IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v38y2001i9p1531-1557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Location on the Use by SMEs of External Advice and Collaboration

Author

Listed:
  • Robert J. Bennett

    (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK, rjb7@cus.cam.ac.uk)

  • Paul J. A. Robson

    (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK, p.j.a.robson@abdn.ac.uk)

  • William J. A. Bratton

    (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK, will.bratton@spectrumstrategy.com)

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the influence of location on the extent of use and impact of external advice and collaboration on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain. The analysis indicates that for private-sector advisers (accountants, consultants, etc.) and collaboration with suppliers and customers, the intensity of use does not vary significantly with location in most cases. Only the input of business friends and relatives is strongly locationally constrained, indicating the importance of personal trust processes operating in a different way from other influences. EU Structural Fund status of an area also has few major effects on use of private-sector advice. However, the impact of external advice and the extent of local collaboration between similar firms are influenced by location, with impact generally increasing with the size of business concentration, density and closeness to a business centre; i.e. there are positive effects of urban location and agglomeration economies. For public-sector support agencies (such as the Small Business Service Business Link, TECs/LECs, enterprise agencies and also chambers of commerce) the reverse is generally true. Levels of use are locationally influenced, but impact is not. Use tends to increase in EU-assisted areas, and in areas with lower levels of business concentration. This applies to most local agents, but for regional development agencies there is an additionally strong effect of highest focus of use and impact in the most rural and peripheral areas. Thus public agents appear generally to be most used and have greatest relevance to SMEs in more peripheral areas where they fill gaps in the market created by agglomeration effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert J. Bennett & Paul J. A. Robson & William J. A. Bratton, 2001. "The Influence of Location on the Use by SMEs of External Advice and Collaboration," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(9), pages 1531-1557, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:38:y:2001:i:9:p:1531-1557
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980126671
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980126671
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420980126671?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Robert J. Bennett & Paul J. A. Robson, 1999. "The use of external business advice by SMEs in Britain," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 155-180, April.
    3. Robert J. Bennett & Daniel J. Graham, 1998. "Explaining Size Differentiation of Business Service Centres," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(9), pages 1457-1480, August.
    4. John R. Bryson, 1997. "Business service firms, service space and the management of change," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 93-112, January.
    5. Robert Bennett & Paul Robson & William Bratton, 2000. "The Influence of Location on the Use by SMEs of External Advice and Collaboration: Detailed Econometric Estimates," Working Papers wp190, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    6. E Vatne, 1995. "Local Resource Mobilisation and Internationalisation Strategies in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 27(1), pages 63-80, January.
    7. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 1996. "Paul Krugman's Geographical Economics and Its Implications for Regional Development Theory: A Critical Assessment," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 259-292, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kai Hänninen & Harri Jokela & Martti Saarela & Anna-Mari Simunaniemi, 2017. "Micro-Business Owner-Managers’ Growth Intentions in Sparsely Populated Areas in Northern Finland," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 15(1 (Spring), pages 3-22.
    2. Elif Bascavusoglu-Moreau & Qian Cher Li, 2013. "Knowledge Spillovers & Sources of Knowledge in the Manufacturing Sector: Literature Review & Empirical Evidence for the UK," Working Papers wp451, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boiscuvier, Éléonore, 2001. "Innovation, intégration et développement régional," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 77(2), pages 255-280, juin.
    2. Benner, Maximilian, 2009. "What do we know about clusters? In search of effective cluster policies," MPRA Paper 43848, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    3. W.A. NaudÈ & W.F. Krugell, 2003. "An Inquiry into Cities and their Role in Subnational Economic Growth in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 12(4), pages 476-499, December.
    4. repec:rri:wpaper:200605 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Zoltan J. Acs & Attila Varga, 2008. "Geography, Endogenous Growth, and Innovation," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 12, pages 152-168, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2008. "Innovation and the competitiveness of industries: comparing the mainstream and the evolutionary approaches," MPRA Paper 27523, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Gashawbeza Bekele & Randall Jackson, 2006. "Theoretical Perspectives on Industry Clusters," Working Papers Working Paper 2006-05, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    8. Boddy, Martin, 1999. "Regions, competitiveness and competitive regions: a critical look at recent debates," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa293, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Robert Bennett & Paul Robson, 1999. "Intensity of Interaction in Suppy of Business Advice and Client Impact: A Comparison of Consultancy, Business Associations and Government Support Initiatives for SMEs," Working Papers wp142, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    10. Suwala, Lech, 2021. "Concepts of Space, Refiguration of Spaces, and Comparative Research: Perspectives from Economic Geography and Regional Economics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(3).
    11. Rao, B. Bhaskara, 2010. "Estimates of the steady state growth rates for selected Asian countries with an extended Solow model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 46-53, January.
    12. Beatrix Paal & Bruce D. Smith, 2013. "The sub-optimality of the Friedman rule and the optimum quantity of money," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(2), pages 911-948, November.
    13. Jung-Suk Yu & M. Kabir Hassan & Abdullah Mamun & Abul Hassan, 2014. "Financial Sectors Reform and Economic Growth in Morocco: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 13(1), pages 69-102, April.
    14. Prof. Dr. Adem KALCA & Resc. Assist. Atakan DURMAZ, 2012. "Diaspora As The Instrument Of Humane Capital," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(5), pages 94-104, October.
    15. repec:zbw:rwidps:0030 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Raouf Boucekkine & Fernando Del Río & Omar Licandro, 2003. "Embodied Technological Change, Learning‐by‐doing and the Productivity Slowdown," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(1), pages 87-98, March.
    17. Abida Hafeez & Karim Bux Shah Syed & Fiza Qureshi, 2019. "Exploring the Relationship between Government R & D Expenditures and Economic Growth in a Global Perspective: A PMG Estimation Approach," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 163-174, April.
    18. repec:ilo:ilowps:366690 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Heijs, Joost, 2003. "Freerider behaviour and the public finance of R&D activities in enterprises: the case of the Spanish low interest credits for R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 445-461, March.
    20. Boucekkine, Raouf & del Rio, Fernando & Licandro, Omar, 2005. "Obsolescence and modernization in the growth process," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 153-171, June.
    21. Kawalec Paweł, 2020. "The dynamics of theories of economic growth: An impact of Unified Growth Theory," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 6(2), pages 19-44, June.
    22. Kar, Sabyasachi & Pritchett, Lant & Raihan, Selim & Sen, Kunal, 2013. "Looking for a break: Identifying transitions in growth regimes," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 151-166.
    23. Iamsiraroj, Sasi, 2016. "The foreign direct investment–economic growth nexus," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 116-133.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:38:y:2001:i:9:p:1531-1557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.