Marketing and leadership experts at Leeds Beckett University have teamed up with two UK-based small businesses to share their academic knowledge, and applied industry experience to bring long-term, sustainable, growth to the companies.
The teams of academics from Leeds Business School will work with Leeds-based Kingfisher (Lubrication) Ltd and Staffordshire-based Excitation and Engineering Services Limited (EES) on the two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), which are part-funded by the Government through Innovate UK.
Kingfisher are one of the largest manufacturers of grease fittings in the world – from their factory based on Meanwood Road, Leeds. The business was established in 1867 and became an employee-owned trust in 2020.
Lorraine Nugent, Managing Director of Kingfisher (Lubrication) Ltd, said: “All the team at Kingfisher are excited to be on board with the KTP project. Although the company is over 150 years old, we believe that a fresh approach to our strategic marketing processes will facilitate growth within our existing markets and deliver new capabilities to be able to diversify into other areas.
“Running a business during the past three years has been challenging, to say the least. To be given the opportunity to collaborate with Leeds Beckett University on this project has given us all a renewed sense of enthusiasm for the road ahead.”
The project is led by Dr David Andrews, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Leeds Business School, who said: “This project supports the strategic shift required at Kingfisher to support long-term evolution and to become a more growth-focused business. We will address two key strands of innovation: developing and embedding skills and strategic insights, such as market segmentation, to increase sales; and evolving the company’s talent management and succession planning strategy.”
Dr Andrews has more than 30 years of industry experience including senior posts as CEO of Yorkshire Tourist Board and as a company director. He has worked with more than 200 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the last four years on a variety of funded programmes. He is also a workshop facilitator and business coach on the BEIS funded Help to Grow: Management programme at Leeds Beckett and regularly works with Leeds City Region businesses with growth aspirations and strategic challenges.
The academic project team is completed by Dr Karen Vollum-Dix, Senior Lecturer in the Leadership, Governance and People Management subject group at Leeds Business School.
Jo Griffiths, Head of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships at Leeds Beckett, added: “As a university, we are now in the top 15 providers of KTPs in the UK – for the number of KTPs we are delivering.
“This new project will bring lots of knowledge exchange opportunities – from collaborative research publications to impact case studies and student consultancy projects. The learning from this project will also be captured and used in teaching and case studies for our students.”
EES are specialists in excitation control systems, operating across the UK and globally from their base in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Excitation systems are essential in power generation and are found in small, embedded power generation units – such as diesel generators, large power stations and motors used within heavy industries.
A skilled graduate will be recruited to each project to support their delivery. They will be recruited as a full-time member of staff within the business, with the full support and input of the academic team at Leeds Beckett. The academics all have extensive experience of working with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on knowledge exchange projects.
Douglas Cope, Managing Director of EES, said: “We have enjoyed working with the enthusiastic team at Leeds Beckett during the recruitment phase and are looking forward to our KTP Associate applying academic theory and research to help guide our future growth plans.”
The project is led by Dr Karen Vollum-Dix, Senior Lecturer in the Leadership, Governance and People Management subject group at Leeds Business School, who said: “EES’s strategic aim is to be the leading, independent specialist within the niche field of excitation systems. The business is ambitious to grow turnover and requires support to create and embed a platform for sustainable growth. With this project we will use innovative approaches to optimise EES’s management capability to ensure business growth and continuity and to drive new business and explore new routes to market.”
Dr Karen Vollum-Dix began her career in manufacturing industry before moving into HR. She has extensive experience working as a management consultant and her current research incorporates futures and foresight techniques to investigate knowledge and attitudes towards machine learning and artificial intelligence in people management.
The project team is completed by Dr Joy Ogbemudia, Senior Lecturer at Leeds Business School, specialising in Human Resource Management, Gender and Migration studies and Diversity Management.
Jo Griffiths added: “Dr Vollum-Dix and Dr Ogbemudia are part of the European Social Fund (ESF) funded Women Empowered through Coaching and Networking (#WECAN) project at Leeds Beckett that is researching business growth for SMEs via improving the labour market status of women.
“Both academics also teach on applied courses at Leeds Beckett that emphasise the development of practical competencies and skills as well as theoretical knowledge in students. The experience from working with a business such as EES offers us the opportunity to develop insightful and relevant case studies to be used in teaching, and to offer student consultancy projects.”
EES began their relationship with Leeds Beckett University through taking part in the Government-funded Help to Grow: Management course – a 12-week programme supporting senior managers of small and medium sized businesses to boost their business’s performance, resilience, and long-term growth.
The KTPs have received financial support from the UK Government department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through Innovate UK.
