Demand on Business Education Services Concerning Companies’ Internationalisation in Italian Marche Region and Sverdlovsk District

The article is devoted to a comparative research of the demand on business education services from the enterprises, which are engaged in foreign economic activity in the Marche region (Italy) and Sverdlovsk region (Russia) as these regions develop long-term economic cooperation. For corporate development, in the conditions of limited demand in domestic market, the Italian and Russian enterprises have to expand export activity and follow the strategy of internationalization of business, which can be effectively realized at the appropriate business education of personnel. The authors analyze the problems and challenges that companies face while going abroad. Regular business education of the personnel is identified as the most efficient way for overcoming emerging issues. During business education, employees of companies receive necessary knowledge, skills, competences and tools for the work in foreign markets. The authors apply one of the methods of demand market research — in-depth interview. We arranged focus groups and interviews with entrepreneurs, employees, carrying out export-import transactions during the internationalization process, as well as with university professors, and Non-Governmental Organizations’ representatives who further were asked to make their expert evaluation. During the research, the authors identified factors determining the demand on business education during internationalization; proposed the classification of companies depending on their business educational goals and internationalization levels; determined the priorities in the topics of educational programmes for the personnel of the firms participating in the foreign economic activity. On the basis of the received results, we have created recommendations for providers of business education on the offer of the educational programmes, which are the most satisfying the demand of the companies participating in the internationalization process.