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

17 January 2006 Competitive Analysis of SMEsDenis Kearney

          

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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

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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

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Thank You

Denis Kearney

Centre for Strategic Manufacturing

17th January, 2006