selected SMEs, mostly engaged in manufacturing and trading. Because of the enthusiastic responses from the industry, the CED is considering launching similar services soon.

Please visit www.ced.org.hk for details