So far, over 300 SME businesses from a range of sectors have been supported through the service, and Exemplas is in the process of undertaking a longitudinal follow-up of participants to understand how the support has impacted on their productivity.
New Approaches
The approach to delivering productivity support to SME businesses adopted by Exemplas and Leeds Beckett University, is explained further in a series of jointly authored Insight Papers, and is innovative as it:
- Is informed by research into effective practice in business support delivery and involves the deployment of a research-validated Productivity Improvement Framework with SME businesses including diagnostic, data collection and Plan development
- Has yielded key insights about productivity themes and challenges facing businesses and already shown several indicators of effectiveness
- Informs a suggested Blueprint for the design and delivery of successful Business Support Programmes in the future
- Has been deployed at scale to over 300 businesses in West Yorkshire and a further 40 businesses in an additional locale in the Midlands.
Impact
Since the early part of this year, businesses who have been supported to develop in-depth Productivity Improvement Plans through the Business Productivity Service have been followed up 12 months post-completion to gauge progress against their measurable productivity improvement indicators and collect qualitative feedback. The benefit of this longitudinal approach is that it gives sufficient time for new productivity improvement practices to be embedded in each business and plan implementation to enable a better understanding of how far the service has impacted measurable outcomes and qualitative business practices.
Having now followed up with almost 40 business beneficiaries from the programme by the end of May 2025, initial findings show:
- Businesses participating in the programme have increased their labour productivity on average by 12%
- 100% of the 36 businesses followed up stated that their productivity had improved within the business following completion of the programme. On average, participants suggested that this qualitatively represents a 25% improvement in their productivity
- Businesses have particularly welcomed the greater confidence it has given them to manage and understand their business, set KPIs, and manage and monitor performance, and highlighted the positive impact this has had to date
- The growth focus of businesses is reflected in the vast majority of participants seeing growth in their total sales. Of those businesses not registering measurable productivity improvement, the primary reason stemmed from sales targets not being achieved, with several participants pointing to challenging trading conditions. However, in all instances, qualitative feedback suggests that despite this, these businesses felt confident that the practices learnt through the Business Productivity Service gave them cause for optimism in respect of future prospects.
The final point further supports one of the interim findings in one of the Exemplas and Leeds Beckett University jointly authored Insight Papers which highlighted ‘the interdependence between SME productivity and growth’. It noted that most businesses aim to improve productivity by increasing output and sales, rather than simply cutting costs. This ‘Productivity-Growth Nexus’ suggests that business support programmes supporting the government’s ‘Growth Mission’ need to help businesses balance the equation of increasing throughput of goods and services (at a greater rate than increases in inputs, which is a key focus of the Business Productivity Service) while increasing market demand for this increased output (which isn’t a focus of the current service).
Case studies from some of the businesses that have been followed up from two very distinct sectors provides examples of how the support provided to businesses through the Business Productivity Service has helped improvements in their productivity:
Supporting Sticks and Glass, a post-production facility
Supporting Excellent Relax Bedding Co, a family-owned manufacturer
Over the coming months, Exemplas will be tracking more beneficiaries from the Business Productivity Service to understand more about the impact derived, with around 100 businesses being re-visited over the coming 6 months.
Speaking about the Business Productivity Service and partnership with Leeds Beckett University and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Martin Coats, Chief Operations Officer, said:
‘We are pleased with the feedback from businesses whom we are tracking, enabling us to demonstrate the impact of the programme on SMEs and the West Yorkshire economy. What is notable here is how the service is impacting on business management practices and monitoring. Even in cases where quantitative productivity improvement isn’t evident due to challenging trading conditions, there remains an optimism about how the practices implemented will impact future growth. We genuinely believe that our grassroots support offer in West Yorkshire could be scaled into other regions, working closely with local partners and anchor organisations.
Conclusions
The so-called ‘Productivity Puzzle’, and ongoing productivity gaps across regions and even across the industrial strategy sectors and clusters emphasise how important productivity management practices are to driving economic growth in the future. The grassroots approach, which has been delivered at scale in West Yorkshire by Exemplas and Leeds Beckett University could offer an evidence informed template for addressing these gaps at a regional and national level.