The National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) is asking rural and farming businesses in the North East, South West and Midlands how they are dealing with COVID-19 to explore the lesser-known area of rural resilience. There is little research about how small firms in rural areas manage crises and how they recover so NICRE… Read more

Stephen Roper  was invited as an ISBE trustee to join the taskforce behind the latest Chartered ABS report on how business schools deliver value to local and regional economies. Professor Roper comments, “The CABS report highlights the valuable contribution business schools make to supporting entrepreneurship and small businesses across the UK. It is good to see… Read more

On Wednesday 21st June the ERC team were back at The Shard for our annual State of Small Business Britain conference. The conference, which was chaired this year by our Steering Group Chair Jane Galsworthy, focused on the theme of ‘SME futures’. Delegates enjoyed a day full of knowledgeable and inspiring speakers on a range… Read more

On the 21st June the ERC welcomed over 100 delegates to The Shard for our fifth State of Small Business Britain Conference, which this year had a focus on the topical theme of ‘Productivity and Place’. Through a lively mix of presentations and discussions, the conference covered a range of issues affecting the productivity of… Read more

On Tuesday 13th October Professor Mark Hart, Deputy Director of the UK’s national Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) chaired a session with the OECD focussing on the role of micro-enterprise in stimulating job creation and innovation at local, regional and national levels at the DG Regio Open Days, Brussels. Professor Stephen Roper, director , ERC, Warwick… Read more

ERC’s State of Small Business Britain Conference 2016, co-hosted with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme, welcomed over 100 delegates to the iconic London building, The Shard on 30th November. The morning session was chaired by Lucy Armstrong, Chair of the ERC’s Advisory board, and began with a welcome from ERC Director Professor Stephen… Read more

Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election could have consequences for the thousands of UK small and medium-sized businesses, especially as the US is the UK’s biggest export destination. During the campaign Trump made some remarks he may regret come January, but the general policy stance in terms of trade and industry is relatively clear:… Read more

The current Brexit debate is important and the structure of the UK’s trading and migration arrangements with our international neighbours will influence our future prosperity. However, other more fundamental long term issues remain important for the UK around productivity. UK productivity lags significantly behind that of our main international competitors and Wales is at the… Read more

New study challenges assumption that most productive firms will drive future productivity gains Inspirational leadership shown to boost productivity in firms of all sizes and sectors, even those starting with low levels Research provides evidence to support recent public investment in ‘soft skills’ training for business leaders New research from the Enterprise Research Centre suggests… Read more