SME productivity stakeholders: getting in the right orbit
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
ISSN: 1741-0401
Article publication date: 28 April 2020
Issue publication date: 28 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore who small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner–managers consider as key stakeholders for their business for helping increase productivity and the nature of the stakeholders' impact.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the Lego Serious Play methodology and narrative analysis in a focus group setting.
Findings
The analysis revealed a narrow depth of field of productivity stakeholders and identified critical narratives, involving close stakeholders which could constrain productivity. Lack of information on current and/or future productivity states, and a social brake due to the potential impact on employees are two at the forefront of owner–manager perspectives. The study also identified the importance of internal and external champions to improve productivity and re-enforced the significance of skills gaps, the role of Further Education providers and other infrastructure assets.
Research limitations/implications
The purposiveness sample of the single focus group setting results in a lack of generalizability, but provides potential for replication and transposability based on the generic type of stakeholders discussed. The work highlights the potential to further enhance the constituent attributes of stakeholder salience.
Practical implications
There is a potential for different network agents to increase their collaboration to create a more coherent narrative for individual productivity investment opportunities and for policy makers to consider how to leverage this.
Social implications
The findings suggest that the implications of deskilling and job loss are major factors to be considered in the policy discourse. SMEs are less likely to pursue productivity improvements in a low growth setting because of their local social implications.
Originality/value
The study is innovative in using Lego to elucidate narratives in relation to both stakeholder identification and their contributions to productivity improvement impact in a UK SME context. The study introduces an innovative stakeholder orbital map and further develops the stakeholder salience concept; both useful for the future conceptual and empirical work.
Keywords
Citation
Jones, O.W., Gold, J. and Devins, D. (2021), "SME productivity stakeholders: getting in the right orbit", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 70 No. 2, pp. 233-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-06-2019-0274
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited