Business Links Research Articles

An Examination of the Developing Role of Personal Business Advisors within Business Link

The authors examine the developing role of personal business advisors (PBAs) within Business Link. Drawing on a national survey of PBAs, they highlight trends and variations in practice and perceptions relating to four key areas: the client focus of PBAs and the identification of growth firms, the nature of PBA — client relationships and factors affecting successful support, the nature of the PBAs' workload, and PBA staffing issues. The findings highlight issues that might inform future policy developments. These include most particularly, the effects of the increased commercialisation of the PBA's job and the impact of PBA turnover. Recommendations are made regarding implications for policymakers and concerning areas for future research.

Book: Eco‐Efficiency—The Business Link to Sustainable Development, by Livio D. DeSimone and Frank Popoff

Book: Eco‐Efficiency—The Business Link to Sustainable Development, by Livio D. DeSimone and Frank Popoff

The rise and fall of `Supernet': a case study of technology transfer policy for smaller firms

A dominant theme in innovation policy throughout the world has been the support of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although policy-making has been evolving away from simplistic and `universal' measures addressing all SMEs towards more targeted approaches, there is still a lack of knowledge about the nature and extent of SME support needs and the mechanisms for delivering it effectively. The result is that the policy environment is characterised by a wide range of experimentation; this paper reports on one such experiment—Supernet—aimed at improving the access of SMEs to major centres of technological excellence in the UK. During its two and a half years of operation Supernet largely succeeded in establishing a mechanism through which SMEs could access the extensive technology base of the UK. Its limitations were less in execution (indeed, overall management of the operation was generally well-regarded) than in positioning. As a stand-alone venture it was probably too specialised a service for the needs of many SMEs (although valuable for a few) but as part of a broad spectrum of innovation support it filled an important niche, complementing other, more locally oriented types of provision, particularly those being developed by the `Business Links' network. The paper reviews the history of Supernet and explores some of the issues that its implementation raises for innovation policy. In particular, it argues that there is a need for some form of managed network enabling access for SMEs to the technology infrastructure within a national system of innovation. It concludes with some thoughts on the design and operation of such a network based on lessons offered by the Supernet experience.

Organisational learning: research issues and application in SME sector firms

Over the last two decades the UK Government has massively expanded support for SME sector firms. Two important elements of this expansion have been the funding of intervention by commercial consultants and the provision of training schemes covering start‐ups, owner‐manager development and employee skills acquisition. Argues that a fresh approach is required which ensures embedding of the concept that firms should be more self‐responsible and continually strive to find ways of enhancing their performance. This view then permits one to posit the idea that the introduction of organisational learning into the SME sector is a highly attractive proposition. However, the majority of espoused theory is based on application of the concept in large firms moreover, there is very limited empirical research that supports the fundamental assumption that organisational learning contributes towards enhancing performance. Research to determine whether identifiable relationships exist between the performance of the firm, the learning mode of the organisation and organisational competence does not provide clear statistically significant relationships and further work is clearly needed. A grounded theory approach was adopted for developing an organisational learning programme for small firms. Preliminary results indicate the approach offers significant advantages over the classic, external intervention driven support models currently in common use among TECs and business links.

Business link: Use, satisfaction and comparison with business shop and business connect

This paper assesses the level of use and satisfaction with Business Link services in England and Business Shop and Business Connect services in Scotland and Wales. These services are the result of government initiatives to provide support services to small and medium‐sized firms. The paper uses the large scale 1997 survey of the Cambridge ESRC Centre for Business Research. Important findings are that whilst use levels of Business Link are relatively high, they are focused chiefly on information, training and grants, with a secondary focus on specialist advice. The chief additions to the system as a result of DTI development, of personal advisors and diagnostic assessment, both have low use and satisfaction levels. A second key finding is that there are few statistically significant differences of satisfaction levels by firm type. Of greatest policy concern are: (i) the tension between the actual use patterns of BL services, which concentrate on information, grants and specialist advice, and their design focus on PBAs and diagnostic assessment, (ii) the wide variation in satisfaction levels assessed by clients of both BL and BS/BC, which must largely reflect quality variation of management and advisors in each system, and (in) questions about the additionality of both initiatives and their potential competition with other private and public sector suppliers of business advice.

Evaluating the impact of business link on the performance and profitability of SMEs in the United Kingdom

The last decade has seen a growing body of research on information‐intensive business service firms. These are companies that supply expertise and knowledge that are considered to add value to the output of their clients. This paper explores the impact of business service expertise provided via Business Link on the performance, profitability and competitiveness of client companies. The authors use a unique survey of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in England as well as case studies of individual firms. It is possible to identify a positive impact of business service expertise on client performance, but difficult and maybe impossible to isolate such impacts from other variables. Employment as an impact measure is problematic, as redundancy rather than recruitment may result from a consultancy project. The best measure is improvements in profitability, but not all consultancy projects will impact on this variable. The Department of Trade and Industry needs to be extremely careful that a concern for evaluation of Business Link companies does not inadvertently produce a situation in which the evaluation process determines how a Business Link company identifies and deals with its clients.

Client and Advisor Management Styles: Influence on the Effective Provision of Advisory Services to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Over the last few years, the UK government has sought to assist more effectively small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)-sector firms through the creation of Training and Enterprise Councils and Business Links. These organisations undertake assessment of client satisfaction. Most of their measurement tools, however, do not permit determination of the factors which are key influences of client attitudes. Research on customer behaviour both in industrial markets and in service environments has caused some academics to posit that, in many situations, the application of traditional transactional-market-research tools is often ineffective. Accordingly, they propose that satisfaction measurement should encompass the influence of a relationship-management orientation because the processes designed to build long-term customer loyalty may be a more appropriate philosophy through which to gain understanding of SME-sector attitudes to services delivered by suppliers. The aim, therefore, is to examine the relevance of applying a relationship-management research tool to assess client satisfaction in small-business-advisory scenarios. Interviews with advisors and owner/managers have been used to construct a qualitative model of factors influencing the client-advisor relationship. The implications of the study are discussed in relation to the future operation of not-for-profit support agencies seeking to optimise the effectiveness of service provision. Proposals are made concerning the need for further research.

Business Link Services to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Targeting, Innovation, and Charging

Since the 1970s the provision of business support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain has been through quite separate organisations. The Business Link (BL) network, launched in England in 1992, is the latest initiative by which the government has sought to integrate support to SMEs and to shift the primary focus from start-up to established firms with growth potential. In this paper the author examines the provision of business support services available through BL. She reviews the underlying concepts of BL, the associated debates surrounding the initiative, and then presents new survey evidence from BLs on their target market, innovation, and charging strategy. It is found that: (1) the markets are being shifted from the desired targets of larger growth firms towards smaller firms; (2) personal business advisers (PBAs) are being relied on as the main method by which BLs identify potential growth firms; (3) the development of new local services is a low priority for BLs at this stage in their development; and (4) there is an inherent unwillingness to charge for services. The author concludes that the effect of the Department of Trade and Industry's intervention has been to ‘nationalise’ the system of business support. This has had a desirable effect of increasing the level of service availability and service quality, but has also had the effect of reducing local diversity.

The use of external business advice by SMEs in Britain

This paper reports new survey results on the extent, sourcing and impact of external business advice to SMEs in Britain. The survey, covering 2547 respondents, is the largest and most definitive assessment to date. Its results demonstrate the very wide extent of external advice: used by 95% of respondent SMEs, an increase from 85.8% in a similar survey in 1991. The analysis of the survey assesses sources of advice in terms of the level of trust that exists between the supplier and the SME client. The market appears to be strongly segmented and dominated by high trust specialist sources (accountants, lawyers), customers, suppliers and business friends. Business associations and government-backed sources play an important but lesser role. The recent government initiative of Business Link has, however, established an important market, used by 27% of respondents. Impact assessments confirm the significance of high trust private sector suppliers for the most crucial supplies of advice. Variations in use occur by SME type chiefly by size but also by sector and growth record. Generally levels of use vary by SME type to a greater extent than levels of impact.

The nature of the client‐personal business advisor relationship within Business Link

The paper reports upon the findings of a national survey of Personal Business Advisors (PBAs). It examines the nature of the client‐PBA relationship in terms of how relationships are established with growth firms and how they are maintained over the long term. Results show that a range of different approaches are currently used to identify growth businesses. Other findings indicate that the current role of the PBA is a broad one, extending beyond the client focus originally envisaged by the DTI. It is argued that financial targets are an important influence upon the nature of the client‐PBA relationship.

Eco-Efficiency: The Business Link to Sustainable Development

Eco-Efficiency: The Business Link to Sustainable Development

A resource query interface for network-aware applications

Networked systems provide a cost-effective platform for parallel computing, but the applications have to deal with the changing availability of computation and communication resources. Network-awareness is a recent attempt to bridge the gap between the realities of networks and the demands of applications. Network-aware applications obtain information about their execution environment and dynamically adapt to enhance their performance. Adaptation is especially important for synchronous parallel applications because a single busy communication link can become the bottleneck and degrade overall performance dramatically. This paper presents Remos, a uniform API that allows applications to obtain relevant network information, and reports on the development of parallel applications in this environment. The challenges in defining a uniform interface include network heterogeneity, diversity and variability in network traffic, and resource sharing in the network and even inside an application. The first implementation of the Remos interface uses SNMP to monitor IP-based networks. This paper reports on our methodology for developing adaptive parallel applications for high-speed networks with Remos and presents experimental results using applications generated by the Fx parallelizing compiler. The results highlight the importance and effectiveness of adaptive parallel computing.

Eco-efficiency, the business link to sustainable development By Livio DeSimone and Frank Popoff, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1997, 292 pages, $25.00

Eco-efficiency, the business link to sustainable development By Livio DeSimone and Frank Popoff, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1997, 292 pages, $25.00

Business and HE links: the search for meaningful relationships in the placement marketplace ‐ part two

Second part of a two‐part article. Draws on the conclusions of the first part (Vol. 40 No. 5) with regard to a study of the buying behaviours exhibited by UK organisations in the use of placement services from higher education (HE). Explains that results showed clear differences among employers regarding frequency of interaction between university and host organisation, stages in the buying process, selection criteria used and the number of people involved in the decision. Discusses issues of service quality and relationship management. Compares findings to earlier research into placements and other education/business links. Examines the major themes which emerge from several perspectives: those of relationship marketing, stakeholders and key account management. Makes recommendations for the careful management of HE/business relationships in order to ensure the successful formation of new links and the development of lasting partnerships.

Targeted support for new and young businesses: the case of North Yorkshire TEC’s “Backing Winners” programme

This paper reviews the first year experience of a programme (Backing Winners), launched by North Yorkshire TEC in 1995 to provide support for new and young businesses with growth potential. The Backing Winners (BW) programme differs from previous schemes in that it is not restricted to clients who are unemployed, it provides access to some key business services (such as office services), and there is no grant offered to individual businesses. Delivery of BW is focused on Personal Business Mentors (PBMs) whose role is similar to that of the PBA in Business Links. Based on a survey of 144 clients businesses and interviews with representatives of each of the Enterprise Agencies (EAs) contracted to deliver BW, the conclusion is that it was successful during the first year of its operation. Clients were very satisfied with their PBMs and some were active users of group training and office services. The paper also considers a number of policy issues raised by the study. These include broad issues such as the extent to which there is a case for targeting support on new and young firms such as these, and the extent to which the operation of a selective approach at the start‐up stage involves “picking winners”. In addition, BW raises a number of delivery issues which include: the need for adequate resourcing to enable the workload of PBMs (or PBAs) to be compatible with effective delivery; the need to reconsider the use of freelance consultants as PBMs (or PBAs); the need to recognise that many small manufacturing firms have sector‐specific support requirements; the need to set performance targets to agencies contracted to deliver such programmes, which recognise differences between agencies and their catchments.

Local Partnership for Economic Development: Business Links and the Restructuring of SME Support Networks in the United Kingdom

A key feature of British enterprise development policies is the launch in 1992 of a network of business link partnerships to rationalize the local provision of business support services for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across England. This article examines the ways in which business links are expected to add value to the existing infrastructure and evaluates the effectiveness of the initiative 3 years after its announcement. Despite very significant differences in operations, size of catchment area, and legal structures between business link partnerships, similar problems have emerged. The common set of potentially damaging issues identified can be tackled locally by establishing collaborative-competitive partnerships and by increasing the role of local authorities. Nationally, central government consistently and continuously should use its leverage, resulting from its control over resources, to support the objectives it has set for business links.

Training and business development support for micro businesses in a peripheral area

This paper examines the findings of a project to evaluate training and development support for micro businesses in a peripheral area. Results are based on questionnaire surveys of young micro businesses in Devon and Cornwall plus interviews with both business owner‐managers and training/support providers. They suggest that existing support, both at start‐up and during the post start‐up period, does not adequately address the development needs of micro firms and, more particularly, the needs of the small proportion of micro firms with ambitions to grow. It is concluded that this in part reflects the customer focus of Business Link. Given the important role of micro firms in local economic development in peripheral areas, greater flexibility is required in the way that such businesses are dealt with within the Business Link framework.

Business and HE links: the search for meaningful relationships in the placement marketplace ‐ part one

Investigates the nature of HE/business links by examining the marketplace for student placements. Explains that the rapidly changing education environment means the forming of lasting relationships requires a new approach from HE managers. Claims that there is now a need for HE to market its services to companies. Applies concepts from the fields of marketing and organisational buying behaviour to the investment in placement services by UK organisations. Reports the results of qualitative interviews and a large scale quantitative survey into the patterns of behaviour shown by client companies in the use of these “professional” services. Draws some conclusions which will be addressed in the second part of the article (in a forthcoming edition of this journal) where recommendations for the management of HE/business relationships will be made.

Business Link, Strong Ties, and the Walls of Silence: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and External Business-Service Expertise

The operation both of private and of public sector organisations consists of a complex interplay between in-house and external expertise and knowledge. The authors use a unique survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England to explore their use of external expertise and the location of external advisers. They also draw upon surveys both of private sector consultants and of personal business advisers (PBAs) employed by Business Link companies. Network analysis is used to identify the ways in which weak and strong ties either enable or constrain opportunities for SMEs to access the knowledge and expertise available both from private sector business-service companies and from state agencies. SME owner-managers have too many strong ties with their local business community. The paucity of weak tics with individuals located elsewhere in the United Kingdom restricts the ability of SMEs to search for business-service expertise outside their local area. An analysis of the Business Link initiative is undertaken which suggests that the spatial monopoly held by each Business Link company does not encourage them to participate in the development of a national knowledge-and-enterprise network. The analysis suggests that a dual information economy may be developing in the United Kingdom in which large firms arc able to access specialist external expertise irrespective of location, whereas SMEs are tied into local providers of more generalist expertise.

Business Link impact and future challenges

The publication, in October 1997, of the Government’s Business Link “Vision Statement” which announces 18 separate action points to enhance the Business Link service, demonstrates that Business Links still have some way to go before they are considered to be truly effective. This paper contributes to the debate about Business Link effectiveness by assessing the evidence of Business Link impact from a number of recent studies. The studies show that Business Links are beginning to make a positive impact but it is more difficult to analyse the extra value they are adding to SME growth. There is still some confusion about the Business Links target market – should they concentrate solely on established small firms with growth prospects or offer all their services to start‐ups and micro businesses as well? In some respects, Business Links themselves are going through the typical development stages that many SMEs go through in their establishment. Business Links can learn how different growth stages affect company development from this process. Business Links will only succeed in their mission to assist small firms if SMEs are attracted to using them. The main challenge facing Business Links is to move towards a private sector locally led orientation, as opposed to previous initiatives which were largely national and public sector led. There are elements of a virtuous circle in the SME/Business Link relationship which can be exploited to encourage both business excellence and Business Link improvement. Bus9ness Links will achieve greater impact through effective partnership but this can only happen if partnerships are well balanced with no one partner dominating.