1. ABOUT THE DATASET -------------------- Title: Export promotion service providers (EPSPs) in West Yorkshire Creator(s): Giles Blackburne[1], Chenhui Jiang[2], Yan Emma Liu[1], Frank McDonald[1], Mingchu Wang[3], Yingqi Wei[1] Organisation(s): 1. University of Leeds. 2. Shenzhen University 3. Newcastle University Rights-holder(s):Unless otherwise stated, Copyright 2023 University of Leeds Publication Year:2026 Description: This dataset contains the outputs of a qualitative network mapping exercise that identifies export promotion service providers (EPSPs) operating in West Yorkshire, England, and the relationships between them. Data were compiled through systematic documentary analysis of policy documents, organisational websites and publicly available reports, using an iterative, snowballing approach that began with two seed organisations, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), and expanded through their documented partners, collaborators and delivery contractors. The dataset comprises two files: (1) a spreadsheet listing the 51 EPSPs identified as having a discernible role in the regional Export Promotion Network (EPN), including their connections to other network members and the data sources used to verify those connections; and (2) a diagram of the resulting EPN, highlighting the 15 EPSPs identified as major, substantively engaged actors and their relationships to one another. Cite as: Blackburne, G., Jiang, C., Liu, Y.E., McDonald, F., Wang, M., and Wei, Y. (2026) Qualitative network dataset for 'A Dysfunctional Family of Export Promotion Service Providers? Collaborative Governance in a Complex and Fragmented Regional Network'. University of Leeds. [Dataset] https://doi.org/10.5518/1929. Related publication: Blackburne, G., Jiang, C., Liu, Y.E., McDonald, F., Wang, M., and Wei, Y. (2026). A Dysfunctional Family of Export Promotion Service Providers? Collaborative Governance in a Complex and Fragmented Regional Network. Journal of International Business Policy, forthcoming. [Accepted] Contact: Yan Emma Liu (E.Y.Liu@leeds.ac.uk) 2. TERMS OF USE --------------- Copyright 2026 University of Leeds. Unless otherwise stated, this dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 3. PROJECT AND FUNDING INFORMATION ---------------------------------- Title: A Strategic Framework for Delivering West Yorkshire International Trade Strategy Dates: 01/10/2023 - 30/07/2024 Funding organisation: Research England Policy Support Fund Grant no.: Not applicable. 4. CONTENTS ----------- File listing 1. The list of Export Promotion Service Providers (EPSPs) in West Yorkshire A table listing the 51 organisations identified as having a discernible role in the West Yorkshire EPN. - Number of cases/rows: 51 - Variables: - ID: sequential identifier for each EPSP (1-51) - EPSP: name of the organisation (abbreviations noted where applicable) - Connections: ID number(s) of other EPSPs in the list to which this organisation is directly connected - Data Sources: URL(s) of the publicly available document(s), web pages or reports used as evidence for the organisation's inclusion and its connections, with the date each source was accessed - Notes: some organisations are annotated with lettered footnotes indicating former names or organisational relationships (e.g. DBT was previously the Department of International Trade; Chamber International is part of West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce). Software format: Microsoft Excel Workbook (.xlsx). 2. Export Promotion Network (EPN) in West Yorkshire, the UK A network diagram depicting the 15 major EPSPs identified through the mapping process (a subset of the 51 listed in File 1) and the relationships between them. The 15 EPSPs are grouped into three categories: central hubs (DBT and WYCA), business advocacy clusters (e.g. chambers of commerce and business membership organisations), and supporting and specialist actors (e.g. contracted programme deliverers and innovation-focused organisations) File 2 is derived from File 1. The network diagram visualises a subset of the organisations and relationships recorded in the spreadsheet. Software format: Portable Document Format (.pdf). Original diagram created using ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v16 and exported as PDF. 5. METHODS ---------- Full details of the case boundary, data collection procedure and verification methods are reported in the Related publication (see Section 1). This dataset was generated during Phase 1 (10/2023-01/2024) of a wider sequential multi-method study of collaborative governance in regional export promotion networks. Qualitative network mapping was used to identify export promotion service providers (EPSPs) in West Yorkshire, England, and the relationships between them. Mapping used an iterative, snowballing approach, beginning with two seed organisations - the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) - and expanding through their documented partners, collaborators and delivery contractors over successive rounds of mapping and verification. Organisations and connections were evidenced through systematic documentary analysis of policy documents, organisational websites and publicly available reports (sources and access dates are recorded in File 1); no interview or survey instrument was used to generate this dataset. The mapping was carried out by two of the six-member research team and validated collaboratively with the wider team and with representatives of WYCA, resulting in 51 identified EPSPs (File 1), of which 15 were classified as major EPSPs and visualised in the network diagram (File 2), produced using ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v16. Note that this dataset is based exclusively on documentary evidence available in the public domain during the data collection period (10/2023 to 01/2024). As a result, organisations or relationships that were not publicly documented may not have been captured. The network represents a qualitative mapping of documented relationships rather than a quantitative measure of interaction frequency, intensity or performance. The dataset should therefore be interpreted as a representation of publicly evidenced connections within the West Yorkshire Export Promotion Network (EPN) during the study period.