Impact case study database

The extensive body of research insight into pro-environmental SME needs, cited above, focused activity on two key groups: (1) policy implementers who configure PE provision; and (2) SMEs directly. Impactful activities included:

Forming a Low Carbon Business Network (LCBN):** To embed the principles of shared learning [in 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5] and capability-building [3.2, 3.3, 3.4], DBS secured ERDF funding for the LCBN as part of the ERDF D2EE project. Activity tailored to the needs of SMEs included: three sustainable business marketplace events; three sustainability summits (two jointly with the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce); network events; a ‘Green Growth’ acceleration programme; expert workshops; bespoke consultancy; and environmental management accreditation (emerging from 3.4 and G3.1). In its latest phase, the network evolved from its focus on local SMEs, to offer support for providers across England – hosting events and providing advice about how to support SMEs with pro-environmental practice to LEPs, local enterprise initiatives, and local authorities nationally. These bespoke sector support needs emerged directly from the underpinning research.

Dissemination of pro-environmental capabilities: Emerging interest in the pro-environmental capabilities framework [3.3, 3.4] led to further practitioner-based dissemination activity and generated advisory opportunities (e.g. West Yorkshire Combined Authorities, Hull City Council, as well as collaborative research opportunities with Aston, Brighton and Liverpool John Moores Universities).

*Regional/national advisory roles: The innovative and timely nature of the research and ensuing activity, led to the team’s involvement in regional strategy development as well as national advisory roles such as the Sustainability Leaders Forum.

Impact on regional policy actors

Statements by policy stakeholders demonstrate a range of impacts [5.2a-e]. Engagement with regional policymakers led to a change in the way enterprise support is delivered to SMEs [5.2c], as well as informing strategic development [5.2e]. Research into low carbon and environmental goods and services trends and skills needs [G3.2, 5.3b] is cited in the LEP’s Regional Energy Strategy [5.3c] and is influencing the ongoing D2N2 Science & Innovation Audit (SIA) as well as the refreshed Strategic Economic Plan (for 2019–2030) [5.2e]. Paterson supported the Regional Energy Strategy as an Advisory Group member with reference to business development, training, skills shortages, sector mapping and supporting low carbon, energy and renewable sector supply chains to strengthen SME energy support programmes [5.2a-e].

The increased profile of these issues at a policy level also resulted in the appointment of pro-environmental SME representatives to the D2N2 Innovation Advisory Board to champion the low carbon sector – and staff representation on the Energy Strategy Group as a direct link to the underpinning research on low carbon leadership [5.2e]. The research [3.3, 3.4, 3.6] has also informed the establishment of the award-winning Energy Efficiency Grant scheme at Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils [5.2b] and has been credited by the D2N2 LEP as providing a blueprint for enterprise support that combines business growth interventions with improved environmental outcomes of participating enterprises [5.2c].

Impact on SMEs

LCBN support for 33 SMEs has resulted in increased awareness and improved practice of SMEs towards environmental objectives, improved access to low carbon and environmental goods and services markets/supply chains. It has also enhanced CSR policies, and supported SMEs to adopt environmental standards [5.1a,b,c, 5.2d].

Since 2016, the wider LCBN has grown by 5% per month on average and currently comprises 150 members representing 130 firms [5.3a]. The impact of the network was evident from 2017 to the present day in the form of improvements to financial, productivity and sustainability indicators of the network SMEs. For example, the network helped Recon Electrical Ltd to embed low carbon capabilities and develop partnerships with LED manufacturers that resulted in tangible savings for customers [5.1a]. One client identified energy savings of GBP2,625 p.a. that meant the return on investment was just 19 months. 11 SMEs have been directly supported to attain environmental accreditations leading Investors in the Environment to estimate associated reductions of up to 5.4t of CO₂e by the end of 2020 [5.2d].

The development of three LCEGS marketplaces raised awareness of PE support and improved engagement with PE-focused activity. The East Midlands Chamber of Commerce (EMCC) report increased engagement from businesses in pro-environmental themed events, with a 5% increase in the average participation rate from 2016 [5.2a]. The ‘Investors in the Environment’ (IIE) scheme has also reported increased interest from LCBN SMEs for pro-environmental business management practices. Motion Vehicles Ltd credits the network with improvement in its market position and strengthening ‘green’ credentials of its brand [5.1b]. After participating in the Green Growth acceleration programme, Eco Voltz Ltd experienced an increase in demand for its electric bikes and a 15% increase in the product’s share of the firm’s turnover [5.1c].

Environmental, practitioner and organisational impact in road transport logistics

The development of the STVSM by Garza-Reyes and his guided implementation in several private sector companies has led to environmental, practitioner and organisational impact in the UK and internationally. In OXXO FEMSA, which is the largest chain of convenience stores in Latin America with over 18,000 stores, Garza-Reyes’ research [3.2] led to sustainable indicators being introduced and, under the guidance of Garza-Reyes, the re-engineering of truck routing processes. This resulted in ‘distance travelled in excess’ reducing to nil, fill loss reducing from 71% to 54.9%, and a 40% reduction of trucks needed to serve daily demand. This also resulted in non-environmental improvements, including 40% reduction in transport operation costs and serving time from circa 41 minutes to 18.7 minutes [5.1, 5.2].

By utilising the STVSM framework, in DHL Transport Operations (Monterey, Mexico), Garza-Reyes’ and his research partners reduced excess distance by 57%, resulting in secondary environmental impacts (such as the reduction of harmful gas emissions) [3.3]. Under the guidance and supervision of Garza-Reyes, his postgraduate students Mr Litao Lou, Mrs Khemchira Kaitwatcharachai and Mr Krishna Balaji and companies’ employees respectively applied the STVSM framework at: (1) HPF Co., Ltd., one of the most well-known medium size 3PL companies in Shenzhen, China; (2) ThailandPost Distribution Co., Ltd., a full-service transportation and distribution provider and affiliate of the Thai Post Company Limited (Thailand Post); and (3) Chandra Transports, a traditional third-party logistics service provider operating in Tamil Nadu, India. As an example of impact on practitioners or future practitioners through pedagogy, Garza-Reyes’ students benefitted from his innovative green-lean, applied pedagogic practice, gaining valuable practical experience through adapting the STVSM framework to solve real business problems. Indeed, in the three cases, STVSM helped the companies in identifying wastes and inefficiencies in their logistics processes, which consequently allowed them to change their practices accordingly to reduce costs and become more competitive [5.3, 5.4, 5.5].

Practitioner and health impacts in ambulance settings

Working with Cruz Roja Mexicana (Mexico’s Red Cross) in two separate projects, CSCI was able to apply its research on lean logistics and, in particular, sustainable (STVSM) and ambulance transportation value stream mapping (A-TVSM) [3.4], directly into the emergency medical context.

Project 1 focused on improving efficiency/agility and through the guided application of Garza-Reyes’ research toolkit, the organisation saw improved ambulance response times (response times within ten minutes increased from 16.4% to 58% post-intervention). Further, ambulance turnaround times increased by 34%, increasing services from 4 to 6 per 8-hour shift (i.e. creating capacity for two additional services in each shift) [5.6].

Project 2 focused on improving ambulance capacity by using lean principles and adopting the Theory of Constraints. With this knowledge and Garza-Reyes’ methodology, ambulance operations were re-routed following a facilitated process with internal stakeholders. Wastes such as over-processing time were identified in facilitated sessions. As a result, a reduction of ambulance cycle and turnaround times by about 50 min/service was achieved, increasing ambulance capacity from 4 to a maximum of 6 services per shift. Additionally, emergency call coverage within 10 minutes increased from 37% to 85% and response time decreased by 10 min on average. This further increased the number of services per ambulance per shift from 6 to 7 [5.7, pg. 269]. These improved efficiencies created better outcomes for the delivery of emergency care with patients being able to access it and receive an enhanced experience.

Extending the impact reach beyond road transportation

In 2016, CSCI recontextualised its research into a slightly different context – agriculture. Garza-Reyes led a British Council Institutional Links project in farming settings in Mexico [G3.3]. Whilst the project was multi-faceted, CSCI delivered best practice exchanges and workshops to local businesses, universities and government organisations in Mexico, where delegates were trained on the green-lean principles [5.8]. The project aimed to address outcomes relating to poverty and food security.

The commercial impact created by CSCI’s research is further demonstrated by its work with academic and industry partners in an iron ore shipping context in Oman. Working with a leading shipping company who had incurred GBP1m+ penalties/demurrage fees, CSCI was able to develop and apply a lean framework which led to the reduction in commercial time (a saving in excess of 30%) and the reduction in demurrage fees by approximately USD300,000 [5.9, pg. 1092; 1096; 1108].

Practitioner and professional impacts through executive education

The research has also been used in a host of educational exchanges with professional and practitioner groups including professional bodies. CSCIs research has led to its engagement with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and its Logistics Research Network (LRN), and CSCI hosting and chairing CILTs LRN conference in 2016. The research has gained the attention of the CILT in the UK and work is currently underway to embed the research in their resources .

The LDBG provide finance to around 385 local businesses per annum in the Sussex area. They also provide capability enhancing support to a further 80 business per annum. LDBG are expanding their scope to reach more businesses and this research was commissioned to provide answers to two basic questions: Is what we offer relevant and useful to local businesses? And , can we improve and enhance our offer going forward? Thus, even at current support levels the impacts outlined have the potential to have a positive impact on some 450 local businesses each year with the potential to expand their support offer in the future [5.1].

The LDBG (ERDF funded) investment programmes providing total loan and grant capital of GBP1,500,000 to 385 SMEs in Sussex were evaluated in 2019–20 [3.4, 5.1]. The evaluation was conducted in parallel with the co-design of a new local funding model that seeks to address problems around track-record, collateral, and managerial capability that represent a barrier to raising external capital for these firms. Both strands of research build upon three decades of academic and policy related research conducted by Cowling. In particular, his recent work on the UKs regional finance problem [3.2] and his wider body of academic work on borrower discouragement [3.3], gender and collateral [3.1], and loan guarantee schemes [3.4]. The core findings and recommendations of the LDBG evaluation were presented at a conference on ‘Accessing Investment Funds for Regional Innovation and Growth’ held at the University of Derby (2020), which was attended by senior officials from the British Business Bank, Innovate UK, BFG, Midlands Engine, and representatives of local finance and SME support agencies [5.4, 5.5].

This research underpinned the development of the research framework for the LDBG project, (2019-ongoing). The key research findings from the evaluation of LDBG funding recipients are supporting the continual development of the group’s finance offer to local businesses. These research projects and the associated publications have generated an in-depth understanding of how public policy and intermediaries can support capital constrained SMEs to overcome these barriers and enhance their survival and growth prospects [5.5]. The specific findings from our research activities impacted on how LDBG’s offer to local businesses as follows:

LDBG Direct Impacts:

IMPACT 1: LDBG are designing and testing a differentiated portfolio approach to funding - The research found evidence to support the development of a differentiated funding offer based on a business’s growth needs. For example, 27% of businesses surveyed indicated a desire to pursue a more expansionist growth strategy. However, accelerated and more expansive growth typically requires a longer time-scale of integrated support with the potential for multiple funding rounds. Equally, start-up costs differ from innovation or new product development investment. Therefore, matching financial packages with the emergent business growth stages allows for a highly targeted support offer [5.2, 5.4, 5.5].

IMPACT 2: LDGB are implementing an integrated package of funding and advisory support that addresses financial and human capital deficiencies - The research identified concern around managerial capabilities and that these capabilities impacted on the ability to make effective use of financial investment. Hence, combining financial provision with an integrated advisory programme in order to maximise the absorption capability of any investment funding [5.2, 5.5].

IMPACT 3: LDBG are now able to identify the full local economic impacts of their activities - Thorough economic evaluation is necessary to provide a clear understanding of the impact of publicly supported interventions. This is not typically conducted, particularly at the local level, hence we do not know ‘what works’ and what doesn’t. Our evaluation identified impacts of support at the business level through growth in employment, sales, and value added, but more importantly in respect of the local economic multiplier which was estimated to contribute around GBP16,000,000 in additional consumer expenditure from the additional 1,003 jobs created for local workers [5.2].

Wider Impacts:

IMPACT 4: Input into the design of an evaluation template for European Commission (EC) and European Investment Bank (EIB) SME finance interventions. The European Commission ‘Support to SME Initiative evaluation in the Member States (2019CE16BAT136)’, provides a common methodological approach that helps Member States to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of SMEi3. This should ensure robust and comparable evaluations, in line with the Common Provision Regulation. The LDBG Evaluation was discussed with the project team at an EC seminar (March 2020) cited in the final report under this project as an example of how small local interventions could be robustly evaluated [5.3, 5.6].