How entrepreneurial is your area?
From a report by Nesta and Sage.
Nesta in partnership with the technology firm Sage, recently launched a report and mapping website which examines small and medium-sized businesses across the UK by local authority, providing a view of how SMEs have performed since the recession by area.
What does the report conclude? Among other things, it finds that:
- 29% more SMEs are trading than before the financial crisis.
- SMEs have disproportionately driven job creation since 2010 (having created 73 per cent of new private sector jobs, despite accounting for just 60 per cent of private sector employment).
- There has been a huge variance in the growth of number of SMEs across the UK (from an increase of 41 per cent in London to just four per cent in Northern Ireland).
- SME productivity (defined here as aggregate SME turnover divided by aggregate SME employment) varies significantly (with the most productive part of the UK, the City of London, being 26 times more productive than the least, West Somerset). At a regional level, there is not a vast difference in the least productive areas; rather, average productivity is typically pulled up by the top performers.
- High productivity doesn’t accompany high survival rates. The churn and dynamism of ‘creative destruction’ is good for the economy as a whole.
- Digital infrastructure without digital skills and tools will not boost productivity. Whilst broadband coverage is lower in rural areas and the devolved regions, it mirrors other work in finding that there is not yet evidence for connection speeds having an impact on SME activity, growth, or productivity at local authority level.
Key in your postcode here and see what is happened in your area. You can also download the report.
If you are connected with local businesses and the local authority, perhaps you can let them know about the results.
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From a report by Nesta and Sage, 31/10/2017