Cornish Collaboration Survey Findings Revealed
Partner to Succeed commissioned PFA Research Ltd, an independent market research firm based in Cornwall, to conduct a unique piece of research into the attitudes and appetite for collaborative working in Cornwall and South West Devon, including Plymouth. The full results were revealed at the first annual Collaborate Cornwall Conference, which took place on Friday 24 September at the Tremough Campus in Falmouth.
Businesses attending the first annual Collaborate Cornwall Conference, taking place today [Friday 24 September] at the Tremough Campus in Falmouth, have been the first to hear the full findings of a business collaboration survey, which was carried out during the summer.
Partner to Succeed and YTKO – which receive ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Convergence investment – have organised the full day conference with more than 150 businesses in attendance. The day has been designed to showcase successful business collaborations, and feature inspirational speakers, providing businesses with an insight into collaboration, through the announcement of the survey findings.
The conference commissioned top-quality speakers from across the UK. Those presenting include television’s longest-serving business and economics editor, Michael Wilson, worldwide adventurer yachtsman, Pete Goss and London based co-founder of a new open innovation agency, 100%Open, Roland Harwood.
The full survey findings were presented by Michael Wilson and all delegates will be given the findings report, in both hard copy and electronic, so that they can refer back to the information and use it in their business, or pass it onto other businesses.
The survey investigated the attitude to, and appetite for, collaboration among local businesses. To show how Cornwall collaboration fares nationally, the survey has been benchmarked against the data gathered from businesses in Norfolk, a similar rural economy facing many of the geographic, skills and investment issues common in Cornwall.
Peter White, founder of business development company YTKO said: “With this unique piece of research into the collaborative appetite within Cornwall and Devon, Partner to Succeed have sought to identify the business drivers for the year ahead and gain valuable insight into business leaders’ experiences of, and attitudes towards, collaborative working.”
The Survey:
Partner to Succeed commissioned PFA Research Ltd, an independent market research firm based in Cornwall, to conduct a unique piece of research into the attitudes and appetite for collaborative working in Cornwall and South West Devon, including Plymouth. Although this European Rural Development Fund (ERDF) Convergence funded programme is focussed towards Cornish businesses, the nature of collaboration means that YTKO have a responsibility to research, raise awareness and engage with potential collaborators within a wider geographic area.
A total of 108 businesses participated in the survey, either via an online questionnaire or direct phone calls. The survey was issued to a random sample of businesses both inside and outside of the county boundaries, sourced from a combination of third-party and YTKO-proprietary databases. The sample was focused upon (but was not exclusive to) the Partner to Succeed priority industry sectors which include information technology and communications, creative and media, advanced engineering, environmental technology, marine, food and drink and medical innovation. Data was collected during the period 1 July to 28 July, 2010.
The key findings:
- Businesses are predominantly focussed on the UK market, with exports not a core priority
74% of businesses have trading relationships that focus upon the UK. 30% trade ‘mainly within Cornwall’, 18% trade ‘mainly in Cornwall and Devon’ and 15% trade within ‘the South West’. 30% trade ‘across the UK’ and 26% of all respondent businesses trade ‘globally’. - Micro-businesses prefer to trade locally and collaborate less than larger businesses
29% of businesses that trade ‘locally’ are sole traders, compared to 16% that trade ‘nationally’ and 13% that do some trade ‘overseas’. In addition, 30% of businesses with five or fewer employees, and 38% of business with a turnover of up to £100k have rarely or never been involved in business collaboration. - One third of businesses expect strong growth over the next five years38% expect their business to experience ‘strong growth’ over the next five years; with a further 45% expecting ‘some growth’. Only 5% indicated that the business outlook for the next five years is ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
- Revenue expected to grow for most businesses
85% of respondents are expecting revenue to grow over the next 12 months. 18% are forecasting growth of 19% to 25%, 21% are forecasting 26% to 50% growth and 13% are forecasting over 50% growth. - Sales, access to market and product development are top priorities
68% of businesses are looking for ‘increased sales’ in the period 2010 / 2011, 45% aim to ‘access markets’ and 36% intend to ‘develop new products’. 28% of businesses are seeking to ‘improve productivity’, while 25% are seeking to ‘reduce costs’. - The majority of business collaborations are project based
Smaller businesses are least likely to collaborate, but only 20% of respondents are unsure of the benefits of collaboration: 42% of businesses are ‘regularly’ involved in collaborating with other organisations, 11% do so ‘irregularly’ and 29% do so on a ‘project or issue basis’. 19% rarely or never collaborate with other organisations. Smaller companies and those with low turnovers (i.e. £100k or less) appear less likely to become involved in collaborations. - Business leaders believe collaboration is only appropriate for certain sectors
45% of those who rarely or never collaborate linked this to the ‘nature of the business’. - Not found a “Partner to Succeed”:
25% ‘cannot find the right partner’, and this has prevented them from collaborating.
Process driven limitations, lack of time or a lack of joint vision are the main barriers to collaboration. Respondents identified that ‘a reluctance to share information’ (30%), ‘insufficient resources or excess workload’ (27%) and ‘a lack of shared goals’ (20%) were their main reasons not to collaborate. However, 25% of respondents did not identify any barriers to collaboration.
The majority of respondents are aware of Partner to Succeed and 21% have directly benefitted from their services 61% are aware of the Partner to Succeed programme and 21% have used the services provided to date.
Helen Trudgeon, Partner to Succeed Programme Director said: “It is clear from these results that whilst a large proportion of those businesses surveyed are either already collaborating, or would be keen to collaborate if they could find the right business partner, there is still work to be done in promoting the benefits of joint working and increasing understanding of how collaboration can be used to help businesses grow. This is particularly the case with small and micro-businesses, which are also the businesses least likely to be trading outside the county.
“However, It is heartening that whilst there are businesses that are not participating in collaborations, there is still an appetite for it, should what are essentially process driven barriers be overcome. With the correct level of support and an understanding of how these barriers can be removed, there is a great deal of scope for bringing businesses together in successful partnerships, particularly if they are willing to look further afield, both nationally and internationally, for collaborations.”
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