Sustaining Growth for Innovative New Enterprises

对于业务、技术和关系战略的不同组合如何影响中小企业（sme）的增长，特别是在中小企业在区域、区域外和部门层面的网络化互动背景下，我们的理解仍然存在差距。在每一轮新的经济和技术发展中，这些战略都在演变，这就突出了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，我们将探讨中小企业成长的不同策略和区域集群在创新型公司成长中的作用，建立在新的和不引人注目的网络挖掘方法上，以获得有关企业发展路径的及时信息。将解决三个关键的研究问题：(1)创新公司的商业战略、技术途径和关系的区别是什么？(2)区域集群如何影响创新企业的经营策略、技术路径和关系？(3)政策引导的资源对支持创新企业生存和成长的贡献是什么？这些问题将通过使用定量和定性数据的混合方法进行探讨。我们的研究重点是新兴的绿色产品行业（GGS）——包括生产有利于环境或保护自然资源的产品的公司，并涉及英国、美国和中国的国际比较因素。我们将确定每个国家在2004-2007年期间建立的300家GGS公司，总共有900家公司作为研究样本。我们将采用分层抽样选择程序，根据广泛的产品类别，将英国GGS部门的分布与美国和中国的GGS部门相匹配。然后，我们将结合结构化和非结构化数据源来跟踪这些公司的起源、业务、技术、关系策略和业绩结果，直至2011年。结构化数据将包括公司数据库、公司专利和出版记录。非结构化数据将从网络抓取和数据挖掘的新方法中获得，这些方法来自于样本企业的当前和存档网站。生存分析将表明企业从创立时期到当前时期的路径。层次聚类分析将被应用于三个国家和不同类型的都市位置和产品类别来探索不同的商业策略。多元回归将高增长（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之间的关系，控制国家和其他因素。美国和中国企业成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，以测试和完善关于差异战略、区域和政策互动以及结果的主张。访谈（60）将在英国5个大都市地区与高增长公司、稳定公司和其他关键线人进行。这些访谈将审查最成功的公司的不同之处，追踪与技术有关的方案和其他方案的使用和效益，并探讨更广泛的与政策有关的地点吸引力。该项目将由曼彻斯特大学与英国益百利、美国佐治亚理工学院和中国北京理工大学合作开展。将在学术界和非学术界推行一项积极的传播和参与方案，包括向商业部门的用户提供高级培训和外联机制，包括开办公司和商业支助方案、向大学和其他技术转让管理人员以及向地方和国家决策者提供外联。

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.