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Britain’s Most Productive Locations for SMEs… And The Least Productive
October 30, 2017 -
Small and medium-sized enterprises in the most productive areas of the UK are producing almost 26 times as much turnover per worker as firms in the least productive areas, new research shows, underlining concerns about a productivity gap that is holding the country’s economy back.
The data, which comes from a new study produced by the innovation foundation Nesta and the IT company Sage, suggests entrepreneurs in some parts of the country need much more support if they are to grow their businesses effectively.
The study shows that productivity is highest in the South of England, with London taking the top three spots in the rankings. At number one, the average SME worker in the City of London accounts for turnover of £1.45m a year, 25.7 times’ as much as his or her counterpart in the West of Somerset, the bottom-placed location, where the equivalent figure is only £56,500.
Generally speaking, locations in the North of England and Scotland tend to be less productive, the study shows, though hotspots exist all around the UK – Mid-Ulster, Newport and Barnsley are all high up the rankings, for example.
“Entrepreneurs are often agents of innovation; they are core to the process of creative destruction and crucial for increasing employment, so understanding the conditions needed for new businesses to start and scale is therefore of great importance to us all,” says Christopher Haley, head of new technology and start-up research at Nesta.
“Whilst national government obviously has an important role in encouraging business, there is also much that can and should be done at a local level to create the best possible environment for entrepreneurs. Part of this means recognising local differences and improving data availability.”
Forbes
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