Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) worldwide, including Viet Nam, are turning to each other to learn and share ideas in a mobile economy.

This is according to the latest Future of Business Report, conducted by Facebook, the OECD and the World Bank.

The survey responses indicate insights on Business Confidence, Job Growth, International Trade and Gender Management as of March 2017.

In the latest survey focusing on SMEs and Education, 42 per cent of businesses globally said they learn from each other, following online search (64 per cent), clearly indicating businesses are looking to each other to master the new mobile environment.

In Viet Nam, 53 per cent of SMEs said learning from each other is one of the primary ways to obtain information and get educated on mastering the new mobile environment, behind media (56 per cent) and online search (67 per cent). These businesses are, therefore, more confident.

“Fifty eight per cent of businesses that are confident about the economy are learning from other businesses, whereas over half (56 per cent) of the businesses that are not confident are not,” the report stated.

It also said a supportive community can help businesses scale geographically.

“Businesses that trade internationally learn from more sources and have a higher than the average number of business-related educational interests. They are also three times more likely to cite educational interests for better information on international trade,” the report said.

The report also found that nearly half of Vietnamese businesses that have added jobs in the past six months or plan to in the next six months also learned from other businesses.

Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and identifies those businesses keen to share ideas, to help in informed decision-making at all levels and deliver insights that can help businesses grow.

To date, nearly 200,000 SMEs, drawn from the 70 million businesses with an active Facebook page, in more than 40 countries have taken the survey. — VNS