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In order to remain successful and competitive in business today it is important that SMEs can sustain themselves by adapting to economic changes. SMEs have a distinct advantage over large companies in that they have less bureaucracy and hierarchical restrictions and can implement changes quickly. However often they are slow to change their way of doing business and collaborate. Through implementing training collaboration is facilitated which allows SMEs to discover new ways of doing business and practical methods of implementing these. This paper emphasises the importance of training and collaboration in sustaining SMEs going forward and outlines methods that SMEs can use to collaborate and learn to enhance their business.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have a great importance in Europe, but the dynamic nature of market has created a competitive incentive among companies requiring them to improve their critical area of knowledge management (KM) and corresponding skills to create new business. More entrepreneurs, more innovation and growth are necessary and this could be realized particularly by supporting young people who would like to be entrepreneurs but the existing education and training programmes are insufficient. Mentoring is in comparison with coaching/counselling a special form of active supporting of entrepreneurship competence, a "natural support" helping also young people with special needs to believe in themselves and boost her confidence. The mentoring approach helps young people giving them practical entrepreneurial support and SMEs to improve the transfer and use of strategic knowledge. Knowledge is the key for all organizations and the success of many of them depends on the effective deployment and continual enhancement of their knowledge base so as to be innovative and to remain/become competitive. The paper first describes the areas of research, mentoring, entrepreneurship education and KM and then used methods and results. Examples for projects supporting the improvement of young entrepreneurship education and KM also by using mentoring are given.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how in Irish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), problem-based learning (PBL) could possibly provide a paradigm which addresses two key research objectives: What are the learning needs and challenges faced by Irish SMEs? and How could PBL satisfy these needs through integrating formal and informal learning? Design/Methodology/Approach: An action research methodology was adopted using Lewin's (1994) action research cycle. In the reconnaissance stage, surveys and focus groups were conducted with a purposive research sample of Irish SMEs regarding their learning needs and challenges. Based on these results, a plan was formulated to adapt the traditional PBL model into a workplace PBL model (wPBL). Lastly, the wPBL model was implemented and evaluated in 42 SMEs. Findings: The research identified several specific learning needs for SMEs, namely, learning that is cost-effective, tailored to the company and its challenges, immediately applied, demonstrates a tangible outcome (is measurable), organically fostering a learning culture, addresses knowledge gaps, continuous, develops communication, team work, problem-solving and technical skills. The traditional PBL model was adapted into a wPBL model to meet the above learning needs of SMEs. It was found that the wPBL model had the potential to address long-standing company problems (making it cost-effective), facilitate continuous learning and develop horizontal and transversal skills such as problem-solving and communication. Originality/Value: Much of the learning that takes place in SMEs is incidental or informal, and often does not contribute to the long-term sustainability of the organisation. This paper aims to propose a practical framework using wPBL to structure incidental and informal learning in SMEs so that it provides an immediate benefit to the company. To date, there has been little research into the application of PBL outside higher education, and the paper proposes a framework to assist the transition of PBL to a workplace environment.

Development and intensive use of digitalization support entrepreneur work but face possible more and complex cyber-attacks on companies and private companies. Besides a sustainable cybersecurity infrastructure, an increasing entrepreneurs/employees/employers training to avoid complex cyber-attacks are necessary. In this paper, some approaches about cybersecurity strategy in companies, the contribution of suitable methods for training of entrepreneurs and an example of a project with the work of the author are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]