On 28 February 2017, the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) commenced a four-day training course on Business Excellence for SMEs in Singapore. The course is aimed at strengthening national business excellence (BE) strategies for SMEs and promoting the BE concept and assessment tools among them. Nineteen participants from 11 member economies are attending.

The BE framework is a dynamic tool for managing organizations to improve competitiveness and productivity. The training course organized by the APO in conjunction with SPRING Singapore is intended to share and exchange information on and experience in the best practices of BE adoption by SMEs. While the course follows the format of lectures, country presentations, and group discussions, it also includes a module to help participants develop action plans so that they can independently drive BE-based changes in their organizations.

The course is being conducted by two APO experts, Deputy Director of the National Training and Productivity Centre of Fiji Sachin Avikash Deo of the Division of Business and Information Technology and Director of the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research Dr. Robin Mann of Massey University, New Zealand.

Participants will also be able attend the Business Excellence Award Winners Sharing Conference focused on how organizations can embrace disruptions to lead transformation. In addition to presentations by Chairman of the Singapore Quality Awards Governing Council Professor Cham Tao Soon and heads of the award-winning enterprises, the conference includes master classes by global consulting firms McKinsey and KPMG.

Strengthening the capabilities of SMEs is a key focus for almost all APO members since the sector is vital for overall national economic development. Using the BE framework, organizations can identify strengths and opportunities and then align management systems and processes to create an environment for sustainable, continuous improvement and growth, thereby becoming more productive.

In 2009, SPRING Singapore was designated by the APO as its Center of Excellence (COE) on BE to assist other APO member countries in developing and strengthening their BE initiatives. The COE on BE has conducted a series of activities including research, sharing of best practices, building the competencies of BE experts, and transferring knowledge to other members. More recently, the APO and COE have assigned experts to help develop BE strategies for the public sector.