Award of PROVISION OF EXPORT PROMOTION NON-BENEFICIARY SURVEY AND EVALUATION 2022

Tender description

The Scottish Government recently commenced an evaluation of export promotion activities provided since the publication of Scotland’s export growth plan – A Trading Nation (ATN) in 2019. This commission will run alongside other research methods which make up the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework which has been developed. Therefore, knowledge and data sharing, and collaboration will form a key part of this proposal. This commission is to conduct a survey of a sample of exporting companies based in Scotland, that have not been in receipt of delivery partner support and to analyse these responses alongside responses to a similar survey of companies that have been in receipt of export promotion support. The contractor will be required to assess the impact of delivery partner support - based on differences between assisted and non-assisted firms - on exporting activity, and provide analysis of the relevant additionality of this support for beneficiary companies. This commission will complement a partner survey and impact assessment which is currently contracted out to academics at Aston Business School at Aston University working through the Enterprise Research Centre. The construction of this counterfactual will provide additional evidence to produce robust estimates of the impact of the interventions being evaluated. The survey of non-beneficiary companies will also help us to better match assisted and non-assisted companies in a data matching exercise that is being conducted separately (NB this exercise is not in the scope of this invitation to tender). The successful contractor will be expected to construct an appropriate control group to allow for meaningful analysis and comparisons with treated companies to be conducted. The survey will cover the three-year period from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Note that the period since A Trading Nation was published covers 2019-21 for these purposes, and we wish to see separate analysis for this period where sample sizes allow. The purpose of the surveys will be to: 1. Assess whether there is a sample selection effect as “better firms” are more successful at obtaining support, (or alternatively that support “props-up” underperforming firms) so that any apparent link between support and performance is not over-estimated. 2. Construct a stratified sample of non-recipients to match as closely as possible the recipient group, in terms of firm size, type, location, sector, ownership etc., with a view to making comparisons . 3. Build a picture of non-beneficiary companies. The exercise rests largely on the ability of an appropriate “unsupported” control group sample to be identified from the Scottish business base and contacted that have exported over the relevant period. The ERC at Aston Business School is currently carrying out the other elements of this wider project. While an external research company too will carry out this project, we recognise that collaboration will be required between contractors for this commission to be successful. Bidders are encouraged to come forward with innovative ideas which will help in establishing an appropriate sampling frame to achieve a robust sample and a strong response rate.