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Competing Agendas in Public Procurement: An Empirical Analysis of Opportunities and Limits in the UK for SMEs

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  • David Pickernell

    (Centre for Enterprise, University of Glamorgan Business School, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, Wales)

  • Adrian Kay

    (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University, 0200 Canberra, Australia)

  • Gary Packham
  • Christopher Miller

Abstract

Government procurement policy in the UK is an uneasy mixture of different policy legacies, where the dominant objectives of cost-efficiency and value for money compete with alternatives which emphasise public procurement as central to innovation policy and/or a critical demand-side instrument in local and regional economic development. Quantitative analysis of which types of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit, and how, from different levels of government as a customer is, however, rare in the UK (and indeed more widely across the EU). Utilising data from the Federation of Small Businesses 2008 biannual survey, we address this important task. Results reveal different patterns of procurement depending on the territorial scale of government, in terms of both the innovativeness of SMEs supported through public procurement as well as demand-side contributions to local and regional economic development, allowing us to judge future possible policy directions with regard to the use of public procurement.

Suggested Citation

  • David Pickernell & Adrian Kay & Gary Packham & Christopher Miller, 2011. "Competing Agendas in Public Procurement: An Empirical Analysis of Opportunities and Limits in the UK for SMEs," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(4), pages 641-658, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:29:y:2011:i:4:p:641-658
    DOI: 10.1068/c10164b
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    Cited by:

    1. Olga N. Balaeva & Andrei A. Yakovlev & Yuliya D. Rodionova & Daniil M. Esaulov, 2018. "Public Procurement Transaction Costs: A Country-Level Assessment Based On Microdata," HSE Working papers WP BRP 20/PSP/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    2. Kim Loader, 2018. "Small- and medium-sized enterprises and public procurement: A review of the UK coalition government's policies and their impact," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(1), pages 47-66, February.
    3. Tammi, Timo & Saastamoinen, Jani & Reijonen, Helen, 2020. "Public procurement as a vehicle of innovation – What does the inverted-U relationship between competition and innovativeness tell us?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    4. Jon Mikel Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, 2022. "Fostering regional innovation, entrepreneurship and growth through public procurement," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1205-1222, February.
    5. Giuseppe F Gori & Patrizia Lattarulo & Marco Mariani, 2017. "Understanding the procurement performance of local governments: A duration analysis of public works," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(5), pages 809-827, August.
    6. Timo Tammi & Helen Reijonen & Jani Saastamoinen, 2017. "Are entrepreneurial and market orientations of small and medium-sized enterprises associated with targeting different tiers of public procurement?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(3), pages 457-475, May.
    7. Daria Crisan, 2020. "Buying With Intent: Public Procurement for Innovation by Provincial and Municipal Governments," SPP Briefing Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 13(18), July.
    8. Uyarra, Elvira & Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, Jon Mikel & Flanagan, Kieron & Magro, Edurne, 2020. "Public procurement, innovation and industrial policy: Rationales, roles, capabilities and implementation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    9. Donghun Yoon, 2023. "The Improvement Policy Design of Public Procurement Process for the Public Management Innovation in South Korea," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    10. van Winden, Willem & Carvalho, Luís, 2019. "Intermediation in public procurement of innovation: How Amsterdam’s startup-in-residence programme connects startups to urban challenges," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    11. Johan Stake, 2017. "Evaluating quality or lowest price: consequences for small and medium-sized enterprises in public procurement," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(5), pages 1143-1169, October.
    12. Elvira Uyarra & Kieron Flanagan & Edurne Magro & Jon Mikel Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, 2017. "Anchoring the innovation impacts of public procurement to place: The role of conversations," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(5), pages 828-848, August.
    13. Piers Thompson & Wenyu Zang, 2018. "The foreign business and domestic enterprise relationship: Its implications for local entrepreneurial resilience," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 33(1), pages 10-39, February.
    14. Martijn van den Hurk, 2016. "Bundling the procurement of sports infrastructure projects: How neither public nor private actors really benefit," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1369-1386, December.
    15. Kim Loader, 2013. "Is Public Procurement a Successful Small Business Support Policy? A Review of the Evidence," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(1), pages 39-55, February.
    16. Knut Blind & Jakob Pohlisch & Anne Rainville, 2020. "Innovation and standardization as drivers of companies’ success in public procurement: an empirical analysis," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 664-693, June.
    17. Robert Blackburn & David Smallbone, 2011. "Policy Support for SMEs," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(4), pages 571-576, August.
    18. Annalisa Caloffi & Francesca Gambarotto, 2017. "Cognitive distance in public procurement and public–private partnerships: An analysis of the construction sector," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(5), pages 765-783, August.
    19. Anthony Flynn & Paul Davis, 2016. "The policy–practice divide and SME-friendly public procurement," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(3), pages 559-578, May.
    20. Chunling Yu & Toru Morotomi & Qunwei Wang, 2023. "Heterogeneous Effects of Public Procurement on Environmental Innovation, Evidence from European Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-23, September.

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