Summary of the impact

Research by Professor Mark Casson and colleagues at the University of Reading demonstrated that the net benefits of inward investment to the UK economy had been systematically overstated by HM Treasury (HMT) up until 2007. The research findings overturned the Treasury's view that all foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) was equally beneficial to the UK economy, and so equally merited special efforts to attract it. Instead the University of Reading research was able to show that UK-located SMEs would provide a bigger return to any subsidy either by increasing export sales, or by building stronger links within the supply chains of overseas MNEs. The research team's report led to a change in Government policy after 2007, with measures to attract FDI since that date being targeted only towards those types of investment which are most likely to unambiguously benefit the UK economy.

Summary of the impact

Research at Aston University has influenced and shaped business support policy in the UK and changed the strategic direction of small businesses in the Midlands region, which has led to increased growth and profitability. A specific impact of the research nationally has been to inform the Coalition Government's business support policy and form part of the underlying rationale for the new Growth Accelerator business support programme in England. At regional level the research has changed strategic thinking, specifically in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull region through its Local Enterprise Partnership, the Leeds City Region, and the Greater London Authority, influencing business support strategy and practice in those areas. On the ground, Aston's research has had a direct impact on the growth, job creation and profitability of small businesses in the Midlands.

Summary of the impact

MMU's International Business (IB) impact case reflects the breadth and multi-disciplinary nature of the subject area: it demonstrates MMU impact in established and evolving IB areas, and in developed and emerging economies.

Primary impacts relate to policy development and policy outcomes at government, NGO, international organisation, and business association levels. Research has impacted by:

a) increasing understanding (for policy-makers, development agencies & companies) of drivers and attractors for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI);

b) shaping policy initiatives to support increased FDI volumes and improved outcomes;

c) increasing public awareness and informing policy with relation to requirements for successful, development-oriented economic reform; and,

d) influencing creation of new security governance paradigms to underpin expansion of (and equitable outcomes from) IB activity in emerging economies. Our research shapes international business frameworks, which, in turn, affects the strategy and practice of the business community for improved operation in the global economy.

Summary of the impact

Bradford research led to the development of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) model which fed into the formulation of international policy tools: namely the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (PRAI) and the Indicators for Measuring and Maximizing Economic Value Added and Job Creation from Private Investment in Specific Value Chains (IMMEV). PRAI was adopted by the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in 2010 and is currently in use to determine relevant national policies aiming to attract investment in agriculture, in Africa and South East Asia. IMMEV is used to support the Development Pillar of G20 and its use is currently implemented in six countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Laos, Mongolia and Mozambique).

Summary of the impact

In the early 2000s the increasing Chinese, Brazilian, Indian and South African multinational enterprise investments into advanced economies were greeted with genuine concern by policy makers in these emerging economies, where the fear was that this was a prelude to disinvestment and relocation to advanced economies. Many of these policy makers and their advisors went to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for guidance, which in turn harnessed the specialist expertise of University of Reading professors John H Dunning (joined Reading in 1964, now deceased) and Rajneesh Narula (at Reading since 2004).

Narula and Dunning wrote a key report, which transformed UNCTAD's technical assistance programme and reassured emerging market policy makers that this pattern of MNE investment was entirely predictable and not a prelude to disinvestment. The policy response in these countries was duly moderated.

Summary of the impact

Research within the School's Centre for Research on Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP) on the characteristics of UK exporting and non-exporting firms has been used by the UK's trade promotion agencies, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to improve the design and effectiveness of the firm-specific policies they use to increase export performance.

The research has been used to provide an evidence base against which to judge the rationale for and effectiveness of export promotion and to develop new schemes. The research has led to a better understanding of the different types of barriers to exporting faced by different types of UK firms, and the role of previous export experience in lowering these barriers. This evidence base has both informed the design of the UK's export policy and has helped to fashion a specific, new trade promotion scheme (Gateways to Global Growth) launched by the UK in 2009.

Summary of the impact

University of Reading Professors have developed innovative theory of how Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) interact with different policy environments that has informed funding policy for research and innovation in the European Union and beyond. This work has led to the growing recognition of two policy dilemmas facing many countries' attempts to subsidise R&D activities, and their attempts to counter what was originally seen as the threat of the `hollowing out' of R&D activities to low-wage nations. Initially, Professor Rajneesh Narula identified how MNEs were reluctant to invest in R&D without a stable industrial policy. But a stable policy environment inevitably contained the potential for incumbents to gain privileged access to government support, which could disadvantage smaller firms in emerging, high technology sectors. This could result in such high-growth firms relocating from their home countries to more supportive environments overseas, with consequent negative impact on the economic well-being of the home country. Narula also recognised that as R&D activity in individual countries became more mature and more specialised, so firms would relocate some R&D activities to be closer to their ideal collaborators, many of which might be overseas. This relocation of R&D activities was, once again, not `hollowing out', but a response to increasing specialisation of R&D.

In the first instance, the appropriate policy response to the apparent threat of `hollowing out' of MNEs was for governments to invest more in subsidising R&D activities overall. In the second, it was to encourage a wider co-operation policy encompassing all forms of international research collaboration.

These ideas were incorporated into the EUs new Framework Programme for Research and Innovation — Horizon 2020 - where the focus on international collaboration beyond the EU represents a very significant departure from past EU practice. This is directly attributable to Narula's research.

Summary of the impact

Research at UWE Bristol has informed the productivity-related policies of the South West of England Regional Development Agency and enabled them to form a more focused spatial economic strategy. It influenced and enhanced job creation in strategic industries and locations geared towards growing the economy and flattening the welfare divide. It informed the Welsh Assembly Government's policies to improve Broadband coverage and enable greater online engagement and innovation activities. Also, it informed the preparation of the Sub-Regional Economic Assessment for the West of England and, in turn, the West of England Multi-Area Agreement.

Summary of the impact

This case study relates to the impact of research by the University of Cumbria's Centre for Regional Economic Development (CRED) on the regional impacts of inward investors on supply chains and the effectiveness of policies designed to grow regional clusters. On the basis of publications, Professor Frank Peck (Director of CRED) was appointed Expert Evaluator for a sequence of EU FP7 "Regions of Knowledge" project proposals (2007-2011), and subsequently invited to join an EU Expert Group examining the role of clusters in Smart Specialisation Strategies in EU Regions. This work has demonstrated that existing cluster initiatives can justifiably be used as a means of implementing smart specialization. As a result, regions are being encouraged to retain cluster strategies as integral parts of EU regional and innovation policies for the 2014 - 2020 programming period.

Summary of the impact

The lack of understanding about what patents do in the UK has the potential to inhibit technology knowledge circulation and technology markets. BBS research on the role of intellectual property (IP) policies has addressed this issue, demonstrating the economic benefits to innovating firms which patent their R&D output and providing economic estimates of increased technology licensing. This has had practitioner and policy impact at both national and international levels.

Specific UK Impact

• The research represents first data gathered by Intellectual Property Office (IPO) on linked corporate licensing and patenting activity and has generated the first estimates of the market for technology in the UK and of the patent propensity
• The IPO and ONS (Office for National Statistics) together with Brunel University developed a proposal for a UK-wide estimation of the role of patenting in innovation. The IPO is making this a regular survey to run concurrently with the Community Innovation Survey.

Specific International Impact

• Informed by this research, WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) has recognised the increased prevalence of distributed innovation strategies by firms and placed this at the forefront of innovation policy.
• WIPO message on distributed innovation as an advantage for developed and developing countries rests on data generated by Brunel.

Brunel research has provided a benchmark with patenting and licensing activity in the US, Japan, Australia, France and Germany.