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Biomass crops provide significant potential to substitute for fossil fuels and mitigate against climate change. It is widely acknowledged that significant scale up of biomass crops is required to help reach net zero targets. Miscanthus is a leading biomass crop embodying many characteristics that make it a highly sustainable source of biomass but planted area remains low. Miscanthus is commonly propagated via rhizome, but efficient alternatives may increase uptake and help diversify the cultivated crop. Using seed-propagate plug plants of Miscanthus has several potential benefits such as improving propagation rates and scale up of plantations. Plugs also provide an opportunity to vary the time and conditions under protected growth, to achieve optimal plantlets before planting. We varied combinations of glasshouse growth period and field planting dates under UK temperate conditions, which demonstrated the special importance of planting date on yield, stem number and establishment rates of Miscanthus. We also propagated Miscanthus in four different commercial plug designs that contained different volumes of substrate, the resulting seedlings were planted at three different dates into field trials. In the glasshouse, plug design had significant effects on above and belowground biomass accumulation and at a later time point belowground growth was restricted in some plug designs. After subsequent growth in the field, plug design and planting date had a significant effect on yield. The effects of plug design on yield were no longer significant after a second growth season but planting date continued to have a significant effect. After the second growth year, it was found that planting date had a significant effect on surviving plants, with the mid-season planting producing higher survival rates over all plug types.Establishment was positively correlated with DM biomass produced in the first growth season. Sowing date had a significant effect on establishment but the impacts of plug design were more nuanced and were significant at later planting dates. We discuss the potential to use the flexibility afforded by seed propagation of plug plants to deliver significant impacts in achieving high yield and establishment of biomass crops during the critical first two years of growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We empirically examine social innovation and openness through a survey of social enterprise hybrids in the United Kingdom (UK). Social innovation refers to new products, processes, and services that respond to grand challenges. Social enterprises pursue economic, social, and environmental goals but vary in their goal orientation, namely the relative importance ascribed to such goals. We first explore the relationships between commercial, social, and environmental goal orientation and social innovation performance. Next, we consider the moderating impact of openness to external knowledge and ideas on social innovation performance. Our analysis finds positive and significant relationships between commercial and social goal orientation and social innovation performance, but no relationship with environmental goal orientation. In addition, the use of external sources of knowledge and ideas positively strengthens these relationships for both commercial and social goal orientation but not for environmental goal orientation. Our results reveal some important influences on social innovation, openness, and hybrid organizing. Plain English Summary: Headline: The more social enterprises focus on both commercial and social goals, the more successful they are in improving their social innovation performance. Social innovation refers to new products, processes, and services that respond to a range of social challenges such as poverty, inequality, homelessness, health, and environmental issues. Our study suggests that the more social enterprises focus on both commercial and social goals, the higher their social innovation performance. In addition, the more open innovation-oriented social enterprises are, that is, the more they use external sources of knowledge and ideas, the more they can benefit from their commercial and social goals to improve their social innovation performance. Implications of our research for practice: social enterprises are encouraged not only to focus on both commercial and social goals but also to build relationships with external stakeholders. These external stakeholders can provide information on entrepreneurial opportunities, how to respond to problems and market and government failures, and how to remain successful while collaborating with a range of partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To help meet greenhouse gas mitigation targets perennial biomass crops will need to be planted at large scales and at a much greater pace over the coming decades. Miscanthus is a leading biomass crop but rapid upscaling is technically challenging due to costly and time‐consuming clonal propagation. Seed‐based hybrids are considered a viable route to rapid upscaling, but direct sowing has not been found feasible under temperate climate conditions due to high thermal requirements for germination and slow early plant development compared with larger seeded annuals. Seed‐based plug plants, initially propagated in greenhouses, provide a suitable route to improve field establishment. Here, we describe an input optimization experiment for seeded Miscanthus plugs raised for spring planting in a naturally lit greenhouse with the following treatments: supplemental heat to maintain a minimum of 15°C, supplemental predawn light from modern LEDs at PPFD 300–400 μmol m−2 s−1, two proprietary types of compost (known as 50k and 70k), and two compost volumes (35 and 15 cm3). Our results showed that variations in all four factors had significant effects on above‐ and belowground biomass: (i) supplemental heat increased root‐to‐shoot ratio, (ii) supplemental light increased total biomass and root‐to‐shoot ratio, (iii) compost type affected total biomass and (iv) compost volume was positively correlated with total biomass and stem base diameter. No factor had a significant effect on axillary shoot formation. We recommend nurseries in the United Kingdom use LEDs as predawn supplemental light but no supplemental heat, compost that has both good water‐holding capacity and aeration, and a larger compost volume, which provided optimized cost‐plug resilience for spring‐sown, seed‐based Miscanthus plug production. Miscanthus is a leading biomass crop for greenhouse gas mitigation, but upscaling is challenging due to costly clonal propagation. Seed‐based plug plants provide a suitable alternative. Here, we describe an input optimization experiment for seeded Miscanthus plugs raised for spring planting in a naturally lit greenhouse with the following treatments: supplemental heat, supplemental predawn light, two proprietary types of compost, and two compost volumes. We recommend UK nurseries use LEDs as predawn supplemental light, no supplemental heat, compost with good water‐holding capacity and aeration, and a larger compost volume towards optimized costs for Miscanthus plug production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing population ecology theory, we examine social enterprise population emergence in the UK after 2005 when a new organizational form for social enterprise was established. Our density dependence analysis of nearly seven thousand community interest companies finds that survival is positively influenced by age and population densities of both other social enterprises and commercial organizations. Two specific patterns in population emergence are identified: social enterprise survival is more likely influenced by industry than age, a finding that we label the liability of specificity, and their survival benefits from the population density of commercial organizations but not non-profit organizations, a finding that we label the hybrid-commercial benefit. Our research identifies the liability of specificity as a new concept in population ecology theory and the hybrid-commercial benefit as a contextual influence on social enterprise survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon data from the fifth UK Innovation Survey, this article sheds light on how management choices on the nature of appropriation relate to management choices on the degree of openness within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To this end, our findings indicate a threshold effect of both informal and formal appropriation mechanisms on the likelihood of engaging in both coupled and inbound open innovation. That is, an emphasis on appropriation appears to be important in shifting firms from a closed to an open strategy. There is, however, little evidence that either approach to appropriation increases the extent of open innovation. In this, only informal intellectual property (IP) protection mechanisms associate with an increasing extent of inbound open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, most Miscanthus trials and commercial fields have been planted on arable land. Energy crops will need to be grown more on lower grade lands unsuitable for arable crops. Grasslands represent a major land resource for energy crops. In grasslands, where soil organic carbon ( SOC) levels can be high, there have been concerns that the carbon mitigation benefits of bioenergy from Miscanthus could be offset by losses in SOC associated with land use change. At a site in Wales (UK), we quantified the relatively short-term impacts (6 years) of four novel Miscanthus hybrids and Miscanthus × giganteus on SOC in improved grassland. After 6 years, using stable carbon isotope ratios (13C/12C), the amount of Miscanthus derived C (C4) in total SOC was considerable (ca. 12%) and positively correlated to belowground biomass of different hybrids. Nevertheless, significant changes in SOC stocks (0-30 cm) were not detected as C4 Miscanthus carbon replaced the initial C3 grassland carbon; however, initial SOC decreased more in the presence of higher belowground biomass. We ascribed this apparently contradictory result to the rhizosphere priming effect triggered by easily available C sources. Observed changes in SOC partitioning were modelled using the RothC soil carbon turnover model and projected for 20 years showing that there is no significant change in SOC throughout the anticipated life of a Miscanthus crop. We interpret our observations to mean that the new labile C from Miscanthus has replaced the labile C from the grassland and, therefore, planting Miscanthus causes an insignificant change in soil organic carbon. The overall C mitigation benefit is therefore not decreased by depletion of soil C and is due to substitution of fossil fuel by the aboveground biomass, in this instance 73-108 Mg C ha−1 for the lowest and highest yielding hybrids, respectively, after 6 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business angel market is usually identified as a local market, and the proximity of an investment has been shown to be key in the angel's investment preferences and an important filter at the screening stage of the investment decision. This is generally explained by the personal and localized networks used to identify potential investments, the hands-on involvement of the investor and the desire to minimize risk. However, a significant minority of investments are long distance. This paper is based on data from 373 investments made by 109 UK business angels. We classify the location of investments into three groups: local investments (those made within the same county or in adjacent counties); intermediate investments (those made in counties adjacent to the 'local' counties); and long-distance investments (those made beyond this range). Using ordered logit analysis the paper develops and tests a number of hypotheses that relate long-distance investment to investment characteristics and investor characteristics. The paper concludes by drawing out the implications for entrepreneurs seeking business angel finance in investment-deficient regions, business angel networks seeking to match investors to entrepreneurs and firms (which are normally their primary clients), and for policy-makers responsible for local and regional economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the UK the levels of female entrepreneurship are considerably lower than in many of its peer countries. As part of a strategy to remedy this apparent shortfall, and to improve the environment for existing female-owned businesses, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched a `Strategic Framework for Women's Enterprise' in 2003. A central rationale for the development of this strategy is a belief in the inadequacies of current business-advice provision and limited access to informal and formal business networks, mentors, and business support for women. However, there appears to be little evidence, either in this paper or in the body of previous research, to support the view that, within the UK, government agencies need to shape business support to reflect the gender of the business user. Drawing upon a sample of 650 small service sector firms in Scotland, we report the findings of a detailed postal questionnaire concerned with exploring usage and satisfaction of a range of formal and informal sources of business advice amongst male and female business owners. Bivariate analysis shows that amongst formal sources women are more likely to use friends and relatives, the Small Business Gateway, and chambers of commerce but are less likely to use suppliers and consultants. However, multivariate analysis suggests that, within the service sector, neither use of external advice nor impact of advice—either formal or informal—is greatly influenced by gender. Rather, it was the characteristics of service sector firms, most notably the number of employees and exporting activity, that explained the use of external advice. Therefore, a nongendered view of business support by the DTI appears more appropriate within the service sector. Nevertheless, the data do indicate more frequent use of informal family-network contacts amongst women business owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses Ordinary Least Squares estimation techniques on data from a large-scale survey to examine the effect of firms' innovation activities on their growth performance. In the article the authors use four measures of growth, namely, growth in employment, growth in turnover; growth in productivity and, change in the profit margin. These measures of growth are analyzed separately for manufacturing and service sector firms. The data that has been analyzed was collected as part of a wide-ranging survey of enterprise in Northern Great Britain.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BENNETT R. J., BRATTON W. A. and ROBSON P. J. A. (2000) Business advice: the influence of distance, Reg. Studies 34, 813-828. This paper examines the external advisors used by small businesses to help them solve their problems, focusing on distance between client and advisor. The analysis is based on a new stratified random sample survey of small businesses in manufacturing and services in five representative locations in Britain. The paper reports the distance between client and advisor, cost and extent of site visits by the advisor, focusing on differences between types of advisor, fields of advice, types of firm by size and sector, and types of location. The analysis demonstrates the importance of localization: 60.5% of advisors are drawn from within 10 km of the client, and 81·5% from within 25 km. The high degree of localization is shown to be chiefly dependent on accessibility and advisor location. The general pattern of client-advisor relations is demonstrated to be modelled accurately by a standard spatial interaction model. A key finding is that the spatial pattern of the location of the supply of advisors, particularly the size of the business centres in which they are located, must be taken into account simultaneously with the role of distance in order to explain the pattern of choice of business advisors. BENNETT R. J., BRATTON W. A. et ROBSON P. J. A. (2000) Le conseiller d'entreprise: l'effet distance, Reg. Studies 34, 34 , 813-828. Cet article cherche à examiner les conseillers externes employés par les petites entreprises pour les aider à résoudre leurs problèmes, portant sur la distance entre le client et le conseiller. L'analyse est fondée sur un échantillonnage aléatoire par tranche auprès des petites entreprises dans les secteurs secondaire et tertiaire situées dans cinq zones représentatives en Grande-Bretagne. L'article signale la distance entre le client et le conseiller, le coût et l'importance des visites aux locaux faites par le conseiller, portant sur les caractéristiques des divers conseillers, le champ du conseil, le statut de l'entreprise par taille et par secteur d'activité, et les différents emplacements. L'analyse démontre l'importance de la localisation: 60,5% des conseillers sont dans un rayon de 10km du client et 81,5% sont dans un rayon de 25km. On montre que l'importance de la localisation dépend dans une large mesure de l'accessibilité et de l'emplacement du conseiller. La structure générale des rapports client-conseiller peut être modelée précisément sur un modèle d'interaction spatiale type. Une conclusion capitale est la suivante: pour expliquer la structure du choix de conseiller, il faut considérer simultanément la structure spatiale de la localisation des conseillers, notamment la taille des centres d'affaires où ils sont implantés, et le rôle de la distance. BENNETT R. J., BRATTON W. A. und ROBSON P. J. A. (2000) Betriebsberatung: der Einfluß der Entfernung, Reg. Studies 34, 813-828. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die externen Beratungsdienste, die kleine Betriebe zur Lösung ihrer Probleme um Hilfe angehen, und zwar besonders die Entfernung zwischen Beratungsdienst und Kunde. Die Analyse stützt sich auf eine kürzlich durchgeführte, mehrschichtige Stichprobenumfrage bei kleinen Betrieben der herstellenden und Dienstleitungen anbietenden Industrie an fünf repräsentativen Standorten in Großbritannien. Der Aufsatz berichtet über die Entfernung zwischen Kunde und Beratungsdienst sowie Kosten und Umfang der Besuche seitens des Beraters am Ort, wobei die Aufmerksamkeit besonders auf Unterschiede zwischen Beratungsdiensttypen, Beratungsbereiche Größe und Sektor von Firmen sowie Standorttypen richtet. Die Analyse beweist die Bedeutung der örtlichen Begrenzung: 60.5% der zur Beratung herangezogenen Firmen waren weniger als 10 km vom Kunden entfernt, und 81·5% weniger als 25 km. Es wird gezeigt, daß die hochgradige räumliche Begrenzung hauptsächlich durch leichte Erreichbarkeit und Standort des Beratungsdienstes bedingt ist. Es erweist sich, daß das übliche Muster der Beziehungen zwischen Kunde und Beratungsdienst durch ein Standortmodell räumlicher Wechselwirkung genau wiedergegeben wird. Es wird als ein Hauptbefund angesehen, daß das räumliche Muster der Standorte von sich anbietenden Beratungsdiensten, insobesondere die Größe von Geschäfstzentren, in denen sie sich befinden, gleichzeitig mit der Rolle, die die Entfernung spielt, beachtet werden muß, um dies Muster bei der Wahl von Beratungsdiensten zu erklären. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to assess advice and information support for firms provided by the Small Business Service (SBS) Business Link. It uses a new survey of client use, satisfaction and experience of service fees. The general level of satisfaction with and use of the service is high: 28 per cent of all respondents use the services and 82.6 per cent are satisfied or very satisfied. However, levels of use and satisfaction vary considerably between areas, with 13 Business Link local 'hubs' accounting for 40 per cent of the dissatisfied or very dissatisfied respondents. In addition, there is also strong variation in satisfaction between services, with grants, diagnostic assessment, financial and accounting advice having low ratings. Charging a fee has been claimed by the SBS to improve the client's sense of value of the services received. Fees are currently charged for services in 37.3 per cent of cases. However, there is little positive association of fee charging with satisfaction, whilst for four services charging a fee decreases satisfaction. It is concluded that the SBS has many strengths to build upon, but will need to introduce a step change in performance in some areas and some services, and should reconsider its commitment to using fees as a means of creating a sense of value among its clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the level of use and satisfaction with business information services in Great Britain. Emergence of the services from the government initiative to support small and medium-sized enterprises; Focus on information, training and grants and specialist advice; Number of statistically significant differences in satisfaction levels.

This paper examines whether the supply side characteristics of the low paid are associated with the labour market wage setting institutions of five countries; Britain, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain and the USA, using the harmonised PAnel Comparability (PACO) data based on household panel studies and the Spanish European Household Panel survey. The age, education, marital status, children, lone parent status, household type, employment status of spouse, and housing tenure of the low paid are examined. The links between these characteristics, the low paid and labour market institutions are examined through multi- variate analyses. Labour market wage setting institutions clearly influence the characteristics of the low paid and explain the variations in supply side, as well as demand side characteristics across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports new survey results on the extent, sourcing and impact of external business advice to SMEs in Britain. The survey, covering 2547 respondents, is the largest and most definitive assessment to date. Its results demonstrate the very wide extent of external advice: used by 95% of respondent SMEs, an increase from 85.8% in a similar survey in 1991. The analysis of the survey assesses sources of advice in terms of the level of trust that exists between the supplier and the SME client. The market appears to be strongly segmented and dominated by high trust specialist sources (accountants, lawyers) , customers, suppliers and business friends. Business associations and government-backed sources play an important but lesser role. The recent government initiative of Business Link has, however, established an important market, used by 27% of respondents. Impact assessments confirm the significance of high trust private sector suppliers for the most crucial supplies of advice. Variations in use occur by SME type chiefly by size but also by sector and growth record. Generally levels of use vary by SME type to a greater extent than levels of impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official estimates show that manufacturing productivity growth has stalled over the past few years, while average earnings have continued to rise. Should these developments worry the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)? In this article, Neil Blake and Paul Robson argue that employment changes and to a lesser extent output, have been mis-recorded. It turns out that productivity has been underestimated, with new estimates more consistent with the high average earnings growth data seen recently. Manufacturers have therefore been unnecessarily targeted by the MPC, while other evidence suggests that the service sector is the guilty party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents updates related to the economic condition of Great Britain as of August 1998. Elements of the fiscal policy framework of Chancellor Gordon Brown; Growth of consumers' expenditure in the first quarter of 1998; Factors affecting decrease in inflation rate in May-June 1998.

Sterling has now appreciated by over 25% since the second half of 1996. A key issue affecting the UK economy is the extent to which this will reduce growth this year and in 1999. When can we expect to see the net trade position deteriorate and to what extent? In this article, Paul Robson and James Nixon argue that business survey evidence implies that the current strength of Sterling is likely to lead to falling manufacturing exports over the course of this year. This combined with increased import penetration should be sufficient to cool the economy and remove the need for a further interest rate rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]