The CDE (Business Development Center) is a program
promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank -through the Multilateral
Investment Fund- and the Uruguayan Chamber of Industries, that seeks to
contribute to the improvement of the competitiveness of small and mid-size
industrial businesses.
"To date, more than 450 companies in the whole country
have received personalized consulting; another 96 have improved their productive
efficiency in associative programs, and more than 60 have participated in export
programs. Out of these, 57% have succeeded in exporting," announced CDE
Coordinator, John Saegaert.
The center works as a strategic business partner and
provides businesses support in different areas, with the help of its 125
consultants, such as: strategic consulting; business cooperation stimulated
through different programs (internationalization programs, sector programs,
supplier development programs); and strengthening business development services.
As an example of the results obtained through the
stimulation of per-sector cooperation, Saegaert mentioned the experience of the
food companies group, which has participated in international fairs such as
Alimentaria in Mexico and Sial in Brazil, where these companies have already
managed to introduce their products.
For personalized consulting, CDE offers a business
diagnosis free of charge. Plus, it contributes to the selection of a highly
specialized consultant whose work is monitored by the center. This requires
constant contact, on their part, with the company who is receiving the
consulting.
"The more frequent demands that CDE receives have to do
with business and marketing strategy," said Saegaert.
The CDE has also organized a cycle of management talks,
one of which actually addressed Competitive Intelligence. On this occasion, the
Smart Data system was presented. This system enables access to foreign trade
information in Uruguay through GXplorer, ARTech's Business Intelligence tool.
The solution was presented as an example of the possibilities offered by this
kind of tool.
http://www.ciu.com.uy/cde/