The University of Economics in Katowice (UeKAT) hosts SAMExperience’s Second in-person Partnership Meeting!
The second meeting of the Erasmus+ KA220 project partners “Sustainable Alliance Manager: Learning Experience towards Collaborative Skills with Green Consciousness” was organized by the University of Economics in Katowice on November 28-29, 2024.
The research team of the University of Economics in Katowice as part of the SAMExperience project has developed:
- An analysis of the baseline material derived from interviews conducted with CEOs to validate the previously identified managerial competencies that form the SAMExperience profile. This material, presented in tabular form, served as a basis for expert workshops held during the meeting. During these sessions, partners discussed how the competencies developed in earlier project stages could be validated using insights from field research and practitioner feedback.
- A cross-country analysis (CCA) aimed at exploring how companies from five European countries (Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania) understand and implement their strategic approaches to building and managing business alliances. The research covered four main areas: strategy of collaboration, processes and alliance life cycle, Alliance Manager profile, and collaboration culture.
On the first day of the meeting in Katowice, the project partners had the opportunity to learn about the cultural heritage of the Silesian Voivodeship, which provided valuable context for understanding the regional business environment. Additionally, an overview of the activities and earlier steps in WP1 “Project Management” was presented, along with key indicators achieved so far. The Unifig team provided an update on WP5 activities and next steps.
The second day of the meeting was dedicated to intensive workshops, beginning with the presentation of results from WP2 “Alliance Manager Profile: Training Needs & Competences and Profile Definition.” Representatives of UE Katowice and LBC highlighted key findings from the CCA analysis, which underscored significant challenges and opportunities in alliance management. Among these were the absence of formal Alliance Manager roles in many SMEs and a preference for informal collaborations over formalized agreements. Partners then divided into groups to discuss and validate competencies, leading to the addition of new competencies such as “green business” and “networking skills.”
The afternoon session centered on WP3, “Learning Experience Development (Raw Materials + Digital Platform).” Through interactive workshops, participants engaged in brainstorming methodologies and designing learning activities for the educational course. Discussions delved into key aspects such as course structure, delivery format (online/asynchronous), content sequencing, supervision, and assessment strategies. The session concluded with a reflective check-out, where partners shared positive feedback on the fruitful discussions and collaboratively outlined the next steps for the project. These valuable insights and decisions will serve as a foundation for further refinements in upcoming meetings.
Key outcomes of the meeting:
- The CCA conducted by UE Katowice revealed that stakeholder collaborations are dominated by suppliers and customers, with limited involvement from research entities and public institutions. Engagement tends to focus on listening and strategic participation, while co-creation remains rare. Formalized alliances without joint investments are common, with monitoring mechanisms often lacking. Learning within alliances is typically informal and confined to project teams. The Alliance Manager role is largely unstructured, reactive, and often absent in SMEs. Communication is predominantly informal, and most alliances struggle to align objectives or foster regular collaboration. Proactive training and deeply integrated collaborative learning remain underutilized.
- The validation workshops focused on refining competencies across four key areas. In the Strategic Collaboration group, a new competence, “green business” (referenced in literature as green management), was introduced. For the Alliance Manager Profile, while not all competencies were validated, a new competence, “networking skills for external stakeholders and communication/information sharing,” was added. Lastly, all competencies within the Collaborative Culture group were successfully validated.
Written by the University of Economics in Katowice team (Poland)