Knowledge Network 4 Business (KN4B)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Central Lancashire
Department Name: Lancashire Business School
Abstract
Context
Public policy identifies the importance of the private sector and the enhancement of skills and knowledge in the facilitation of economic performance and sustainable growth; factors which are particularly relevant at present, given the fragility of the economic recovery and the stated aim of government to rebalance the economy through private sector expansion. Regional development strategies have identified the improvement of SME leadership and management skills as one means of stimulating the local economy, alongside strengthening linkages between Lancashire's leading companies, universities and SMEs to share innovations and commercial potential.
Objectives
The proposed scheme involves the establishment of four local business networks - Blackpool, Burnley & Pendle, Chorley, Preston - each involving up to 30 businesses, across Lancashire. This provides the opportunity for participant businesses to share ideas with their peers, to share presentations made by academic researchers and business experts relating to areas of best practice, and discuss how these might be introduced into their own organisations. Businesses will have the opportunity to form links with each other, potentially forming supply chain arrangements, and broaden their understanding of how they can make use of public resources and their local university's expertise concerning enterprise and employability. Public sector partners will, moreover, have the opportunity to form closer links with a selection of businesses from across the county, and this should facilitate better informed policy development. Consequently, the scheme is intended to encourage improved competitiveness, productivity and sustainability, through the exchange of knowledge and the creation of a space in which businesses are able to formulate strategic responses.
The Programme
There will be four masterclass events for each network, comprising presentations from academic and business experts, sharing their insights into various aspects of business activity with participants. Topics will include marketing, HR and dispute resolution, access to finance and flexible, high performance approaches. Each session will then involve action learning sets (one on the day with another follow-up session between scheduled events), where participants can discuss the ideas presented, explore the relevance in terms of their own business contexts and develop action plans to realise these potentially beneficial effects. Sets will be facilitated to try to achieve the best outcomes. Additional support will be provided via virtual resources, including a website, which will feature a business directory (of members), information on events and an interactive element (blog or otherwise), whereby participants can continue to interact with each other. Participants will be selected from SMEs in the four target areas, with a desire to ensure a variety of different types of firms are represented in each network (length of trading, sector).
Project management
The network will be monitored by a project management process, which will involve representatives of all stakeholders - business participants, business and local authority partners, and academics. This will ensure the programme is appropriate, objectives are being met and financial rules followed.
Evaluation
A rigorous evaluation process will seek to establish the precise impact the network may have - this will combined focus group, interview and survey approaches, and try to discover a before-and-after effect. This is difficult to establish over a project lasting only one year, but it is important to consider the outcomes arising from the scheme by using the best information available.
Legacy
To ensure the sustainability of the network, beyond the funded period of one year, businesses are involved in all aspects of the scheme (design, management, delivery) and resources (website) will be handed over at scheme end
Public policy identifies the importance of the private sector and the enhancement of skills and knowledge in the facilitation of economic performance and sustainable growth; factors which are particularly relevant at present, given the fragility of the economic recovery and the stated aim of government to rebalance the economy through private sector expansion. Regional development strategies have identified the improvement of SME leadership and management skills as one means of stimulating the local economy, alongside strengthening linkages between Lancashire's leading companies, universities and SMEs to share innovations and commercial potential.
Objectives
The proposed scheme involves the establishment of four local business networks - Blackpool, Burnley & Pendle, Chorley, Preston - each involving up to 30 businesses, across Lancashire. This provides the opportunity for participant businesses to share ideas with their peers, to share presentations made by academic researchers and business experts relating to areas of best practice, and discuss how these might be introduced into their own organisations. Businesses will have the opportunity to form links with each other, potentially forming supply chain arrangements, and broaden their understanding of how they can make use of public resources and their local university's expertise concerning enterprise and employability. Public sector partners will, moreover, have the opportunity to form closer links with a selection of businesses from across the county, and this should facilitate better informed policy development. Consequently, the scheme is intended to encourage improved competitiveness, productivity and sustainability, through the exchange of knowledge and the creation of a space in which businesses are able to formulate strategic responses.
The Programme
There will be four masterclass events for each network, comprising presentations from academic and business experts, sharing their insights into various aspects of business activity with participants. Topics will include marketing, HR and dispute resolution, access to finance and flexible, high performance approaches. Each session will then involve action learning sets (one on the day with another follow-up session between scheduled events), where participants can discuss the ideas presented, explore the relevance in terms of their own business contexts and develop action plans to realise these potentially beneficial effects. Sets will be facilitated to try to achieve the best outcomes. Additional support will be provided via virtual resources, including a website, which will feature a business directory (of members), information on events and an interactive element (blog or otherwise), whereby participants can continue to interact with each other. Participants will be selected from SMEs in the four target areas, with a desire to ensure a variety of different types of firms are represented in each network (length of trading, sector).
Project management
The network will be monitored by a project management process, which will involve representatives of all stakeholders - business participants, business and local authority partners, and academics. This will ensure the programme is appropriate, objectives are being met and financial rules followed.
Evaluation
A rigorous evaluation process will seek to establish the precise impact the network may have - this will combined focus group, interview and survey approaches, and try to discover a before-and-after effect. This is difficult to establish over a project lasting only one year, but it is important to consider the outcomes arising from the scheme by using the best information available.
Legacy
To ensure the sustainability of the network, beyond the funded period of one year, businesses are involved in all aspects of the scheme (design, management, delivery) and resources (website) will be handed over at scheme end
Planned Impact
Context for Impact
The context for impact relates to the difficult economic environment in which businesses are currently operating. Regional development reports have identified investment in skills, employment creation and enhancing business management as key elements of a strategy to redress the fact that the growth rate of the area lags behind the national average. The stimulation of knowledge exchange, building supply chains and co-operation between local businesses, and involving public policymakers in the process, are intended to create beneficial impact.
Expected Impact
For the business community, the network provide opportunities to access, discuss and evaluate the applicability of research-informed ideas, innovations and examples of best practice, which it is anticipated to have a demonstrable (and measurable) impact upon the business performance of participants in the scheme. A previous pilot (BEDP) scheme suggested potential improvements in financial variables (turnover, profit, employment) and strengthening of supply chains, alongside less tangible benefits (i.e. confidence, greater understanding of the economic environment).
For business partners, the scheme provides the opportunity to improve market information and enhance existing supply chains, whilst providing the opportunity to realise corporate social responsibility and charitable aims. For public agencies, the network facilitates the flow of information useful to policy development; if public policy were more accurately framed according to the constraints upon expansion perceived by the small business community, all stakeholders should benefit.
Local economic development should be enhanced through participation in the network, as managers learn new skills, internalise new ideas and examples of best practice, have access to academic and business experts, develop wider business relationships amongst peers and larger organisations in their area, and benefit from any development of public policy which may arise due to information gleaned through closer relationships between partners and participants. The knowledge exchange should have a direct impact upon the skills profile of the local economy, whilst the opportunity to discuss wider economic and business issues should contribute to a better understanding of the factors pertaining to the business environment, and thereby having an impact upon the expectations of local business people - a vital component driving any economy.
Academic impact arising from the proposed scheme derives from potential curriculum development (through inclusion of case study material), future research and knowledge exchange opportunities due to the demonstration of the potential of such initiatives and the construction of a series of relationships with local stakeholders. It will make a contribution to skills development of the academic participants, and will have a less tangible benefit accruing to academic participants from spending time talking to local business people. Each of these impacts is deemed to be valuable and may have long lasting effects.
Evaluation of Impact
The importance of seeking to discern impact arising from the proposed scheme has formed the basis for the evaluation measures has been outlined in the Case for Support section of this funding proposal. The intention is to assess the performance against the objectives including a robust measurement of impact against scheme aims. Given the difficulty involved in seeking to isolate and identify direct and indirect outcomes arising as the result of a one year programme, in a specified geographical area and with a sample population limited to perhaps 120 participants, the evaluation proposal seeks to deliver that evidence which is deliverable within these stated constraints.
The context for impact relates to the difficult economic environment in which businesses are currently operating. Regional development reports have identified investment in skills, employment creation and enhancing business management as key elements of a strategy to redress the fact that the growth rate of the area lags behind the national average. The stimulation of knowledge exchange, building supply chains and co-operation between local businesses, and involving public policymakers in the process, are intended to create beneficial impact.
Expected Impact
For the business community, the network provide opportunities to access, discuss and evaluate the applicability of research-informed ideas, innovations and examples of best practice, which it is anticipated to have a demonstrable (and measurable) impact upon the business performance of participants in the scheme. A previous pilot (BEDP) scheme suggested potential improvements in financial variables (turnover, profit, employment) and strengthening of supply chains, alongside less tangible benefits (i.e. confidence, greater understanding of the economic environment).
For business partners, the scheme provides the opportunity to improve market information and enhance existing supply chains, whilst providing the opportunity to realise corporate social responsibility and charitable aims. For public agencies, the network facilitates the flow of information useful to policy development; if public policy were more accurately framed according to the constraints upon expansion perceived by the small business community, all stakeholders should benefit.
Local economic development should be enhanced through participation in the network, as managers learn new skills, internalise new ideas and examples of best practice, have access to academic and business experts, develop wider business relationships amongst peers and larger organisations in their area, and benefit from any development of public policy which may arise due to information gleaned through closer relationships between partners and participants. The knowledge exchange should have a direct impact upon the skills profile of the local economy, whilst the opportunity to discuss wider economic and business issues should contribute to a better understanding of the factors pertaining to the business environment, and thereby having an impact upon the expectations of local business people - a vital component driving any economy.
Academic impact arising from the proposed scheme derives from potential curriculum development (through inclusion of case study material), future research and knowledge exchange opportunities due to the demonstration of the potential of such initiatives and the construction of a series of relationships with local stakeholders. It will make a contribution to skills development of the academic participants, and will have a less tangible benefit accruing to academic participants from spending time talking to local business people. Each of these impacts is deemed to be valuable and may have long lasting effects.
Evaluation of Impact
The importance of seeking to discern impact arising from the proposed scheme has formed the basis for the evaluation measures has been outlined in the Case for Support section of this funding proposal. The intention is to assess the performance against the objectives including a robust measurement of impact against scheme aims. Given the difficulty involved in seeking to isolate and identify direct and indirect outcomes arising as the result of a one year programme, in a specified geographical area and with a sample population limited to perhaps 120 participants, the evaluation proposal seeks to deliver that evidence which is deliverable within these stated constraints.
Organisations
| Description | The Knowledge Network for Business (KN4B) established a series of four interlinked business networks, for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within Lancashire. These networks facilitated knowledge exchange between academic and business participants, whilst providing the opportunity for participants to interact with research-informed evidence and case studies of business practice. The project was initially delayed, due to reorganisations in research partners, however, once these initial delays were overcome, approximately 75 businesspeople participated in a programme comprised of 7 workshops in each of the four selected network areas (Burnley, Chorley, Pendle and Preston). The 29 sessions comprised knowledge exchange (academic research-based evidence), business speakers (practical case studies) and action learning sessions enabling participants to consider potential practical implementation in their own businesses. Four of the workshop series were in addition to the original programme specification, and included to supplement the action learning element of the programme. They were led by one of the research partners, 3 Man Factory, a Preston-based creative design and communications SME. Workshop topics included marketing, human resource mediation, the economic environment and access to finance. In addition, a session on corporate social responsibility and additional practical sessions on e-marketing were added to the programme in adaptation to requests received from business participants. In order to cover all of this ground within the 12 month duration of the project, and to address concerns raised by participants who could not attend all sessions, four elements of the programme were covered through a webinar, with the highlights turned into a podcast. This has been uploaded to the LBS blog webpage and remains accessible by network participants. Whilst the full impact of the project will not become evident until the later Impact Report, nevertheless, initial feedback suggests the following: • Sessions were well attended • Feedback suggests the material was useful, particularly in relation to marketing topics • Human Resource topics were considered to be less relevant to certain cohorts, possibly due to their small average firm size • Participants indicated a desire to further develop the network in the future, to include sessions on a wider range of topics, particularly related to exploring barriers to progress and growth • Consideration of practical implementation of evidence-based ideas was considered to be the most worthwhile aspect of the programme • Whilst initially hesitant about the action learning element in the programme, participants came to regard this as one of the most useful features of the scheme - i.e. having a facilitated discussion about how to implement ideas, derived from research-informed studies and in line with practical case studies presented in the sessions • The network facilitated closer links between the university, research partners and the participating firms - future meetings have been arranged to try and build upon this legacy Initial feedback would, therefore, suggest that the project has met all of its major stated objectives. A more mature understanding will be sought through collation of longitudinal data relating to participating SMEs, to try and identify any medium term effects arising from the programme. Hopefully this evaluation may inform the Impact Report, although full findings are expected to form the basis of an academic paper in the medium term. This is currently being prepared and a copy will be downloaded onto the site once completed and accepted for publication. |
| Exploitation Route | The project facilitated the enhancement of business performance through a number of inter-related channels, including the exchange of evidence-based research findings and the sharing of best practice practical case studies. These were enhanced via action learning sessions allowing reflection upon the material and consideration of how this may be introduced within participating firms. Consequently, the expressed intent was to facilitate enhanced business performance through the consideration of new ideas and innovative or best practice examples of business practice. The extent to which this enhancement of performance has been achieved will become apparent from the evaluation of the project - the early stages of which will be included in the Impact Report in due course. It is easier to measure certain variables (i.e. sales, profit, employment, productivity) whereas others remain less tangible (i.e. encouraging business leaders to reflect and think outside of their normal frame of reference) and yet equally as important to the ultimate success of the organisations in question. The KN4B programme is a Knowledge Exchange project and therefore has impact objectives built into every aspect of the programme. Each workshop was designed to combine the benefits arising from exposing SMEs to the insights derived from the latest academic research, alongside case study examples of practical application and action learning sessions intended to facilitate deliberation as to how (whether) these ideas could inform changes in business practice amongst participant companies. In addition, the network has created new links between research partners (local authorities) in the region, the university and the SME community. The project team intend to utilise this relationship by holding follow-up meetings with the research partners, in order to further develop potential future partnerships to benefit business development and growth in the area. Deliberations are being held concerning a potential conference or series of workshops being run, by the university and other stakeholder groups, intended to further this agenda. The results arising from the evaluation of the project will potentially inform the strategy adopted to maintain the momentum established by KN4B (legacy). It will enable the research team to identify the significant factors inherent in strengths and weaknesses of this type of KE programme, which has the potential to inform the academic literature in addition to assist in designing future interventions of this type. If it has proven to have lasting impact, the research team intend to publish their findings and consider application for additional funding to further develop (or fine tune) their approach to secure enhanced business impact. The legacy aspect of the prioject has required additional work, since the research partners (local authority economic development departments) were ultimately unable to take over the programme as had been initially agreed upon the development of the programme. Consequently, the academic partners have sought to steer interested SMEs towards participation in one or more of the other knowledge exchange programmes being undertaken by UCLan. This includes a ESF funded project to enhance the prospects of SMEs with high growth potential, the university's incurbation unit assisting fledgling start-up companies, and a bid in collaboration with the Manchester Metropolitan University relating to workplace discipline and SMEs. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Retail,Transport,Other |
| URL | http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/environment/groups/lancashire_institute_economic_business_research.php |
| Description | The award was to establish a knowledge exchange network, aimed at SMEs, within four areas of Lancashire. The network (KN4B) disseminated evidence-based knowledge, derived from cutting edge academic research, together with practical discussion relating to implementation and spreading best practice amongst the cohort. Post-programme evaluation indicated that this aspect of the initiative was successful and well appreciated by participants. A detailed evaluation is in the process of being prepared for submission to a learned journal, and a copy will be downloaded to this account upon completion and acceptance for publication. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Creative Economy,Education,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Retail,Transport,Other |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | KN4B Business Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Knowledge Network for Business (KN4B) established a series of four interlinked business networks, for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within Lancashire. These networks facilitated knowledge exchange between academic and business participants, whilst providing the opportunity for participants to interact with research-informed evidence and case studies of business practice. 75 businesspeople participated in a programme comprised of 7 workshops in each of the four selected network areas (Burnley, Chorley, Pendle and Preston). The 29 sessions comprised knowledge exchange (academic research-based evidence), business speakers (practical case studies) and action learning sessions enabling participants to consider potential practical implementation in their own businesses. Four of the workshop series were in addition to the original programme specification, and included to supplement the action learning element of the programme. They were led by one of the research partners, 3 Man Factory, a Preston-based creative design and communications SME. Workshop topics included marketing, human resource mediation, the economic environment and access to finance. In addition, a session on corporate social responsibility and additional practical sessions on e-marketing were added to the programme in adaptation to requests received from business participants. In order to cover all of this ground within the 12 month duration of the project, and to address concerns raised by participants who could not attend all sessions, four elements of the programme were covered through a webinar, with the highlights turned into a podcast. Of those participant firms responding to both of the evaluation surveys, 64.3% stated that their participation in KN4B was "very worthwhile", whereas the remainder (35.7%) considered their participation to have been "worthwhile". No respondents reported that the network had not been beneficial. Asked to rate KN4B out of 100, participants gave an average 80.9 rating, with event the lowest score of 70% itself representing a favourable reflection. Since the purpose of the network was to disseminate evidence based research and share best practice, to facilitate enhanced business performance, it is notable that 71.1% of respondent companies reported an improvement in net profits (averaging 4.4%) and 80.1% an increase in turnover (averaging 22%). Whilst the sample size is too small to test this evidence rigorously, causality cannot be assigned. Nevertheless, since only 34.9% of participants reported improved trading conditions during the previous year, it is possible that participation in the KN4B network may have played some part in this enhanced performance; whether through the application of the measures discussed in the workshops, or simply due to the increased confidence that participants reported after participating in the various sessions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/explore/groups/lancashire_institute_economic_business_research.php |