Call for experts - Training, Research and Advice

The EU SME Centre assists SMEs to establish, develop and maintain commercial activities in the Chinese market through export and/or investment – by providing support through inter alia the provision of information, advice, training and networking events and acting as a platform facilitating coordination amongst Member State services and private sector service providers to European SMEs, particularly at the crucial early stages of their market penetration strategy.

The EU SME Centre is operated by a consortium of European Chambers of Commerce, led by the China-Britain Business Council and includes the Benelux, French, Italian and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and Eurochambres.

The Centre is now looking for short term experts who can support our training, research and advice activities under a service contract. There are four types of expert that we are now looking for:

1. Training Design Experts

The Centre trains EU SMEs and their related stakeholders on a variety of subjects regarding doing business in China. The training workshops include:

• General seminars (20 people +) which includes a presentation for up to half a day.
• Training workshops (15 to 20 people) which normally last a day at least.
• Webinars (maximum 100 participants) which are delivered ‘live’ online for about an hour to two hours.

To ensure the quality of the design of the workshops the EU SME Centre is now looking for experts who can design training based on specific learning objectives and to identify and close specific performance gaps.

The experts are expected to be able to design training in the following types of subject area and can be based either in the EU or China:

• Opportunities and Challenges of doing business in China in particular sectors
• How to carry out e-commerce in China (including digital marketing)
• Social Networks in China
• How to set up a business in China (wholly foreign owned enterprises, jointly ventures, rep offices).
• How to export certain products to China (the Centre is currently focusing on food and beverages products but would be interested in other areas such as green tech, ICT, healthcare etc.).
• How to service Chinese Overseas Direct investment.
• How to access finance for your China business.

The experts who carry out the design of the training will be expected to:

• Design the overall course content.
• Coordinate with other subject matter experts as necessary in order to obtain the content for the training.

The training design experts should be able to provide the following outputs:

• Training PPT – the PPT that contains the content presented to training participants
• Instructor’s manual – the manual guiding the instructor on key learning points to emphasise and which schedules the training in detail
• Participant hand-outs – provided to the participants to guide their learning
• Other material supporting the training activity as necessary

Profile of Training Design Expert

Applicants should have:

• At least five years’ experience in designing training, preferably for companies
• Be able to design the training in English
• Be based either in the EU or China
• Have at least five years’ experience or knowledge of the business environment in China.

2. Training Delivery Experts

The training delivery experts are expected to deliver training in a variety of subject areas and can be based in the EU or China:

• Opportunities and Challenges of doing business in China in particular sectors
• How to carry out e-commerce in China (including digital marketing)
• Social Networks in China
• How to set up a business in China (wholly foreign owned enterprises, jointly ventures, rep offices).
• How to export certain products to China (the Centre is currently focusing on food and beverages products but would be interested in other areas such as green tech, ICT, healthcare etc.).
• How to service Chinese Overseas Direct investment.
• How to access finance for your China business.

The experts who carry out the delivery of the training will be expected to:

• Deliver the training content
• Update PPTs as necessary
• Write a report on the training delivered
• Collect feedback from participants
• Coordinate with supporting organisations to identify potential training opportunities for the EU SME Centre and to ensure the smooth delivery of the training

Profile of Training Design Expert

Applicants should have:

• At least five years’ experience in delivering training, preferably for companies.
• Be able to present in English and other EU language as required
• Be based either in the EU or China
• Have at least five years’ experience in the Chinese business area that they are providing training in.
 

3. Research Report Experts

The EU SME Centre provides sector reports, technical guidelines and case studies in order to inform EU SMEs of the Chinese business environment (these publications can be found on the Centre’s website: http://www.eusmecentre.org.cn/knowledge-centre). The Centre is now looking for short term experts who can research and write reports for the EU SME Centre in the following subject areas:

• Ecommerce in certain product areas
• How to access finance for your China business
• Free Trade Zones
• Opportunities for EU SMEs in General Aviation
• Opportunities from the Internet of Things
• The Software market in China
• The Fish and Seafood Sector
• Interior decorations
• A market access guideline of food additives
• Opportunities from Chinese Tourism

Profile of Training Design Expert

The applicants must have the following:

• At least five years’ experience in the research area
• Ability to write excellent English reports
• Be based either in the EU or China.

4. Advice Experts

The EU SME Centre provides business advice in various sectors and on various topics. The advice is provided either on a general level with reference to EU SME Centre publications and/or based on brief research, or on a technical level where the Centre uses expertise of its internal or external experts.

For the technical level advisory services the Centre is looking for external experts cooperating on ad hoc basis in following areas:

• Market access and distribution for food and beverage
• Market access and distribution for cosmetics products
• Market access and distribution for medical devices
• E-commerce in certain product areas
• CCC mark registration
• The Software market in China
• Taxation
• Labour law

Profile of Advice Expert

The applicants must have the following:

• At least five years’ experience in the area applied for
• Most of this experience should be China related
• Preferably have experience giving consultancy advice
• Be service orientated
• Be based either in the EU or China.

Application Process

To apply candidates should provide the following

- Curriculum Vita in EU form
- Cover letter, indicating the expert area applied for and outlining how the applicant’s skills, experience and background match the requirements of the call.

Applicants will be shortlisted according to their experience and relevance to the EU SME Centre’s ongoing activities. The shortlisted candidates will then be interviewed by a member of the Centre’s Technical Expert Team.

Submission of application

Any people who are interested should submit their application to the following email address by 31 July 2015:

contact@eusmecentre.org.cn