3SV -Fast identification of symptoms and prevention of further damage
Collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences of Rotterdam and other business partners
ProjectThe project 'Fast identification of symptoms and prevention of further damage (3SV)' is an innovative project due to its focus on companies that have passed the start-up phase and have 10 to 50 employees. The project focuses on the early identification of the symptoms of their business failure and the role that their employees can play in the early identification of these symptoms.
This project was financed by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA – Funding Program KIEM
The project was started in 2020 by the University of Applied Sciences of Rotterdam in which various partners from the business and consultancy world worked together as well as the Professorship of Entrepreneurship of the University of Applied Sciences of Amsterdam.
Research method
Through focus group meetings, we explored how these SMEs themselves can identify their continuity problems early and respond to them early.
In the first phase of the project, data was collected by means of five online focus group meetings, each with different groups of participants and with different expertise. The different cohorts in the first phase of the study were: accountants, SME advisors, entrepreneurs who have gone through bankruptcy, employees who have worked for a bankrupt company and bankers. The results of the first phase are described in the 'Guidelines of Symptoms in Insolvency' (published in October 2020. in Dutch) .
In the second phase of the project, data was collected during three online focus group meetings with participants from different backgrounds: accountants, SME advisors, bankers and entrepreneurs and employees who went through events of insolvency. These three mixed groups each responded separately from each other to a case study and five interview questions. Prior to the meeting, the participants received the 'Guideline of Symptoms in Insolvency' by mail. The responses of the participants to the statements and their answers to the discussion questions are summarized and analyzed. The ‘Guideline for Bankruptcy Prevention Guide’ (published in Dutch, July 2021) illustrates this process.
