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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.
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.
The funding of innovative SMEs is widely recognised to suffer from market failures and has been an area of policy concern since the 1930s. Sussex research has contributed significantly to understanding the underlying causes of these market failures, particularly for innovative firms in the UK and EU. It has placed stronger emphasis, than was the case in the past, on addressing demand -, rather than supply-side constraints (caused by the limited number of UK firms capable of generating commercial returns). This enables it to contribute towards the design and implementation of more effective equity support.
In a series of European Union funded projects over the last 13 years, a computational simulation model (`SKIN') has been developed at the University of Surrey. SKIN has been used to perform ex post and ex ante policy evaluation for the European Commission and others to test proposed innovation policies and the model is now also being used around Europe for similar purposes at the national level.
These newly developed computational methods have been applied to allow policy makers to examine and understand the potential effects of interventions in complex innovation systems.
Knowledge Intensive Business Services are a sub-set of business service firms that are now recognised as being especially innovative and dynamic and, more importantly, act as intermediaries and catalysers of innovation within wider `systems of innovation. As such, they largely complement the knowledge development and diffusion roles of universities and the public science base. Professor Ian Miles at the University of Manchester was the first to research Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and their systemic roles, which have been recognised and adopted into industrial and innovation policies by the UK Government, the European Commission, the OECD, Tekes in Finland, and others.
Research by Prof Iraj Hashi has had a significant impact on the development of policies on Employee Financial Participation (EFP) by the institutions of the European Union. The impact has been achieved through the preparation of two major reports for DG V (Employment), a study for the European Parliament, and a study for the European Commission (currently underway). As a result of these works, various institutions of the EU have proposed policies to encourage employee participation in the results of their work (in the form of share ownership, profit sharing, share options, etc.). Most recently, the Commission has issued a call for tender for a "Pilot Project - Promotion of Employee Ownership and Participation", and has also included EFP as an element of its Action Plan to reform European company law and corporate governance. These reports and the associated policy proposals have been informed by, and in turn facilitated, the research by Prof Hashi; in particular, Hashi (1998), Hashi and Hashani (2011) and Hashi and Hashani (2013).
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.
Development of the UK construction industry was hampered by a focus on individual projects, with two drawbacks: limited transfer of lessons learned from one project to the next, and limited focus on systemic innovation and wider commercial opportunities.
Drawing on their research, our Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group helped construction companies — including Laing O'Rourke (LOR), Arup, and Mace — overcome these obstacles by adopting a `systems integration' model to capture and utilise lessons learned, and by developing Executive Education programmes to make project engineers aware of wider commercial and innovation issues. These improvements enhanced delivery of major projects such as the Olympic Park and Crossrail.
The Group changed firm behaviour, re-orientated project management practices, and translated lessons learned into organisational capabilities at LOR, Arup, and Mace.
Beneficiaries were the UK construction and consulting engineering sector, who as a result were better equipped to innovate and compete globally, and their clients, such as the UK Olympic Delivery Authority and Crossrail.
The UK lags behind many countries with respect to training and skills development, especially among smaller firms. Challenging conventional wisdom, research at Durham University Business School (DUBS) helped to shape a major new government policy designed to address this problem — the £50m per year Growth & Innovation Fund (GIF) pilot. Introduced in 2011, this is a competitive funding mechanism to encourage firms, especially small firms, to work together to facilitate skills development. The initial impact is upon the form of GIF as a policy mechanism, where firms are invited to bid collectively for matched funding to support activities to deliver training to networks. The subsequent impact is that of GIF in operation — where it has both reach in the substantial number of UK businesses affected, and significance as a new approach to solving a longstanding problem in skills deficiency among smaller firms. More specifically, it shaped government policy, including the form of delivery of training to the public and to businesses.
Professor Pedro Martins' research expertise is on labour economics, including dismissals, wages and social returns of education. From June 2011 until February 2013, he was seconded from Queen Mary to undertake the key role of Portuguese Secretary of State for Employment. Informed by his research, he initiated and implemented a programme of effective labour market legislative reforms over a relatively short period of time. A reformed labour code (four changes of law) and several ordnances, resolutions and other policy change were the outcome, affecting individual dismissals, working time, collective bargaining, training and active labour market policies. His aim was to reduce unemployment by partly deregulating the labour market, so reducing the disincentives for firms to employ people, and by promoting active labour market policies to raise skill levels within the economy. The reforms affected approximately five million people. Following the reforms, Portugal moved to eighth place (in 2009 it was first) out of 34 countries in terms of the strength of permanent employees' protection (OECD Employment Outlook 2012); and unemployment fell, from 17.7% to 15.6%, and GDP increased, by 1.3%, between the first and third quarters of 2013.