Team Scotland's inward investment support: evaluation

6. Depth interviews

Depth interviews were conducted to explore different journeys that led companies to invest in Scotland, and to better understand the wider benefits of the investment activity. These included a range of investment project objectives such as product development, process innovation and business/market growth. These interviews generally backed up the survey results and allowed a more detailed exploration of the findings, however the key points are summarised below.

All companies interviewed (10) considered that the investment support had an impact, often substantial, on their ability to deliver the project to completion. The depth interviews also sought to unpick the disparity between real job numbers and those planned. While some reported lower actual jobs figures due to Covid-19, the economic downturn and difficulty recruiting, on balance, the evidence suggests that planned jobs generally did translate into actual jobs, and in some cases the actual number of newly created jobs was higher than planned as a result of business growth, for example, through the introduction of new business functions not originally related to the investment project (marketing and customer service), as well as higher sales and growth.

A key component of the interviews was the impact of the support on partnerships and stakeholders – "wider" economic benefits. The largest reported impact was transactional, as firms described partnerships with their business customers and/or suppliers that resulted in knowledge and expertise sharing. The benefits of these partnerships included new channels to sell own or partner's product, sharing software system knowledge and knowledge about net zero practices.

Some spillover impacts that stem from inward investment are not captured through administrative data or fully through quantitative surveys. A case study has been developed to illustrate the impact of DP support in delivery high-value jobs from an inward investment project in the Scottish Highlands.