It was very surprising to know that APO received over double number of  applicants  from 20members of  Asian countries in spite of two prior assignments to all  candidates  for this meeting. Thisshows that they realized that the Talent  management was the  key issue in the globalization of SMEs.
  As you can find in the photo below, major participants were highly educated  women and are  veryenergetic in the discussion and presentation.
　 The major applicants are categorized into four groups、Top Executive or Senior  managers in the  small and medium-sized enterprise SMEs(Group1), Educators in  the  Academy/Local University(Group2),Governmental organization/National  SupportCenter(Group3), and  IndependentConsultants(Group4).
  As it is difficult to accomplish globalization by SME alone, there are a lot of cases  of  collaborationamong the local community in the region including Core  enterprises.  
  They used to constitute the  consortium  with the strong leadership of  Core Enterprises, localeducational research laboratories ofuniversity, and the  National  support center in the governmentalagency.
  What type of supports should be effective for SME was discussed in this study  meeting  referring tothe talent management method.
  Due to the strong Yen appreciation, many production facilities in Japan are  obliged  to transfer to  Asian countries, and Japanese manufacturers and APO  were  cooperating with the smooth start upof production facility in the past time as Japan  is Number 1 in quality control in the world.
  The Key knowhow of  5S, Kaizen activities, Lean production method  just like  Just In Time(JIT)  were already transferred to Asian member countries through the  past  activities of APO.
  The next target is to transfer the Japanese unique knowhow of growing up SMEs  in Japan referring tothe talent management method.
  At the same time, it is good opportunities to understand the differences of  actual  applications ofTalent  management in each country as Talent management  was  already implemented in the advancedlarge-scale company in India, Singapore, and  Malaysia and others.
  The Support programs for SMEs by  Spring Singapore is definitely the good  example for  othercountries in order to consider the effective support program in  the future.   In the  ManagementAssociate Program (MAP) by Spring  Singapore, the philosophy of  Talent  management, coachingand mentoring were already  incorporated effectively.
  When you consider how you can  change  or  refine  the traditional support   scheme  for globalizingSMEs, you can get many awareness and hints from Talent  management.
   I dear say that almost every participants  obtained many ideas and hints, which   should be useful inthe future in order to  support SMEs.
  In this study meeting,  Mr. Hiroshi Ishikawa, Chief Expert of APO, presented  basic  idea in sevensubjects and several samples in  Japan, and typical application  samples of  Talent  management in eachcountry  followed by other participants.
 This study meeting was  very  good opportunitiesto exchange  mutual  experiences  especiallyfocusing on SMEs, and to find out the future possibilities.

　　As the  3^rdassignment, following　theme are provided for final group presentation.
　・How　to raise  producers  and  creators  in the communities and become the
Global leader?
　・What　kind of  action plans/support program  will be necessary to realize the
 effective Talent　management in SMEs in the future?
　 All　participants were trying to understand each circumstance, and it was very  fruitful discussion inorder to execute  Group presentation  on the final day.

　 Although the culture and climate in each area are different, a lot of  common  points  and someissuesto be solved in both sides were also presented.
Particularly, three consultants from  Thailand, India, and Indonesia  were all  women this  time andare the excellent persons, two of them acquired a doctorate.
  Many participants felt thatthe talent management in globalizing SMEs in Asia is  veryessential for the successful business of SMEs.