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A Vision from Global Scholars: Trends in SMEs and Entrepreneurship
By Michael Battaglia
 Selection as a Wilford L. White Fellow is the highest recognition that the ICSB gives to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the development, furtherance and benefit of small and medium sized businesses. Since 1977, this group of global scholars has been recognized for their various initiatives, achievements and advancements in the furtherance of SME growth and promotion. With 6 panelists covering special interest topics in 6 different countries, this morning panel session appropriately set the table for the global dialogue set to take place here in Seoul.
Moderated by Dr. George Solomon, the panelists included Dr. Rodrigo Varela from Columbia, who spoke about entrepreneurial trends and output in Latin America; Dr. Jose M. Romaguera from Puerto Rico, who discussed entrepreneurial promotion and the great affect that media can have on promotion; Dr. Gerald E. Hills from the United States, who spoke about entrepreneurial marketing and the linkages to entrepreneurship theory; Dr. Dale Meyer from the United Stated, who presented an engaging dialogue about youth employment and the many issues facing today's youth in the Middle East and North Africa; Dr. Mario Raffa from Italy, who spoke about new virtual centers and the integration of industrial processes; and finally Dr. Brian Gibson from Australia, who discussed a structure and understanding of corporate governance. While the topics presented during this panel were specific to each individual's work, the overall dynamic of the session serves as an important reminder that we, as a delegation, have the ability to passionately pursue a goal of furthering the development of SMEs through our own hard work, determination, and reliance on a strong global network of individuals that can set a context for any situation.
How Small Businesses Use IT to Better Serve Their Customers: Wiggly Wigglers
By Maureen Joudrey and Michael Battaglia
 Tuesday morning in Seoul started in high gear. Three panelists explored the question of ‘How can small businesses utilize IT to help their customers?' Moderated by Dr. Ayman El Tarabishy, Executive Director of ICSB, the group was comprised of researchers, educators and practitioners, who all explored how Information Technology plays a key role in today's dynamic markets. The panel also investigated the trends of ongoing research along with academic concepts and ideas to connect practical examples and case studies. Dr. Charles Matthews, President of ICSB, was part of the panel, and stressed the importance of small businesses need to keep up with today's technological trends. Dr. Matthews discussed how new technologies need to be used carefully and strategically to ensure that they adapt to the businesses value proposition. Professor Sang-Chul, Park, Professor at Korea Polytechnic University, presented a case study on NHN Corporation, a company identified as one of the leading Internet companies in Korea. He concluded that NHN's success has been due, in large part, to the online initiatives that it has introduced in Korea – including search engines, online gaming, education, and online donation.
The third featured panelist was Heather Gorringe, Owner & Founder of Wiggly Wigglers. Wiggly Wigglers is a natural gardening mail-order company based in Blakemere, Herefordshire. The company's product offerings include a variety of natural country products used for compositing and soil improvement, as well as providing seeds, plants, hedging and trees, and other tools and accessories used for gardening and outdoor work. Over the few past years, Wiggly Wigglers has utilized new technological innovations as a means of engaging their customers on both a national and global scale. This is saying something for a small business that operates in a town of 65 people!
 During the session, Heather explained how her business has used social media, in particular to connect with customers. Wiggly Wigglers has a series of podcasts, operates a twitter account, has a Facebook page, and continuously blogs as a means to promote their rural business all over the world. Heather alluded to the fact that an online conversation is now global and the biggest risk for small business owners is not to use online marketing tools. It's paramount in today's society for small businesses to join the conversation.Wiggly Wigglers is the 2008 DELL Global Small Business Excellence Award winner. Heather was formally recognized at the end of the session for this accomplishment. When asked why she decided to enter her company for the award, she responded by saying that Wiggly Wiggles makes a habit of applying for different awards, as “awards are attempts of raising ground without spending money”. Congratulations Heather!
Workshop Recap: Writing Case Studies & Women, Entrepreneurship and Growth
By Michael Battaglia
 Tuesday was a day predominantly focused on parallel sessions and workshops. Delegates had the opportunity to attend a variety of interesting and thought-provoking sessions with the goal of sharing best practices and extracting ideas that may help in future research endeavors and classroom activities. Many of the presenters here at this conference are focusing their attention on similar areas of entrepreneurial and small business development, so it is exciting to envision the possibilities of future collaborative initiatives.
Two workshop sessions in particular attracted a strong number of delegates. One was titled ‘WritingCasesfor TeachingEntrepreneurship' by Thomas M. Cooney. Mr. Cooney's workshop addressed directly, the need for more quality and consistent case studies from around the world with a particular focus on national issues. The aim was to help academics develop their ability to write case studies using their country's social context, so that they can be used as part of their teaching pedagogy. Mr. Cooney highlighted the key approaches to be taken when writing case studies and how they can be used to maximize the learning experience for students. The workshop is supported by case materials that are available at http://www.ecsb.org/, and is an extension of a very successful model that has already been organized as part of RENT (ECSB) Conferences in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
 A second workshop of interest was titled ‘Women, Entrepreneurship and Growth.' Panelists Helle Neergaard, Julie Weeks, Mohammad Roomi, Claire Leitch and Thomas Cooney investigated how gender influences choices in the entrepreneurial process. The workshop offered an idea that as society is transformed from an industrial to a knowledge economy, it may be necessary to change the dominant perception and understanding of growth. In many circumstances, as the panelists explained, women are actually heading the development by embracing the structural and normative barriers to growing their business and thus opting for the preferred alternative. According to some of the research presented, female entrepreneurs tend to have strong growth aspirations, even though their businesses do not grow as fast as businesses owned by men. Although increasing numbers of women are starting new ventures in today's business environment, and have proved to be good survivors, a minority of these become high-growth ventures in the conventional sense and are therefore, seen as under-performers.
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