Organised by:In partnership with:Sponsored by: EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB 13 MAY 2009 How far should universities go to meet the needs of employers?

Organised by:In partnership with:Sponsored by: Colin Monk Brighton University

Employer Engagement “How can universities help small businesses survive the recession and reposition for the upturn?” 13 May 2009 Colin Monk Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Business and Marketing) University of Brighton

ProfitNet (Profit through Networks) Origin - Industrial clusters - Hastings - HEFCE What is it- Peer to peer support - Groups of 15 decision makers - External facilitation - University project manager - Meet ½ day each month 15 months

Meeting schedule Business Planning – each company presents plan Action Learning – explore business issues Creativity Workshop – new information from external experts, practitioners

Results Turnover + 13%; profits 19% (195/300 organisations) 24 new business start-ups New products (78%); new services (92%) 89% members increased business strategy skills 76% members increased problem solving 72% members developed new innovation strategies

Figure 1. Comparing business performance, Sussex firms (N) = Turnover and Wages (1375); Profit (1441) ProfitNet firms (N) = Turnover (48); Wages (31); Profit (40) 2006 to % 14.5% 12.0% 4.6% 7.7% 18.9% 0%10%20%30% Turnover Wage costs Profit (BT) Per cent change Sussex firmsProfitNet firms

Figure 2. Comparing business performance, Sussex firms (N) = Turnover and Profit (401); Wages (402) ProfitNet firms (N) = Turnover (39); Wages (28); Profit (33) 2007 to % -0.1% 18.7% 25.0% 9.0% -15.2% -20%-10%0%10%20%30% Turnover Wage costs Profit (BT) Per cent change Sussex firmsProfitNet firms

University impact 17% increase in university collaboration New short courses identified, well supported 6/11 new KTP programmes in 07/08 Beyond ProfitNet ….

Current situation 10 groups; 150 companies Key features  positive outlook  pro-active approach  focus on innovation  larger SMEs report high team morale  starting to plan for end of downturn

What ProfitNet is doing Building, maintaining peer to peer support Process makes SMEs confront issues Take close look at business model Supporting innovation In summary; managing rather than reacting