Publication

Business investment – drivers, barriers and economic impacts. A rapid literature review

Published: 18 March 2024

ERC Research report

Associated Themes

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  Business Growth
• 
  Innovation
• 
  Productivity and performance

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Scottish Enterprise (SE), Scotland’s national economic development agency, commissioned the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) to conduct an evidence review on the economic impacts of business investment and factors that affect it. Business investment is one of the drivers of productivity growth, which sharply declined and has been slow to recover in Scotland and the UK since the global financial crisis (GFC).
The evidence reported here is based on a rapid literature review of peer-reviewed academic literature and grey literature (e.g., working papers by research organisations). T
We find that business investment results in economic benefits at firm and aggregate levels, namely productivity and economic growth (GDP), as well as increased employment, profitability, sales, market value, energy and operational efficiency (from capital investments), innovation and export value (from R&D investments).

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