Innovation in the UK Retail Sector - Nesta

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c. Fostering skills and organizational innovation Innovation in the UK Retail Sector 8.27 The third broad area for our recommendations is in relation to the fostering of skills and organizational innovation relevant to retail innovation. The Government has already played an extensive role in the broader skills arena for retailing, through Skillsmart Retail, via the Regional Development Agencies and through brokerage services administered by Business Link. However, we are particularly interested in the extent to which innovationrelated skills are identified and supported. Skills issues in relation to retail innovation arise in relation to four particular areas: the specialist or technical skills, often cross-sectoral in nature, required to deliver specialised products or processes; the skills needed to fostering a culture of innovation, the skills related to the management of innovation or of innovation projects, as well as the somewhat particular needs in relation to innovation skills of the SME sector. 8.28 In its sponsoring of Skillsmart Retail as one of the first Retail Sector Skills Councils in 2002, the Government demonstrated the importance of the sector in terms of job creation as a ‘gateway’ employer and in developing a skilled workforce in the UK. SkillSmart Retail has since developed National Occupational Standards, specialised Diplomas and foundation degree programmes. 28 UK universities now deliver 42 retailspecific degree courses (Figure 8.2) Figure 8.2. Retail skills training and qualifications available in England Source: Skillsmart Retail, 2007. 8.29 The Retail Sector Skills Agreement is the largest collaborative research project of its kind, and is designed to identify and address the sector’s skills needs. The Council has a responsibility to retail firms of all sizes and a concern not just for core retail skills, but also in relation to future skills needs. A National Skills Academy for Retail will be established in April 2008 “to give access to world class skills and business support for retailers whatever their size and wherever they are located.” Core skills and store management training and qualifications necessarily lie at the heart of this support, rather than such areas as innovation, creativity and new product and process development per se. Nor is the Page 70
Innovation in the UK Retail Sector Academy likely to prioritise specialised ICT or technical development in-post, nor especially strategic leadership issues. These are important gaps, since out respondents observed that innovation in retailing is often hindered by: “…on occasion a lack of technical skills, but often a lack of leadership skills to drive/demand innovation and tie everything together.” 8.30 On the ground locally, wider activity is currently taking place on the skills agenda, but only part of this activity is relevant to innovation-specific skills. This includes the integration of the Train to Gain skills broking service with Business Link’s Information, Diagnosis and Brokerage (IDB) service, managed by the Regional Development Agencies; the Qualification and Curriculum Authority’s current consultation on the accreditation of employers’ own ‘in-house’ training; and specific work around innovation being undertaken in the regions by the Regional Development Agencies and Higher Education Institutions (although the relationships and clusters established here have again been mainly in respect of the science & technology base 29 ). However, feedback from retailers suggests a degree of dissatisfaction with the priority accorded to the sector by Business Link amongst its many responsibilities. 8.31 Many of the kinds of specialist skills required to support retail innovation are as likely to come from other sector skills councils as from Skillsmart. These include: • e-skills UK (ICT and telecoms skills); • Skills for Logistics (freight logistics and wholesaling industry); • Skillset (broadcast, film, video, interactive media and photo imaging); • SummitSkills (building services engineering); and • Skillfast UK (fashion and textiles) 8.32 During 2007, the 25 Sector Skills Councils established the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils (TASSC), whose purpose is to support the SSCs in achieving their collective agenda, including taking greater responsibility for their own collective action and performance. The Alliance sees the link between innovation and the expressed shortage in technical skills as shared in common by a number of sectors and is encouraging the SSCs, where appropriate, to work collaboratively to address these needs. 8.33 The Leitch Review of Skills made some helpful observations in this area. It noted the increasing specialisation of skills as new ways of producing goods and services (such as ecommerce) evolved. It pointed to retailing as being a sector where specialisation was accelerating. For example, e-skills UK has drawn attention to the lack of e-business skills (rather than just professional ICT skills) which are needed to address the longer term development needs of firms. In many ways these are cross-disciplinary skills: comprising business, creative and technical skills partially learned in: ‘business studies, commerce, multimedia, multimedia, information systems, fine art, librarianship, journalism, film studies, photography …’ (Expert Group on Future Skills Needs 2001). As the retail sector grapples with a multi-channel future, innovation will increasingly be driven by a range of overlapping skill sets. This is particularly the case given that innovation within the service sector is as likely to span firms and whole value chains as well as channels to market. But outsourcing the problem or relying upon the expertise within supplier 29 See for example the discussion of the creation of ‘science cities’ in RDA National Secretariat, (2006), ‘Bringing Regional Prosperity’, Regional Insight, Sept/Oct. Page 71
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Report for NESTA December 2007 Inno
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Contents Innovation in the UK Retai
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Innovation in the UK Retail Sector
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2. The nature and contribution of r
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