Entries by Wendy Ferris

ASTON MEANS BUSINESSS – SMEs dealing with COVID

With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to shut down the economy, we’re working with Aston Centre for Growth to turn the podcast’s attention towards how SMEs are dealing with the crisis. This special series is called ‘Aston means business: SMEs dealing with COVID-19’. In each episode, we’ll be talking to current and previous business participants in… Read more

Avoiding Economic Meltdown In a National Emergency?

It took less than a week following the Chancellor’s Budget the package to feel woefully insubstantial given COVID-19 developments and the impact on the economy, businesses and jobs. As expected, he was on his feet again this week with a much bigger suite of measures aimed at supporting businesses with costs and cashflow. “Whatever it… Read more

Business resilience and the budget

The 2020s are already shaping up to be a decade we won’t forget and we’re barely three months in. Coming on the back of a decade when researchers and policy makers have been focused on the post-financial crisis productivity puzzle, the impact on the global economy from the Covid-19 pandemic brings new challenges and uncertainties…. Read more

‘What Next for Women’s Enterprise Policy?

On the 12th March the ERC joined forces with the ISBE Gender and Enterprise Network and welcomed over 60 delegates to The Shard for an event focusing on ‘What Next for Women’s Enterprise Policy? Although there has been a rise in women’s self-employment in recent years, women are still much less likely to found or… Read more

Latest ERC Research Paper

Education of consumers and minimising red tape is essential as the UK develops its own ‘geographical indication’ (GI) labelling system for traditional food products following Brexit, new research shows. An economic analysis by researchers from the ERC found that the primary benefits of the geographical indication (GI) scheme came from the protection of unique, heritage… Read more

Protecting our pies and pasties post-Brexit

What do Cornish Pasties and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies have in common? Well, neither appeal to vegetarians for sure but they share more than their meaty ingredients. Both are also protected food names covered by European legislation on Geographical Indications of Origin (or GIs). This means that just as Champagne can currently only be produced… Read more

Northern Powerhouse Growth Dashboard press coverage

BBC News: New ‘east-west divide’ splitting north start-up economy Yorkshire Times: East-West divide sees Manchester pull ahead in Northern Powerhouse Enterprise Race  Northern Echo here: East – West divide sees Manchester pull ahead in Northern Powerhouse Enterprise Race Business Insider: East /West divide emerges in Northern Powerhouse Research              … Read more

Let’s stop talking about ‘innovation’…

The term ‘innovation’ is widely used and abused. What do you imagine when you think of ‘innovation’? Something new? New technology? New drugs or the latest app? Any or all of these could be innovations each of which will have very different impacts on society and the firms and consumers they touch. A new edition… Read more