Publication

Understanding Productive Investment decisions: Investment patterns and decision- making processes

Published: 27 May 2026

ERC _ TPI Research Report

Associated Themes

• 
  Innovation
• 
  Management and Leadership
• 
  Productivity and performance

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The UK’s low level of business investment is often cited as a reason for slow productivity growth. The effects of the business environment – such as uncertainty
and capital costs – on investment are well understood. However, less is known about what drives business investment and how companies make their investment
decisions.
The ‘Productive Investment Decisions’ survey examined the decision-making process in 1,623 firms that made investments exceeding £5,000 between 2019 and 2024. The
survey focused on two aspects of investment decisions:

• Profiling firms’ productive investment over the 2019-24 period with a focus on the motivations for investment, timing of investment and the nature of firms’
investment portfolios;
• Understanding decision-making processes for firms’ most strategic investment – this section focuses on the criteria for investment decisions, the decision making process and the team of people making investment decisions.

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