Team Scotland's Export Promotion Support: evaluation

9. Analysis of management information (MI) and interviews with delivery practitioners

9.1 The management information review and delivery practitioner interviews were commissioned by Scottish Enterprise through SDI, and in partnership with the Scottish Government, HIE and SCC. The principal objective of the review was to assess "what works" both through analysis of MI and by listening to those working on direct delivery with companies, via 67 one-to-one consultations and two focus groups – one focussing on support to early-stage exporters (ESE) and the other on support to more experienced exporters (ExE). The results are, therefore, not directly comparable to those above. The full report is published on the Scottish Enterprise Research and Evaluation website^[7].

9.2 Over the evaluation period, MI data shows that the Scottish Government and its delivery partners undertook a broad range of activities of support to over 3,500 companies, who received over 10,000 interventions^[8]. These international projects^[9] resulted in £5.0bn worth of planned international sales.

9.3 The evidence from the review and interviews shows that over the period 2018/19-2020/21:

1. In the overall export journey, consultees highlighted that access to market know-how and expertise made a difference to increasing international sales.

2. Projects that received a mix of advisory and financial support had a significantly higher average planned international sales figure than those that received either support type exclusively.

3. Resourcing/capacity was identified as the top barrier across all exporters. This was followed by skills and market intelligence for ESE and funding/investment for ExE.

4. Projects lasting less than a year had the highest average planned international sales.

5. Planned international sales were higher for non-SMEs relative to SMEs.

6. There are clear links with inward investment as companies receiving support to invest in Scotland had more than double the average planned international sales compared to those that were not.

7. Over half of consultees believed that ATN was working well, noting the clear focus and structure. However, the segmentation by exporter characteristics (ESE vs. ExE) was viewed less favourably.

8. Consultees reported that an effective trade support mechanism included a collaborative approach across agencies with shared goals and objectives and common frameworks for data sharing.

9.4 Consultees highlighted a variety of factors and support types that were most influential in increasing export sales both in terms of international support and wider business support for ESE and ExE. These findings are based on analysis looking at the average planned international sales per project, for projects with the following intervention types.

Figure 6: Principal intervention types in planned international export sales projects

Top 3 intervention types in single intervention projects

• International manager for hire
• International market events
• International specialist engagement

Most useful non-international interventions

• Workplace innovation leadership
• Digital Transformation
• Productivity Support

Top intervention combinations

• International Acess Support & International Manager for Hire
• International Market Events & International Specialist Engagement