Local Engineering Business Survey
Background
The Tees Valley Engineering Partnership (TVEP) is an umbrella organisation that provides co-ordinated marketing of the engineering expertise in the Tees Valley area, promoting the benefits throughout the world.
The organisation required both an audited database of engineering businesses in the Tees Valley area and a benchmarking study to ascertain the overall skills, expertise and resource of the engineering community, to form the basis for future marketing campaigns.
Methodology
Initially a database of engineering businesses was compiled. This was initially developed from TVEP's existing information and supplemented from a number of published sources.
Interviews were primarily conducted by telephone. Where appropriate, a self-completion option was made available to respondents in order to maximise the response levels and make the information collected as definitive as possible. Further desk research was conducted to finalise the overall database amassed.
Results
The survey provided TVEP with structured and quantified data on the engineering companies based in Tees Valley and a database of engineering businesses and their capabilities.
Benefits
Results from the study provided two key benefits: the database and associated resource information gave TVEP reliable information on which to base future marketing campaigns, and commercial issues raised in the study provided valuable feedback on areas for consultation, development and support within the Partnership.
This study formed one part of a two-stage process, with a follow-on, more in-depth qualitative study probing further into some of the issues raised in the preliminary study. This qualitative follow-up was conducted by a Teesside based engineering consultant.