Press Releases

Two major research bodies will join a Development Bank-led research partnership to provide new insights and data-backed perspectives on the Welsh business environment.
Economic Intelligence Wales has welcomed the addition of Bangor Business School and the Enterprise Research Centre to its unique partnership.

Workplace absences due to mental health sickness have increased in 2022 after falling during the pandemic, a new study suggests.
The incidence of ‘presenteeism’ - employees working whilst they are unwell - has also increased, although it has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
More firms say that mental health-related sickness is impacting on business performance.
The study, conducted by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) based at Warwick Business School, tracked the experiences of 237 firms dealing with mental health and wellbeing from 2020, just before the pandemic began, through 2021 and 2022

More than 70% of Britons believe it is easy to start a business in the UK, but less than one in ten has any intention of doing so, a global entrepreneurship survey has found.
The 23rd annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2021/2022 report, unveiled today at the Dubai Expo, measures entrepreneurial activity across 47 high, medium and low-income economies.
Data is gathered via a survey of at least 2,000 respondents in each country who answer questions on their entrepreneurial

Social enterprises could be critical to achieving a more environmentally sustainable business landscape, according to a report published today by The Enterprise Research Centre [ERC] and The Women’s Organisation.
State Of The Art (SOTA) Review 53: Social Enterprises and Environmental Sustainability, researched and written by Dr Emma Folmer and Dr Anna Rebmann, emerges as COP26 gets underway in Glasgow this week.
The conference, which is attended by climate experts and world leaders from 197 countries, aims to accelerate action towards climate change and environmental sustainability.

Entrepreneurs will be crucial for the UK’s recovery from COVID and dealing with economic fallout from Brexit – new report
• Early-stage entrepreneurial activity in 2020 had fallen sharply from its pre-pandemic high in the UK as the economy was essentially shut down for long periods due to COVID-19
• This decline was due to fewer nascent entrepreneurs than normal – that is, individuals in the first three months of starting their new business venture
• Nevertheless, around two-thirds of working-age adults looking to set up a business within three years said the pandemic had influenced their decision to re-assess their future engagement with the labour market

As in previous economic downturns it is the small business community that drives the recovery across all sectors of the economy. UK entrepreneurs once again stand ready to rise to the challenges and opportunities created by the Coronavirus pandemic and the economic fallout from Brexit, a new report says.
The latest Global Entrepreneurship Team (GEM) UK report found that although around of half budding entrepreneurs said that the UK government had so far dealt effectively with the economic consequences of the pandemic, there must be improved programmes, financial support and advice to start-ups and scale-ups through different stages of the business life cycle.

Media Release issued by the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot
Small businesses across the Midlands need urgent help with improving wellbeing in the workplace after a new report showed COVID-19 is now a main factor in causing mental health absences from work.
The Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) is encouraging businesses to get in touch for advice on adopting a free mental health and wellbeing programme for workplaces, to help combat the problem.
The report, published by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) and authored by researchers at University of Warwick – a partner of MHPP – showed that mental health issues related to COVID-19 were a more common factor for sickness absences at Midlands workplaces than issues related to in-work problems or physical health.
It also revealed that smaller firms were much less likely to have adopted a mental health plan or to have changed working practices due to COVID-19 compared to larger companies.

• Over 40% of UK’s small and medium-sized firms report COVID-related hit to turnover, while 3 in 10 forced to cut jobs
• Around 200,000 firms could be close to collapse based on analysis of those trading insolvently or running out of cash
• But a fifth of firms report positive impacts from the pandemic, with many embracing digital technologies and green agenda

• New Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report shows UK early-stage entrepreneurship hit a new high in 2019
• Nearly 1 in 10 working age adults were in the early stages of starting or running a business, with women catching up with men
• Progress threatened by Chancellor’s decision not to provide financial support for three million entrepreneurs

UK entrepreneurship is “in jeopardy” despite hitting a new high pre-pandemic because of gaps in support for people in the early stages of running a business, a leading expert has warned.
Professor Mark Hart of Aston Business School said the exclusion of three million people from Government support schemes since March was “chipping away at the foundations of our enterprise economy”.
His comments come on the back of a new report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) which show that the UK recorded its highest rate of early-stage entrepreneurship since the global annual survey began nearly 20 years ago.

• ‘Furlough envy’, isolation and additional home stresses have triggered deteriorations in workplace mental health, new study suggests
• Workers less likely to talk to managers about experiencing mental health problems since lockdown, fearing ‘repercussions’
• Study highlights need to raise awareness among employers of resources available to support mental health

Workers have become less open about their mental health struggles since the coronavirus outbreak because of fears they could lose their jobs if they speak up, new research suggests.
The findings from the Enterprise Research Centre, based on in-depth interviews with managers in UK firms over the summer, also show workplaces have become divided by how different staff have been treated since March – with some saying ‘furlough envy’ had split teams.

• 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 that small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with lower starting levels of productivity – sometimes referred to pejoratively as “laggards” – are in fact just as likely to see gains over time as their more productive rivals.