17 January 2006 Competitive Analysis of SMEsDenis Kearney
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Competitive Analysis of SMEs
Denis Kearney
17 January 2006 Competitive Analysis of SMEsDenis Kearney
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Topics Covered
• Objectives• Why this area of research• Methodology & Contribution to
Knowledge• Achievements to date• Next Steps• Summary• General Issues and Problems
17 January 2006 Competitive Analysis of SMEsDenis Kearney
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Objectives
• Develop a methodology to enable organisations (in particular, SMEs) to remove Constraints on their ability to Grow– With particular emphasis on Collaboration
• To Test and Verify the methodology
• To deliver a Practical Tool that can be applied across industrial sectors
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Why this area of research?
• Focus on Rapid Growth firms– For added employment– For exports– For innovation
• Uncertainty why some firms grow and others do not
• Most existing research focuses on identifying trends and mapping these to high and low performers
17 January 2006 Competitive Analysis of SMEsDenis Kearney
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Why this Area of Research?
Firm Growth
Constraint Cloud
Static & Contracting firms
….. Equivalent to 39% of Enterprise Ireland client companies (2002)
…..48% of Low Tech Mnfg
….. 40% of High Tech Mnfg
Time
17 January 2006 Competitive Analysis of SMEsDenis Kearney
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gMethodology / Contribution to Knowledge
Starting Point
Lite
rature R
evie
w
Problem with SME Competitiveness
and Sustainability
Tsunami Network
SMEexcel
Tool Dev’t for Collaboration
INNOVEST Network
Contribution to Knowledge
SMEcoll
Tool Dev’t for International Collaboration
Tool Dev’t for Innovation
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Can a Tool Kit be developed that helps
SME Competitiveness and Sustainability?
Can the Factors that support Sustainable
Collaboration in SMEs be defined?
Ap
plied
Res
earch
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Significant Achievements
• Survey of Industry – across 5 countries
• Prototype company analysis tool
• 2 Collaborative experiments set up
• Innovation network being readied
• 1 paper published – ref Collaboration
• 3 Seminar / Conference presentations
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IDENTIFICATION
FORMATION
IMPLEMENTATION
EVALUATION
Gate 2
Gate 3
Gate 4
Gate 5
ATTRACTION
Gate 1
The Collaboration Process
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gSynergy Model – Maturity
Scale
Optimising (5) Fully competent and able to
demonstrate leadership
Standardised (4) Well understood. Good
competency and application
Defined (3) Some understanding. Basic
capability to apply
Embryonic (2) Basic Understanding of
requirements Not able to apply
Initial (1) Unpredictable or Does not
exist
CommercialSynergy
StrategicSynergy
CulturalSynergy
Operational Synergy
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Next Steps
• Complete Literature Research
• Finalise Research Questions
• Complete Collaborative field work
• Commence Innovation field work
• Finalise Tools and Methodologies
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Summary
• Outlined the Objectives for the Research• Described why this research is Important• Described the Methodology being pursued• Speculated on what would be the
Contribution to Knowledge• Presented the major Achievements to date,
with some examples• Outlined where this work will go from here
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Issues & Problems
• Part-Time difficult
• ‘Remote’ participation difficult
• Preference for Practical rather than Research activities