Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have recently been the subject of in-depth analysis through the “Alliance Manager Profile: Training Needs & Competences and Profile Definition” research phase of the SAMExperience project. The interviews conducted offer a revealing look at how these businesses manage collaboration and sustainability. While certain SMEs show a strong inclination toward proactive, growth-oriented alliances—sometimes expanding product lines or venturing into new markets—others adopt a more cautious stance, relying on incremental partnerships or established client bases. This variance in approach underlines a wide disparity in how prepared SMEs are to deepen their collaborative ventures.
In terms of environmental consciousness, many companies focus on basic, isolated efforts, such as energy efficiency or waste reduction, rather than integrating a fully realized green transition into their operations. Nonetheless, a small but noteworthy segment has combined eco-design principles with clearly defined collaboration processes, effectively positioning themselves as leaders in responsible, sustainable business.
A key finding from this research phase is the predominance of informal practices in creating and managing alliances. While a handful of SMEs demonstrate structured methods and systematically track their collaborative outcomes, most depend on personal connections, ad-hoc agreements, or occasional check-ins. Although such methods can yield rapid, short-term benefits, they generally lack the consistency and scalability needed for long-term success. At the same time, the role of a dedicated “Alliance Manager” is relatively rare. In most cases, top leadership teams or multiple employees share these responsibilities, often without clear job descriptions or targeted training. As a result, monitoring and assessment of alliances tend to be unstructured or absent, which may limit the impact of otherwise promising partnerships.
The analysis also indicates that, despite relying on informal channels such as email or messaging apps for coordination, many SMEs exhibit a strong sense of mutual respect and a growing desire for a shared purpose. This positive cultural foundation signals significant potential for forging more robust, strategically aligned alliances—particularly if companies receive the organizational backing and resources needed to formalize partnership processes and capture lessons learned from each collaboration.
Addressing these challenges resonates with the aims of the Group of Strategic Partners (GPS) at the West University of Timișoara (UVT), which demonstrates Romania’s capacity to unite representatives from academia, industry, and the public sector to tackle precisely the kind of structural and skill-related gaps unearthed in the SAMExperience research. By pairing collaborative dialogue with targeted training, such initiatives can steer SMEs away from short-lived, reactive collaborations and toward alliances that place green objectives at their core.
Overall, the insights gathered thus far confirm that Romanian SMEs possess both considerable potential and pressing needs in their pursuit of sustainable alliance management. Many are motivated to adopt eco-friendly approaches, but they require the right frameworks—dedicated Alliance Managers, formalized partnership models, and systematically embedded sustainability metrics—to translate their interest into meaningful, scalable results. Meeting these requirements could be the key to building a more resilient, collaborative, and environmentally conscious future for the Romanian business community.
Article written by the West University of Timișoara team (Romania)