Sustaining Growth for Innovative New Enterprises

我们在理解商业、技术和关系战略的不同组合如何影响中小型企业的增长方面仍然存在差距，特别是在中小企业在区域、区域外和部门各级进行网络互动的情况下。在每一轮新的经济和技术发展中，这些战略都在演变，突显了几乎实时跟踪新兴企业战略的细微差别的重要性。在这个项目中，我们将探索中小企业成长的差异化战略和区域集群在创新公司成长中的作用，建立在新的和不引人注目的网络挖掘方法基础上，以获得关于企业发展路径的及时信息。三个关键的研究问题将被解决：(1)保持业务并发展的创新公司的业务战略、技术路径和关系有何不同？(2)区域集群如何影响保持业务并发展的创新公司的业务战略、技术路径和关系？(3)政策诱导资源在支持保持业务并发展的创新公司方面有何贡献？这些问题将通过使用定量和定性数据的混合方法来探讨。我们的研究重点是新兴的绿色商品部门(GGS)-由生产有利于环境或节约自然资源的产品的公司组成，涉及英国、美国和中国的国际比较元素。我们将确定每个国家在2004-2007年间成立的300家GGS公司，总研究样本为900家公司。我们将应用分层样本选择程序，将英国GGS部门按主要产品类别的分布与美国和中国的GGS部门进行匹配。然后，我们将结合结构化和非结构化数据源，跟踪这些公司的起源、业务、技术和关系战略以及2011年的业绩结果。结构化数据将包括公司数据库、公司专利和出版记录。非结构化数据将来自对样本企业当前网站和存档网站的网络收集和数据挖掘的新方法。生存分析将指示企业从创始时期到当前时期的路径。将应用层次聚类分析来探索这三个国家以及大都市区位和产品类别类型的不同商业战略。多元回归将分析高增长(和其他)结果与商业战略、技术方法、区域关系和政策工具的作用、控制国家和其他因素之间的关系。来自美国和中国企业增长战略的见解将与英国公司的见解进行比较。在接下来的阶段，我们将对选定的英国企业进行案例研究，以测试和提炼关于差异化战略、区域和政策互动以及成果的主张。访谈(60)将与英国五个大都会地区的高增长公司、稳定公司和其他关键线人进行。访谈将考察最成功的公司的不同之处，追踪与技术相关的项目和其他项目的使用和好处，并探索与政策相关的更广泛的区位吸引力。该项目将由曼彻斯特大学与英国益百利大学、佐治亚理工学院(美国)和北京理工大学(中国)合作领导。将与学术界和非学术界开展积极的传播和接触方案，包括建立高级培训机制，并向包括开办公司和企业支助方案在内的商业部门用户、大学和其他技术转让管理人员以及地方和国家政策制定者开展外联活动。

Gaps remain in our understanding of how different combinations of business, technology and relationship strategies influence the growth of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), especially in the context of networked interactions by SMEs at regional, extra-regional, and sectoral levels. In each new round of economic and technological development, these strategies evolve, highlighting the importance of tracking in close to real-time the nuances of emerging enterprise strategies. In this project, we will probe differential strategies for SME growth and the role of regional clustering in the growth of innovative companies, building on new and unobtrusive methods of web mining to gain timely information about enterprise developmental pathways. Three key research questions will be addressed: (1) What differentiates the business strategies, technology pathways, and relationships of innovative companies that stay in business and grow? (2) How does regional clustering influence the business strategies, technology pathways, and relationships of innovative companies that stay in business and grow? (3) What are the contributions of policy-induced resources in supporting innovative companies that stay in business and grow? These questions will be probed through a mixed-methods approach using both quantitative and qualitative data. We focus our research on the emerging green goods sector (GGS) - comprising firms producing outputs that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources, with an international comparative element involving the UK, the US, and China. We will identify 300 GGS companies in each country established during the time period 2004-2007, for a total study sample of 900 companies. We will apply a stratified sample selection procedure, to match the distribution of the UK GGS sector by broad product classes with the US and Chinese GGS sectors. We will then combine structured and unstructured data sources to track the origins, business, technology, and relationship strategies, and performance outcomes of these firms through to 2011. Structured data will include corporate databases, corporate patents and publication records. Unstructured data will be derived from new methods of web-scraping and data mining the current and archived web-sites of the sample enterprises. Survival analysis will indicate the pathway of firms from the founding period through to the current period. Hierarchical cluster analysis will be applied to explore differential business strategies by the three countries and by types of metropolitan location and product class. Multivariate regression will relationships between high growth (and other) outcomes and business strategies, technological approach, and the role of regional relationships and policy instruments, controlling for country and other factors. Insights from US and Chinese enterprise growth strategies will be compared with those of UK firms. In the subsequent phase, we will undertake case studies with selected UK enterprises, to test and refine propositions about differential strategies, regional and policy interactions, and outcomes. Interviews (60) will be conducted with high growth firms, stable firms, and other key informants in five UK metropolitan areas. The interviews will examine what differentiates the most successful firms, trace the use and benefit of technology-related and other programmes, and probe for wider policy-related locational attractiveness. The project will be led by the University Manchester in partnership with Experian UK, Georgia Institute of Technology (US), and Beijing Institute of Technology (China). An active dissemination and engagement programme will be pursued with the academic and non-academic worlds, including mechanisms for advanced training and outreach to users in the business sector, including start-up firms and business support programmes, to university and other technology transfer managers, and to local and national policymakers.