STATISTICS

• A third of committed projects are about improving management effectiveness . A great number of the companies that have survived and managed to grow over the last few years have come to acknowledge that they need advice on how to improve their organization so as to be able to deal with the challenges of further growth. Greater employee numbers and increased output of product and services complicates the management and supervision of everything, from supplies, to human resources to inventories and sales and marketing. This type of product indicates the real growth of Bulgarian companies.
  
  
• The projects related to Quality Management Systems and Certification are the second most popular type of project for BAS Programme support – 28%. The great interest in Quality Systems is motivated by pressure for local companies to seek new markets in countries where product standards certification is expected, and to comply with the requirements of partners and suppliers, who are already quality certified. At the same time, SMEs that implement Quality Systems are driven by the need to improve the organisational structure of their companies and to reassure their clients of their ability to provide a consistent high quality product.
  
  
• Improving 'Market Performance' , makes up the third largest group of projects, 27% of the total. This fact is indicative of the current development stage of the Bulgarian economy as a whole and of the SME sector in particular. Whereas in the early nineties the local economy had a deficiency of many goods and services, there are now numerous suppliers and competition is high and growing. In the new environment companies have to compete not only locally but also with freely imported goods from EU countries and thus have to invest significant efforts into improving their marketing strategy and planning as well as constantly search for new partners and viable investment opportunities.