CREME's Blog

CREME launches new website www.creme-dmu.org.uk

cremedmu — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:33:56 +0000

CREME is delighted to announce the launch of its new website. Please visit the website at www.creme-dmu.org.uk

The Centre’s blog has been integrated into the new site and all posts can be found in the Articles section. All future blog articles will be posted on the new site.

Keep up to date with CREME’s activities and network with CREME’s stakeholders in the following ways:

Subscribe to CREME’s mailing list to receive regular information from CREME.
Follow CREME on twitter: http://twitter.com/CREMEatDMU
Join CREME’s Linked-In Group and participate in the discussions: CREMEatDMU

Or simply contact CREME’s Project Manager, Liz Frost.

The team at CREME hope you will join the discussions at: www.creme-dmu.org.uk

Emerging findings from the S2P project: Barriers faced by Leicester businesses when bidding for public sector contracts

cremedmu — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:21:14 +0000

Over the past few weeks on the Selling to the Public Sector project (S2P), we have carried out an additional three interviews for the case studies we are developing at CREME and have been involved in several project meetings and one networking event aimed at Leicester based businesses.

In relation to the case studies, we have interviewed three further businesses; one a social enterprise that focuses on training and recycling; another that is in the printing and design industry; and a third in the textile manufacturing sector. The social enterprise has had vast experience in working with local and central government in applying for grant funding, while the other two businesses do not appear to have any previous experience of this kind.

Some of the key emerging findings from our work include a lack of understanding of how the procurement process works. Businesses have mentioned that they do not know whom to approach to ask questions, what is expected of them and where to find information on business opportunities. These are key areas that the project is seeking to address through seminars and 1-2-1s, but this type of information is something that every business should be able to access easily.

There also seems to be a lack of engagement with local companies by local authorities when issuing contracts to tender. For example, one business interviewed mentioned that it had heard of one department in the NHS in Leicestershire buying sleeping garments for obese patients for £160 from America instead of sourcing them locally at a substantially lower price. Another interviewee stated that Leicester City Council does not seem to be that aware of the Third Sector overall and called for more events to be organised by the Council so that local suppliers could tell the Council what they had to offer.

In future blog posts, we will look at other issues faced by businesses and at the challenges faced by local authority buyers. For Leicester based SME’s, it is still not too late to take advantage of free procurement related support that is on offer. If you are interested, please email creme@dmu.ac.uk .

Dinner with the BCABA

cremedmu — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:04:29 +0000

What’s the future of business support for ethnic minority firms? ‘Bleak’ is probably a fair answer given the coalition government’s effective retreat from publicly funded business support. The Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) will shortly publish research that will give a more rounded account of business support in the new era of austerity. It will not demur from the basic point that the outlook for intermediaries engaged in supporting ethnic minority enterprise is pretty gloomy. Initiatives that mushroomed under successive Labour administrations are likely to be curtailed, if not obliterated, by funding cuts. But, on the basis of an event I attended – organised by the Black Country Asian Business Association (BCABA) – there may be grounds for (qualified) optimism.

The occasion was the BCABA’s Gala Dinner, a glittering affair with around 300 guests from the business world, professions, and finance sector. I was struck by a number of things. First, the BCABA is very much attuned to the dramatically changing business environment in which its 2,500 members operate. As its chairman, Ninder Johal, made clear in his opening address, globalisation, technological change and migration are reshaping the way in which entrepreneurs operate. Business owners in the Black Country need to be alert to these changes, and agile enough to respond appropriately. There was no hint of insularity or ruminations on the specific ‘needs’ of Asian business. Rather, the message was the importance of innovation and change as key to survival in a volatile business world.

Ninder Johal, Chair, Black Country Asian Business Association

I was also impressed with the range of businesses in attendance. Researchers have often remarked on the narrow range of sectors in which ethnic minority firms tend to operate. South Asians are associated with retailing and catering. CREME has recently documented a process of ‘entrepreneurial diversification’¹.In essence, a growing number of South Asian entrepreneurs are vacating these traditional niches, and are increasingly to be found in sectors like IT, media and professional services. This dynamic was very much in evidence at the Gala Dinner. A new generation of young Asian entrepreneurs is seizing opportunities in the ‘new economy’; and many manufacturers in the audience were re-inventing traditionally-run businesses in sectors like clothing. This new wave of entrepreneurs is eager to trade internationally, and is making good use of diasporic links to India and other parts of South Asia.

Finally, the corporate presence was everywhere to be seen. Banks, leading law firms and IT outfits hosted tables and mingled eagerly with the latest entrepreneurial success stories from the local Asian business community. There were frequent references to the importance of the ‘brown pound’. Minority entrepreneurs and communities are clearly big business.

It’s important not to get carried away with the glitz of a Gala Dinner. Huge swathes of ethnic minority businesses are facing major challenges; minority communities are at the sharp end of austerity measures; and much of the ‘good practice’ in respect of ethnic minority business support looks set to disappear. None the less, the new institutions that are emerging – and LEPs take notice – could do a lot worse than engage with organisations like the BCABA. By so doing, they would be gaining real allies in their quest to ‘re-balance’ the economy.

Monder Ram

¹For a copy of our report entitled ‘Ethnic Minority Businesses in the West Midlands’, please email creme@dmu.ac.uk

Professor Monder Ram reports back from his visit to Sweden

cremedmu — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:05:51 +0000

Becoming self-employed is a common means of survival, if not integration, for migrants in a number of European countries. Migrants often start their own businesses at a faster rate than their indigenous counterparts. For many, this is out of sheer necessity rather than any particular flare for enterprise. However, a more positive opportunity-seeking motivation is evident in a growing number of cases; and there are now a significant proportion of entrepreneurial success stories, not least in Britain (see for example, the prodigious number of minority entrepreneurs on various rich lists).

: Herbert Felix Institutet in Sweden

British researchers on minority enterprise have kept abreast of such developments. The Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) has regularly contributed to debates on ethnic minority enterprise, and has actively worked with policy-makers and practitioners keen to develop an understanding of this growing phenomenon.

But how do our experiences compare with other European countries? For the last three years, I have been engaged as visiting Professor at Lund University in Sweden; the post is supported by a policy body called the Herbert Felix Institute. It is fascinating to see how terms, concepts and approaches that we use in the UK take on markedly different connotations in Sweden. For example, we routinely use the term ‘ethnic minority’ enterprise, whereas the Swedes prefer ‘immigrant’ businesses. I suspect the latter would raise hackles amongst some in the UK.

: Professor Monder Ram in Sweden

Over the last week, a number of colleagues from Sweden, Denmark and the UK have been in Lund comparing experiences and exploring how we might contribute to a research agenda on ethnic minority or ‘immigrant’ entrepreneurship. The aim is to develop a systematic programme of research on immigrant enterprise in Sweden. It is clear that Swedish research on this issue is at an early, embryonic stage. A handful of scholars are engaged in the challenging task of documenting the increasing entrepreneurial activities of immigrants to Sweden. This has yielded useful knowledge on the extent of immigrant self-employment (which is proportionately more than in the UK); the wide range of migrant origins (notably, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia); and business concentration in low value added sectors.

But there are important gaps in knowledge, which this group of researchers is preparing to address as a part of a long-term programme of work. These include: the financial experiences of immigrant business owners; the characteristics of migrants who have succeeded in growing their businesses (i.e. the success stories); minority business representation in policy circles; and the economic and social contribution of immigrant businesses. Swedish policy-makers are keen to work with researchers to devise appropriate interventions. In turn, UK researchers will be envious of the detailed data that Swedish colleagues have access to on the number and characteristics of migrant business owners

We will be continuing this dialogue in special workshops in Sweden in September, and at the Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference in Leicester, UK, on October 12^th and 13^th. The latter will have an international flavour this year.

Selling to the Public Sector Project holds its First Seminar aimed at Social Enterprises

cremedmu — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:18:25 +0000

‘Selling to the public sector’[1] project held its latest seminar entitled ‘how to win public sector contracts’ for Leicestershire based social enterprises at Leicester City Phoenix Studio on May 11^th, 2011. Four social enterprises’ senior managers and Leicester City Council project coordinators attended the seminar. Two consultants with the professional background of SMEs expertise and of providing SMEs support service delivered the seminar. The seminar provided a learning opportunity for the engaged scholarship. First, the participants had a high expectation from the seminar as they have none to less developed experience in tendering for public sector contract opportunities. Second, they were keen to find out what was on offer from this project and this heightened the issue of managing expectations.

The seminar started with the consultants providing information on size (value) of the UK public sectors contracts and what public sectors purchase from the various suppliers. Participants learnt the existence of a huge opportunity of supplying public sector. In 2008/09 alone, consultants showed that, the UK public sector has spent £220 billion on procurement of which £10 billion, £20 billion and £30 billion were spent by the Ministry of Defence, Local Authorities and NHS Trust, respectively. However, the data on value of actual contract won by the SMEs in the UK was lower than when compared with the situation in France, Hungary and Slovakia, consultants underlined. They provided evidence suggesting that the value of contract by the SMEs in the UK was only about 16 % while it was 32 %, 41 % and 46% for France, Hungary and Slovakia, respectively.

Participants also were given advice on what public sector buys from different suppliers, the main items being works (such as construction and related), suppliers (clothing, food, furniture, electrical, etc) and services (e.g., advertisement and marketing, catering, ICT). Public sector also practises a variety of procurement types. Consultant explained the existence of five types of procurements which include open procedure, restricted procedure (requires pre-qualification questionnaire-PQQ), negotiated procedure, competitive dialogue and design contest. Consultants made also clear that there are alternative tendering routes such as if SMEs are in the approved suppliers’ list or in a framework agreement.

Next, the consultants described the typical procurement process to public procurement which was of a high importance to participants. They said the procurement process involve the number of steps including 1) opportunity notice; 2) pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ); 3) invitation to tender (ITT); 4) tenders submitted and evaluated; 5) face to face interview or presentation; 6) contract awarded; 7) feedback. Here, participants were asked to share their experience. A number of participants reflected on their experience of tendering and the challenging nature of the bidding for public sector procurement. They raised the issues of complexity of tendering for procurement, in particular, to people from the ethnic minority to who English is not their first language, and array of tender evaluation criteria to be major barriers for bidding to public sector contracts. Such reflections then led to discussing what makes a good tender and how they are assessed.

Through interactive, engaging, discussion, the participants learnt that a host of factors such as the experience of the bidder (supplier), methodology, cost of supplying, policy variables in use; quality of contract (delivering quality work, suppliers or services) and health and safety issues may play a part in assessing the tenders. This discussion is followed by consultants’ description of the following processes of tender evaluation by the public sector organisations which include:

Criteria to be published in advert
MEAT : most economically advantageous tender
Tender panel
Attempt to objectify subjective opinion
Scoring matrix – weighted score
Tendering process is auditable
Highest mark wins

The seminar also discussed barriers to accessing the public sector procurement opportunities and things smaller suppliers should be aware of themselves internally. Some of the barriers include:

Insufficient information about the tender
Lack of clarity in initial tender
Insufficient opportunity to ask questions about tender prior to tendering
Insufficient time to prepare
The large contract values in terms of co size

The seminar also identified issues internal to small suppliers but important when competing to supplying large organisations. These issues include accounts, insurance, health and safety, equal opportunity, environmental policies and sustainability. The seminar was concluded by providing information on the public sector procurement alert services locally and nationally, public sector contract opportunities in Leicestershire and East Midland Region and on the support on offer from this project.

Written by Kassa Woldesenbet

[1] A project funded by the ERDF and managed by the Leicester City Council, aims to improve local smaller suppliers’ chances of successfully winning supply contracts from the public sector and to compete for other such opportunities by providing advice, guidance and training. The project aims, through consultants, to scope and map the potential for selling to the public sector and then to deliver capacity development seminars and one2one diagnostic sessions to SMEs and Social enterprises in Leicestershire area.

Leading Experts discuss Access to Finance by SMEs

cremedmu — Mon, 09 May 2011 09:31:33 +0000

Access to finance by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and its impact on the country’s prosperity is one of the longest running national debates in the UK. Three leading experts in the field came together at a seminar hosted by De Montfort University on 4^th May 2011 to review path-breaking research over the past decade and the way that it has influenced banking and government policy particularly in the aftermath of the credit crisis. The new, quarterly survey of SMEs and their access to finance was also discussed by an audience of over 30 researchers and practitioners.

From left to right: Professor David Wilson; Professor Monder Ram; Professor Richard Roberts; Dr Stuart Fraser; Mike Young

Dr. Stuart Fraser of the Warwick Business School gave an overview of the UK Survey of SME Finances (UKSMEF) which has conducted 5 surveys since 2004. He focused on some of the key issues revealed in these surveys including the role of ‘financial delinquency’ (unauthorised overdraft borrowing and/or missed loan repayments) on reducing Access to Finance and the importance of financial discouragement whereby firms don’t apply for finance because they believe they will be rejected. This discouragement has had a negative impact on growth rates of firms according to available evidence. Dr. Fraser also outlined the evidence from the surveys that good, long term small business relationships with banks improve the availability of finance and probably lead to better lending terms. The surveys had also shown that financial discouragement and loan rejection rates have increased following the credit crisis with a detrimental impact on sales growth. He drew out a number of policy implications including the need for more, better quality business mentoring; the importance of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme; and the critical importance of improving financial relationships.

Professor Richard Roberts, SME Market Analysis Director of Barclays Bank and Visiting Professor at De Montfort University showed how the UKSMEF research had influenced the policy and practice of both banks and the government. He provided three examples from recent history:

the hotly debated topic of whether the decline in finance to SMEs since the credit crisis was a result of demand or supply factors (the answer is both);
the deeper understanding that has been gained of why certain groups face greater loan denial rates and, therefore, an improved ability to better tackle these reasons; and
action taken to correct the increase in loan denials by banks’ computer models since the credit crisis which was a major reason for establishing the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.

He concluded that, unlike the long history of research into access to finance by SMEs, recent research has produced conclusions and recommendations in time to have an impact upon current problems and issues.

The seminar concluded with a description by Mike Young, Deputy Chair of the Access to Finance Advisory Group of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, on the newly launched quarterly survey of 5,000 SMEs and financial issues. This will be an independent survey with independent analyses of the data generated although it is being funding by the British Banking Association. As in most cases different firms will be interviewed each quarter, data will be available on approximately 20,000 SMEs a year allowing the production of an annual regional report which will be of value to local business, bank and public sector partnerships. The first results will be available in July this year.

The seminar was the second in the De Montfort University Small Firms Seminar series which is organised by CREME. A longer report on this event will be available shortly. Please contact Liz Frost on efrost@dmu.ac.uk for further information.

Industrial relations expert appointed as visiting professor at university

cremedmu — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:53:23 +0000

De Montfort University (DMU) has appointed a leading industrial relations expert as a visiting professor to develop its work on migrant businesses.

Professor Paul Edwards

Professor Paul Edwards joins the Centre for Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) team of highly respected academics, based at the university’s Leicester Business School, whose research focuses on diversity and enterprise.

Professor Edwards researched and taught for more than 30 years at Warwick Business School, where he was director of the Industrial Relations Research Unit and an associate dean. His research interests concentrate on the employment practices of multinational companies and employment relations in small firms, and he has conducted research for bodies including the Department of Trade and Industry and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The author of eight books, including The Politics of Working Life (2005), and a fellow of the British Academy, Professor Edwards is currently a professor of employment relations at the University of Birmingham’s business school and an associate editor of the journal Human Relations.

Commenting on his appointment, Professor Edwards said: “I am honoured by this appointment. Colleagues at DMU exemplify the values of critically engaged scholarship, embracing rigorous research and engagement with practice. I have worked with several colleagues at DMU, in CREME and elsewhere, and look forward to strengthening my links with them.
“I have worked with Professor Ram and his colleagues for more than 10 years. CREME has established a powerful reputation for its research and practical engagement. It addresses important practical and policy issues while never forgetting the centrality of careful research. I hope to develop future work, in particular around businesses established by recent migrants from Eastern Europe and Africa. These businesses are changing the landscape of the UK economy but little is known about how they operate or the jobs that they are creating. This new work will build on CREME’s established record in this field.”

Ethnic minority enterprise is a growing and increasingly important phenomenon in many parts of the world, and DMU’s CREME is a leader in this field, pioneering research and engagement activities to promote diversity and enterprise. The centre’s cutting-edge expertise on ethnic minority entrepreneurship has enabled it to advance a wider agenda of catalysing innovative research and practitioner interventions in collaboration with a wide range of organisations, policy-makers and entrepreneurs to fulfil its mission through its work to ‘make diversity and enterprise everyone’s business’.

Boost your business with DMU seminar on SME access to finance

cremedmu — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:56:24 +0000

A seminar hosted by De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester on 4 May will help SMEs to identify greater access to finance. A leading small business finance researcher and one of Barclays Bank’s top small business economists will be among the guest speakers at ‘SME access to finance in the UK: What has research contributed to our understanding of recent events?’

The event is part of DMU’s Small Firm Seminar Series – all seminars are free and open for DMU staff, students and the general public to attend. During the seminar, Dr Stuart Fraser from Warwick Business School, the author of an independent study on SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) finance, will provide an overview of recent research and offer his views on what lessons should be learnt.

Dr Richard Roberts is a visiting professor at DMU’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME), and SME market analysis director at Barclays Bank. With more than 30 years’ experience of researching the SME sector, Dr Roberts will provide a response to SME finance from an industry perspective. Dr Roberts said: “There have been many changes in the finance and business environment since 2006, particularly with regard to bank/small firm relationships in the UK. The recession of 2008-10 revived the concerns of business owners and politicians about the ability of SMEs to access finance, especially debt finance. “As we move away from recession in 2011, these worries have not gone away,
particularly among start-ups, fast growth firms, ethnic minority businesses and female-led enterprises.”

Attendees at the seminar, which are expected to include a number of senior industry figures and academics specialising in SME finance, will have the opportunity to consider developments in an open forum discussion. One focus of the event is to consider the possible role of the new ‘rolling’ research programme announced in the Business Taskforce set up to help firms access finance in October 2010. The first results are due in July 2011 and will be made available to academic researchers later this year. Mike Young, independent chair of the steering group overseeing the report, will also take part in the forum.

DMU’s Small Firm Seminar Series has been designed to reflect the distinctive strengths of small firms’ research in the university’s Leicester Business School. The seminars will focus on disseminating leading-edge research and implications for policy and practice. Internationally recognised researchers will discuss their work alongside leading policy-makers
and practitioners.

The event is on Wednesday 4 May 2011, 12-3pm. Places are free but limited, so early booking is advised. For further information, queries or to book a place at the seminar, please contact Liz Frost at CREME on (0116) 250 6428 or email efrost@dmu.ac.uk.

CREME’s case study strategy with SMEs bidding for public sector contracts in Leicester – Any suggestions?

cremedmu — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:30:57 +0000

CREME is currently working on the Selling to the Public Sector project, as discussed in previous posts on this blog[1]. The Project will support SMEs across Leicester and Leicestershire, specifically targeting female, disabled and BME owned SMEs in Leicester’s disadvantaged areas, to access procurement and supply chain contracts from public and private sector buyers. The main type of support that is on offer to SMEs at the moment includes seminars and 1-2-1 specialised support from consultants with previous experience in the field.

This project is looking at several key areas that include:

Evaluating procurement opportunities vs. SME capacity to fulfil them
Improving communication between certain buyers and suppliers
Simplifying the procurement process (especially the initial stages)
Easing the future implementation of the Single Equalities Bill (if passed in 2010)
Improving access to supplier opportunities
Diversifying the supply chain while evaluating the size of contracts
Improving pre-qualification methods and communication
Providing better feedback
Building supplier capacity

CREME’s main role within the project will be to identify and engage with 6 diverse SMEs throughout Leicester City. We have already approached 1 ethnic minority business in the housing sector and will be looking to identify the remaining 5 case studies over the upcoming weeks.

We will be looking to interview a mix of ethnic minority, female owned and disabled owned businesses and SMEs based in disadvantaged areas throughout Leicester. We will also look to compare companies with previous success in the tendering process vs. those who have won few, if any, public sector contracts in the past.

The main themes / areas that we will be looking into will include:

Identifying the profile of companies interviewed and how these compare with companies that Leicester City Council have procured to in the recent past
Identifying the strategy of these companies when it comes to tendering for public sector contracts
Finding out detailed information about their relationship with Large Purchasing Organisations (balanced vs. unbalanced, position in the supply chain)
The effects of tendering for public sector contracts on personnel and human resources
Key barriers and challenges faced in the public sector procurement process
And effects of external business support, including support provided in the project

We will be collecting data via:

Semi-Structured interviews
Participant Observation (Observing companies in action)
Documentary Sources (documents from SMEs)
Archival records (organisational charts, budgets)
Any others?
- Action research journal (reflections)

If there are any themes / areas we should further look into or if you have any general suggestions, please contact me (Alexander Kiselinchev) at: akiselinchev@dmu.ac.uk.

[1] Initial Impressions from the First Seminars Aimed at SMEs in the Selling to the Public Sector Project

A Brief Introduction to the Selling to the Public Sector Project

EDA: Making Enterprise and Diversity a way of Doing Business

cremedmu — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:04:59 +0000

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the key to economic growth: a loud refrain heard from all quarters in the UK these days. A little less loud, but significant nonetheless, is an understanding amongst policy makers and practitioners of the importance of enterprise diversity, if the country is to fully grasp the opportunities for growth and social improvement.

Converting these policy insights into effective action and outcomes has been made more challenging, however, by the difficult economic and financial environment and the related retrenchment in the availability of business support. At the same time, these difficulties are a real spur to imagination and innovation on these agendas. There is a premium on inspiring and collaborative leadership to boost business survival and growth and to engage diverse communities in this process.

As outlined in our previous posts, a group of people from across the private and public sectors have established EDA (Enterprise and Diversity Alliance), a unique collaboration to pioneer new ways of promoting development and growth of diverse SMEs through imaginative and productive relationships with large firms and private and public business service and finance providers.

Led by CREME and the University of Lancaster, EDA will provide leadership in two areas which evidence suggests are key barriers to SMEs’ survival and growth and to maximising their contribution to the country’s economic growth. Two working groups have been established to develop and deliver action plans, one around access to finance and the other around access to markets. Both working groups will be underpinned by approaches that deepen the engagement of firms that have tended to be excluded from productive business networks and opportunities.

The access to finance working group will:

In the short-term maintain and enhance communication with the network of SMEs developed through a series of workshops which brought minority ethnic owned enterprises together with experts in finance companies and professional business services.
In the medium term organise further workshops around key issues facing SMEs to which SMEs and key professionals will be invited, combined with producing a tool kit for organising similar workshops around similar themes in other parts of the country.
In the longer term work with Local Enterprise Partnerships to persuade them to promote access to finance to minority enterprises and to ensure that the planned national business monitoring network will include people with a successful track record of providing financial and professional advice to minority communities. The ACCA, through the work of its members, has tremendous resources to contribute to these objectives.

Many of the difficulties of SMEs securing finance are related to misperceptions by bank staff of the potential of these firms and their owners and by the SMEs of the attitudes and ways of working of banks. We want to create forums which help develop better mutual understanding between SMEs and finance providers to break open the financial constraints on minority SME growth.

Richard Roberts, SME Market Analysis Director and Chief Economist, Barclays UK Banking

The access to markets working group will:

Develop further peer-to-peer mentoring groups together with corporate/SMEs mentoring processes based on a previous successful initiative between the 12/8 Group and A. F. Blakemore & Son Ltd. These and other initiatives will develop the capacity of SMEs to guarantee a stable supply to large firms of quality products and services. Building such resilience will address a major barrier to larger firms adopting supplier diversity policies.
Make the business case for supplier diversity to senior managers of large purchasing organisations.
Encourage the development of a commercially viable portal for SMEs to sell their wares to larger firms.

We need to convince senior managers amongst large public and private purchasing organisations that there is a business case for supplier diversity, for example, the role it can play in encouraging innovation and in finding new markets. We also need to provide easy-to-use tools to implement successful supplier diversity policies.

Gerard Chick, Head of Knowledge Management, CIPS

Supply relationships between large firms and SMEs are often not developed because of the extra time and costs of dealing with a larger number of suppliers. Our aim is to bring together SMEs in partnerships that reduce these costs.

Simon Leggett, Sales & Marketing Director, The Consortium

EDA will be developing and delivering its action plans in the coming months and learning from its successes, and from its failures, so that knowledge flows from practice. By doing this, and by disseminating good practice, EDA will be providing leadership and innovation to promote the survival and growth of diverse SMEs, discovering and opening up new pathways to success.

A full briefing document about the launch of EDA can be obtained from Liz Frost at CREME at: efrost@dmu.ac.uk