Interpretive Analysis as an Evaluative Tool: The Case of Mustard.UK.Com, a High-Growth Small Business Programme

Abstract

The authors suggest that a more interpretist analysis of policy design, development, and implementation that takes into account antecedent factors, context, reflective change, and user and advisor perception and expectations would make a significant contribution to the field of policy evaluation. This concept is considered further using a qualitative assessment of the West Midlands response, Mustard.UK.Com (Mustard), to the government's High Growth Start-Up scheme set out in the Department of Trade and Industry's Competitiveness White Paper in 1998. The assessment has three elements: first, an exploration of the extant literature to identify any relevant antecedent factors that may have informed or influenced the decisionmaking process when the West Midlands response was being developed; second, a review of the procedure by which the various parties involved in the implementation of Mustard created a framework within which a workable support programme could be delivered; third, the extent to which Mustard has been successful in meeting the objectives of those stakeholders involved in the programme is considered.