Ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) are a significant yet under-recognised part of the UK economy. This impact report focuses on EMBs not as a niche issue, but as a way of understanding how entrepreneurial potential is created, constrained, or enabled within the UK’s wider business environment. The Time to Change: A Blueprint for Advancing the UK’s Ethnic… Read more

Place-based policy is well-established in the UK. However, in my research on business support for creatives and conversations with policymakers, I have observed that ‘place’ is often used interchangeably with ‘location’, with no distinction made between the two. This observation has caught my attention, not only as a former geographer, but also because I believe… Read more

We know that the vast majority of private sector businesses do not grow, and policymakers are always seeking ways to encourage more firms to take the first steps along the growth path, and to sustain it.  As such the emphasis has been on fast-growth, high-growth and scaling as the watch-words of business support policy.Too often… Read more

We are pleased to announce the appointment of eight new members to the ERC’s Steering Group. The new members to join the group are: Liz Barclay, the UK’s Small Business Commissioner; Verity Davidge, Make UK; Delma Dwight, Midlands Engine; Nola Hewitt-Dundas, Queens University Belfast; Lee Hopley, UK Finance; Dinah Jackson, NICRE/Rural Design Centre; Richard Jeffery,… Read more

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has appointed Professor Nola Hewitt-Dundas as a non-executive director to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Board. Professor Hewitt-Dundas is Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Innovation Management and Policy at Queen’s University Belfast and a Senior Research Associate with the UK Enterprise Research Centre. Her research centres on the dynamics of innovation… Read more

Small businesses with less than 50 employees employ 12.9m people (48 per cent of total private sector employment) and account for 36 per cent of private sector turnover. The Small Business Price Index (SBPI) provides an indication of the cost of doing business among this critical group of firms. The SBPI suggests that small business… Read more

According to a new major survey from the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), many farm businesses in England may struggle to cope with the challenges of new agricultural policies and the withdrawal of the Basic Payment Scheme, given that the majority do not engage in formal business planning or seek external professional advice…. Read more

On a sunny morning on 16th June, we welcomed delegates back to The Shard for our first in-person ERC State of Small Business Britain conference since 2019. The conference, which was chaired this year by Lucy Armstrong, focused on the theme of the ‘triple transition’, or the question of how moves towards net zero and… Read more

In the context of recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, the ability of a business to survive a crisis is of heightened interest to many, including business leaders, support agencies and policymakers.  Previous research examining the resilience of firms – their ability to survive adversity and potentially to emerge stronger – has considered… Read more

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… Read more