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This international research project, based on the work of a consortium of five European countries led by the University of Salford in the area of Enterprise Cultural Heritage (ECH), (the term describing an organisation's history and its creations that have the potential to uniquely innovate and differentiate their products and services), demonstrates the following impact:
This case study refers to the work in supporting SMEs' e-business adoption undertaken by staff in the Business and Information Systems Research Centre (BISC) led by Professor Duan. Our research was supported by a number of EU funded projects, including VEGNET (knowledge transfer in e-supply chains), TRIMAR (e-marketing for SMEs), TRICTSME (e-commerce in SMEs), LFEC (Languages for e-commerce), Webstep (Business website design for SMEs), amongst others. SMEs are the principal beneficiaries of all these projects, with our research impacts on SMEs including:
Since its inception in 2005, Bangor Business School's Centre for Business Research (CBR) has developed a research agenda focusing on the North West Wales (NWW) EU convergence region, which is dominated by Small-to-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) with a distinctively bilingual (Welsh/English) flavour operating in a rural setting. This research has had a significant impact on both local and regional economies by changing the strategies for innovation and growth of individual SME's. The achieved impact came in the form of tangible growth (5% in one instance), successful bidding & grant acquisition (£400K in one case), improved marketing and customer-management, and enhanced knowledge transfer partnerships, which are reflected in greater employment opportunities as evidenced from the supportive statements of the main users of this research
The Promoting Sustainable Performance project engaged with over 300 small to medium sized enterprises in Kent and 12 of the national and local government bodies or industry associations that support them. The research identified a set of ten growth enablers for ambitious SMEs and the findings formed the basis of a pioneering research-led executive education programme for smaller businesses (The BIG Journey). Participating SMEs report quantifiable benefits to sales, turnover and expansion through their engagement with Promoting Sustainable Performance's executive education initiative, whilst policymakers used this research to inform strategy on issues such as inward investment, high growth firms and regional business support.
Research published by Pugh, Wyld and Tyrrall (2001) was adopted by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) to provide the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of their lobbying campaign for a sliding scale of excise duty for small breweries (also known as "progressive beer duty"; henceforth, PBD). This campaign led to the introduction of PBD in the 2002 Budget. Subsequent evaluation (Wyld, Pugh and Tyrrall, 2010) established that PBD has helped to generate new businesses (well over 100) and new jobs (at least several hundred) that otherwise would not have been brought into existence.
Our research has impacted on the development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) leadership and management policy and practice over the last decade. Through our knowledge exchange activities with the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership, the Institute of Directors, the Northern Leadership Academy and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, we have influenced policy, informed by the interests of the SME community. The research is cited in government White Papers and influential policy papers and continues to have impact at the local level through action learning to support SME development and at the national level through contributions by the Northern Leadership Academy to Government.
In order to address the issue of why so many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) find it difficult to put the principles of Lean production into practice, research at Newcastle developed a `bite-size' methodology suited to their requirements. The research has had impact in three areas: on the practice of 25 SMEs involved in an international project in the North Sea Region of Europe; on the performance of these companies on such measures as cost and productivity; and, in the form of six new Innovative Productivity Centres, on the regional infrastructural support for SMEs.
The Lord Ashcroft International Business School (LAIBS) has had ongoing impact on SMEs and their internationalisation. The underlying research by Mughan and Lloyd-Reason successfully made the case for regional support to encourage and stimulate export activity. Following on from this work, the CURA-B project has had impacts for SMEs, economic support agencies, key customers and knowledge centres in the Assistive Technology (AT) sector. LAIBS has worked with SMEs, economic support agencies and key customers in coaching and consultative roles and through hosted large-scale engagements. LAIBS has helped shape the ecology of the support infrastructure now being put in place in the East of England, West Flanders, Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Zeeland.
Researchers within the University of Cumbria Centre for Regional Economic Development (CRED) have published work on themes relevant to local economic policy across the UK. The research has focused in particular on the ways in which local and regional policymakers can influence growth processes in local economies; both directly through public sector procurement, and indirectly by providing advice and support to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). This research has been funded by public sector bodies specifically to inform their strategies, and to provide a basis for local economic policies. The findings have impacted upon the procurement practices of local authorities by drawing attention to the barriers to SME involvement in public contracts. Research on the nuclear supply chain has also influenced the Business Plan of the Cumbria Local Economic Partnership (LEP), and has been used in evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, UK Parliament.
The UK Survey of SME Finances (UKSMEF) was conceived and developed by Dr W.S. Fraser to provide policy makers, and other users of the research, with a detailed analysis of SMEs, their owners and the availability and cost of finance. This innovative UKSMEF project has had sustained and on-going impact, playing an essential part in informing national policy to address the financing of the SME sector, and has resulted in providing SMEs with better access to finance opportunities, as well as leading to initiatives such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and the Ethnic Minority Business Taskforce. As a result new sources of finance for SMEs have been created and the UKSMEF has provided an on-going evidence base for policy-makers, aiding decision making and policy development.