An exploration of the leadership and innovation practices of growth and high growth SMEs, in Wales

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gary L.R. Walpole
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Value Added ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Growth Firms ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Innovation Practices

This study explores the leadership and innovation practices of growth and high growth Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in Wales (a region of the UK). Developed economies are becoming dependent upon the SME service and manufacturing base in order to provide high levels of value added, high levels of employment and as sources of innovation. Contemporary leadership literature draws extensively from large company concepts of leadership and uses large scale quantitative survey instruments to test theories. However, SMEs are heterogenous in their production processes, innovativeness and productivity levels. The dearth of contemporary SME studies means that the long tail of UK productivity is poorly understood as studies of SMEs have failed to capture the different complex contexts within which leadership is practiced, not least the high growth setting. The researcher determined that theory building would be necessary in order to understand the contextually rich environment of high growth firms. A realist approach, using a cross comparative case study strategy, involving multiple phases of research was duly developed. Data was collected from leaders and their followers and was analysed using data displays (an accepted and legitimate research methodology in the social sciences). The findings of the phased study clearly indicate the importance of "place!#a dimension of leadership behaviour that has been underexplored. The researcher duly developed a model of high growth SME leadership from the empirical research and his initial conceptual model was developed during the structured literature review. The study concludes that SME leadership, whilst sharing some similarities with "big company theories$, is not adequately explained by such previous research. The key aspects of place mediated leadership incorporate leader$s personality traits, an appreciation of place mediators and the application of an idiosyncratic blend of elements of transformational, pragmatic and distributed leadership models. The resultant model is offered for theory testing to other researchers that are eager to understand the leadership and innovation practices of growth and high growth SMEs.

Value Creation through Heterogeneous Cultural Team-Based Environments

2014 ◽  
pp. 124-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson Ozuem ◽  
Nicole Sarsby
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Key Aspects

Previous research has documented cultural heterogeneity within project teams, but still attention mainly centres on project managers who transfer internationally to manage teams of a different culture from their own, or more recently from those who manage virtual teams. Existing literature does not discuss the readiness to manage culturally diverse teams as a result of large-scale EU migration and wider immigration in the UK projectised environments. The objectives of this contribution are: 1) to investigate the factors that influence effective value creation in heterogeneous cultural environments, in both inter- and intra-organisational learning and knowledge creation in the UK project team-based environments, and 2) to illuminate issues of value creation in heterogeneous cultural environments in both public and private team-based project environments. This chapter adds to extant studies of organisational diversity and innovation by elucidating the overwhelming key aspects of cultural heterogeneity and thus explains how challenging it is to affect change in the prevailing praxis, ideas, and values in team-based management.

scholarly journals What characterises high-growth firms in South Africa? Evidence from World Bank Enterprise Survey

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
A. Mthimkhulu ◽  
M. Aziakpono
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
High Growth ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Growth Firms ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
World Bank Enterprise Survey ◽  
Enterprise Survey ◽  
New Jobs

In the past two decades, considerable efforts have been made to promote small and medium enterprises as a catalyst for job creation in many countries, including South Africa. However, globally a growing body of evidence shows that only a small segment of small and medium enterprises in an economy accounts for 50 to 70% of net new jobs. Using the World Bank Enterprise Survey and logit and quantile regressions, this paper empirically explores the characteristics of high growthfirms in South Africa. The study finds that firms that are less than 6 years create more jobs than the average firm in the sample. The results further suggest that the typical high-growth firms are black-owned.

Does the sector matter? An analysis of high-growth firms and industry growth rates

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Dillen ◽  
Pieter Vandekerkhof
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Value Added ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Industry Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Growth Firms ◽  
Growth Industry

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the effect of industry growth rates on the characteristics of high-growth firms (HGFs) that are active in a particular industry. By making a distinction between HGFs active in stable and declining industries and HGFs active in growing and high-growing industries, it is analyzed if the main dimensions of firm performance are significantly different for HGFs active in one of these different industry types. Gaining more insight into this industry aspect of high firm growth is important as governmental measures towards HGFs may be more effective if they have a specific sectoral focus.Design/methodology/approachA subset of 740 Belgian HGFs was analyzed. Data were gathered from the Belfirst database. HGFs were classified within their corresponding industry type: a declining industry (negative growth), a stable industry (0 −5% growth), a growing industry (5 −10% growth) and a high-growth industry (>10% growth). Four dimensions of structural firm performance that are expected to correlate with high growth were taken into consideration: productivity (value added per FTE), profitability (ROA), innovativeness (intangible assets) and financial health (solvency and liquidity).Tukey's range tests in conjunction with post-hoc analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were carried out to test for significant differences in all the mentioned variables for the HGFs in the four different industry types.FindingsResults show that HGFs active in a stable industry are not significantly more profitable or innovative than HGFs active in a growth industry. However, significant differences could be encountered when it comes to the other two dimensions of structural firm performance: productivity and financial health. It is shown that HGFs active in declining and stable industries are significantly more productive than HGFs active in growth industries and high-growth industries. Also, HGFs active in declining and stable industries have significantly higher liquidity ratios than firms active in growth industries, pointing towards a better financial health for HGFs in nongrowing industries.Research limitations/implicationsThe results confirm the conceptual logic that the differences between resource-based view (RBV) and industrial organization (IO) propositions will have an impact on the drivers of firm performance and high business growth. Every future study that focuses on the growth determinants of HGFs should be aware that considering the subset of HGFs as one homogenous group may be suboptimal. It is likely that the growth determinants of both HGF types will indeed be fundamentally different.Originality/valueUntil now, all studies on HGFs have considered the subset of HGFs as a whole. This paper tried to disentangle the subset based on the growth rate of the industry in which HGFs are mainly active. In this proposition, a reason for the lack of knowledge about characteristics of HGFs may – at least partially – be found in the fact that industry membership plays an important role in determining the characteristics of a high-growth firm. Future studies focusing on high-growth determinants may benefit from systematically taking the industry growth rates into account, with the knowledge that the propositions of two different theories – IO and RBV – may be the fundamental drivers of a firm's high-growth rates.

scholarly journals The impact of journal re-grading on perception of ranking systems: Exploring the case of the Academic Journal Guide and Business and Management scholars in the UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T Walker ◽  
Ammon Salter ◽  
Rita Fontinha ◽  
Rossella Salandra
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Ranking Systems ◽  
Large Scale Survey ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Business And Management

Abstract The marked increase in the use of metrics, such as journal lists, to assess research has had a profound effect on academics’ working lives. While some view the diffusion of rankings as beneficial, others consider their diffusion as a malicious development, which further acerbates a tendency towards managerialism in academia, and undermine the integrity and diversity of academic research. Using data from a large-scale survey and a re-grading of journals in a ranking used by Business and Management UK scholars—the Academic Journal Guide—as a pseudo-experiment, we examine what determines negative and positive perceptions of rankings. We find that the individuals who published in outlets that were upgraded were less hostile to the ranking than those who did not benefit from these changes, and that individuals were also less hostile to the ranking if outlets in their field had benefited from re-grading in the new list. We also find that the individuals who published in outlets that were upgraded were more positive to the ranking than those who did not benefit from these changes, and that individuals were also more positive to the ranking if outlets in their field had benefited from re-grading in the new list.

Institutional framing and entrepreneurship capital in Uganda

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Mpeera Ntayi ◽  
Henry Mutebi ◽  
Kenneth Byangwa ◽  
Susan Georgina Kamanyi
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Entrepreneurship Capital

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide policy and managerial implications required in solving the daunting problem of the existing low-entrepreneurial capital in Uganda. Design/methodology/approach – A large-scale comprehensive survey using a sample of 11,105 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from 40 high-growth towns was selected and undertaken from five regions of Uganda. The response rate was 40.5 per cent, translating into 4,498 usable questionnaires. Findings – Results reveal that institutional framing, entrepreneurship human capital and entrepreneurial moral values predict entrepreneurship capital in Uganda. These results are presented and discussed in detail in this paper. Research limitations/implications – The study applied a cross-sectional approach to study behaviour, yet studying behaviour requires time. Therefore, there is need for scholars to undertake a follow up study to test the hypotheses using longitudinal data. Practical implications – The paper provides implications for the review and development of supporting institutional frames for entrepreneurship, promoting generalized forms of human capital and entrepreneurial ethics moral values. Originality/value – The motivation for the study is derived from the observation that the legal and regulatory framework in Uganda is biased against SMEs. This is manifested in the high-regulatory burden of registering and running enterprises in Uganda. For example, the cost of registering a business in Uganda is high. Legal proceedings in Uganda are inefficient, complex and costly only favouring firms with resources and connections. This may restrict enterprise development and increase the costs of running businesses, distort human capital and entrepreneurial moral values thereby affecting entrepreneurship capital.

scholarly journals Phenome-Wide Association Study of Actigraphy in the UK Biobank

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Brooks ◽  
Nicholas F. Lahens ◽  
Gregory R. Grant ◽  
Yvette I. Sheline ◽  
Garret A. FitzGerald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Airway Obstruction ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Diurnal Rhythms ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Individualized Approach ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Chronic Airway

AbstractWrist-worn accelerometer actigraphy devices present the opportunity for large-scale data collection from people during their daily lives. Using data from approximately 100,000 participants in the UK Biobank, actigraphy-derived measures of physical activity, sleep, and diurnal rhythms were associated in exploration and validation cohorts with a full phenome-wide set of diagnoses, biomarkers and metadata. Rhythmicity was captured by two independent models based on accelerometer and skin temperature harnessing behavioral (diurnal) and molecular (circadian) components. We found that robust rhythms significantly with biomarkers, survival, and phenotypes including diabetes, hypertension, mood disorders, and chronic airway obstruction; these associations were comparable to those with physical activity and sleep. Surprisingly, associations were mostly consistent between the sexes, while modulation by age was significant. More importantly, rhythms were found to be powerful predictors of future diseases: a two standard deviation difference in wrist temperature rhythms corresponded to increases in rate of diagnosis of 61% in diabetes, 38% in chronic airway obstruction, 27% in anxiety disorders, and 22% in hypertension. Our PheWAS of actigraphy data in the UK Biobank establishes that rhythmicity is fundamental to modeling disease trajectories, as are physical activity and sleep. Integration of long-term remote biosensing into patient care could thus afford an individualized approach to risk management.

scholarly journals Revealing multi-scale population structure in large cohorts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Diaz-Papkovich ◽  
Luke Anderson-Trocmé ◽  
Simon Gravel
Keyword(s):  
Population Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Exploratory Analysis ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Unbalanced Sampling

AbstractGenetic structure in large cohorts results from technical, sampling and demographic variation. Visualisation is therefore a first step in most genomic analyses. However, existing data exploration methods struggle with unbalanced sampling and the many scales of population structure. We investigate an approach to dimension reduction of genomic data that combines principal components analysis (PCA) with uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) to succinctly illustrate population structure in large cohorts and capture their relationships on local and global scales. Using data from large-scale genomic datasets, we demonstrate that PCA-UMAP effectively clusters closely related individuals while placing them in a global continuum of genetic variation. This approach reveals previously overlooked subpopulations within the American Hispanic population and fine-scale relationships between geography, genotypes, and phenotypes in the UK population. This opens new lines of investigation for demographic research and statistical genetics. Given its small computational cost, PCA-UMAP also provides a general-purpose approach to exploratory analysis in population-scale datasets.Author summaryBecause of geographic isolation, individuals tend to be more genetically related to people living nearby than to people living far. This is an example of population structure, a situation where a large population contains subgroups that share more than the average amount of DNA. This structure can tell us about human history, and it can also have a large effect on medical studies. We use a newly developed method (UMAP) to visualize population structure from three genomic datasets. Using genotype data alone, we reveal numerous subgroups related to ancestry and correlated with traits such as white blood cell count, height, and FEV1, a measure used to detect airway obstruction. We demonstrate that UMAP reveals previously unobserved patterns and fine-scale structure. We show that visualizations work especially well in large datasets containing populations with diverse backgrounds, which are rapidly becoming more common, and that unlike other visualization methods, we can preserve intuitive connections between populations that reflect their shared ancestries. The combination of these results and the effectiveness of the strategy on large and diverse datasets make this an important approach for exploratory analysis for geneticists studying ancestral events and phenotype distributions.

Value Creation through Heterogeneous Cultural Team-Based Environments

2017 ◽  
pp. 341-366
Author(s):  
Wilson Ozuem ◽  
Nicole Sarsby
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Key Aspects

Previous research has documented cultural heterogeneity within project teams, but still attention mainly centres on project managers who transfer internationally to manage teams of a different culture from their own, or more recently from those who manage virtual teams. Existing literature does not discuss the readiness to manage culturally diverse teams as a result of large-scale EU migration and wider immigration in the UK projectised environments. The objectives of this contribution are: 1) to investigate the factors that influence effective value creation in heterogeneous cultural environments, in both inter- and intra-organisational learning and knowledge creation in the UK project team-based environments, and 2) to illuminate issues of value creation in heterogeneous cultural environments in both public and private team-based project environments. This chapter adds to extant studies of organisational diversity and innovation by elucidating the overwhelming key aspects of cultural heterogeneity and thus explains how challenging it is to affect change in the prevailing praxis, ideas, and values in team-based management.

Drivers of Growth and Catch-up in the Tourism Sector of Industrialized Economies

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728752110194
Author(s):  
Khuong Vu ◽  
Kris Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Labor Productivity ◽  
Value Added ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Global Tourism ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Eu

COVID-19 decimated global tourism. As governments and firms strategize the sector’s recovery, insights from the sector’s prepandemic period of high growth offer useful policy lessons. This study examines the drivers of the tourism sector’s growth and catch-up performance in 13 industrialized economies over the period 2000–2015, using data from the EU-KLEMS database. The findings have three notable policy implications. First, the tourism sector in most countries experienced significant growth. However, value-added growth was driven largely by labor employment expansion while labor productivity declined in most countries. Second, weak investment in non–information and communications technology (ICT) capital and declining total factor productivity are the principal impediments to labor productivity growth. Third, all countries embraced digital transformation but many lagged on innovation and labor quality. These findings are analyzed to identify policy strategies for the tourism sector’s postpandemic recovery.

scholarly journals Handedness measures for the Human Connectome Project: Implications for data analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lana Ruck ◽  
P. Thomas Schoenemann
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Hand Preference ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Behavioral Measure ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Self Report Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Future Work

AbstractOpen data initiatives such as the UK Biobank and Human Connectome Project provide researchers with access to neuroimaging, genetic, and other data for large samples of left-and right-handed participants, allowing for more robust investigations of handedness than ever before. Handedness inventories are universal tools for assessing participant handedness in these large-scale neuroimaging contexts. These self-report measures are typically used to screen and recruit subjects, but they are also widely used as variables in statistical analyses of fMRI and other data. Recent investigations into the validity of handedness inventories, however, suggest that self-report data from these inventories might not reflect hand preference/performance as faithfully as previously thought. Using data from the Human Connectome Project, we assessed correspondence between three handedness measures – the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI), the Rolyan 9-hole pegboard, and grip strength – in 1179 healthy subjects. We show poor association between the different handedness measures, with roughly 10% of the sample having at least one behavioral measure which indicates hand-performance bias opposite to the EHI score, and over 65% of left-handers having one or more mismatched handedness scores. We discuss implications for future work, urging researchers to critically consider direction, degree, and consistency of handedness in their data.

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