Access to Markets

Opening the door to markets at home and abroad for scaleups

Access to markets at home and abroad is now the number one challenge highlighted by our scaleup CEOs – 85% of scaleups now see it as critical for their growth – the third consecutive year this issue has risen in importance¹. Moreover, for the first time, the number of scaleups ranking market access as their top concern is now double that of talent (38% to 19%). 

It is vital for market access to form an active part of the Government ‘s economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the ScaleUp Institute has stressed in the Economic and Recovery Taskforce work, now is the time to address some of the long-standing central challenges that the UK has faced in effectively using public procurement as a tool to supercharge UK business growth, and to align international resources towards scaleups. 

In this context it is notable that the 2020 Pink Book² – based upon pre-Covid data – states that there was a further widening of the current account deficit from 3.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 to 4.3% in 2019. Whilst this was primarily driven by a fall in earnings from investments abroad, it is also worth recognising that our trade deficit also increased from 1.2% to 1.4% of GDP³ during this period.

The UK also continues to run the largest current account deficit in the G7 as a percentage of GDP (see chart below). Whilst this can have specific benefits, it also exposes the UK to international market volatility to a greater degree. 

In October 2020 the credit ratings agency Moody’s further downgraded UK sovereign debt in mid-October 2020 from “Aa3” from “Aa2”⁴ (the previous downgrade was in September 2017). As part of this they stated the additional risks of Covid-19 and ongoing Brexit uncertainty, along with a range of other concerns about the UK’s ability to deliver upon a forward growth strategy. Whilst the downgrade in 2017 has yet to result in any issues for the UK borrowing⁵ a clear growth-driven recovery plan will be critical to future UK economic prospects.

The crystal clear results of our scaleup business survey show the urgency scaleups place on market access, but this also reinforces the fact that – despite the challenges currently present in the market –it is our scaleups that continue to be hungry to grow and are actively exploring how to do so both within the UK and abroad.

Half of scaleups are already exporting and 45% are involved in selling directly to a large corporate or as part of a wider supply chain. They are also at the forefront of innovation, with 82% having developed a new or significantly improved product or service in the last 3 years.

This demographic of innovative, growth, collaboration and export-focused businesses will be fundamental to the UK’s future economic development and must be well supported in outcomes of the Business Support review that is currently under way.

Supporting scaleups in their ambitions both in international and domestic markets must be a national priority of our public and private sectors. 

BUILDING A DOMESTIC PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK FOR GROWTH

Scaleup ambitions often begin at home. Gaining anchor clients in UK domestic markets – including Government contracts – are a key part of the journey for companies that then export their goods and services abroad.

45% of scaling businesses are selling to large corporates directly or as part of a supply chain, but broader collaboration rates remain low with only 3 in 10 collaborating with a large corporate to deliver a product or service.

Use of public procurement also shows significant scope for improvement: only 12% of scaleups are selling directly to the UK national Government and 18% to local government. Only 11% report being part of a Government supply chain with just 2 in 10 collaborating with Government. 

For both private sector and government procurement, the top three barriers are: complex procurement processes, finding opportunities to bid and the time it takes to win a contract. There is a notable increase over 2019 in the perceived barriers of dealing with Government: 74% of scaleups note complex procurement as a barrier to working with Government, compared to 52% for corporates; 69% highlight difficulties in finding contract opportunities to bid for compared to 47% for corporates; and 50% note the time it takes to win a contract as a barrier, compared to 41% for corporates.

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT: ANCHOR, CONVENOR AND CONNECTOR

As the ScaleUp Institute has emphasised throughout our work with the Government Economic Recovery Taskforce, boosting these particular numbers should be at the heart of developing a UK growth framework: these are the low hanging fruit and are entirely within the Government’s power to address. Better use of data will play a strong role but it must be channelled through effective, aligned policy mechanisms. 

This will require cooperation between departments, and should seek to leverage the convening power of government and their role as a procurer – ensuring efforts and best practice to engage with scaling firms cascades through the value chain. It worth noting that the Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS) in its publication this year noted a significant increase in concerns about wider public sector contracts in 2018/19⁶. Whilst these have fallen in 2019/20 Covid-19 will likely have impacted some of these reports, and there is no room for complacency as our survey shows. 

There is a significant opportunity to better leverage data as part of this drive, including Companies House data and – specifically – HMRC data to better support both procurement and export potential across our scaling firms. The work undertaken by BEIS, HMRC, the Cabinet Office, the Behavioural Insights Team under the DECA project with ScaleUp Institute⁷, has proved that Government can harness HMRC data to identify and proactively engage with scaleup businesses and has had notable results. This work should now continue at pace and be expanded to include Government procurement opportunities.

The Small Business Research Initiative, Social Value Act and Procurement Champions 

The ScaleUp Institute recommends that the Government seeks to make better use of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) to increase the level of innovation in public services and improve procurement processes. Additionally, departmental procurement champions should have clear objectives to build stronger procurement channels and strategic partnerships with scaleup companies and ensure those objectives are aligned and measured to a common standard using an integrated CRM system. These objectives must ensure that the right relationship is embedded between procurement champions and the compliance and risk teams that surrounds the front line seeking to work with scaleups. This should lead to the creation of a ‘lite’ process that can aid government procurement efforts rather than hinder these.

Government should seek to extend this further to include ensuring that the larger corporates from which it is buying are encouraged to support their supply chains more effectively by corporate venturing, peer networks and/or specific targets for onward spend. From our 2020 Survey we know that scaleups exist across the supply chain with many in Tiers 1 and 2; ensuring that both terms and payment times cascade downwards is important. The Government should both lead by example and – where necessary – enforce this approach among Tier 1 suppliers and across the supply chain.

Using buying power in this way will allow the UK the opportunity to create much stronger direction in both the awarding of contracts from Government departments and local authorities, and build upon existing technological offerings – such as Contracts Finder and as the Government considers their Cloud Strategy – to do more to engage with potential scaleup suppliers to Government through a relationship managed approach. The PPRS report notes that one of the top three criticisms emerging from their review across both 2018/19 and 19/20 is the need for a clearer procurement strategy. A good example of a directed procurement and small business support policy can be seen in the US Small Business Administration which has developed an anchor contracting model, with significant information and clear searchable tools that could be used as a template here⁸, as well as providing both a financing facility and a procurement network to boost growth among small businesses.

In engaging with scaleups more regularly, Government should also seek to arrange better, more regular ‘meet the buyer’ events at a local level designed to engage local growth businesses in procurement opportunities.

This kind of engagement should ensure that a wider relationship management approach can then wrap around these firms – including the provision of wider support (such as peer to peer networks and leadership development) and access to appropriate international opportunities, including trade missions, export advice and finance from UK Government, allowing businesses to build an international profile from the confidence that holding a contract with the UK Government should bring to overseas buyers. This is already evident within much of Innovate UK’s work – including their Scaleup Programme and the Innovate to Succeed activities which should be continued and expanded. 

SCALEUP PUBLIC PROCUREMENT INDEX

In our survey this year, scaleups make a powerful case that they need more collaboration with both public and private sector; currently this is underperforming with only 2 in 10 collaborating with government and 3 in 10 collaborating with large corporates. Only 3 in 10 collaborate with universities despite 6 in 10 wanting greater access to their R&D facilities and support.   

The ScaleUp Institute’s ongoing analysis of public procurement activity with Tussell provides further evidence of this. While in the first half of 2020, scaleups have been awarded £1.1bn of local government contracts (encouragingly, more than the whole of 2019), there are significant quarterly differences and between Government entities. 

To achieve better collaboration both government and corporations need to simplify their process, raise awareness of opportunities and accelerate the time it takes to negotiate and sign contracts.

THE ROLE OF CORPORATES: COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP

Well curated clusters, with access to corporates is one of the three key drivers of scaleup growth at a local level ⁹. However, whilst corporates are doing markedly better than Government in addressing barriers to procurement for scaleups – particularly through a simpler bidding process – it is important for the private sector to emulate the Government’s welcome transparency in identifying the businesses they are buying from and what opportunities exist to do more with them.

Being more open with data of this kind will help local clusters and hubs to better align themselves towards growth whilst avoiding saturation issues. 

Clear messages about successful bids can also create a halo effect for other companies in the area who may be considering their own growth path. Furthermore, this level of transparency should create a feedback loop capable of providing advanced notice to the wider ecosystem – such as educators – of emerging skills gaps or opportunities as locally rooted companies secure anchor contracts.

Corporates working with such platforms as WEConnect and MSDUK can help foster opportunities for female and ethnic minority led scaleups. Silicon Valley Comes 2 the UK (SVC2UK) can significantly help to boost access for growing companies to collaboration opportunities and it continues to show substantial impact, as set out in more detail as part of Chapter 2.

Building a strong understanding of what is needed as part of collaboration between corporates and scaleups is important to engender success. More modern and transparent collaboration models in supply chains can be developed, based on the ISO 44001: Collaborative Business Relationships Standard for corporates. 

Those not yet doing so or just starting out can learn from those that do it well. The ScaleUp Institute works with Nesta and Mind the Bridge annually to assess and identify corporates that have excelled in supporting procurement processes that open more doors to smaller, innovative scaleup companies. In 2020 Telefonica was in the top three companies, while AB InBev, Mastercard, Samsung and Shell each secured Corporate Stars status for their work in this area (see chapter 2).

There are key learnings for corporates from these assessments as to how they can work better with scaleups both in collaboration and procurement – this should be a top priority for 2021.

Building upon this work, as part of our work with the Business Action Council, we have been working closely with a range of corporates and business organisations including Mastercard, Creative UK, the CBI and the FSB on the development of a platform to help facilitate corporate and scaleup collaboration. This is built around a clear recognition of what is needed from both sides within such a procurement partnership, and seeks to build a charter approach to unlocking stronger scaleup/corporate relationships, which we expect to launch in 2021.

THE POWER OF SUPPLY CHAINS: GROWING TOGETHER

This approach should look at extending to creating better relationships between supply chain members. We know from our 2020 survey that only 18% of scaleups involved in supply chains have access to a formal structured peer network. Whilst 40% note that they have access to an informal network, 42% indicate that they have no access to a network of any kind.

There is clear opportunity to increase peer-to-peer engagement in corporate supply chains and proven methodologies for doing so, based on techniques as evidenced in Chapter 2¹⁰. This area will be a focus for the ScaleUp Institute working with its partners in 2021.

Programmes such as Sharing In Growth (SiG) show the power of using proactive engagement to link wider business support programmes to businesses in a supply chain. Building a cohesive picture of who is involved, and encouraging that supply chain to grow and scale together, creates significant benefits across the value chain both in terms of exports and by building the anchor clients of the future for companies that are at an earlier stage in their growth journey. This is an important approach to build across different sectors and it is very welcome that SiG has started to work with offshore wind, a significant growth sector which will provide future market opportunities. We continue to recommend SiG as an approach to OEMs and Government and we will closely monitor the way that this positive sectoral engagement expands.

EMBEDDING INNOVATION

Innovation is fundamental to the DNA of scaleups and it is essential for this pioneering spirit to be reflected in the opportunities provided to them: 74% of scaleups have brought a new service or product to market in the last three years and scaleups have continued to invest in innovation despite wider challenges from Covid-19.

In this light, it is positive that the Government set out a comprehensive R&D Roadmap in July, which charts a path to the stated ambition for increasing R&D spending year on year to reach £22 billion annually by 2024/25. The Roadmap also specifically references the importance of ensuring that R&D spending is able to support entrepreneurs and increase the flow of capital into firms carrying out R&D enabling them to scale up¹¹. Delivering this on a practical level will require a joined-up approach which builds upon existing effective agencies already in place, such as Innovate UK, and leverages local ecosystems including universities.

The value of Sandboxes

We have previously highlighted the importance of deploying sandboxes, such as that run by the FCA, more broadly to give scaleups the opportunity to test out their innovative products and services in a supportive environment. It is pleasing to see that the FCA Sandbox continues to evolve with the Digital Sandbox which is now being piloted and expanding internationally. It is also pleasing to see that, as we have recommended in prior years, more sandbox environments have been rolled out or are planned – such as Ofgem’s Energy Regulation Sandbox¹², the CQC’s regulatory sandbox¹³ and the Lawtech UK sandbox recently announced by the Ministry of Justice and Tech Nation¹⁴. These need to have a clear focus upon enabling scaleup growth which we will continue to monitor. 

The Role of Innovate UK and UKRI

We should seek to expand Innovate UK’s (IUK) support for high growth and scaling innovative businesses through its regional relationship management infrastructure and global innovation networks, along with the critical partnership opportunities it brings to our scaleups in collaborating with Government, corporates and universities. This should include expansion of the role and use of SBRI (as highlighted elsewhere) including its ability to drive procurement with scaling firms and Government as an anchor ‘first’ client, strengthening the Catapult centres to support regional clusters and further drive forward R&D investment via testbeds and technology focused competitions.

Innovative businesses are a key part of growing the UK economy. Innovate UK has an important role to play in driving this agenda and ensuring more innovative UK businesses go on to grow and scale in the UK and globally. However, there are a number of challenges which must be addressed to ensure a strong recovery and future economy which enables the UK to compete with other countries.

In addition to the necessary increase in R&D spending, it is also essential that the UK takes steps to maximise the opportunity to have a recovery that supports green growth and is able to take a lead in other emerging sectors. Furthermore, in order to support our innovative, scaling businesses to grow globally we need to maintain access to and develop new links with programmes in Europe and, beyond that, enable international collaboration and supply chain access – for example, Horizon Europe and EUREKA.

To be seen as a global leader in innovation, the UK has to develop unique capabilities and facilities that are world leading and therefore an attractor of global research talent and businesses to come to the UK. It is important to anchor these in a strong and effective innovation agency. Building on what works and taking action to strengthen Innovate UK’s ability to deliver tailored support, programmes and funding to businesses that maximises their growth is vital. Increased partnership with the private sector is also important, both for leveraging private investment, but also to maximise the knowledge and expertise that exists and bringing them together for the benefit of the business.

EXPORTING: GOING GLOBAL WITH GROWTH

Innovation and exporting are well recognised indicators of substantial future growth for businesses¹⁵. As noted above, from an international perspective over 50% of scaleups are trading abroad and 6 in 10 are aspiring to do so next year. Whilst the EU remains a key market, scaleups see future opportunities in North America, the Middle East, China and other parts of Asia.

This is why it is critical to engage with companies at the right time in their growth journey so that they have the support they need to take that next step, including better introduction to buyers overseas, scaleup dedicated DIT points of contact at home and abroad, better insights and dedicated scaleup missions: are all areas that scaleup leaders cite as significant ways they can be further helped in their export drive.

The adoption of a Global Scaleup Programme in Manchester¹⁶ is a positive step builds upon the good work which we have previously endorsed in London through the Mayor’s International Business Programme¹⁷, and other offerings such as Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK). We also support efforts continue to be made to implement a more tailored approach to export services by DIT in the longer term. However, an integrated approach to export services with clear segmentation – such as ‘Startup / Scaleup / Stay Ahead’ that is used by the British Business Bank and Innovate UK – is not yet in evidence. 

Last year we stated that the Government Export Strategy which, identified high potential exporters at its core, and suggested an enhanced relationship management offering for them, needed to be implemented. We have continued our engagement with DIT in 2020 and it is therefore pleasing to see that, in October 2020, DIT introduced 64 new International Trade Advisors who will work closely with LEPs and local ecosystem players such as Growth Hubs¹⁸. It is also important to raise awareness; a refreshed cohort of over 100 additional Export Champions, across different industries in England, to help promote and support exports is a welcome step.

In our work with DIT on the Export Strategy, we strongly suggest that these new resources are empowered to engage with the many existing ecosystems and networks at a local level through a clear and coordinated approach to increase impact from their work. This should build upon the correlation analysis that we have previously reported upon, which shows the vital importance of segmenting resources in line with business growth stage.

Further, we recommend that these trade advisors are joined up with wider relationship management functions that are developing at a local level, and across wider Government initiatives such as Innovate UK, with a shared CRM system and a clear set of KPIs that are set centrally to ensure continued alignment.

The announcement of a new £38 million Internationalisation Fund available for small and medium-sized enterprises and an Export Academy in the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine and the South West is also a step forward. Whilst these are not scaleup-focused, these should also be aligned to spotting early stage high potential scaling firms even whilst delivering specific services to help smaller businesses to realise their potential. This will allow ITAs to maintain a remit for growth and export-ready businesses through more tailored support. 

It is also good that the government has announced 24 new Overseas Champions across the world to promote trade and investment for the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine. Whilst much of this will provide some clear market signalling, we believe that there must now be a clearer focus upon segmentation and integration with existing initiatives that work. There is a risk that much of this additional resource – without a clear strategy – becomes unfocused, creating noise and confusion for scaleup businesses at a time when they are looking for confidence and clarity.

Providing this clarity should be simple, cost effective, and delivered through steps such as creating a clear international landing point for scaleups looking to export. This should be a ‘scaleup desk’ in every Embassy/Consulate that is able to provide clear market information and appropriate in-country connections.

Such a system should also seek to work hand in glove with wider ecosystem programmes, both to allow for relationship managers in local areas to connect businesses with the right opportunities abroad and to ‘hide the wiring’ for firms themselves. 

UK Export Finance 

The expansion of UKEF product lines announced in 2019 to include a General Export Facility (GEF) is also positive, as is the recruitment of additional regional finance managers to help administer products and engage with growing firms at a local level. However, these managers will need to be trained to a common standard on the needs of growth related businesses, and on how to best engage with wider growth ecosystems. Further, whilst welcoming the developments within the GEF, there is a need to develop a more digitised solution for smaller SMEs to automate that end of the process. Turnaround times continue to be an issue with UKEF¹⁹ and there is a sense that SMEs are being left behind by UKEF . This needs to be addressed and particular priority should be given to scaleups. For scaleups this may require a dedicated budget similar to UKEF’s £2 billion Clean Growth Direct Lending Facility²¹. Longer term, as the Government considers a comprehensive plan for growth, it will be important to ensure that information asymmetries are reduced and that departments such as UKEF and DFID are well connected to the wider pillars of government focused upon growth, and with the right skillsets to engage with scaleup businesses. Supplier finance will become a much more important source of working capital for businesses scaling up, particularly as corporate balance sheets need restoration in a post Covid-19 world.

It is essential that the UK develops a harmonised approach to international trade where finance, market access information, local contacts, talent and wider diplomatic engagement can be brought to bear together, with our scaleup companies at the front and centre of these opportunities. 

IN SUMMARY

We have seen the issue of markets increase year on year in importance for our scaleups. The current crisis must be a catalyst for action. Scaleup businesses remain a resilient force for economic growth and we must build a comprehensive response to their market access concerns as part of the UK’s forward plan for Economic Recovery.

This should include a more targeted use of Government procurement both in direct procurement contracts and by ensuring that good practice is cascaded down the value chain. Government should also look to better use its power to convene through ‘meet the buyer’ events and a better recognition of how introductions can be made between corporate buyers and scaleup companies.

As we have stated in previous years, accessing UK domestic markets is an issue entirely within our control to change. We also have substantial opportunity to increase the coordination and alignment of export focused programmes, to maximise the potential for UK businesses to go global. Now is the time to fully focus upon this agenda as part of the bedrock of our economic recovery.

RECOMMENDATIONS

7. ALIGN GREATER EXPORT RESOURCES TO SCALEUPS, AT HOME AND ABROAD, INCLUDING DEDICATED INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES

We recommend that central Government further embeds its export strategy and further progresses greater alignment and proportion of resources to scaleups. This should include building on the EITA service to ensure deployment of dedicated scaleup relationship managers, at home and abroad, dedicated trade missions and insights targeted towards our scaling firms and markets of interest. All local areas should set up a local export programme for scaling businesses, such as that developed by the Mayor’s International Business Programme in London and now the Global Scaleup Programme in Manchester.

The implementation of this strategy should include the development of a ‘scaleup desk’ in all Embassies to enable scaleups to access local markets.

8. SIMPLIFY AND INCREASE SCALEUP ACCESS TO PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND R&D COLLABORATION 

The public sector should increase its buying and strategic partnership with scaleup companies by objectivising procurement champions to this end and ensuring their objectives are aligned and measured to a common standard; including targets for working with scaleups. Using Government data, all public bodies should improve the way opportunities are promoted to scaleup companies. The Government should continue the evolution of Contracts Finder to become a smart / ‘light touch’ procurement platform and continue to develop more scaleup specific ‘meet the buyer’ events working with local areas, as well as build on the current work underway as regards sandbox environments. There is opportunity to leverage UKRI/Innovate UK to create more ‘meet the buyer’ opportunities and engage links to university access for scaling firms. UKRI should be encouraged to forge even closer links with companies within the Innovate UK portfolio and the deployment of the Frascati principles should be reviewed. Full implementation of stated intents, such as with the R&D Roadmap, and better implementation of procurement initiatives in the public sector – such as the SBRI – should be better used and embedded across government departments to work with scaling businesses (e.g. transport); the USA Small Business Administration’s ‘anchor client’ model should be emulated.

9. IMPROVE CORPORATE/ SCALEUP COLLABORATION

Large companies should report on the level of collaboration and procurement they source from scaleup companies. Any procurement contracts with Government should require an increase in the amount of business undertaken with scaleups as part of the contracting process which should be monitored. Large corporates should learn from those that are exemplar collaborators; and consider further how they can engage more transparently with their scaleup supply chain, through peer to peer activity, and creation of a Collaboration Charter. 

A ‘signpost’ platform to facilitate corporate interaction with scaleups to boost awareness for opportunities should be considered.