Project 3

Moving to the Next Level: A Scoping Study

EPSRC EP/D503981/1

Guiliana Battisti (Aston), Neil Burns (Loughborough), Delores Anon Higon (Aston), Jillian MacBryde (Strathclyde), Marek Szwejczewski

(Cranfield), Elizabeth Watson (Strathclyde)

Structure of presentation

• Point of departure • Objectives of scoping study• Review of scoping study activity to date• Tangible outputs to date• The next few months• And beyond….

Point of departure

Edwards et al (2004) suggest that there are three basic strategies that firms can adopt to create more value through strategic innovation:

• Increasing efficiency and effectiveness through the adoption of better practices

• Innovating to produce products or services that generate more revenue – through higher prices or larger volumes – but realised while remaining at the same position in the value chain

• Fundamentally changing position in the value chain and moving to a position where the products and services that are being delivered inherently generate more value

Objectives of scoping study?

• gather data to check our belief that companies who do move up the value chain really do achieve productivity gains;

• deliver a first class literature review that clearly identifies gaps in knowledge in relation to value chain repositioning;

• Formulate appropriate research questions and develop a methodology and research instruments, which will allow us to address these gaps in knowledge;

• test research instruments in the field before embarking on a larger scale investigation.

Review of scoping study activity

Workpackage Target Completion

Responsibility Comments

1. Literature review Feb 2006 MacBryde Complete

2. Stakeholder analysis March 2006 MacBryde & Szwejczewski

Complete

3. Secondary data collection and analysis March 2006 Annon & Guiliana

Ongoing

4.Development of research questions and instruments

June 2006 Burns Complete

5. Case studies Sept 2006 MacBryde & Szwejczewski

Almost complete

6. Develop Full Proposal and Write Final Report for Scoping Study

Dec 2006 MacBryde Draft completed

What did the literature review tell us?

• There are differing views on value chain repositioning• There is very little written about the specific issues of

how SMEs reposition• There is a lack of proven tools to help firms

(particularly SMEs) assess how to move in the value chain and if it is worth moving

• There is a gap in the understanding of the connections between what can be done at the firm level to affect productivity at the national level

What did the stakeholder analysis tell us?• There are tools and techniques within the consulting

sector, but mainly aimed at larger organisations, and few tested and validated

• A “how to” guide would be appreciated

• There was some interest in gaining an understanding of the motives that drive companies to move in the value chain

• SMEs would like more information before embarking on such a strategy – particularly what will change, and what factors are important for success

• SMEs in particular would like to see more case studies – explaining company experiences

Tangible outputs to date

• Literature review• Conceptual framework• Initial models of Why? What? and How?• Conference paper (journal paper drafted)• Three documented case studies• Future research project drafted

The next few months…

To establish whether there is a link between the strategy of repositioning in the value chain and productivity gains.

Outline approach

• Define “value chain repositioning” and be able to identify companies who have, under our definition, successfully repositioned

• Investigate how other studies have established links between “a variable” and productivity

• Build a verbal model then a mathematical model• Build a spreadsheet model• Design a tool that will collect the data we need• Gather the data• Analyse the data

Data collection issues

• Propose to look at the three sectors we already have information on from our case studies– Contract electronics manufacture– Clothing manufacture– Mechanical handling equipment

• SME focus

• Looking at companies with a similar profile

• But this may mean small sample size

• Problems with availability of secondary data

• Using both primary and secondary data

• Primary data gathered using questionnaire

Primary data collection

• Questionnaire to establish – if they have repositioned– when– perceived effect on productivity– recognise other factors – scale and effect of other factors on productivity

• Case studies gave us the opportunity to get more in-depth information

Secondary data

• Fame, Amadeus, Kellys, Kompass, Mintel etc.• Largely to get financial data • To help us look at productivity

What to model?

companies timePerceived effect on productivity

prod

uctiv

ity

Num

ber

of c

ompa

nies

prod

uctiv

ity

Have repositioned

Have not repositioned

Any Questions?