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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS SERVICES
We help places and industries to understand what businesses need from them to succeed
WHAT WE DO
We design, appraise and evaluate enterprise programmes - from business support services to economic zones. We analyse what changes in the business world mean for places, industries and communities.
Shifting expectations around customer and vendor relationships
What does this mean for the operation of business support services in the UK?
OUR OFFER
We empower business associations, government, economic development bodies, civic-minded corporates and consultancies.
COMMUNITY-FOCUSED RESEARCH
We design surveys, workshops and focus groups of business leaders. To put questions of policy interest and programme design to this time-constrained audience takes rare skill and experience. You must speak their language, and navigate the divide between their personal and professional perspectives. Understand how requests for insight can come across as demands for commercial disclosure. Our team is grounded in business experience. We are business owners ourselves and between us have years working in and on behalf of business networks. See our 'business translation guide' for economic development bodies on exiting COVID lockdowns.
PROGRAMME DESIGN AND SYSTEM REVIEWS
We translate the latest research from leading academic institutions and thinkers into real-world policy solutions. We design, appraise, and evaluate business support projects, programmes, and area-based initiatives. We draw on years of experience stretching back to the regional reviews of enterprise support in England in the 2000s. But business support must be forward-looking. Technology, changes to working practices and structural shifts in economies are constantly re-shaping the success factors for business in the 21st century. We bring our direct experience of these developments into our work.
WHY US?
EXPERIENCE
We draw on two decades of experience commissioning, leading and producing high-impact analyses including the UK’s largest private poll of business conditions: the Quarterly Economic Survey at the British Chambers of Commerce.
AGILITY
Our skills were honed in major 'change moments', including the Coronavirus pandemic, the financial crisis of 2007-8, the Brexit referendum of 2016 and the no-deal Brexit deadlines of 2019.
QUALITY
We produce high-quality, readable analysis - not impenetrable data dumps. We know that research reports in themselves are not the endgame. The follow-up is crucial and the approach of our team reflects that. We work with our clients to get solutions funded and publicise their priorities.
VALUE
We don’t have the overheads of a major research agency: we work with freelancers and others to meet the scale of your needs.
BITE-SIZED COMMISSIONS
We know that sometimes you want direct support but need things quick without the commitment of a major commission. So subject to availability, PolicyDepartment offers a range of super-value, fast-turnaround consulting services for commissions taking between 2 hours and 2 days equivalent to complete.
WHY OUR CLIENTS LOVE US
“...a highly valuable consultancy project for us, utilising depth and breadth of experience in the areas of business support, local government and wider economic policy...we’ve been implementing their recommended actions and are already starting to see positive outcomes."
— David Gimson, National Network Manager, Business & IP Centres, British Library