The Observatory on Practices of Entrepreneurs and Enterprises (OPEE) is an initiative of a group of researchers and teacher-researchers, economists, managers, mathematicians, and statisticians to support entrepreneurs and policy makers in improving the survival and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and ensuring their integration into local, national and global value chains.
To achieve this purpose, the OPEE has created the SBAT – Small Business Assessment Tool to assess the performance of companies with between 1 and 50 employees and compare firms with similar characteristics.
SBAT is based on a database seeded from external data, enriched gradually when a new firm adopts the system and generating a company diagnostic report. This report contains a brief description of the company, diagnostic sections for each strand proposed by the expert system, a ranking of the company in predefined categories, a comparison of the company by sector, and a comparison of the company with other companies in the same category. It also indicates the weaknesses of the company and areas for improvement.
SBAT is not intended just for the private sector: it can also be used by local authorities and public institutions to evaluate the extent to which public resources used to facilitate and consolidate entrepreneurship result in improved performance in terms of employment, profitability, investments, and so on.
SBAT offers a diagnosis of the companies in two different and consequent stages:
1. The first step is necessary to situate the company in a business environment of reference:
- Price competitiveness business model
- Innovative business model
- Economies of scope business model
- Customer relationship business model
2. The second step analyzes the different facets of the company in depth.
For any further information about the OPEE, please visit the official website.
To start the diagnostic test, please click here.
