Description
In this paper point stimulating small business growth progress report on the goldman sachs 10,000.
STIMULATING SMALL
BUSINESS GROWTH
Progress Report on the Goldman Sachs
10,000 Small Businesses UK Programme
April 2013
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Foreword by The Rt Hon the
Lord Heseltine CH
No reminder is needed that developed economies the world
over, including the UK, face unprecedented challenges. Foremost
among these is the need to restore sustained growth in an
environment of constrained resources, at a time when markets
are more global and competition – for customers, skills,
resources – grows more intense by the day. At stake is our
ability to sustain and raise the standard of living of current and
future generations.
Enabling our most ambitious, innovative and productive small businesses to grow in every
part of the UK is a crucial piece of this puzzle. In every thriving economy small businesses
are key drivers of job creation and growth and it is from among today’s small businesses that
tomorrow’s national and global players will emerge.
My own experience of starting and growing a small business, albeit in di?erent economic
circumstances, and my subsequent career has lef me both with an enduring admiration for
entrepreneurs and an understanding of the extraordinary challenges they face as they seek to
grow their businesses.
The UK has every reason to be optimistic. World leading businesses and industries have
been and continue to be built here in the UK, and they are to be found in every region and
in every sector. But we cannot be complacent, and entrenched models and mindsets may
not be adequate to the task. My October 2012 report to the government, No Stone Unturned
in Pursuit of Growth, set out my vision of how we can build on our strengths – and address
longstanding issues – to enable the UK economy to thrive in both the short and the long term.
I emphasise in particular that a necessary condition for achieving our potential as a country is
unlocking the growth of all, not just some, of our local and regional economies.
Providing e?ective small business support should be a keystone of this e?ort and will require
new ways of working together across public and private sectors and an openness to innovative
ideas and models. Crucially, in supporting small businesses we should not start from a blank
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 2
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 3
slate but should tap into and where necessary catalyse and link together the local assets,
infrastructures and networks that are already serving small businesses.
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is a very welcome and timely
practical contribution to supporting small business growth, both in terms of what it does and
how it does it:
• It focuses its investment where it can make a diference, by providing a practical business
and management education to ensure that entrepreneurs preparing their businesses for
growth are familiar with best practice across every aspect of their business.
• It adopts an innovative approach, bringing small business leaders together to create
entrepreneurial communities whose participants share experience and insight and support
one another.
• It is a cross-sectoral partnership that draws extensively on the skills, resources and
initiative of local experts, notably universities and business schools, with each partner
bringing its unique assets to the common goal of supporting small business growth. It
complements and develops the business ecosystems in four of our great cities and the
surrounding regions.
The early evidence on the programme’s impact presented in this Progress Report suggests
that this approach is making a real di?erence to participating businesses and therefore
to local economies across the country. Further, by enhancing small business ecosystems
10,000 Small Businesses UK provides new opportunities for complementary investments
designed to stimulate small business growth. I hope that others will be inspired by the
experience of this partnership to bring their unique assets to support this crucial agenda.
The Rt Hon the Lord Heseltine CH
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 4
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Executive Summary
This Progress Report has been produced by the ?ve university partners
that lead the delivery of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK
programme. It describes the programme’s context and rationale, explains
how it is designed, sets out early evidence about its impact and draws
some general lessons from the experience of delivering the programme.
What is 10,000 Small Businesses?
10,000 Small Businesses UK is one of several programmes
developed and supported by Goldman Sachs and the Goldman
Sachs Foundation focused on accelerating the growth of high
potential small businesses to create jobs and grow economies.
Building on the success of the 10,000 Women initiative, which
provides a business education to women entrepreneurs in
emerging economies, 10,000 Small Businesses launched in
the United States in 2009. This programme, developed by the
F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, is
delivered through community college partners to underserved
entrepreneurs in cities across the United States.
In the UK 10,000 Small Businesses is a partnership between Goldman Sachs, the Goldman
Sachs Foundation and the following leading universities:
• Saïd Business School, University of Oxford – national partner;
• Aston Business School – Midlands programme;
• Leeds University Business School – Yorkshire programme;
• Manchester Metropolitan University Business School – North West programme; and
• UCL – London programme.
The UK programme has a broad regional coverage, including many areas of relative economic
disadvantage. It was ?rst piloted in Yorkshire in 2010, followed by expansion to North West
England, the Midlands and London. As of April 2013 almost 500 small business leaders across
the country have participated, and approximately 250 new participants join the programme
Through its investment in
these small business leaders
10,000 Small Businesses aims
to stimulate employment
creation and economic
growth.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 5
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
each year. Through its investment in these small business leaders 10,000 Small Businesses
aims to stimulate employment creation and economic growth.
Why small businesses matter
As well as being the major source of job creation in developed economies, small businesses
are critical to driving economic growth through innovation and market expansion. There is
growing evidence of the economic signi?cance of the small proportion of businesses that
exhibit high growth, which are to be found in all regions of the country and in all industry
sectors. The economic impact of increasing the population of high growth businesses, even
marginally, would be signi?cant and the opportunity to do so exists in all regions of the UK.
The design of 10,000 Small Businesses UK
The programme is designed speci?cally for the leaders of established small businesses who have the
ambition and the potential to generate substantial growth in their enterprises. Participation is by
competitive entry and is fully funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation for successful candidates.
Participants bene?t from a full package of support with a strong focus on structured peer
learning and the creation of communities of entrepreneurs.
Each participant undertakes the programme as a member of a cohort of 25 to 30
entrepreneurs. The core of the programme, undertaken by all participants, is a cycle
of 12 modules each focused on a di?erent aspect of business growth. The modules
together constitute a coherent and comprehensive curriculum designed speci?cally for
10,000 Small Businesses UK. Over the course of the modules every participant develops a
Business Growth Plan to guide the growth of their business beyond the programme.
The core programme is supplemented by topical workshops, legal clinics, one-to-one mentoring
and other support tailored to participants’ needs. The emphasis throughout is on learning that
is practically applicable in participants’ businesses and on creating an environment of trust
to encourage the intensive exchange of ideas and experience between participants. Over time,
a unique national community of entrepreneurs has developed that is focused on growth and
uni?ed by the shared experience of having participated in 10,000 Small Businesses UK.
Programme impact – early evidence
The aim of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is ultimately to help generate business
growth and employment creation that may not have otherwise happened.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 6
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
1 BIS Small Business Survey, 2012.
A rigorous and independent process has been established to
monitor changes in participants’ businesses for an extended
period afer they complete the programme. Data collected from this
process indicates that the programme is leading to an observable
impact on jobs and turnover. For example:
• A large majority – 77% – of participants report in their
initial follow up survey that they had increased the
number of people they employed in the previous
12 months.
• On average participants reported an annual increase of
23% in their net employment over the baseline position.
• Two thirds – 66% – of participants indicated that,
compared to the same period in the previous 12 months,
their turnover had increased.
• On average participants reported an annual increase of
16% in their annual turnover over the baseline position.
Almost all (92%) participants report that they are now more
con?dent in their ability successfully to grow their business than
they were before participating in 10,000 Small Businesses UK.
The opportunity to work closely with other entrepreneurs, to
provide mutual support to others with similar aspirations and to
join a dedicated community of like-minded entrepreneurs seems
to serve to increase con?dence, morale and resilience.
What the partnership is learning
The process of developing and delivering the
10,000 Small Businesses UK programme and monitoring its
impact on participants is enabling the programme partners to
understand how it is creating value on a number of di?erent
levels. A key outcome from the programme is how powerful
and self-sustaining entrepreneurial communities can be and
the importance of creating the conditions in which these can
form and ?ourish. The Report concludes with a discussion of
some of the features of 10,000 Small Businesses UK which are
proving particularly impactful for participants.
Revenue creation
66% of participants growing revenue vs. 35%
of UK small businesses.
1
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
35%
66%
Job creation
77% of participants creating net new jobs vs.
24% of UK small businesses.
1
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
24%
77%
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 7
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
2 Bravo-Biosca, A. (2010) Growth Dynamics: Exploring business growth and contraction in Europe and the US, NESTA
Research report: November 2010.
3 Anyadike-Danes, M; Hart, M and Du, J (2013) Firm Dynamics and Job Creation in the UK – Taking Stock and Developing New
Perspectives, Enterprise Research Centre White Paper, April 2013.
SECTION 1
Why Small Businesses Matter,
and the Case for Supporting
Them
As well as being the major source of job creation in developed
economies, small businesses are critical to driving economic
growth through innovation and market expansion.
2
Economies
thrive when their most ambitious, innovative and productive
small businesses are able to grow.
In every economy the overwhelming majority of small businesses do not grow and these
‘static’ businesses play a crucial role in delivering services and maintaining livelihoods.
But there is growing evidence of the economic signi?cance
of the much smaller proportion of businesses that exhibit
high growth.
This is perhaps most evident in high growth businesses’
disproportionate contribution to job creation.
3
For example,
in the UK high growth businesses
4
representing one per
cent of the total business population generated one million
jobs, or 23% of the total, between 2007 and 2010.
5
Less
evidently, growing small businesses are also critical drivers
of long term productivity growth. They bring innovative
products and processes to the market, and disseminate
these innovations as they expand their markets regionally,
nationally and internationally.
The international comparative evidence on business growth
shows that European countries have on average a lower share
of high growth businesses than the US.
6
Europe, and in particular the UK, has a much larger
share of static businesses. These di?erences have been shown to be signi?cant in explaining
variations in productivity across the economies.
7
It is crucial that small
businesses, whatever their
speci?c context, are able to
take full advantage of the
ecosystem around them and
to play a pro-active role in
fuelling their own growth.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 8
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
4 We follow the OECD methodology and de?ne a high-growth ?rm as any ?rm with a minimum of 10 employees at the beginning
of the period that achieves an average annualised employment growth greater than 20 per cent over a three year period.
5 Based on analysis for the period 2007-2010 of ONS data contained in Anyadike-Danes et al., (2013) op cit. Note: these ?ve
categories of ?rms are mutually exclusive and sum to the population of job creating businesses in the UK economy.
Within the UK, recent analysis shows the dominant position
of parts of London and the South East in the distribution of
high growth businesses but also highlights concentrations of
these businesses in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester,
Cardi? and Bristol. There is no particular sector bias among
high growth businesses. High growth businesses can be found
in every region and in every industry.
8
Overall, the evidence suggests that the economic impact of
increasing the population of high growth businesses, even
marginally, would be signi?cant and that the opportunity to
do so exists in all regions of the UK.
But what determines the likelihood of a ?rm achieving
fast growth and what does this tell us about the optimal
design of interventions that aim to accelerate small business
growth? The vast majority of research on small business
growth has focused on explaining the importance of business
age, sector and initial size and on speci?c barriers which can
limit growth (for example on access to ?nance and di?culties
in exporting). Relatively limited consideration has been given
to the role of leadership and the aspirations and capabilities
of management.
Clearly no intervention on its own can transform the
growth prospects of UK small businesses. A robust small
business support ecosystem will vary from region to region,
leveraging local assets and responding to speci?c needs and
opportunities, and will involve many players and evolving
interactions among them – including local, regional and
national administrative bodies; capital providers; professional
services ?rms; industry trade groups; academic institutions;
and large corporates seeking to optimise their supply chains.
Peer support among entrepreneurs themselves represents an
opportunity and an underexploited resource. It is crucial that
small businesses, whatever their speci?c context, are able to
take full advantage of the ecosystem around them and to play
a pro-active role in fuelling their own growth.
In the UK high growth
businesses representing one
per cent of the total business
population generated one
million jobs, or 23% of the
total, between 2007 and 2010.
4
PROPORTION OF
JOB CREATING FIRMS
PROPORTION OF TOTAL
JOB CREATION
MICRO-ENTERPRISES
– NON-HIGH-GROWTH
FIRMS
15% 27%
SMALL AND LARGE FIRMS
22% 5%
YOUNG FIRMS (LESS THAN
TWO YEARS OLD)
5% 6%
HIGH-GROWTH FIRMS
23% 1%
NEW FIRMS
61% 35%
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 9
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
6 Bravo-Biosca, A (2010), op cit.
7 Bravo-Biosca, A (2010) op cit.
8 Anyadike-Danes, M; Hart, M and Bonner, K (2013) Exploring the incidence and spatial distribution of HGFs in the UK and
their contribution to job creation, NESTA Working Paper No. 13/05.
The 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme aims to contribute to the development of the UK’s
small business support ecosystem in particular through:
• Focusing on the development of small businesses’ entrepreneurial and managerial
capabilities;
• Facilitating the development of peer-to-peer support networks of small businesses with
high growth potential; and
• Developing a partnership model of small business support provision between the corporate
and higher education sector that also draws on and complements existing local assets,
infrastructures and networks.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 10
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
SECTION 2
The Design of
10,000 Small Businesses UK
10,000 Small Businesses UK has been designed to accelerate the growth
of high potential small businesses. Participants bene?t from a coherent
and comprehensive package of support with a strong focus on structured
peer learning and the creation of communities of entrepreneurs.
Programme partners
10,000 Small Businesses UK is a partnership between
Goldman Sachs, the Goldman Sachs Foundation and ?ve
leading UK universities. Each university partner brings a
combination of recognised academic expertise on topics
relating to business growth and practical experience in
developing entrepreneurs’ management and leadership skills.
Each is also an important player in its respective business
ecosystem, and is able to draw on a uniquely wide range of
skills and resources for the bene?t of programme participants.
While four of the ?ve university partners have responsibility for
delivery in a speci?c region, they work closely on programme
development together. Saïd Business School, the programme’s national coordinating partner, works
closely with the regional delivery partners to ensure consistent delivery and to facilitate knowledge
sharing. The programme is recognisably the same from region to region and from cohort to cohort, but
each partner enjoys the ?exibility to introduce innovations within the overall structure. The most e?ective
of these innovations are shared quickly across the partnership through formal and informal transmission
mechanisms. The result is that the core curriculum and delivery model evolve organically over time and
re?ect a growing body of experience about how to deliver e?ective support to entrepreneurs.
Participant selection
Because 10,000 Small Businesses UK aims to support small businesses with high growth
potential, and given the focus on peer learning and the building of entrepreneurial
The programme evolves
organically over time and re?ects
a growing body of experience
about how to deliver e?ective
support to entrepreneurs.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 11
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
communities, the selection process to participate in the
programme is necessarily rigorous.
Recruitment is managed regionally and is targeted at leaders
of established small businesses and social enterprises with
typically between ?ve and 40 employees. Many participants
are founder CEOs of their businesses and all exercise
considerable direct control over every aspect of their business.
Beyond these basic requirements, the selection process aims
to identify participants who have the potential to generate
signi?cant growth with the programme’s support. Information
from application forms, applicant interviews and background
research is used to assess:
• The entrepreneur’s and the business’s track record;
• The entrepreneur’s ambition for their business;
• The nature and scale of the business’s growth opportunity; and
• The entrepreneur’s potential to beneft from the programme and to contribute to other
participants’ development.
As illustrated in Section 1, only a very small proportion of small businesses exhibit high
growth. Similarly, the combination of characteristics sought in 10,000 Small Businesses UK
participants is relatively uncommon among the broader small business population. But by
bringing together entrepreneurs who share these characteristics the selection process provides
a strong foundation for trust between participants right from the start.
I’m now dealing with participants from outside of my particular cohort,
businesses that have been vetted by the 10,000 Small Businesses network, people
that have been through the same application process, have been successful on
the course and understand my goals and objectives.”
North West participant
There are no restrictions on participation in terms of business sector or the entrepreneur’s
background, with the result that each cohort of participants is highly diverse in its makeup.
The key commonality is that all participants share the desire and the potential to grow their
“
Each participant cohort is
highly diverse in its makeup,
though all participants share
the desire and the potential to
grow their businesses.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 12
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
9 A prescriptive de?nition of “social enterprise” is not used but in general it is required that participants derive the bulk of
their revenue from trading activities rather than from grant funding.
businesses. A notable example of this diversity, and one which is unusual if not unique in the
business support space, is that mission-driven businesses and social enterprises participate
in the programme alongside more purely commercially-driven small businesses. This design
feature is based on bespoke research which found that these ?rms face many of the same
growth challenges as other small businesses.
9
Programme structure and content
Once selected, participants beneft from an intensive and wide-ranging programme of support.
The content covered in the core programme of 12 topic-centred compulsory
modules is wide-ranging but consistently underpinned by the theme of
business growth.
PRESENTING AND PITCHING YOUR BUSINESS
BUSINESS GROWTH PLAN
PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING AND SUPPORT
LEGAL CLINICS
IDENTIFYING AND MAXIMISING OPPORTUNITIES
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND GROWTH
PREPARING FOR CAPITAL
TOPICAL WORKSHOPS
ACCESS TO NEW NETWORKS
INTERNATIONALISATION
You and Your Business 1a/b
Marketing 5
Money and Metrics 3
Good Business 7
Growth and
Opportunities
2
Finance For Growth 9
It’s The People
You Are the Leader
Strategic Growth
Through Operations
Putting It All Together
4
6
8
10a/b
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 13
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
The content covered in the core programme of 12 topic-centred modules is wide-ranging but
consistently underpinned by the theme of business growth. The comprehensive nature of
this core programme means that participants can both work to develop business skills which
they know have been less well developed over the course of their entrepreneurial career, and
identify weaknesses and strengths of which they were not aware.
Threaded throughout the modules are horizontal themes and
activities. The most important of these is the Business Growth
Plan which every participant develops and re?nes iteratively
from module to module. This Plan charts the participant’s
medium to long term growth strategy and the action plan to
implement it. It can be adapted for use in capital raising and
building consensus within management teams on strategic
decisions. The consistent focus on the Business Growth Plan
ensures that the programme content always ties back to
practical action and change in participants’ businesses.
The modules take place fortnightly over three to four
months. This schedule strikes a balance between immersing
participants in an intensive learning environment outside
their businesses, and providing opportunities to test out
ideas inspired by the modules in their businesses. The core
programme is su?ciently short and intensive to generate energy and momentum, and long
enough to enable participants to develop robust, well-tested growth strategies that endure
beyond their involvement in the programme. Crucially, the duration of the programme also
enables participants to build a strong support and enduring network within their cohort.
For me I found the most valuable part was taking yourself out of the business,
and looking from the outside in. It gives you a much greater sense of perspective,
and you are able to criticise your own business with like-minded people.”
Yorkshire participant
Participants also bene?t from the input of practitioners from the wider regional business
ecosystem. Each is assigned an experienced business advisor who helps them to develop
their Business Growth Plans and to translate module content into practical action. The core
programme is further supplemented by topical business workshops, legal clinics and other
support services tailored to participants’ needs.
“
The learning environment
is designed to encourage
an intensive and productive
exchange of knowledge between
the participating entrepreneurs
that catalyses change in them
and their businesses.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 14
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Learning environment
The learning environment in which 10,000 Small Businesses
UK participants are immersed is di?erent from a typical MBA
programme, perhaps its closest equivalent. All participants are
successful practising entrepreneurs who return to their businesses
afer each module. Each brings experience and networks which
are valuable to other participants. The learning environment is
designed to encourage an intensive and productive exchange
of knowledge between the participating entrepreneurs that
catalyses change in them and their businesses.
Facilitated peer learning is an approach used throughout
the programme and creating a strong basis of trust between
participants is a necessary condition for this method to work
e?ectively. Each cohort is divided at the outset into Growth Groups
of ?ve participants each and these meet throughout the core
programme to discuss, deliberate and form strategies around real
business issues and collaborate on evolving Business Growth Plans.
You develop your Business Growth Plan with the 25
other participants, but especially with the core Growth
Group of the ?ve of you. They know everything that’s
in my plan, they’ve helped me develop it.”
Yorkshire participant
Over time, participants become increasingly familiar with each
other’s businesses and able and willing to add value to each other,
both within their Growth Groups and in the wider cohort. This
value takes many forms – shared experience, direct business with
one another, strategic partnerships or mergers, introductions
to new clients and suppliers, mentoring relationships or
simply increased morale or con?dence. Each cohort begins the
programme a disconnected group of entrepreneurs, operating in
the same region. By the end they are part of an interconnected
network that produces a multitude of productive relationships
and connections within the cohort and beyond.
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RIGOROUS
RECRUITMENT
AND SELECTION
10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES
COHORT
REGIONAL SMALL BUSINESS
POPULATION
SMALL BUSINESS WITH
HIGH GROWTH POTENTIAL
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 15
* Data for the UK is taken from the ONS Business Structure Database (BSD) and the BIS Small Business Survey (2012).
Participant Diversity
Business
age
Most participants’ businesses are
under 10 years old
1-5
YEARS
30 YEARS
AND OVER
20-30
YEARS
10-20
YEARS
6-10
YEARS
6%
9%
31%
32%
22%
Participant
age
Broad range of ages represented, most
participants are over 40 years of age
20-30
YEARS
60-70
YEARS
50-60
YEARS
40-50
YEARS
30-40
YEARS
1%
17%
34%
7%
41%
Gender diversity
32% of participants are women entrepreneurs
vs. 19% of women-led small businesses across
the UK *
PARTICIPANTS ARE WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
UK WOMEN-LED
SMALL BUSINESSES
32%
19%
Business sectors
Sectoral breakdown (based on SIC codes) of 10,000 Small Businesses
participants
Social enterprises
13% of participants are social enterprises
ALL OTHER CATEGORIES
WHOLESALE &
RETAIL TRADE
PROFESSIONAL SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL
INFORMATION &
COMMUNICATION
ADMINISTRATIVE & SUPPORT SERVICES
MANUFACTURING
17%
16%
14%
14%
9%
30%
SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
PARTICIPANTS
87%
13%
YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
Leeds University Business School
YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
NORTH WEST
Manchester Metropolitan
University Business School
NORTH WEST
MIDLANDS
Aston Business School
MIDLANDS
LONDON & SOUTH EAST
UCL
LONDON & SOUTH EAST
Geography
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 16
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 17
* Data for the UK is taken from the ONS Business Structure Database (BSD) and the BIS Small Business Survey (2012).
Programme Impact
*
Job
creation
77% of participants creating net
new jobs vs. 24% of UK small
businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
24%
77%
Revenue
creation
66% of participants growing
revenues vs. 35% of UK small
businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
35%
66%
Employment
growth rate
Average net employment growth
rate of participants 23% vs. -1%
for UK small businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-1%
23%
Revenue
growth rate
Average growth rate of
participant revenues 16% vs.
-9% for UK small businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-9%
16%
Strategic change
Participation in the programme is catalysing major strategic changes in participating
businesses
INTRODUCED
NEW INTERNAL
PROCESSES
USING FINANCIAL
DATA MORE TO
DRIVE BUSINESS
DECISIONS
FOUND NEW
SUPPLIERS
THROUGH THE
PROGRAMME
INCREASED
TRAINING
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR STAFF
HAVE IMPROVED
QUALITY OF
AN EXISTING
PRODUCT/SERVICE
MORE CONFIDENT
IN THEIR ABILITY
TO GROW THEIR
BUSINESS
92
%
83
%
81
%
43
%
64
%
52
%
Capital for growth
The programme is helping participants to
evaluate and access di?erent forms of capital
for growth
67
%
84
%
67
%
HAVE ENHANCED
UNDERSTANDING
OF THE EXTERNAL
FINANCE OPTIONS
AVAILABLE
ARE BETTER
ABLE TO SECURE
EXTERNAL
FINANCE
WILL TRY TO
OBTAIN FINANCE
TO GROW THEIR
BUSINESS IN THE
NEXT 12 MONTHS
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Note on Measurement Methodology
10,000 Small Businesses UK participant data is
collected for monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
purposes by BMG Research, an independent
market research agency based in Birmingham.
Standardised interviews are conducted with
participants when they begin the programme
(the “baseline” survey) and then approximately 6
months and 18 months afer their completion of
the core programme.
The baseline survey is intended to determine
participants’ situation prior to entering the
programme, in terms of turnover, numbers
employed, business management, business planning,
access to ?nance, networking and business
challenges. Subsequent interviews enable changes
in the same variables to be tracked over time.
Participant interviews are mainly conducted
through a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing) methodology, which has proven to
deliver the highest response rates and best data
quality, with a minority preferring to complete the
survey online.
Other than the ?rst cohorts who took part in an
online survey, there have been three waves of
interviewing. Each wave consisted of baseline and
post-6 month interviews, with the March 2013
wave including the ?rst post-18 month interviews.
Response rates are extremely high for a survey of
this type:
• First wave (March – April 2012). seven cohorts
were interviewed (four baseline, three post-6
month). 171 interviews achieved at an overall
response rate of 96% (97% for baseline, 93% for
post-6 month)
• Second wave (September – October 2012). seven
cohorts were interviewed (four baseline, three post-
6 month). 181 interviews achieved at an overall
response rate of 96% (97% for baseline, 94% for
post-6 month)
• Third wave (March 2013, still ongoing). seven cohorts
were interviewed (four post-6 month, three post-18
month). 152 interviews achieved as 25th March, at
an overall response rate of 86% (87% for post-6 month,
84% for post-18 month)
Data shown in this report is based on 233
participants who completed both baseline and
post-6 month surveys as at 25th March 2013.
In ?ve cases the business leader indicated that
their current business was not the business for
which they had completed a Business Growth
Plan, and although they were still involved in that
business they were unable to provide employment
and turnover at the time of the survey. They
were, however, able to respond to all the other
questions in the survey. Impact changes reported
are comparisons between baseline and post-6
month or (where speci?ed) post-18 month survey
?gures. Please note that in the early baselines
?gures for turnover were based on businesses’
?nancial year end rather than the preceding
12 months. Therefore, because year end di?ers
between businesses, the ?gures shown for turnover
change between the baseline and later surveys are
equivalent to the annual change in turnover.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 18
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 19
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
SECTION 3
Early Evidence on Programme
Impact
10,000 Small Businesses is committed to a rigorous and independent
process of monitoring changes in participants’ businesses for an
extended period afer they complete the programme.
10
To date the
results from this process are providing growing evidence of the
range of ways 10,000 Small Businesses UK is generating impact.
The aim of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is ultimately to help generate
employment and economic growth that may not have otherwise happened. While this cannot
be measured directly (because the counterfactual of what would have happened without
the programme is not observable), follow-up surveys with participants capture a range of
quantitative and qualitative data on the changes that are taking place in their businesses as
well as in the behaviour and attitudes of the leaders who are driving these changes. In broad
terms the data collected from participants to date indicate that 10,000 Small Businesses UK is,
on average, producing signi?cant changes in a range of business behaviours and is leading to
an observable impact on jobs and turnover.
The following summary is based primarily on the responses from the 233 participants who
responded to the initial follow-up survey and provide some snapshots of the changes that
are taking place among participants and their businesses following their completion of the
programme. There are a further 55 participants who have now undertaken the second follow-
up survey whose outcomes will be summarised separately.
Growth – jobs and turnover
Changes in participants’ knowledge, con?dence, networks and business practices matter
economically if they feed through ultimately into job creation and growth. Evidence from
participant tracking to date is very encouraging in this respect.
A large majority – 77% – of the 233 participants across the four delivery regions who
undertook the initial follow-up survey reported that they had increased the number of people
10 These surveys are undertaken by BMG Research – an independent market research company (see panel for details of the
methodology).
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 20
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
11 Based on special analysis by BMG Research from the BIS Small Business Survey (2012) – ?eldwork was undertaken
between June and September 2012. We were interested in looking at the responses of a group of small businesses that
closely matched the pro?le of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK participants – that is, businesses employing between ?ve
and 40 people and had been trading for at least three years. The question in the BIS Small Business Survey is not identical
to that used here as it used the phrase “more or less remained the same” compared to “remained the same” in this survey.
they employed in the previous 12 months, with a further
13% reporting no change. Further, two-thirds – 66% – of the
participants indicated that, compared to the same period
in the previous 12 months, their turnover had increased
with a further 21% reporting that it had stayed the same.
Importantly, far from coming at the expense of sustainability
this growth appears to be coupled with enhanced pro?tability
– 53% of participants had increased the underlying
proftability of the business while a third (34%) reported that
it had remained unchanged.
The performance of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK
participants compares very favourably to the wider
population of small business employers in the UK, of which
only 24% reported in 2012 that they had more employees
than 12 months previously.
11
Similarly, only 35% of small
business employers reported that their turnover was greater
than 12 months previously.
Looking at the actual numbers participants in the initial
follow-up survey reported an increase of 16% in turnover over
their baseline position (annualised) – which totaled £266m
(£1.17m average; £650k median).
In terms of jobs these participants had a total of 3,900 full-
time equivalent jobs (FTEs) when they began the programme
(17 jobs average; 11 jobs median). Overall, they are reporting
an increase in employment over baseline of 23% to date.
The most recent data we have from o?cial ONS sources
indicates that average employment growth rates for
comparable small businesses in the UK (i.e., those with
between ?ve and 40 employees; established prior to 2009
and UK-owned) for the year to March 2011 were marginally
negative (i.e., -1.3%). Average turnover growth rates for this
group of UK small businesses were also negative in this period
(i.e.,-9%).
Employment
growth rate
Average net employment growth of
participants 23% vs. -1% for UK small
businesses.
12
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-1%
23%
Revenue growth
rate
Average growth rate of participant revenues
16% vs. -9% for UK small businesses.
12
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-9%
16%
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 21
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
12 ONS BSD, 2010-11.
Early evidence suggests that this growth trajectory continues well beyond participants’
involvement in the core part of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme. For the 55
participants (Yorkshire and North West only) who were contacted for the second follow-up
survey around 18 months afer they had completed the programme reported that they had
a 49% increase in their turnover compared to their baseline position. This translates into
an increase in annual turnover of 18%. In terms of jobs they are reporting an increase over
baseline of 65% to date.
Programme additionality
10,000 Small Businesses UK participants are on a growth trajectory which clearly separates
them from the broader small business population. This is not unexpected given the
competitive selection process involved to participate in the programme. The data reported here
could therefore in theory simply re?ect selection bias.
This is unlikely given further data collected in the participant surveys. To help indicate the
extent of the value added by the programme, participants are asked in the surveys whether
they would have achieved these changes in the absence of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK
programme. In response half (49%) report that they would not
have created new jobs.
The range of signi?cant business and behavioural changes
reported by programme alumni constitute further prima facie
evidence of value added by the programme. By virtue of the
selection process 10,000 Small Businesses UK participants are
relatively sophisticated and, therefore, delivering incremental
value to them, and creating bene?cial change in their
businesses, is arguably more di?cult than it would be for the
average small business – but the data on behavioural change
clearly suggests that the programme is producing positive
changes in participants’ business practices.
This initial interim assessment of additionality is a positive
outcome given the existing growth trends in these businesses
before they come on the programme and the short time scale since they completed it. Data on
self-reported additionality will continue to be collected although the construction of control
groups of similar ?rms against which to benchmark future growth performance will provide
further insight.
10,000 Small Businesses
UK participants are on a
growth trajectory which
clearly separates them from
the broader small business
population.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 22
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
New knowledge and best practices
The surveys provide signi?cant evidence that participants
acquire new knowledge and familiarity with best practices
across a range of areas and, critically, that these are being
implemented in their businesses.
For example, the role of sound ?nancial management as an
essential building block for growth is one of the horizontal
themes running throughout the 10,000 Small Businesses UK
programme. There are many occasions when participants,
whether individually or in groups, spend time working in
detail on the ?nancial aspects of their business. This is of
crucial importance as the businesses seek to present capital
providers with a clear proposition of the resources they
require to fund their growth.
Anecdotally, on enrolling many participants report having
maintained a relatively hands o? approach to their
businesses’ management data and accounts. The programme
is having a clear impact here, with over four-ffhs (81%) of
the participants in the initial follow-up survey reporting that
they use ?nancial data to drive business decisions more than
they did before 10,000 Small Businesses UK. Further, 87% of
participants report that, post-programme, they have a clearer
understanding which ?nancial metrics are critical to the
success of their business.
Business con?dence and networks
I now feel that I have the con?dence to make the
decisions and to lead my team and have them share
the vision that we have in running the business.”
North West participant
In addition to conveying practically useful knowledge,
it is clear that the programme has signi?cant “sofer”
“
92
%
83
%
81
%
43
%
64
%
52
%
INTRODUCED
NEW INTERNAL
PROCESSES
USING FINANCIAL
DATA MORE TO
DRIVE BUSINESS
DECISIONS
FOUND NEW
SUPPLIERS
THROUGH THE
PROGRAMME
INCREASED
TRAINING
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR STAFF
HAVE IMPROVED
QUALITY OF
AN EXISTING
PRODUCT/SERVICE
MORE CONFIDENT
IN THEIR ABILITY
TO GROW THEIR
BUSINESS
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 23
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
impacts such as building confdence. Almost all (92%) participants report that they are now
more con?dent in their ability successfully to grow their business than they were before
participating in 10,000 Small Businesses UK.
This impact on con?dence seems to occur through various channels, including through
programme content, but the role of being part of a peer group and the interactions this
enables appear particularly critical. The opportunity to work closely with other entrepreneurs
in a “safe” learning environment, to provide mutual support to others with similar aspirations
and to join a dedicated community of like-minded
entrepreneurs seems to serve to increase con?dence, morale
and resilience.
There is clear evidence that the programme is helping to
create these strong entrepreneurial communities. To illustrate
this, two-ffhs (43%) of the participants have found new
suppliers through the programme, the same proportion (41%)
new business partners and half (51%) new clients for their
businesses. The programme has created a unique peer to peer
marketplace in which participants can o?er and purchase
a diverse range of products and services, ofen at preferred
terms. The embedded trust among 10,000 Small Businesses
community members is providing a robust platform to
conduct, high impact commercial activity.
Strategic change
The surveys provide ample evidence that participation
in the programme is catalysing major strategic change
in participants’ businesses, not least changes relating to
innovation and market expansion which are known to be
two key drivers of small business growth. The scale of strategic change observed in the
participating businesses a short time afer their involvement in the programme illustrates its
practical nature and its focus on immediate impacts for participants’ businesses.
Four-ffhs (83%) of participants reported that they had introduced new internal processes and
systems as a result of participating in the programme, and a signi?cant number are engaged
in innovative practices:
The opportunity to work closely
with other entrepreneurs in a
“safe” learning environment,
to provide mutual support to
others with similar aspirations
and to join a dedicated
community of like-minded
entrepreneurs seems to serve
to increase con?dence, morale
and resilience.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 24
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
13 BIS Small Business Survey (2012) – SME employers only.
14 SME Finance Monitor – Quarter 4 results 2012.
• Almost two-thirds (64%) reported that they had improved the quality of an existing product
or service;
• Over half (53%) had researched or developed a new product or service; and
• Two-ffhs (45%) had launched a new product or service.
At the time of the initial surveys over a quarter (26%) of the participants had already entered
new regional markets within the UK and a minority had begun trading in international
markets (7%) as a direct result of the programme.
Hiring, retaining and motivating the best people are critical challenges to growing small
businesses. Just over half (52%) of the participants report that they have actively engaged in
training opportunities for their employees and recruited employees to key positions in the
business (64%).
Accessing ?nance for growth
For many participating businesses, achieving their growth potential will require preparing for
and securing appropriate forms of external capital, and this is a key horizontal theme running
throughout 10,000 Small Businesses UK. A large majority of
participants (84%) agreed that the programme had enhanced
their understanding of the external ?nance options available
and 71% reported that the programme had enhanced their
ability to win fnance. One in fve (20%) participants reported
that the programme had helped to enhance their business
network by introducing them to new capital providers (both
debt and equity fnance).
Overall 7% of participants had tried to obtain external equity
fnance (angel investment and early stage venture capital)
and 9% had tried from existing shareholders. This compares
to the 1-2% of small businesses (10-49 employees) in the UK
who tried to obtain equity investment from either a business
angel, venture capitalists or from other shareholders in the
last 12 months.
13
Considering only those UK small businesses
who are planning to grow in the next 12 months the proportion remains at around 1%. From
another recent UK survey the proportion of small businesses (i.e., 10-49 employees) seeking
loans/equity from directors was 6%.
14
For many participating
businesses, achieving their
growth potential will require
preparing for and securing
appropriate forms of external
capital.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 25
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
15 SME Finance Monitor (2012). That is, in the 12 months before they were surveyed in Q4 of 2012, 9% reported a loan/
overdraf event, but had not applied for other forms of ?nance and a further 4% reported both a loan/overdraf event and
applying for other forms of external ?nance.
Overall, 7% of participants reported that they had received equity investment from existing
shareholders and 4% had negotiated investment with new shareholders (e.g., angels or formal
VC). More than half of the participants who had sought external equity fnance reported that
they had been successful in securing it in the relatively short period between completing the
programme and the initial survey.
With respect to debt fnance 29% of participants had successfully obtained a bank overdraf
(including the renewal of an existing facility) and 11% a bank loan since they completed the
programme. Although not directly comparable UK data shows that 13% of SMEs reported a
loan/overdraf event (i.e., an application) in the previous 12 months.
15
A promising indicator of participants’ future growth intentions is that two-thirds (67%)
reported that they will seek ?nance to grow their business in the next 12 months.
Summary
The 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme was designed to help create employment and
stimulate growth in a range of regional environments across the UK and the evidence
suggests that it is having a signi?cant impact – with participants growing at a rate that is
exceptional in the private sector at the moment and which seems to be driven at least in part
by the programme. Further, it is changing the strategic focus of the businesses which will
build the foundation for even further growth. The data reported here is only the beginning of
the growth story for these businesses.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 26
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
SECTION 4
What We are Learning
The process of developing and delivering the 10,000 Small Businesses
UK programme and monitoring its impact on participants is enabling
the programme partners to understand how it is creating value on a
number of di?erent levels. There are important lessons emerging which
we share here as a contribution to the debate about how we can develop
a world class small business support environment across the UK.
At the simplest level the programme works by creating space for individual entrepreneurs
to think more strategically about their businesses and this equips them better to grow.
Creating this space is challenging and requires innovative approaches. 10,000 Small Businesses
UK is achieving it by building and nurturing new types of communities and partnerships
whose members bring di?erent skills and experiences, all underpinned by the shared goal
of stimulating small business growth. Some of the most important building blocks that are
enabling these communities to develop and ?ourish are:
• An environment in which entrepreneurs can share risk and grow in confdence
• Participant diversity
• The shared endeavour of learning
• Corporate/academic partnership
• University-led delivery
• Innovation within a shared framework
• An integrated programme
• A curriculum adapted to diferent learning styles
• Participants’ changed understanding of their roles as business leaders
• Developing powerful business networks
Entrepreneurial communities
At the heart of 10,000 Small Businesses UK are the small business leaders who participate
in the programme together and who, in the process of doing so, form new entrepreneurial
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 27
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
communities. A key outcome from the programme is how
powerful and self-sustaining these communities are and
the importance of creating the conditions in which they
can evolve.
An environment in which entrepreneurs can share risk and
grow in con?dence: Barriers which hinder a small business’s
growth and limit its potential. The programme has shown
that improving the owner-managers’ confdence in their own
potential for growth can have a dramatic impact in helping
them to overcome these barriers. Partly this can be achieved
through the programme’s support to give the participants
essential missing knowledge, partly through the process of
developing a rigorous Business Growth Plan. But a crucial
role is also being played by “risk sharing”, on an emotional or
intellectual level, with other entrepreneurs and thinking out
loud together, co-creating ideas, and exploring opportunities
in a safe yet stimulating setting.
The best part of the 10,000 Small Businesses programme was the environment
and the group that I was working within allowed me to expose my inhibitions,
insecurities and it also allowed me to share my skills. It allowed me to do this in
an environment where every single other individual was going through exactly
the same.”
Yorkshire participant
The programme has highlighted the importance of creating an environment in which this
risk sharing can take place between entrepreneurs. They are naturally well placed to provide
support to one another, but in the normal course of events there are multiple barriers to
entrepreneurs establishing such strong communities of support. The 10,000 Small Businesses
UK model facilitates this process by selecting for particular traits and experience in its
participants, and then providing a robust platform for them to interact and build trust.
The more time and e?ort spent on developing the right type of strategic space for such
interactions to take place, the better the results for the participants. For example, the
brainstorming sessions within the modules allow the participants to play the role of
“trust-based critical friend”. This allows a depth of interaction not generally found in many
membership-based network organisations.
“
The inclusion of social
enterprises is powerfully
complementing all participants’
learning. This raises the question
as to why business support
e?orts targeting social enterprises
tend to be ring-fenced from
the wider business community
of which they are part.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 28
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Participant diversity: Trust between participants is
encouraged by their diversity. This is partly because cohorts
do not contain participants who are competing with one
another in the same market. But more fundamentally it
means that participants can bring di?erent experiences,
insights and perspectives to one another, while also knowing
they have all been through the same selection process and
share similar objectives for their businesses.
How can a robot business and a cleaning business
and a haulage business and a restaurant have similar
problems? In fact it turns out almost all the problems
in business management that we are facing are
common across all of us.”
London participant
A compelling example of this is the inclusion of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises
in every cohort. This is powerfully complementing all participants’ learning and this raises
the question as to why business support eforts targeting social enterprises tend to be ring-
fenced from the wider business community of which they are part. Unique collaborations
and commercial partnerships are forming between the mission- and commercially-driven
businesses that would not have happened without the platform that 10,000 Small Businesses
UK provides. These collaborations are producing new innovations, business practices, and
most enduringly, changed value sets, particularly for the commercial businesses who are now
recognising the bene?ts of embedding broader value sets in their business cultures.
We deal with the same issues; we have the same challenges; and we have the
same aspirations.”
Midlands participant
Learning communities
The shared endeavour of learning: The shared endeavour around which these communities
form is pro-active learning. While all participants in the programme are already successful
in their own right, they join the programme because they recognise the bene?t to them and
to their growing businesses from further learning and skill-building. Interestingly, some of
the more established businesses describe how they felt they had reached a plateau before
“
“
It is fundamental to the
programme’s design that
the participants are the true
experts in their own ?elds and
that the academics, deliverers
and speakers are there, not to
lecture, but to facilitate learning.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 29
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
they applied to the programme and even the act of completing the application rekindled their
energy for the next growth spurt.
It is fundamental to the programme’s design that the
participants are the true experts in their own ?elds and
that the academics, deliverers and speakers are there, not to
lecture, but to facilitate learning. The participants own and
have responsibility for their own learning journeys, prompting
the curriculum, creating demands of their individual business
advisors and de?ning their needs. Experiences and theories
are shared non-prescriptively and it is for the business
owners themselves to evaluate and decide what is right
for them. From this a relationship between the university
and the participant develops which exists far beyond the
programme and represents a practical partnership model for
true knowledge exchange. This integrated learning model
demonstrates how responsive a single programme can be to
the diverse needs of multi-sector and multi-stage businesses.
Corporate/academic partnership: The partnership between a major corporate and ?ve
leading universities is unusual in the small business support landscape but is proving to
be highly e?ective. The corporate partner brings a clear focus on the objectives sought
through the programme and the ability to convene other parties, resources and capital
around these objectives. The university partners have each brought their own core strengths
in entrepreneurial education and will gain enduring bene?t from working together
collaboratively with other institutions that have complementary strengths. This partnership
model between the corporate and education sector may lend itself to other groupings and
other contexts across the UK.
University-led delivery: The role of the community of universities which leads in the delivery
of the programme is clearly crucial to catalysing these learning communities. As well as being
centres of expertise on business and enterprise, each partner is itself an important player in its
own local and regional business infrastructure. Each partner is uniquely well placed to create
the right balance between academic content and the practical applications of this content in
each business to generate growth, and where appropriate to innovate in response to local and
regional variations in business ecosystems. Maintaining the individual Business Growth Plans
at the core of all parts of the curriculum is resulting in a useful tool that entrepreneurs are
continuing to use and maintain beyond the formal structure of the programme.
This partnership model
between the corporate and
education sector may lend
itself to other groupings and
other contexts across the UK.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 30
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Innovation within a shared framework: A curriculum that allows partners the ?exibility
to innovate, e?ective structures for the transfer of innovations across partners and the
programme’s ability to evolve over time have been critical to the success of the partnership.
Importantly, the Saïd Business School plays a crucial role in ensuring quality of content
and delivery to maintain a consistent 10,000 Small Businesses UK experience across the
regions. The academic consortium meets three times a year to break down and improve the
core curriculum, discuss new innovations and share delivery experiences. The programme
frequently engages with Babson College to drive cross-Atlantic knowledge exchange with the
10,000 Small Businesses US initiative.
An integrated programme: The curriculum combines sequential modules – in subjects such
as operations, leadership and ?nance – with horizontal themes and activities that are threaded
throughout the modules. A number of these horizontal strands have proven highly impactful.
One such strand has been the potential value of connecting social and ?nancial value and its
relevance to both commercial and mission driven ?rms. This is of course reinforced by the
presence in each cohort of both mission- and commercially-driven small businesses.
A curriculum adapted to di?erent learning styles: Our participants demonstrate
considerable diversity in their preferred learning styles. To satisfy this breadth the modules
that constitute the core programme are consciously structured to vary pace, learning style
and group size through the day. The core programme itself is only one part of participants’
10,000 Small Businesses experience, with other delivery formats including topical workshops,
growth group reviews, individual mentoring, business visits and peer-to-peer activity that
both satisfy varied learning styles and reinforce the application of the learning to generate
growth in the individual businesses.
Enduring impact
Participants’ changed understanding of their roles as business leaders: While providing
learning opportunities for individual entrepreneurs and businesses is important, the legacy of
the programme will come from the impact that participants’ experiences on the programme has
on the wider communities and ecosystems within which they operate. We have numerous
instances of participants’ experience on the programme changing how they understand their
role as business leaders. On a very practical level it requires the business owners to learn key
delegation skills and develop leadership teams that can handle the day-to-day activities as they
focus on long term strategic growth. More fundamentally, in many cases taking time out of their
businesses and working together with other practitioners in the unique environment o?ered by
the programme has transformed participants’ understanding of their role and their ambitions.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 31
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Through doing the programme I identi?ed the opportunity to bring someone
else into the business so that I could take more of a back seat and start to look
at things more strategically. This is naturally where I wanted to go, and the
programme has allowed me to do it.”
Midlands participant
Developing powerful business networks: The core programme which
10,000 Small Businesses UK participants undertake has increasingly come to be regarded as
only the starting point for their journeys. The focus of the university partnership has been
further catalysing the communities of shared endeavour that are created cohort by cohort, and
growing these communities by linking them with one another.
The strength of the bonds formed during the programme
both within and across cohorts has been truely impressive.
This build-up of trust and participants’ respect for one
another manifests itself in many forms, all of which prove
hugely bene?cial to the individuals and their businesses. The
richness of experience and the passion for growth which the
entrepreneurs share with each other is transformative for the
aspirations, practices and opportunities of the businesses.
The premise of the further development of the
10,000 Small Businesses UK alumni community is that, given
the value created by bringing 25 to 30 carefully selected
entrepreneurs together in a cohort, the impact from linking
up these individual cohorts regionally and nationally could be
even greater. While this dimension of 10,000 Small Businesses
UK is at a relatively early stage, it provides a signi?cant opportunity to generate a legacy
above and beyond the programme’s immediate impact on job creation and economic growth.
“
The core programme which
10,000 Small Businesses UK
participants undertake has
increasingly come to be
regarded as only the starting
point for their journeys.
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
The Business Growth Plan I developed through
the 10,000 Small Businesses programme is now
our business plan. That’s how we’re going to move
forward. We have the numbers behind it. We have
the con?dence to invest. Here we go.”
Midlands participant
“
This work contains statistical data from ONS which is Crown Copyright. The use of the ONS statistical data in this work does not imply the endorsement of the ONS in relation to the
interpretation or analysis of the statistical data. This work uses research datasets which may not exactly reproduce National Statistics aggregates.
32 STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK
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© 10,000 Small Businesses UK, 2013
For more information, visit: www.gs.com/10ksb-uk
doc_138245042.pdf
In this paper point stimulating small business growth progress report on the goldman sachs 10,000.
STIMULATING SMALL
BUSINESS GROWTH
Progress Report on the Goldman Sachs
10,000 Small Businesses UK Programme
April 2013
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Foreword by The Rt Hon the
Lord Heseltine CH
No reminder is needed that developed economies the world
over, including the UK, face unprecedented challenges. Foremost
among these is the need to restore sustained growth in an
environment of constrained resources, at a time when markets
are more global and competition – for customers, skills,
resources – grows more intense by the day. At stake is our
ability to sustain and raise the standard of living of current and
future generations.
Enabling our most ambitious, innovative and productive small businesses to grow in every
part of the UK is a crucial piece of this puzzle. In every thriving economy small businesses
are key drivers of job creation and growth and it is from among today’s small businesses that
tomorrow’s national and global players will emerge.
My own experience of starting and growing a small business, albeit in di?erent economic
circumstances, and my subsequent career has lef me both with an enduring admiration for
entrepreneurs and an understanding of the extraordinary challenges they face as they seek to
grow their businesses.
The UK has every reason to be optimistic. World leading businesses and industries have
been and continue to be built here in the UK, and they are to be found in every region and
in every sector. But we cannot be complacent, and entrenched models and mindsets may
not be adequate to the task. My October 2012 report to the government, No Stone Unturned
in Pursuit of Growth, set out my vision of how we can build on our strengths – and address
longstanding issues – to enable the UK economy to thrive in both the short and the long term.
I emphasise in particular that a necessary condition for achieving our potential as a country is
unlocking the growth of all, not just some, of our local and regional economies.
Providing e?ective small business support should be a keystone of this e?ort and will require
new ways of working together across public and private sectors and an openness to innovative
ideas and models. Crucially, in supporting small businesses we should not start from a blank
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 2
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 3
slate but should tap into and where necessary catalyse and link together the local assets,
infrastructures and networks that are already serving small businesses.
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is a very welcome and timely
practical contribution to supporting small business growth, both in terms of what it does and
how it does it:
• It focuses its investment where it can make a diference, by providing a practical business
and management education to ensure that entrepreneurs preparing their businesses for
growth are familiar with best practice across every aspect of their business.
• It adopts an innovative approach, bringing small business leaders together to create
entrepreneurial communities whose participants share experience and insight and support
one another.
• It is a cross-sectoral partnership that draws extensively on the skills, resources and
initiative of local experts, notably universities and business schools, with each partner
bringing its unique assets to the common goal of supporting small business growth. It
complements and develops the business ecosystems in four of our great cities and the
surrounding regions.
The early evidence on the programme’s impact presented in this Progress Report suggests
that this approach is making a real di?erence to participating businesses and therefore
to local economies across the country. Further, by enhancing small business ecosystems
10,000 Small Businesses UK provides new opportunities for complementary investments
designed to stimulate small business growth. I hope that others will be inspired by the
experience of this partnership to bring their unique assets to support this crucial agenda.
The Rt Hon the Lord Heseltine CH
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 4
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Executive Summary
This Progress Report has been produced by the ?ve university partners
that lead the delivery of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK
programme. It describes the programme’s context and rationale, explains
how it is designed, sets out early evidence about its impact and draws
some general lessons from the experience of delivering the programme.
What is 10,000 Small Businesses?
10,000 Small Businesses UK is one of several programmes
developed and supported by Goldman Sachs and the Goldman
Sachs Foundation focused on accelerating the growth of high
potential small businesses to create jobs and grow economies.
Building on the success of the 10,000 Women initiative, which
provides a business education to women entrepreneurs in
emerging economies, 10,000 Small Businesses launched in
the United States in 2009. This programme, developed by the
F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, is
delivered through community college partners to underserved
entrepreneurs in cities across the United States.
In the UK 10,000 Small Businesses is a partnership between Goldman Sachs, the Goldman
Sachs Foundation and the following leading universities:
• Saïd Business School, University of Oxford – national partner;
• Aston Business School – Midlands programme;
• Leeds University Business School – Yorkshire programme;
• Manchester Metropolitan University Business School – North West programme; and
• UCL – London programme.
The UK programme has a broad regional coverage, including many areas of relative economic
disadvantage. It was ?rst piloted in Yorkshire in 2010, followed by expansion to North West
England, the Midlands and London. As of April 2013 almost 500 small business leaders across
the country have participated, and approximately 250 new participants join the programme
Through its investment in
these small business leaders
10,000 Small Businesses aims
to stimulate employment
creation and economic
growth.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 5
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
each year. Through its investment in these small business leaders 10,000 Small Businesses
aims to stimulate employment creation and economic growth.
Why small businesses matter
As well as being the major source of job creation in developed economies, small businesses
are critical to driving economic growth through innovation and market expansion. There is
growing evidence of the economic signi?cance of the small proportion of businesses that
exhibit high growth, which are to be found in all regions of the country and in all industry
sectors. The economic impact of increasing the population of high growth businesses, even
marginally, would be signi?cant and the opportunity to do so exists in all regions of the UK.
The design of 10,000 Small Businesses UK
The programme is designed speci?cally for the leaders of established small businesses who have the
ambition and the potential to generate substantial growth in their enterprises. Participation is by
competitive entry and is fully funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation for successful candidates.
Participants bene?t from a full package of support with a strong focus on structured peer
learning and the creation of communities of entrepreneurs.
Each participant undertakes the programme as a member of a cohort of 25 to 30
entrepreneurs. The core of the programme, undertaken by all participants, is a cycle
of 12 modules each focused on a di?erent aspect of business growth. The modules
together constitute a coherent and comprehensive curriculum designed speci?cally for
10,000 Small Businesses UK. Over the course of the modules every participant develops a
Business Growth Plan to guide the growth of their business beyond the programme.
The core programme is supplemented by topical workshops, legal clinics, one-to-one mentoring
and other support tailored to participants’ needs. The emphasis throughout is on learning that
is practically applicable in participants’ businesses and on creating an environment of trust
to encourage the intensive exchange of ideas and experience between participants. Over time,
a unique national community of entrepreneurs has developed that is focused on growth and
uni?ed by the shared experience of having participated in 10,000 Small Businesses UK.
Programme impact – early evidence
The aim of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is ultimately to help generate business
growth and employment creation that may not have otherwise happened.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 6
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
1 BIS Small Business Survey, 2012.
A rigorous and independent process has been established to
monitor changes in participants’ businesses for an extended
period afer they complete the programme. Data collected from this
process indicates that the programme is leading to an observable
impact on jobs and turnover. For example:
• A large majority – 77% – of participants report in their
initial follow up survey that they had increased the
number of people they employed in the previous
12 months.
• On average participants reported an annual increase of
23% in their net employment over the baseline position.
• Two thirds – 66% – of participants indicated that,
compared to the same period in the previous 12 months,
their turnover had increased.
• On average participants reported an annual increase of
16% in their annual turnover over the baseline position.
Almost all (92%) participants report that they are now more
con?dent in their ability successfully to grow their business than
they were before participating in 10,000 Small Businesses UK.
The opportunity to work closely with other entrepreneurs, to
provide mutual support to others with similar aspirations and to
join a dedicated community of like-minded entrepreneurs seems
to serve to increase con?dence, morale and resilience.
What the partnership is learning
The process of developing and delivering the
10,000 Small Businesses UK programme and monitoring its
impact on participants is enabling the programme partners to
understand how it is creating value on a number of di?erent
levels. A key outcome from the programme is how powerful
and self-sustaining entrepreneurial communities can be and
the importance of creating the conditions in which these can
form and ?ourish. The Report concludes with a discussion of
some of the features of 10,000 Small Businesses UK which are
proving particularly impactful for participants.
Revenue creation
66% of participants growing revenue vs. 35%
of UK small businesses.
1
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
35%
66%
Job creation
77% of participants creating net new jobs vs.
24% of UK small businesses.
1
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
24%
77%
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 7
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
2 Bravo-Biosca, A. (2010) Growth Dynamics: Exploring business growth and contraction in Europe and the US, NESTA
Research report: November 2010.
3 Anyadike-Danes, M; Hart, M and Du, J (2013) Firm Dynamics and Job Creation in the UK – Taking Stock and Developing New
Perspectives, Enterprise Research Centre White Paper, April 2013.
SECTION 1
Why Small Businesses Matter,
and the Case for Supporting
Them
As well as being the major source of job creation in developed
economies, small businesses are critical to driving economic
growth through innovation and market expansion.
2
Economies
thrive when their most ambitious, innovative and productive
small businesses are able to grow.
In every economy the overwhelming majority of small businesses do not grow and these
‘static’ businesses play a crucial role in delivering services and maintaining livelihoods.
But there is growing evidence of the economic signi?cance
of the much smaller proportion of businesses that exhibit
high growth.
This is perhaps most evident in high growth businesses’
disproportionate contribution to job creation.
3
For example,
in the UK high growth businesses
4
representing one per
cent of the total business population generated one million
jobs, or 23% of the total, between 2007 and 2010.
5
Less
evidently, growing small businesses are also critical drivers
of long term productivity growth. They bring innovative
products and processes to the market, and disseminate
these innovations as they expand their markets regionally,
nationally and internationally.
The international comparative evidence on business growth
shows that European countries have on average a lower share
of high growth businesses than the US.
6
Europe, and in particular the UK, has a much larger
share of static businesses. These di?erences have been shown to be signi?cant in explaining
variations in productivity across the economies.
7
It is crucial that small
businesses, whatever their
speci?c context, are able to
take full advantage of the
ecosystem around them and
to play a pro-active role in
fuelling their own growth.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 8
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
4 We follow the OECD methodology and de?ne a high-growth ?rm as any ?rm with a minimum of 10 employees at the beginning
of the period that achieves an average annualised employment growth greater than 20 per cent over a three year period.
5 Based on analysis for the period 2007-2010 of ONS data contained in Anyadike-Danes et al., (2013) op cit. Note: these ?ve
categories of ?rms are mutually exclusive and sum to the population of job creating businesses in the UK economy.
Within the UK, recent analysis shows the dominant position
of parts of London and the South East in the distribution of
high growth businesses but also highlights concentrations of
these businesses in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester,
Cardi? and Bristol. There is no particular sector bias among
high growth businesses. High growth businesses can be found
in every region and in every industry.
8
Overall, the evidence suggests that the economic impact of
increasing the population of high growth businesses, even
marginally, would be signi?cant and that the opportunity to
do so exists in all regions of the UK.
But what determines the likelihood of a ?rm achieving
fast growth and what does this tell us about the optimal
design of interventions that aim to accelerate small business
growth? The vast majority of research on small business
growth has focused on explaining the importance of business
age, sector and initial size and on speci?c barriers which can
limit growth (for example on access to ?nance and di?culties
in exporting). Relatively limited consideration has been given
to the role of leadership and the aspirations and capabilities
of management.
Clearly no intervention on its own can transform the
growth prospects of UK small businesses. A robust small
business support ecosystem will vary from region to region,
leveraging local assets and responding to speci?c needs and
opportunities, and will involve many players and evolving
interactions among them – including local, regional and
national administrative bodies; capital providers; professional
services ?rms; industry trade groups; academic institutions;
and large corporates seeking to optimise their supply chains.
Peer support among entrepreneurs themselves represents an
opportunity and an underexploited resource. It is crucial that
small businesses, whatever their speci?c context, are able to
take full advantage of the ecosystem around them and to play
a pro-active role in fuelling their own growth.
In the UK high growth
businesses representing one
per cent of the total business
population generated one
million jobs, or 23% of the
total, between 2007 and 2010.
4
PROPORTION OF
JOB CREATING FIRMS
PROPORTION OF TOTAL
JOB CREATION
MICRO-ENTERPRISES
– NON-HIGH-GROWTH
FIRMS
15% 27%
SMALL AND LARGE FIRMS
22% 5%
YOUNG FIRMS (LESS THAN
TWO YEARS OLD)
5% 6%
HIGH-GROWTH FIRMS
23% 1%
NEW FIRMS
61% 35%
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 9
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
6 Bravo-Biosca, A (2010), op cit.
7 Bravo-Biosca, A (2010) op cit.
8 Anyadike-Danes, M; Hart, M and Bonner, K (2013) Exploring the incidence and spatial distribution of HGFs in the UK and
their contribution to job creation, NESTA Working Paper No. 13/05.
The 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme aims to contribute to the development of the UK’s
small business support ecosystem in particular through:
• Focusing on the development of small businesses’ entrepreneurial and managerial
capabilities;
• Facilitating the development of peer-to-peer support networks of small businesses with
high growth potential; and
• Developing a partnership model of small business support provision between the corporate
and higher education sector that also draws on and complements existing local assets,
infrastructures and networks.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 10
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
SECTION 2
The Design of
10,000 Small Businesses UK
10,000 Small Businesses UK has been designed to accelerate the growth
of high potential small businesses. Participants bene?t from a coherent
and comprehensive package of support with a strong focus on structured
peer learning and the creation of communities of entrepreneurs.
Programme partners
10,000 Small Businesses UK is a partnership between
Goldman Sachs, the Goldman Sachs Foundation and ?ve
leading UK universities. Each university partner brings a
combination of recognised academic expertise on topics
relating to business growth and practical experience in
developing entrepreneurs’ management and leadership skills.
Each is also an important player in its respective business
ecosystem, and is able to draw on a uniquely wide range of
skills and resources for the bene?t of programme participants.
While four of the ?ve university partners have responsibility for
delivery in a speci?c region, they work closely on programme
development together. Saïd Business School, the programme’s national coordinating partner, works
closely with the regional delivery partners to ensure consistent delivery and to facilitate knowledge
sharing. The programme is recognisably the same from region to region and from cohort to cohort, but
each partner enjoys the ?exibility to introduce innovations within the overall structure. The most e?ective
of these innovations are shared quickly across the partnership through formal and informal transmission
mechanisms. The result is that the core curriculum and delivery model evolve organically over time and
re?ect a growing body of experience about how to deliver e?ective support to entrepreneurs.
Participant selection
Because 10,000 Small Businesses UK aims to support small businesses with high growth
potential, and given the focus on peer learning and the building of entrepreneurial
The programme evolves
organically over time and re?ects
a growing body of experience
about how to deliver e?ective
support to entrepreneurs.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 11
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
communities, the selection process to participate in the
programme is necessarily rigorous.
Recruitment is managed regionally and is targeted at leaders
of established small businesses and social enterprises with
typically between ?ve and 40 employees. Many participants
are founder CEOs of their businesses and all exercise
considerable direct control over every aspect of their business.
Beyond these basic requirements, the selection process aims
to identify participants who have the potential to generate
signi?cant growth with the programme’s support. Information
from application forms, applicant interviews and background
research is used to assess:
• The entrepreneur’s and the business’s track record;
• The entrepreneur’s ambition for their business;
• The nature and scale of the business’s growth opportunity; and
• The entrepreneur’s potential to beneft from the programme and to contribute to other
participants’ development.
As illustrated in Section 1, only a very small proportion of small businesses exhibit high
growth. Similarly, the combination of characteristics sought in 10,000 Small Businesses UK
participants is relatively uncommon among the broader small business population. But by
bringing together entrepreneurs who share these characteristics the selection process provides
a strong foundation for trust between participants right from the start.
I’m now dealing with participants from outside of my particular cohort,
businesses that have been vetted by the 10,000 Small Businesses network, people
that have been through the same application process, have been successful on
the course and understand my goals and objectives.”
North West participant
There are no restrictions on participation in terms of business sector or the entrepreneur’s
background, with the result that each cohort of participants is highly diverse in its makeup.
The key commonality is that all participants share the desire and the potential to grow their
“
Each participant cohort is
highly diverse in its makeup,
though all participants share
the desire and the potential to
grow their businesses.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 12
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
9 A prescriptive de?nition of “social enterprise” is not used but in general it is required that participants derive the bulk of
their revenue from trading activities rather than from grant funding.
businesses. A notable example of this diversity, and one which is unusual if not unique in the
business support space, is that mission-driven businesses and social enterprises participate
in the programme alongside more purely commercially-driven small businesses. This design
feature is based on bespoke research which found that these ?rms face many of the same
growth challenges as other small businesses.
9
Programme structure and content
Once selected, participants beneft from an intensive and wide-ranging programme of support.
The content covered in the core programme of 12 topic-centred compulsory
modules is wide-ranging but consistently underpinned by the theme of
business growth.
PRESENTING AND PITCHING YOUR BUSINESS
BUSINESS GROWTH PLAN
PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING AND SUPPORT
LEGAL CLINICS
IDENTIFYING AND MAXIMISING OPPORTUNITIES
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND GROWTH
PREPARING FOR CAPITAL
TOPICAL WORKSHOPS
ACCESS TO NEW NETWORKS
INTERNATIONALISATION
You and Your Business 1a/b
Marketing 5
Money and Metrics 3
Good Business 7
Growth and
Opportunities
2
Finance For Growth 9
It’s The People
You Are the Leader
Strategic Growth
Through Operations
Putting It All Together
4
6
8
10a/b
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 13
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
The content covered in the core programme of 12 topic-centred modules is wide-ranging but
consistently underpinned by the theme of business growth. The comprehensive nature of
this core programme means that participants can both work to develop business skills which
they know have been less well developed over the course of their entrepreneurial career, and
identify weaknesses and strengths of which they were not aware.
Threaded throughout the modules are horizontal themes and
activities. The most important of these is the Business Growth
Plan which every participant develops and re?nes iteratively
from module to module. This Plan charts the participant’s
medium to long term growth strategy and the action plan to
implement it. It can be adapted for use in capital raising and
building consensus within management teams on strategic
decisions. The consistent focus on the Business Growth Plan
ensures that the programme content always ties back to
practical action and change in participants’ businesses.
The modules take place fortnightly over three to four
months. This schedule strikes a balance between immersing
participants in an intensive learning environment outside
their businesses, and providing opportunities to test out
ideas inspired by the modules in their businesses. The core
programme is su?ciently short and intensive to generate energy and momentum, and long
enough to enable participants to develop robust, well-tested growth strategies that endure
beyond their involvement in the programme. Crucially, the duration of the programme also
enables participants to build a strong support and enduring network within their cohort.
For me I found the most valuable part was taking yourself out of the business,
and looking from the outside in. It gives you a much greater sense of perspective,
and you are able to criticise your own business with like-minded people.”
Yorkshire participant
Participants also bene?t from the input of practitioners from the wider regional business
ecosystem. Each is assigned an experienced business advisor who helps them to develop
their Business Growth Plans and to translate module content into practical action. The core
programme is further supplemented by topical business workshops, legal clinics and other
support services tailored to participants’ needs.
“
The learning environment
is designed to encourage
an intensive and productive
exchange of knowledge between
the participating entrepreneurs
that catalyses change in them
and their businesses.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 14
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Learning environment
The learning environment in which 10,000 Small Businesses
UK participants are immersed is di?erent from a typical MBA
programme, perhaps its closest equivalent. All participants are
successful practising entrepreneurs who return to their businesses
afer each module. Each brings experience and networks which
are valuable to other participants. The learning environment is
designed to encourage an intensive and productive exchange
of knowledge between the participating entrepreneurs that
catalyses change in them and their businesses.
Facilitated peer learning is an approach used throughout
the programme and creating a strong basis of trust between
participants is a necessary condition for this method to work
e?ectively. Each cohort is divided at the outset into Growth Groups
of ?ve participants each and these meet throughout the core
programme to discuss, deliberate and form strategies around real
business issues and collaborate on evolving Business Growth Plans.
You develop your Business Growth Plan with the 25
other participants, but especially with the core Growth
Group of the ?ve of you. They know everything that’s
in my plan, they’ve helped me develop it.”
Yorkshire participant
Over time, participants become increasingly familiar with each
other’s businesses and able and willing to add value to each other,
both within their Growth Groups and in the wider cohort. This
value takes many forms – shared experience, direct business with
one another, strategic partnerships or mergers, introductions
to new clients and suppliers, mentoring relationships or
simply increased morale or con?dence. Each cohort begins the
programme a disconnected group of entrepreneurs, operating in
the same region. By the end they are part of an interconnected
network that produces a multitude of productive relationships
and connections within the cohort and beyond.
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RIGOROUS
RECRUITMENT
AND SELECTION
10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES
COHORT
REGIONAL SMALL BUSINESS
POPULATION
SMALL BUSINESS WITH
HIGH GROWTH POTENTIAL
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 15
* Data for the UK is taken from the ONS Business Structure Database (BSD) and the BIS Small Business Survey (2012).
Participant Diversity
Business
age
Most participants’ businesses are
under 10 years old
1-5
YEARS
30 YEARS
AND OVER
20-30
YEARS
10-20
YEARS
6-10
YEARS
6%
9%
31%
32%
22%
Participant
age
Broad range of ages represented, most
participants are over 40 years of age
20-30
YEARS
60-70
YEARS
50-60
YEARS
40-50
YEARS
30-40
YEARS
1%
17%
34%
7%
41%
Gender diversity
32% of participants are women entrepreneurs
vs. 19% of women-led small businesses across
the UK *
PARTICIPANTS ARE WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
UK WOMEN-LED
SMALL BUSINESSES
32%
19%
Business sectors
Sectoral breakdown (based on SIC codes) of 10,000 Small Businesses
participants
Social enterprises
13% of participants are social enterprises
ALL OTHER CATEGORIES
WHOLESALE &
RETAIL TRADE
PROFESSIONAL SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL
INFORMATION &
COMMUNICATION
ADMINISTRATIVE & SUPPORT SERVICES
MANUFACTURING
17%
16%
14%
14%
9%
30%
SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
PARTICIPANTS
87%
13%
YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
Leeds University Business School
YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
NORTH WEST
Manchester Metropolitan
University Business School
NORTH WEST
MIDLANDS
Aston Business School
MIDLANDS
LONDON & SOUTH EAST
UCL
LONDON & SOUTH EAST
Geography
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 16
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 17
* Data for the UK is taken from the ONS Business Structure Database (BSD) and the BIS Small Business Survey (2012).
Programme Impact
*
Job
creation
77% of participants creating net
new jobs vs. 24% of UK small
businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
24%
77%
Revenue
creation
66% of participants growing
revenues vs. 35% of UK small
businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
35%
66%
Employment
growth rate
Average net employment growth
rate of participants 23% vs. -1%
for UK small businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-1%
23%
Revenue
growth rate
Average growth rate of
participant revenues 16% vs.
-9% for UK small businesses
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-9%
16%
Strategic change
Participation in the programme is catalysing major strategic changes in participating
businesses
INTRODUCED
NEW INTERNAL
PROCESSES
USING FINANCIAL
DATA MORE TO
DRIVE BUSINESS
DECISIONS
FOUND NEW
SUPPLIERS
THROUGH THE
PROGRAMME
INCREASED
TRAINING
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR STAFF
HAVE IMPROVED
QUALITY OF
AN EXISTING
PRODUCT/SERVICE
MORE CONFIDENT
IN THEIR ABILITY
TO GROW THEIR
BUSINESS
92
%
83
%
81
%
43
%
64
%
52
%
Capital for growth
The programme is helping participants to
evaluate and access di?erent forms of capital
for growth
67
%
84
%
67
%
HAVE ENHANCED
UNDERSTANDING
OF THE EXTERNAL
FINANCE OPTIONS
AVAILABLE
ARE BETTER
ABLE TO SECURE
EXTERNAL
FINANCE
WILL TRY TO
OBTAIN FINANCE
TO GROW THEIR
BUSINESS IN THE
NEXT 12 MONTHS
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Note on Measurement Methodology
10,000 Small Businesses UK participant data is
collected for monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
purposes by BMG Research, an independent
market research agency based in Birmingham.
Standardised interviews are conducted with
participants when they begin the programme
(the “baseline” survey) and then approximately 6
months and 18 months afer their completion of
the core programme.
The baseline survey is intended to determine
participants’ situation prior to entering the
programme, in terms of turnover, numbers
employed, business management, business planning,
access to ?nance, networking and business
challenges. Subsequent interviews enable changes
in the same variables to be tracked over time.
Participant interviews are mainly conducted
through a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing) methodology, which has proven to
deliver the highest response rates and best data
quality, with a minority preferring to complete the
survey online.
Other than the ?rst cohorts who took part in an
online survey, there have been three waves of
interviewing. Each wave consisted of baseline and
post-6 month interviews, with the March 2013
wave including the ?rst post-18 month interviews.
Response rates are extremely high for a survey of
this type:
• First wave (March – April 2012). seven cohorts
were interviewed (four baseline, three post-6
month). 171 interviews achieved at an overall
response rate of 96% (97% for baseline, 93% for
post-6 month)
• Second wave (September – October 2012). seven
cohorts were interviewed (four baseline, three post-
6 month). 181 interviews achieved at an overall
response rate of 96% (97% for baseline, 94% for
post-6 month)
• Third wave (March 2013, still ongoing). seven cohorts
were interviewed (four post-6 month, three post-18
month). 152 interviews achieved as 25th March, at
an overall response rate of 86% (87% for post-6 month,
84% for post-18 month)
Data shown in this report is based on 233
participants who completed both baseline and
post-6 month surveys as at 25th March 2013.
In ?ve cases the business leader indicated that
their current business was not the business for
which they had completed a Business Growth
Plan, and although they were still involved in that
business they were unable to provide employment
and turnover at the time of the survey. They
were, however, able to respond to all the other
questions in the survey. Impact changes reported
are comparisons between baseline and post-6
month or (where speci?ed) post-18 month survey
?gures. Please note that in the early baselines
?gures for turnover were based on businesses’
?nancial year end rather than the preceding
12 months. Therefore, because year end di?ers
between businesses, the ?gures shown for turnover
change between the baseline and later surveys are
equivalent to the annual change in turnover.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 18
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 19
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
SECTION 3
Early Evidence on Programme
Impact
10,000 Small Businesses is committed to a rigorous and independent
process of monitoring changes in participants’ businesses for an
extended period afer they complete the programme.
10
To date the
results from this process are providing growing evidence of the
range of ways 10,000 Small Businesses UK is generating impact.
The aim of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is ultimately to help generate
employment and economic growth that may not have otherwise happened. While this cannot
be measured directly (because the counterfactual of what would have happened without
the programme is not observable), follow-up surveys with participants capture a range of
quantitative and qualitative data on the changes that are taking place in their businesses as
well as in the behaviour and attitudes of the leaders who are driving these changes. In broad
terms the data collected from participants to date indicate that 10,000 Small Businesses UK is,
on average, producing signi?cant changes in a range of business behaviours and is leading to
an observable impact on jobs and turnover.
The following summary is based primarily on the responses from the 233 participants who
responded to the initial follow-up survey and provide some snapshots of the changes that
are taking place among participants and their businesses following their completion of the
programme. There are a further 55 participants who have now undertaken the second follow-
up survey whose outcomes will be summarised separately.
Growth – jobs and turnover
Changes in participants’ knowledge, con?dence, networks and business practices matter
economically if they feed through ultimately into job creation and growth. Evidence from
participant tracking to date is very encouraging in this respect.
A large majority – 77% – of the 233 participants across the four delivery regions who
undertook the initial follow-up survey reported that they had increased the number of people
10 These surveys are undertaken by BMG Research – an independent market research company (see panel for details of the
methodology).
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 20
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
11 Based on special analysis by BMG Research from the BIS Small Business Survey (2012) – ?eldwork was undertaken
between June and September 2012. We were interested in looking at the responses of a group of small businesses that
closely matched the pro?le of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK participants – that is, businesses employing between ?ve
and 40 people and had been trading for at least three years. The question in the BIS Small Business Survey is not identical
to that used here as it used the phrase “more or less remained the same” compared to “remained the same” in this survey.
they employed in the previous 12 months, with a further
13% reporting no change. Further, two-thirds – 66% – of the
participants indicated that, compared to the same period
in the previous 12 months, their turnover had increased
with a further 21% reporting that it had stayed the same.
Importantly, far from coming at the expense of sustainability
this growth appears to be coupled with enhanced pro?tability
– 53% of participants had increased the underlying
proftability of the business while a third (34%) reported that
it had remained unchanged.
The performance of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK
participants compares very favourably to the wider
population of small business employers in the UK, of which
only 24% reported in 2012 that they had more employees
than 12 months previously.
11
Similarly, only 35% of small
business employers reported that their turnover was greater
than 12 months previously.
Looking at the actual numbers participants in the initial
follow-up survey reported an increase of 16% in turnover over
their baseline position (annualised) – which totaled £266m
(£1.17m average; £650k median).
In terms of jobs these participants had a total of 3,900 full-
time equivalent jobs (FTEs) when they began the programme
(17 jobs average; 11 jobs median). Overall, they are reporting
an increase in employment over baseline of 23% to date.
The most recent data we have from o?cial ONS sources
indicates that average employment growth rates for
comparable small businesses in the UK (i.e., those with
between ?ve and 40 employees; established prior to 2009
and UK-owned) for the year to March 2011 were marginally
negative (i.e., -1.3%). Average turnover growth rates for this
group of UK small businesses were also negative in this period
(i.e.,-9%).
Employment
growth rate
Average net employment growth of
participants 23% vs. -1% for UK small
businesses.
12
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-1%
23%
Revenue growth
rate
Average growth rate of participant revenues
16% vs. -9% for UK small businesses.
12
PARTICIPANTS UK SMALL BUSINESSES
-9%
16%
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 21
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
12 ONS BSD, 2010-11.
Early evidence suggests that this growth trajectory continues well beyond participants’
involvement in the core part of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme. For the 55
participants (Yorkshire and North West only) who were contacted for the second follow-up
survey around 18 months afer they had completed the programme reported that they had
a 49% increase in their turnover compared to their baseline position. This translates into
an increase in annual turnover of 18%. In terms of jobs they are reporting an increase over
baseline of 65% to date.
Programme additionality
10,000 Small Businesses UK participants are on a growth trajectory which clearly separates
them from the broader small business population. This is not unexpected given the
competitive selection process involved to participate in the programme. The data reported here
could therefore in theory simply re?ect selection bias.
This is unlikely given further data collected in the participant surveys. To help indicate the
extent of the value added by the programme, participants are asked in the surveys whether
they would have achieved these changes in the absence of the 10,000 Small Businesses UK
programme. In response half (49%) report that they would not
have created new jobs.
The range of signi?cant business and behavioural changes
reported by programme alumni constitute further prima facie
evidence of value added by the programme. By virtue of the
selection process 10,000 Small Businesses UK participants are
relatively sophisticated and, therefore, delivering incremental
value to them, and creating bene?cial change in their
businesses, is arguably more di?cult than it would be for the
average small business – but the data on behavioural change
clearly suggests that the programme is producing positive
changes in participants’ business practices.
This initial interim assessment of additionality is a positive
outcome given the existing growth trends in these businesses
before they come on the programme and the short time scale since they completed it. Data on
self-reported additionality will continue to be collected although the construction of control
groups of similar ?rms against which to benchmark future growth performance will provide
further insight.
10,000 Small Businesses
UK participants are on a
growth trajectory which
clearly separates them from
the broader small business
population.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 22
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
New knowledge and best practices
The surveys provide signi?cant evidence that participants
acquire new knowledge and familiarity with best practices
across a range of areas and, critically, that these are being
implemented in their businesses.
For example, the role of sound ?nancial management as an
essential building block for growth is one of the horizontal
themes running throughout the 10,000 Small Businesses UK
programme. There are many occasions when participants,
whether individually or in groups, spend time working in
detail on the ?nancial aspects of their business. This is of
crucial importance as the businesses seek to present capital
providers with a clear proposition of the resources they
require to fund their growth.
Anecdotally, on enrolling many participants report having
maintained a relatively hands o? approach to their
businesses’ management data and accounts. The programme
is having a clear impact here, with over four-ffhs (81%) of
the participants in the initial follow-up survey reporting that
they use ?nancial data to drive business decisions more than
they did before 10,000 Small Businesses UK. Further, 87% of
participants report that, post-programme, they have a clearer
understanding which ?nancial metrics are critical to the
success of their business.
Business con?dence and networks
I now feel that I have the con?dence to make the
decisions and to lead my team and have them share
the vision that we have in running the business.”
North West participant
In addition to conveying practically useful knowledge,
it is clear that the programme has signi?cant “sofer”
“
92
%
83
%
81
%
43
%
64
%
52
%
INTRODUCED
NEW INTERNAL
PROCESSES
USING FINANCIAL
DATA MORE TO
DRIVE BUSINESS
DECISIONS
FOUND NEW
SUPPLIERS
THROUGH THE
PROGRAMME
INCREASED
TRAINING
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR STAFF
HAVE IMPROVED
QUALITY OF
AN EXISTING
PRODUCT/SERVICE
MORE CONFIDENT
IN THEIR ABILITY
TO GROW THEIR
BUSINESS
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 23
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
impacts such as building confdence. Almost all (92%) participants report that they are now
more con?dent in their ability successfully to grow their business than they were before
participating in 10,000 Small Businesses UK.
This impact on con?dence seems to occur through various channels, including through
programme content, but the role of being part of a peer group and the interactions this
enables appear particularly critical. The opportunity to work closely with other entrepreneurs
in a “safe” learning environment, to provide mutual support to others with similar aspirations
and to join a dedicated community of like-minded
entrepreneurs seems to serve to increase con?dence, morale
and resilience.
There is clear evidence that the programme is helping to
create these strong entrepreneurial communities. To illustrate
this, two-ffhs (43%) of the participants have found new
suppliers through the programme, the same proportion (41%)
new business partners and half (51%) new clients for their
businesses. The programme has created a unique peer to peer
marketplace in which participants can o?er and purchase
a diverse range of products and services, ofen at preferred
terms. The embedded trust among 10,000 Small Businesses
community members is providing a robust platform to
conduct, high impact commercial activity.
Strategic change
The surveys provide ample evidence that participation
in the programme is catalysing major strategic change
in participants’ businesses, not least changes relating to
innovation and market expansion which are known to be
two key drivers of small business growth. The scale of strategic change observed in the
participating businesses a short time afer their involvement in the programme illustrates its
practical nature and its focus on immediate impacts for participants’ businesses.
Four-ffhs (83%) of participants reported that they had introduced new internal processes and
systems as a result of participating in the programme, and a signi?cant number are engaged
in innovative practices:
The opportunity to work closely
with other entrepreneurs in a
“safe” learning environment,
to provide mutual support to
others with similar aspirations
and to join a dedicated
community of like-minded
entrepreneurs seems to serve
to increase con?dence, morale
and resilience.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 24
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
13 BIS Small Business Survey (2012) – SME employers only.
14 SME Finance Monitor – Quarter 4 results 2012.
• Almost two-thirds (64%) reported that they had improved the quality of an existing product
or service;
• Over half (53%) had researched or developed a new product or service; and
• Two-ffhs (45%) had launched a new product or service.
At the time of the initial surveys over a quarter (26%) of the participants had already entered
new regional markets within the UK and a minority had begun trading in international
markets (7%) as a direct result of the programme.
Hiring, retaining and motivating the best people are critical challenges to growing small
businesses. Just over half (52%) of the participants report that they have actively engaged in
training opportunities for their employees and recruited employees to key positions in the
business (64%).
Accessing ?nance for growth
For many participating businesses, achieving their growth potential will require preparing for
and securing appropriate forms of external capital, and this is a key horizontal theme running
throughout 10,000 Small Businesses UK. A large majority of
participants (84%) agreed that the programme had enhanced
their understanding of the external ?nance options available
and 71% reported that the programme had enhanced their
ability to win fnance. One in fve (20%) participants reported
that the programme had helped to enhance their business
network by introducing them to new capital providers (both
debt and equity fnance).
Overall 7% of participants had tried to obtain external equity
fnance (angel investment and early stage venture capital)
and 9% had tried from existing shareholders. This compares
to the 1-2% of small businesses (10-49 employees) in the UK
who tried to obtain equity investment from either a business
angel, venture capitalists or from other shareholders in the
last 12 months.
13
Considering only those UK small businesses
who are planning to grow in the next 12 months the proportion remains at around 1%. From
another recent UK survey the proportion of small businesses (i.e., 10-49 employees) seeking
loans/equity from directors was 6%.
14
For many participating
businesses, achieving their
growth potential will require
preparing for and securing
appropriate forms of external
capital.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 25
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
15 SME Finance Monitor (2012). That is, in the 12 months before they were surveyed in Q4 of 2012, 9% reported a loan/
overdraf event, but had not applied for other forms of ?nance and a further 4% reported both a loan/overdraf event and
applying for other forms of external ?nance.
Overall, 7% of participants reported that they had received equity investment from existing
shareholders and 4% had negotiated investment with new shareholders (e.g., angels or formal
VC). More than half of the participants who had sought external equity fnance reported that
they had been successful in securing it in the relatively short period between completing the
programme and the initial survey.
With respect to debt fnance 29% of participants had successfully obtained a bank overdraf
(including the renewal of an existing facility) and 11% a bank loan since they completed the
programme. Although not directly comparable UK data shows that 13% of SMEs reported a
loan/overdraf event (i.e., an application) in the previous 12 months.
15
A promising indicator of participants’ future growth intentions is that two-thirds (67%)
reported that they will seek ?nance to grow their business in the next 12 months.
Summary
The 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme was designed to help create employment and
stimulate growth in a range of regional environments across the UK and the evidence
suggests that it is having a signi?cant impact – with participants growing at a rate that is
exceptional in the private sector at the moment and which seems to be driven at least in part
by the programme. Further, it is changing the strategic focus of the businesses which will
build the foundation for even further growth. The data reported here is only the beginning of
the growth story for these businesses.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 26
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
SECTION 4
What We are Learning
The process of developing and delivering the 10,000 Small Businesses
UK programme and monitoring its impact on participants is enabling
the programme partners to understand how it is creating value on a
number of di?erent levels. There are important lessons emerging which
we share here as a contribution to the debate about how we can develop
a world class small business support environment across the UK.
At the simplest level the programme works by creating space for individual entrepreneurs
to think more strategically about their businesses and this equips them better to grow.
Creating this space is challenging and requires innovative approaches. 10,000 Small Businesses
UK is achieving it by building and nurturing new types of communities and partnerships
whose members bring di?erent skills and experiences, all underpinned by the shared goal
of stimulating small business growth. Some of the most important building blocks that are
enabling these communities to develop and ?ourish are:
• An environment in which entrepreneurs can share risk and grow in confdence
• Participant diversity
• The shared endeavour of learning
• Corporate/academic partnership
• University-led delivery
• Innovation within a shared framework
• An integrated programme
• A curriculum adapted to diferent learning styles
• Participants’ changed understanding of their roles as business leaders
• Developing powerful business networks
Entrepreneurial communities
At the heart of 10,000 Small Businesses UK are the small business leaders who participate
in the programme together and who, in the process of doing so, form new entrepreneurial
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 27
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
communities. A key outcome from the programme is how
powerful and self-sustaining these communities are and
the importance of creating the conditions in which they
can evolve.
An environment in which entrepreneurs can share risk and
grow in con?dence: Barriers which hinder a small business’s
growth and limit its potential. The programme has shown
that improving the owner-managers’ confdence in their own
potential for growth can have a dramatic impact in helping
them to overcome these barriers. Partly this can be achieved
through the programme’s support to give the participants
essential missing knowledge, partly through the process of
developing a rigorous Business Growth Plan. But a crucial
role is also being played by “risk sharing”, on an emotional or
intellectual level, with other entrepreneurs and thinking out
loud together, co-creating ideas, and exploring opportunities
in a safe yet stimulating setting.
The best part of the 10,000 Small Businesses programme was the environment
and the group that I was working within allowed me to expose my inhibitions,
insecurities and it also allowed me to share my skills. It allowed me to do this in
an environment where every single other individual was going through exactly
the same.”
Yorkshire participant
The programme has highlighted the importance of creating an environment in which this
risk sharing can take place between entrepreneurs. They are naturally well placed to provide
support to one another, but in the normal course of events there are multiple barriers to
entrepreneurs establishing such strong communities of support. The 10,000 Small Businesses
UK model facilitates this process by selecting for particular traits and experience in its
participants, and then providing a robust platform for them to interact and build trust.
The more time and e?ort spent on developing the right type of strategic space for such
interactions to take place, the better the results for the participants. For example, the
brainstorming sessions within the modules allow the participants to play the role of
“trust-based critical friend”. This allows a depth of interaction not generally found in many
membership-based network organisations.
“
The inclusion of social
enterprises is powerfully
complementing all participants’
learning. This raises the question
as to why business support
e?orts targeting social enterprises
tend to be ring-fenced from
the wider business community
of which they are part.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 28
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Participant diversity: Trust between participants is
encouraged by their diversity. This is partly because cohorts
do not contain participants who are competing with one
another in the same market. But more fundamentally it
means that participants can bring di?erent experiences,
insights and perspectives to one another, while also knowing
they have all been through the same selection process and
share similar objectives for their businesses.
How can a robot business and a cleaning business
and a haulage business and a restaurant have similar
problems? In fact it turns out almost all the problems
in business management that we are facing are
common across all of us.”
London participant
A compelling example of this is the inclusion of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises
in every cohort. This is powerfully complementing all participants’ learning and this raises
the question as to why business support eforts targeting social enterprises tend to be ring-
fenced from the wider business community of which they are part. Unique collaborations
and commercial partnerships are forming between the mission- and commercially-driven
businesses that would not have happened without the platform that 10,000 Small Businesses
UK provides. These collaborations are producing new innovations, business practices, and
most enduringly, changed value sets, particularly for the commercial businesses who are now
recognising the bene?ts of embedding broader value sets in their business cultures.
We deal with the same issues; we have the same challenges; and we have the
same aspirations.”
Midlands participant
Learning communities
The shared endeavour of learning: The shared endeavour around which these communities
form is pro-active learning. While all participants in the programme are already successful
in their own right, they join the programme because they recognise the bene?t to them and
to their growing businesses from further learning and skill-building. Interestingly, some of
the more established businesses describe how they felt they had reached a plateau before
“
“
It is fundamental to the
programme’s design that
the participants are the true
experts in their own ?elds and
that the academics, deliverers
and speakers are there, not to
lecture, but to facilitate learning.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 29
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
they applied to the programme and even the act of completing the application rekindled their
energy for the next growth spurt.
It is fundamental to the programme’s design that the
participants are the true experts in their own ?elds and
that the academics, deliverers and speakers are there, not to
lecture, but to facilitate learning. The participants own and
have responsibility for their own learning journeys, prompting
the curriculum, creating demands of their individual business
advisors and de?ning their needs. Experiences and theories
are shared non-prescriptively and it is for the business
owners themselves to evaluate and decide what is right
for them. From this a relationship between the university
and the participant develops which exists far beyond the
programme and represents a practical partnership model for
true knowledge exchange. This integrated learning model
demonstrates how responsive a single programme can be to
the diverse needs of multi-sector and multi-stage businesses.
Corporate/academic partnership: The partnership between a major corporate and ?ve
leading universities is unusual in the small business support landscape but is proving to
be highly e?ective. The corporate partner brings a clear focus on the objectives sought
through the programme and the ability to convene other parties, resources and capital
around these objectives. The university partners have each brought their own core strengths
in entrepreneurial education and will gain enduring bene?t from working together
collaboratively with other institutions that have complementary strengths. This partnership
model between the corporate and education sector may lend itself to other groupings and
other contexts across the UK.
University-led delivery: The role of the community of universities which leads in the delivery
of the programme is clearly crucial to catalysing these learning communities. As well as being
centres of expertise on business and enterprise, each partner is itself an important player in its
own local and regional business infrastructure. Each partner is uniquely well placed to create
the right balance between academic content and the practical applications of this content in
each business to generate growth, and where appropriate to innovate in response to local and
regional variations in business ecosystems. Maintaining the individual Business Growth Plans
at the core of all parts of the curriculum is resulting in a useful tool that entrepreneurs are
continuing to use and maintain beyond the formal structure of the programme.
This partnership model
between the corporate and
education sector may lend
itself to other groupings and
other contexts across the UK.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 30
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Innovation within a shared framework: A curriculum that allows partners the ?exibility
to innovate, e?ective structures for the transfer of innovations across partners and the
programme’s ability to evolve over time have been critical to the success of the partnership.
Importantly, the Saïd Business School plays a crucial role in ensuring quality of content
and delivery to maintain a consistent 10,000 Small Businesses UK experience across the
regions. The academic consortium meets three times a year to break down and improve the
core curriculum, discuss new innovations and share delivery experiences. The programme
frequently engages with Babson College to drive cross-Atlantic knowledge exchange with the
10,000 Small Businesses US initiative.
An integrated programme: The curriculum combines sequential modules – in subjects such
as operations, leadership and ?nance – with horizontal themes and activities that are threaded
throughout the modules. A number of these horizontal strands have proven highly impactful.
One such strand has been the potential value of connecting social and ?nancial value and its
relevance to both commercial and mission driven ?rms. This is of course reinforced by the
presence in each cohort of both mission- and commercially-driven small businesses.
A curriculum adapted to di?erent learning styles: Our participants demonstrate
considerable diversity in their preferred learning styles. To satisfy this breadth the modules
that constitute the core programme are consciously structured to vary pace, learning style
and group size through the day. The core programme itself is only one part of participants’
10,000 Small Businesses experience, with other delivery formats including topical workshops,
growth group reviews, individual mentoring, business visits and peer-to-peer activity that
both satisfy varied learning styles and reinforce the application of the learning to generate
growth in the individual businesses.
Enduring impact
Participants’ changed understanding of their roles as business leaders: While providing
learning opportunities for individual entrepreneurs and businesses is important, the legacy of
the programme will come from the impact that participants’ experiences on the programme has
on the wider communities and ecosystems within which they operate. We have numerous
instances of participants’ experience on the programme changing how they understand their
role as business leaders. On a very practical level it requires the business owners to learn key
delegation skills and develop leadership teams that can handle the day-to-day activities as they
focus on long term strategic growth. More fundamentally, in many cases taking time out of their
businesses and working together with other practitioners in the unique environment o?ered by
the programme has transformed participants’ understanding of their role and their ambitions.
STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK 31
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
Through doing the programme I identi?ed the opportunity to bring someone
else into the business so that I could take more of a back seat and start to look
at things more strategically. This is naturally where I wanted to go, and the
programme has allowed me to do it.”
Midlands participant
Developing powerful business networks: The core programme which
10,000 Small Businesses UK participants undertake has increasingly come to be regarded as
only the starting point for their journeys. The focus of the university partnership has been
further catalysing the communities of shared endeavour that are created cohort by cohort, and
growing these communities by linking them with one another.
The strength of the bonds formed during the programme
both within and across cohorts has been truely impressive.
This build-up of trust and participants’ respect for one
another manifests itself in many forms, all of which prove
hugely bene?cial to the individuals and their businesses. The
richness of experience and the passion for growth which the
entrepreneurs share with each other is transformative for the
aspirations, practices and opportunities of the businesses.
The premise of the further development of the
10,000 Small Businesses UK alumni community is that, given
the value created by bringing 25 to 30 carefully selected
entrepreneurs together in a cohort, the impact from linking
up these individual cohorts regionally and nationally could be
even greater. While this dimension of 10,000 Small Businesses
UK is at a relatively early stage, it provides a signi?cant opportunity to generate a legacy
above and beyond the programme’s immediate impact on job creation and economic growth.
“
The core programme which
10,000 Small Businesses UK
participants undertake has
increasingly come to be
regarded as only the starting
point for their journeys.
DESIGN IMPACT LEARNING CONTEXT
The Business Growth Plan I developed through
the 10,000 Small Businesses programme is now
our business plan. That’s how we’re going to move
forward. We have the numbers behind it. We have
the con?dence to invest. Here we go.”
Midlands participant
“
This work contains statistical data from ONS which is Crown Copyright. The use of the ONS statistical data in this work does not imply the endorsement of the ONS in relation to the
interpretation or analysis of the statistical data. This work uses research datasets which may not exactly reproduce National Statistics aggregates.
32 STIMULATING SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH – 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES UK
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© 10,000 Small Businesses UK, 2013
For more information, visit: www.gs.com/10ksb-uk
doc_138245042.pdf