Tasks, activities and responsibilities of the “Internationalisation Service Officer

The duties, activities and tasks of the “Internationalisation Service Officer” will cover two areas of international cooperation: “Providing foreign support to SMEs” and “Building international cooperation in the organisation”.

Providing foreign support to SMEs is a group of tasks directly related to supporting companies and business entities from the region/city of action of the chamber of commerce and the industry and business support institution.  The relevant tasks and responsibilities are outlined below:

• Supporting SMEs in foreign expansion – strategy building and consulting

One of the most important tasks in the role of the “Internationalisation Specialist”, is that of being the first contact person for entrepreneurs who want to start their export activities abroad.

• Organising meetings with foreign entrepreneurs

This involves offering company support in meetings with potential contractors. It is the specialist’s responsibility here to prepare the logistical location of the meeting, a visit program containing details of conversation topics, the presentation of products / services and study visits at the host company.

• Researching financing and projects relating to the Internationalisation of SMEs

One of the criteria determining the foreign expansion of enterprises is finance and co-financing for export by national and European institutions, therefore this task has been added to the duties of an expert, he/she will be required to look for financing for SMEs.

• Support of entrepreneurs in preparing funding applications for national projects relating to the Internationalisation of SMEs

This includes providing full support in the preparation of grant applications, monitoring of deadlines, documents and attachments needed to submit documents. In certain cases, the specialist may represent the SMEs in the institution accepting the grants.

• Support of SME companies in domestic and foreign events – fairs, cooperative exchanges, B2B meetings

The specialist performing this task will be responsible for preparing the company for participation in such events, in particular, the participation program, list of stands / partners to visit and the B2B list, based on available networking systems.

• Representing supported SMEs during B2B meetings

In the event that a company or group of enterprises will not be able to participate in a networking event, the specialist responsible for them will participate as a representative of these entities. The preparation for the event will be similar to the previous task and will include the preparation of an event participation plan, including a list of meetings with potential contractors.

• Logistical organisation of trade missions for SMEs

This includes the preparation of comprehensive economic missions, in particular the program of visits, B2B meetings, study visits and national institutions dealing with SME support and logistics.

• Arranging meetings with foreign business partners at the trade mission

This includes arranging meetings as part of economic missions and visits of foreign entrepreneurs in the country. The appointment process, apart from the calendar arrangements themselves, would also include logistical preparation and program meetings with foreign entrepreneurs.

• Practical and language support when creating presentations and company promotional and information material

This includes the preparation of the entrepreneur’s tips and advice regarding marketing activities in the selected export area.

• Practical and language support during working and official meetings in ISO expert country and abroad

As part of visits by foreign contractors and the organisation of economic missions, the specialist would be responsible for linguistic assistance during the first stages of talks with foreign contractors.

• Providing entrepreneurs with informational material supporting their international activities

This includes the preparation and maintenance by a specialist of a library of materials / guides / market analyses that would be available to entrepreneurs.

• Provision of business information and statistical data

This includes the preparation and maintenance by a specialist of a knowledge base relating to economic and statistical information concerning selected markets, including those of priority to the represented institution.

• Researching available databases for information on potential business partners and sending offers to selected companies

This involves researching the profiles of entrepreneurs and creating mailing lists and databases designed to search for contractors and business partners.

• Providing contact details of potential business partners interested in cooperation

This includes mediating the first contact with foreign enterprises interested in cooperating with the SME entrepreneurs. The specialist’s task is to pre-verify potential contractors.

The second area in which the ‘Internationalisation Specialist’ would be responsible for is “building international cooperation in the organisation” and running the unit relating to international cooperation of the represented institution, the business environment institutions, “VET Providers” and chambers of commerce and industry.

As part of his/her duties in this area, he/she will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Establishing international contacts with institutions supporting SMEs

This includes contacting and establishing partnerships with institutions supporting the foreign expansion of SMEs, including: honorary consulates, general consulates, diplomatic missions, trade offices as well as institutions and ministries.

• Establishing international contacts with Chambers of Commerce from other countries

This includes contacting institutions in the foreign business environment and establishing cooperation in the framework of exchange of economic and commercial information, the creation of joint contractor databases and the organisation of events including conferences or B2B meetings.

• Analysis of foreign markets

This includes a basic, brief analysis of foreign markets accepted as key to business environment institutions. It should contain only the most important information such as: basic macroeconomic data, volume and structure of trade of goods with the institution’s country of origin, legal and treaty basis for bilateral cooperation, list of investments undertaken by the country of office of the Chamber of Commerce in a given country, cooperation development perspectives and basic contact details for institutions and embassies.

• Organising international events at the chamber of commerce and industry or business support organisation.

This includes the full organisation and logistical support of events relating to the promotion of economic and international cooperation among associated SMEs and enterprises located within the area of operation of the chamber or business environment. As part of the organisation of events, the specialist’s duty will be to prepare the event program, its full logistics, invite experts, entrepreneurs and foreign guests, as well as other institutions promoting / supporting the export activity of SMEs.