ERC Transition Funding - Supporting recovery, enabling transition
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Warwick Business School
Abstract
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) provide 60 per cent of UK private sector employment (BEIS, 2020) and young and scaling new firms create a disproportionate share of all new jobs (Anyadike-Danes and Hart, 2017, 2018). Effective policy to support entrepreneurship and SMEs will therefore be critical to sustaining employment and rebuilding prosperity in 2021 and beyond. Supporting business dynamism will also be important for maintaining inclusive growth in poorer and more remote parts of the UK. Rebuilding strength in the economy also creates opportunities to implement policies to pivot SMEs towards net zero, emphasising innovation and investment in low carbon technologies and business models. Our research and impact proposals - developed in consultation with policy makers - aim to support these national policy priorities - rebuilding growth, net zero and levelling-up - through an ambitious programme of research, knowledge curation and engagement.
Previous research has shown that new and young firms are responsible for most of the job creation and innovation in a country and ultimately drive growth and prosperity (Anyadike-Danes and Hart, 2018). Entrepreneurship has also been proposed as a key route thorough which societies can combat sustainability challenges such as climate change and inequalities (Frese et al., 2016; Gras et al., 2020; Shepherd & Patzelt, 2011). Our future research programme builds on these observations while recognising that sustainable business models which address social and environmental challenges as well as creating economic value - a 'triple bottom line approach' - involve potential trade-offs between priorities and increases decision-making complexity (Belz & Binder, 2017). Indeed, sustainable entrepreneurs tend to face greater challenges (Pinkse & Groot, 2015) and perceive greater financial, administrative and information-based barriers to starting their ventures than regular entrepreneurs (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). Policy measures designed to support SMEs' moves towards net zero face similar complexity and potential trade-offs.
Reflecting these challenges, our research programme is organised into four Work Packages which reflect key areas of policy development - rebuilding strength, international competitiveness and enabling the dual transition.
WP1, led by Prof Mark Hart (Aston), focuses on building strong and resilient enterprises with a focus on longitudinal data analysis and the diversity of entrepreneurs.
WP 2, led Dr Kevin Mole (Warwick) focuses on the enablers of innovation with a specific focus on national and local policy supporting the digital and net zero transitions.
WP3, led by Prof Stephen Roper (Warwick) focuses on the implementation of innovation within the firm focusing on low carbon and digital innovation in SMEs and their relationship with business performance.
WP4, led by Prof Jun Du (Aston), focuses on SME internationalisation, the relationship to growth and productivity, and the impact of different localities' extent of international engagement.
Three horizontal themes link each of the WPs: a focus on policy-relevant research topics and developing actionable recommendations; a concern with spatial disparities in SME growth and productivity; and, a clear differentiation between performance drivers in different sub-groups of the population of SMEs (i.e., by firm type, location and the characteristics of the owner-management team - the latter to permit analysis of diversity and inclusiveness).
The research programme will be complemented by a programme of knowledge curation and engagement activities outlined in the case for support.
Previous research has shown that new and young firms are responsible for most of the job creation and innovation in a country and ultimately drive growth and prosperity (Anyadike-Danes and Hart, 2018). Entrepreneurship has also been proposed as a key route thorough which societies can combat sustainability challenges such as climate change and inequalities (Frese et al., 2016; Gras et al., 2020; Shepherd & Patzelt, 2011). Our future research programme builds on these observations while recognising that sustainable business models which address social and environmental challenges as well as creating economic value - a 'triple bottom line approach' - involve potential trade-offs between priorities and increases decision-making complexity (Belz & Binder, 2017). Indeed, sustainable entrepreneurs tend to face greater challenges (Pinkse & Groot, 2015) and perceive greater financial, administrative and information-based barriers to starting their ventures than regular entrepreneurs (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). Policy measures designed to support SMEs' moves towards net zero face similar complexity and potential trade-offs.
Reflecting these challenges, our research programme is organised into four Work Packages which reflect key areas of policy development - rebuilding strength, international competitiveness and enabling the dual transition.
WP1, led by Prof Mark Hart (Aston), focuses on building strong and resilient enterprises with a focus on longitudinal data analysis and the diversity of entrepreneurs.
WP 2, led Dr Kevin Mole (Warwick) focuses on the enablers of innovation with a specific focus on national and local policy supporting the digital and net zero transitions.
WP3, led by Prof Stephen Roper (Warwick) focuses on the implementation of innovation within the firm focusing on low carbon and digital innovation in SMEs and their relationship with business performance.
WP4, led by Prof Jun Du (Aston), focuses on SME internationalisation, the relationship to growth and productivity, and the impact of different localities' extent of international engagement.
Three horizontal themes link each of the WPs: a focus on policy-relevant research topics and developing actionable recommendations; a concern with spatial disparities in SME growth and productivity; and, a clear differentiation between performance drivers in different sub-groups of the population of SMEs (i.e., by firm type, location and the characteristics of the owner-management team - the latter to permit analysis of diversity and inclusiveness).
The research programme will be complemented by a programme of knowledge curation and engagement activities outlined in the case for support.
Publications
Ahsan M
(2022)
Entrepreneurial Passion and Product Innovation Intensity in New Ventures: Mediating Effects of Exploration and Exploitation Activities
in British Journal of Management
Anastasia R
(2023)
Local social capital, necessity entrepreneurship and levelling up
Becker B
(2021)
Assessing innovation spillovers from the public science system
Campagnolo D
(2022)
Stay alert, save businesses. Planning for adversity among immigrant entrepreneurs
in International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
Cannon Tom
(2022)
Women as Entrepreneurs: Lessons Unlearned?
Du J
(2022)
TCA, Non-tariff Measures and UK Trade
Dumitrium S
(2021)
Is Declining Dynamism to blame for our Productivity woes?
| Description | Future Provision of Business Start-up Support in Northern Ireland |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The research entitled "Future Provision of Business Start-up Support in Northern Ireland" has been instrumental for the Overall Business Case and has shaped the framework for work undertaken to date. Professor Hart will be advising on the design, delivery and evaluation of the business support programme over the next 3 years. |
| Description | Follow the thing |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2021 |
| End | 12/2023 |
| Description | Igniting innovation in deep tech chemistry firms |
| Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Royal Society of Chemistry |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2021 |
| End | 01/2022 |
| Description | Innovation centres for physics |
| Amount | £65,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Institute of Physics |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Croatia |
| Start | 01/2022 |
| End | 05/2022 |
| Description | Mission innovation systems, absorptive capacity in UK sectors, Innovation State of the Nation Survey |
| Amount | £310,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2022 |
| End | 06/2023 |
| Description | Best Contribution to Practice award at the 17th EIASM Workshop on Family Firm |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Niamh Lenihan (Lecturer in Economics, MTU & PhD Candidate, Cork University Business School) won the Best Contribution to Practice award at the 17th EIASM Workshop on Family Firm Management Research, for her paper titled An exploration of mental health and wellbeing workplace practices within family firms. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Business Dynamism and the Regional Productivity Problem |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Mark also presented "Business Dynamism and the Regional Productivity Problem" at The Productivity Institute's Regional Productivity Forum on the 7th October. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Business and Social Science Research Showcase |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Business and Social Science Research Showcase 5th December, Conference Aston, Aston Business School where leading research experts share their insights and explain how we can make a positive difference to society |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Compensation and exploitation behaviours in the innovation strategies of rural firms: Econometric evidence for the UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Compensation and exploitation behaviours in the innovation strategies of rural firms: Econometric evidence for the UK - Best paper - Networks, Innovation and Policy track Serdal Ozusaglam, Stephen Roper Abstract: Urban environments have typically been thought to provide better support for innovation due to their higher levels of knowledge sharing and potential learning. Firms in rural environments may instead be disadvantaged by less dense local networks and fewer regional collaboration opportunities. Recent case study evidence has, however, suggested the potential for compensation and exploitation strategies by rural innovators. Firms may compensate for the weakness of localised knowledge spillovers in rural areas by developing more extensive formal collaborations with distant firms. Firms in rural areas, where there is less chance of knowledge leakage, may be able to exploit this advantage by reducing their investment in formal IP protection. We test the significance of these effects for a large sample of innovation active rural firms and product innovators in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Digitalisation and SMEs' Environmental Performance: New empirical evidence on the direct and indirect effects of digital technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Digitalisation and SMEs' Environmental Performance: New empirical evidence on the direct and indirect effects of digital technologies Effie Kesidou, Anastasia Ri, Hoang M. Luong The Covid-19 pandemic has forced SMEs to accelerate their digital transformation, in order to maintain their business operations amidst social distancing and other related regulations. We believe that this acceleration of SMEs' digitalisation might also play a role in their environmental performance, either directly, or through indirect effect by supporting and strengthening the effectiveness of different Net Zero practices. In this paper, we present some empirical evidence on these effects of digitalisation. We believe the knowledge of these different channels in which digital technologies could affect firms' environmental performance is crucial for both firm management and policy implications, in order to achieve the Net Zero target in 2050. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | ERC Research Showcase 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In this Showcase, ERC put a spotlight on the work we are doing in partnership with other organisations, starting with a presentation on our research on workplace mental health and well-being funded by the ESRC (working with the Universities of Cork and Nottingham). We also presented the research we are doing on rural SMEs with the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), and on internationalisation with the ESRC Productivity Institute and Lloyds Centre for Business Prosperity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ERC- BEIS Longitudinal Small Business Survey Dissemination Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | ERC and BEIS hosted a joint event to launch new reports and analysis of the LSBS at the Shard on 10th October. The programme includes overviews of key findings from the survey, operational lessons during COVID-19, research analysis and a panel discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Emotion work as a coping strategy for line managers dealing with employee mental health issues |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Emotion work as a coping strategy for line managers dealing with employee mental health issues Maria Wishart Many employers rely on untrained managers to deal with mental health issues in their employees. This research adopts an emotion work lens to examine line managers' accounts of workplace mental health issues, to explore the ways in which these individuals experience, and cope with, the management of mental health issues in their staff. In examining the experiences of line managers dealing with workplace mental health issues, this paper offers insight into inclusion in the workplace for the employees experiencing these issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Episode 11: Women and enterprise |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | ERC Director Stephen Roper is joined by by Jill Pay, Chair of The Gender Index; Yvonne Greeves, Director of Women in Business at the NatWest Group; and Julie Kapsalis, Chair of Coast to Capital LEP reflecting on the important theme of 'women and enterprise.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Episode 12 : Small businesses in financial crisis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Professor Mark Hart is joined by Liz Barclay, the UK's Small Business Commissioner, James Blackman, Managing Partner at Cocoonfxmedia, and Nicholas Hardman Team Manager at Business Debtline, to reflect on the financial challenges facing small businesses. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Episode 13: The mental health and wellbeing of entrepreneurs |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Stephen Roper is joined by Professor Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship at King's College London, Arosha Brouwer Co-Founder and CEO at Quan, a digital well-being and team performance platform, and Jason Jaspal, Assistant Director of Business Development at the UK mental health charity Samaritans, for a discussion on the mental wellbeing of entrepreneurs and SME leaders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Episode 14 - SMEs, the Autumn Statement and looking ahead to 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Professor Mark Hart, Deputy Director at the ERC is joined by Fiona Graham, Director of External Affairs and Policy at the Institute for Family Business, Craig Beaumont, Chief of External Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, and Alex Veitch Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce reflecting on the implications of last months' Autumn Statement for SMEs and looking ahead to what lies ahead in 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Festival of Engaged Scholarship |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | ERC supported the recent 'Festival of Engaged Scholarship' held at Manchester Metropolitan University (20/21 July). Stephen Roper provided an overview of engaged scholarship the ERC way in a joint session with Monder Ram from CRÈME. The session emphasised the need to plan for engagement and impact from the outset of projects and reflected the contribution of engagement to the quality of research outputs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | GEM POLICY INFLUENCE |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Over the years, GEM research has influenced policymakers' decisions about entrepreneurship. A great example of this was the Savvitas Business & Parliament Forum that took place on 6 December at the Chess Room, House of Commons, UK. Over lunch, GEM UK Team Leader Mark Hart and GEM Executive Director Aileen Ionescu-Somers shared key findings from the GEM 2021/2022 Women's Entrepreneurship Report and their implications for UK enterprise policy (participants are featured in the image above). Outcomes from the discussion with the officials will be taken forward as policy suggestions across government and to all political parties and relevant bodies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2021/2022 Women's Entrepreneurship Report |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Mark Hart, GEM UK will be hosting a lunch at the House of Commons, London on Tuesday 6th December to discuss the report with parliamentarians and stakeholders from the UK finance sector. The new Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2021/2022 Women's Entrepreneurship Report showed that startup rates for women dropped by 15% from 2019 to 2020, and held constant in 2021. Women also experienced sharper declines than men in their intentions to start a business within three years and overall startup rates in 2020, but not in upper-middle income countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2022/2023 Global Report: Adapting to a "New Normal" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Anastasia Ri and Neha Prashar represented the GEM UK team at the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Annual meeting which took place on 16th & 17th February at the School of Management Fribourg HEG-FR in Switzerland.They contributed to the Policy Impact Reality Check workshop, where they shared best practice on how GEM data was used to inform policy in support of female entrepreneurship in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | IFB Policy Update: Levelling Up webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | ERC Deputy Director Mark Hart was a guest speaker at the IFB Policy Update: Levelling Up webinar. The session explored Levelling Up, and what the Government's flagship policy means for family businesses. At the centre of communities across the country, family businesses have a vital role in the discussion and delivery around Levelling Up. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Impact of Brexit on UK trade |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Jun Du was interviewed for BBC Newsnight discussing the impact of Brexit on UK trade 2 years. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity - New funding for the Midlands region |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Joint webinar by The Midlands Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) and the Enterprise Research Centre: Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity - New funding for the Midlands region This online briefing on Tuesday 18th October ( 10.00 - 11.30) is aimed specifically at organisations and individuals who work with Midlands-based businesses. It will give information about two ground-breaking Midlands-focused research programmes that are working with employers to shed light on how mental health practice impacts productivity and developing support for employers and employees through free, evidence-based interventions designed to help staff stay mentally well. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity in the Midlands |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Maria Wishart delivered a presentation at the 'Improving Workplace Mental Health and Productivity in the Midlands' event on 18th October, jointly organised by the MHPP and ERC. The event was aimed at organisations and individuals working with Midlands based employers to raise awareness of two new Midlands focused ground-breaking mental health research programmes. One of these programmes is being led by the ERC, a three-year study that is addressing the link between employee mental health and well-being and productivity outcomes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship (ICTE) 'Think Tank' event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Stephen Roper and Vicki Belt both spoke at the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship (ICTE) 'Think Tank' event on 19th and 20th May, looking at the future of SME support. Vicki spoke on 'maximising the impact of SME research', and Stephen about 'new frontiers in business support', focusing on the journey to net zero. The event was attended by an international, diverse mix of delegates from educational institutions, policy and industry. ICTE is based at Coventry University. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Local Social Capital and Necessity Entrepreneurship |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Local Social Capital and Necessity Entrepreneurship Tomasz Mickiewicz, Anastasia Ri, Neha Prashar, Mark Hart In this paper, we posit that robust social capital, by fostering exchanges between people, mutual support, and collaboration, provides the basis for entrepreneurship: social linkages at the local level are appropriable for business purposes, and spur entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, we argue that the local social capital has a particularly important impact on necessity entrepreneurs, i.e. entrepreneurs who would otherwise not be economically active, facing bleak employment prospects elsewhere. This is consistent with the literature that emphasises the positive effect of social capital on marginalised communities. We argue therefore that by enhancing necessity entrepreneurship, the social capital may create positive economic effects for the local community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | National Food and Drink Summit 2023: NICRE resilience toolkit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | ERC's Maria Wishart is running a resilience session and demonstrating the NICRE Resilience Toolkit at this event for food and drink SMEs across England to support their growth and resilience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Non-tariff trade barriers, firm trade and impact of Brexit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jun Du presented two papers "TCA, non-tariff measures and UK trade" (co-authored with Oleksandr Shepotylo) and "Non-tariff trade barriers, firm trade and impact of Brexit" (co-authored with Mustapha Douch and Oleksandr Shepotylo) at the European Trade Study Group annual conference in University of Groningen on 8th September 2022 and the "TCA, non-tariff measures and UK trade" to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy cross teams on 27th September 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Of chicken and eggs: exporting, innovation novelty and productivity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 'Stephen Roper and Halima Jibril presented their paper titled: 'Of chicken and eggs: exporting, innovation novelty and productivity' at The Productivity Institute research conference. The paper examines the causal links between different degrees of innovation novelty and exporting, as well as implications for productivity. Using longitudinal data from the UK Innovation survey and methods that allow identifying causal relationships, they find that export performance is driven only by innovations introduced to the market before competitors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Podcast : SMEs and the 'Triple Transition' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | the podcast series from the Enterprise Research Centre Professor Stephen Roper, Director at the ERC was joined by Dr Anastasia Ri, Research Fellow at the ERC; Mark Swift, Head of the SME Group at the Warwick Manufacturing Group, based at Warwick University; and Darren Joint, Managing Director of Viking Signs Ltd, a digital on-demand sign manufacturing company. The theme for this podcast is SMEs and the triple transition. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Resilience in small business leaders and the link to resilience planning in their firms |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Resilience in small business leaders and the link to resilience planning in their firms Maria Wishart, Halima Jibril, Stephen Roper In this paper, we consider the links between the psychological resilience of entrepreneurs and the resilience of the firms they lead. We consider whether high levels of entrepreneurial psychological resilience are linked to firms' adoption of business resilience planning. We also explore whether the effect of psychological resilience may differ for entrepreneurs based in deprived areas. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | SME net zero transitions: a call to research action |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Prof Effie Kesidou and Dr Anastasia Ri participated in the Zero Emission Enterprise network workshop 'SME net zero transitions: a call to research action' held at Sheffield Hallam University on Wednesday 20th July. They presented insights from their ERC research on twin digital and net zero transition. The aim of the workshop was to bring together scholars working on the urgent challenge of SME decarbonisation, to share knowledge, to build collaborations and to draw a research agenda for future investigation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | SMEs, digitalisation and the net zero transition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Anastasia Ri and Effie Kesidou presented their research on SMEs, digitalisation and the net zero transition at The Productivity Institute research conference. Their presentation Twin transition - myth or reality? Evidence from UK SMEs discussed findings from the ERC's Business Futures survey which found that digitally advanced firms are more likely to be net zero adopters. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Supporting the Triple Transition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The conference, which was chaired this year by Lucy Armstrong, focused on the theme of the 'triple transition', or the question of how moves towards net zero and digitalisation might drive future productivity improvements in SMEs. Stephen Roper, Director of the ERC, opened by introducing the idea of the triple transition, and setting the question to frame the day's discussion, namely, how can we shape policy, regulation, and the innovation eco-system to maximise the productivity benefits of the digital and net zero transition? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | TCA, non-tariff measures and UK trade presentation at the European Trade Study Group annual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jun Du presented two papers "TCA, non-tariff measures and UK trade" (co-authored with Oleksandr Shepotylo) and "Non-tariff trade barriers, firm trade and impact of Brexit" (co-authored with Mustapha Douch and Oleksandr Shepotylo) at the European Trade Study Group annual conference in University of Groningen on 8th September 2022 and the "TCA, non-tariff measures and UK trade" to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy cross teams on 27th September 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | The Gender Index Discussions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Mark Hart attended a dinner event to celebrate the first six months of The Gender Index. Discussions were held on future collaborations to drive the pace of change needed to stimulate the growth of women-led businesses across the UK |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | The Gender Index West Midlands Roadshow |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ERC Research Fellow Anastasia Ri was a guest speaker at The Gender Index West Midlands Roadshow event. She spoke about why this novel gender desegregated data accurately measuring the number of female-led businesses in the UK is so important and what new avenues of research it opens up. ERC is one of the associates of The Gender Index. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | The Productivity Institute online Business Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Mark Hart was an invited guest panelist at The Productivity Institute online Business Conference providing expert insights on business leaders and productivity as a critical component of a firm's growth strategy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Twin Net zero and Digital transition - myth or reality? Evidence from UK SMEs |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Twin Net zero and Digital transition - myth or reality? Evidence from UK SMEs - Best Paper - SME Growth and Performance: quantitative perspectives track Effie Kesidou, Stephen Roper, Anastasia Ri Twin net zero and digital transition is believed to be an important pathway to sustainable recovery and growth. It is also likely to have substantial implications for productivity. However, little is known about how these two transition processes relate to each other and how organisations may leverage digital technologies and capabilities to innovate for environmental sustainability, especially in the context of SMEs. Here, based on the analysis of the novel survey data of around 1,000 businesses representative of the UK SMEs population conducted in 2020, we ask: Does digital diffusion facilitate the diffusion of net zero innovations? More specifically, through the lens of Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) theory, we explore how stages of digital adoption relate to stages of adoption of net zero technologies and organisational practices |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | What Crisis? Business Resilience and Risk Planning in Rural SMEs in Three English Regions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | What Crisis? Business Resilience and Risk Planning in Rural SMEs in Three English Regions - Best paper -Rural Enterprise track Maria Wishart, Kevin Mole This paper examines the link between rural SMEs' strategic planning activities and their likelihood to engage in resilience planning. Research has found that rural firms are significantly less likely to undertake general business planning than their urban counterparts (NICRE 2022). Understanding whether rural firms also approach resilience planning differently will extend our understanding of rural enterprise, to inform policy and practice in this area. We estimate the likelihood that the businesses are unlikely to plan for adversity which has consequences for resilience and business survival. The aim of the research was to understand the firm-level and location-related factors that impact the degree of resilience planning undertaken by rural SMEs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | a Resilience Masterclass for rural SMEs at the Rural Design Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Maria Wishart, ERC Research Fellow, ran a Resilience Masterclass for rural SMEs at the Rural Design Centre in Morpeth on 17th January. This masterclass was designed to help business leaders to better understand the importance of business resilience, and to introduce them to the ERC/NICRE Resilience Toolkit. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | cooperated with the Co-op Group to assess linkages between entrepreneurship and local social capital in the UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Professor Tomek Mickiewicz and Dr Neha Prashar ( Centre for Business Prosperity), and Dr Anastasia Ri and Professor Mark Hart ( Enterprise Research Centre) cooperated with the Co-op Group, using their Welfare Community Index to assess linkages between entrepreneurship and local social capital in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | influence and impact beyond the academy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On 21st June, Vicki Belt took part in a panel discussion on the theme of 'influence and impact beyond the academy' at the Chartered ABS Annual Research Conference. The discussion focused on how researchers in business and management can increase the impact of their research by contributing to a wide spectrum of media and engaging with the wider stakeholder community. Vicki reflected on the ERC's impact and engagement strategy and the lessons learnt. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | media coverage and citations for the research output of The TCA, Non-tariff Measures and UK Trade |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The core project research output of The TCA, Non-tariff Measures and UK Trade, by Jun Du and Oleksandr Shepotylo, and its extension have continue to generate media coverage and citations: cited by various mainstream outlets, including Financial Times It has been referred to in the Brexit debates as direct evidence why the current EU-UK relationship needs to improve, such as in the FT Nov 2022, Dec 2022, the Independent December 2022, and BBC interview December 2022, and the Economist Jan 2023. The ERC research paper was cited in British Chamber of Commerce TCA Two years on report Dec 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | quotation in a Raconteur article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | ERC Deputy Director Mark Hart was quoted in a Raconteur article talking about upskilling and retraining existing talent in a company to help productivity. "One of the many difficulties of solving the problem is that "economic definitions of productivity, such as gross value added per employee, are too narrow." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://raconteur.net/report/business-transformation-2022/ |
| Description | speaking on the Start up Donut podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Listen to ERC Deputy Director, Mark Hart speaking on the Start up Donut podcast. In this episode Mark explains why some owners can grow their businesses into much bigger enterprises while others fail. He outlines the critical factors that affect growth and offers his advice to small-business owners who want to make it big. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | the Royal Society of Chemistry's 'Igniting Innovation' event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | ERC Director Stephen Roper was a guest speaker at the Royal Society of Chemistry's 'Igniting Innovation' event on Monday 21st March, launching new research on how to support innovation in Deep Tech chemistry SMEs aiming to tackle future social and environmental challenges and brings together players from the innovation 'ecosystem', to catalyse conversations on how best to support Deep Tech companies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |