ERC Presentation slides

1. Business and entrepreneurship data
sources for LEP benchmarking
Prof Stephen Roper
Stephen.roper@wbs.ac.uk

2. ERC – the background
• Established Jan 2013 with a mission to deepen our understanding of ‘what
drives SME productivity and growth’.
• Project value is £5.9m (FEC) over five years from consortium of 7 private
and public funders (ESRC, BIS, Innovate UK, 4 major Banks via BBA (2013-
15) and the British Business Bank (2015-18).
• Research is strongly policy/practice focussed. Impact and engagement
agenda is paramount
• ERC is a UK Hub for SME Research with a strong team of world class
researchers drawn from 6 University business schools (Warwick, Aston,
Imperial, Birmingham, Queen’s Belfast and Strathclyde)
• ERC operates as a ‘virtual centre’ with researchers concentrated in Aston
and Warwick and a ‘flying faculty’ model .
2

3. Introduction
• Aim to provide a brief overview of four business datasets which
might be useful for benchmarking or providing background
information
• Will focus on data perhaps less used to date and not talk about
BRES
• Will cover:
– Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
– UK innovation survey
– Longitudinal Small Business Survey
– IDBR and the Business Structure Database
• And I will show you a few new maps!

4. Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor (GEM)
Background
• Annual household survey to measure participation
in entrepreneurship. Available annually since 2002.
• Part of an international project, c.60 countries
• UK sample min. 10,000 but boosted in Scotland,
Wales and NI
• Annual so data can be pooled over some years to
give more representative results for smaller areas
• Each annual survey is separate – no links from year
to year so cannot follow up individual stories
• LEP analysis is possible by pooling some years
data. Less good for measuring local, year on year
trends
• Contacts: Mark Hart (mark.hart@aston.ac.uk),
Jonathan Levie (jonathan.levie@Strath.ac.uk
Coverage
• Attitudes to entrepreneurship and
established business, general and personal
perspective
• Engagement with early stage and established
businesses (TEA rates) including social
enterprise
• Ambition and innovation (for those engaged
in business activity)
• Good range of personal characteristics
(gender, ethnicity, age, household) which can
help explain entrepreneurship
• No performance data on businesses

5. Percentage of adult population with
ambitious growth plans
Legend
0.6 - 1.0
1.1 - 1.3
1.4 - 1.5
1.6 - 2.5
• GEM provides data on the
proportion of adults indicating
that they are involved in early
stage businesses and aim to
grow them to more than 10
employees in five years
• Red are areas with lower
growth ambition, green highest
• Source: GEM, pooled data
2003-2015. Data provided by
Jonathan Levie.

6. UK Innovation Survey (UKIS)
Background
• Company based survey of innovation, R&D with
some performance data
• Conducted every 2 years with a 3 year reference
period – e.g. innovation over the last three years.
Part of EU survey. Available since 2002
• Sample structured by region, industry and sizeband
and weighted, 10 plus employees
• Around 14,000 observations in each wave.
• Some overlap between surveys (c. 1000) provides
longitudinal data
• LEP level analysis is possible but requires new
weighting structure and for smaller LEPs coverage
may be limited
• Contact: Hooker Hulya (hulya.hooker@beis.gov.uk)
Coverage
• R&D and other investments in
innovation e.g. design, IT, training
• Intellectual property protection,
e.g. patents trademarks
• Innovation – products, services,
organisation, new to the firm and
new to the market.
• Cooperation and barriers
• Performance – turnover,
employment and exports

7. Percentage of firms introducing
new products or services
Legend
12.00 - 17.00
17.01 - 19.00
19.01 - 24.00
24.01 - 27.00
• UK Innovation survey
provides information on the
percentage of firms
introducing new products or
services
• Red the lowest quartile of
LEPS, green the highest
quartile
• Source: UK Innovation Survey
2013, ERC analysis.

8. Longitudinal Small Business Survey
(LSBS)
Background
• New survey (2015) of small businesses (and self-
employed) across the UK
• Central focus of survey is growth and performance
but has become more general survey hence
coverage
• Telephone survey structured by region, industry and
sizeband
• In tradition of BIS Small Business Surveys but much
larger (c14000 respondents) and aim to build
longitudinal data (2016). A unique feature in this
space.
• LEP analysis is feasible but need to be careful as
sample sizes are relatively small for some LEPs.
• Contact: Ian Drummond
(Ian.Drummond@beis.gov.uk)
Coverage
• Background to the
entrepreneur or leadership
team
• Characteristics of the business
and its markets
• Finance (detailed), innovation,
barriers, pensions, ambition,
exporting behaviour
• Performance data:
employment and turnover
growth (no GVA)

9. Ambition to grow -2015
Legend
14.00 - 16.00
16.01 - 24.00
24.01 - 33.00
33.01 - 45.00
• The Longitudinal Small
Business Survey provides
evidence on the proportion of
employers seeking to grow by
more than 25 per cent over
the next three years.
• Red are areas of lowest
growth ambition, green
highest
• Source: Longitudinal Small
Business Survey, ERC analysis

10. IBDR and the Business
Structure Database (BSD)
Background
• IDBR (Inter-departmental Business Register)
includes all firms with PAYE or VAT registered
• Updated from surveys and using data provided by
HMRC
• Covers all UK firms including single employee
businesses but data coverage is very limited
• BSD links firms to provide longitudinal data to
monitor firm growth and survival. Available since
1998
• LEP analysis by sector sizeband is possible as covers
all firms. Anonymous survey, however, with no
personal details for firms or leadership. Some
disclosure rules for small samples.
• Contact (BSD): Karen Bonner
(k.bonner1@aston.ac.uk)
Coverage
• Firm sector and location,
ownership flag (UK or external)
• Employment and turnover (no
GVA data) and lags may be
evident in the data recorded
• BSD used to calculate growth
from year to year
• Survival flags and can identify
births

11. Proportion of high growth local
units – 2011-2014
Legend
13.11 - 14.48
14.49 - 15.16
15.17 - 16.01
16.02 - 18.64
• BSD allows us to calculate
the proportion of local
business units which have
grown rapidly over 3 years
(>20 per cent pa – the
OECD definition)
• Red areas have lower
proportions of high
growth firms, green
highest
• Source: BSD, ERC Growth
Dashboard

12. Contact us:
• If you would like any more information about the ERC and any of its
activities please contact us: Stephen Roper (stephen.roper@wbs.ac.uk),
Mark Hart (mark.hart@aston.ac.uk) or Vicki Belt (vicki.belt@wbs.ac.uk).
More details about the activities of the ERC and our latest events can be
found at:
www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk