State of the Region: Growth will come in 2013 say firms
GROWTH remains on the agenda for firms in the West Midlands but many businesses are struggling to see where it might come from without dipping their toes in new markets, TheBusinessDesk.com’s annual State of the Region survey has found.
More than three quarters of firms in the region (76%) believe they will see growth in the current year but most (54%) think it will only be minimal.
However, the encouraging sign for the area is that only 6% of businesses believe they will contract during the next 12 months.
These are some of the key findings from TheBusinessDesk.com’s annual State of the Region survey, which gives a comprehensive barometer of business sentiment across the online news service’s three heartlands of Yorkshire, the North West and West Midlands.
The third year the survey has been run in the West Midlands, it has once again been completed by hundreds of business leaders, with 63% of respondents in the region being either a business owner, chairman, chief executive, managing director, partner or director.
TheBusinessDesk.com has once again run this milestone project in association with lead sponsor, law firm DLA Piper. The initiative is also supported by Yorkshire Bank and the CBI.
To download a copy of this year’s report click here
This time last year business leaders in the West Midlands said they were set to embark on expansion plans despite their confidence being shaken by economic conditions which they predicted were set to get worse. Quite prophetic when looked at in hindsight.
Last January respondents said that despite fears of what might happen in the Eurozone there was a need to forge ahead and develop a presence in new markets. Twelve months on, the attitude is the same but the need to take action even more pressing.
When asked in the latest survey for their preferred new market, the majority (26%) of firms in the region said the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) continued to offer the best hope for growth.
Firms in the region have the strongest desire to grow through acquisition but are less optimistic of organic growth than counterparts in other regions.
However, despite the willingness to look to new markets, the vast majority of respondents (79%) said they still believed the West Midlands was a good place to do business – many buoyed by the opportunities offered by new initiatives such as Enterprise Zones.
Mark Beardmore, office managing partner for DLA Piper in Birmingham, left, said: “A return to confidence amongst the business community is exactly what we need to collectively achieve growth and this burgeoning attitude is reflected throughout the results. Almost 75% of respondents from the West Midlands are expecting growth of some kind, with just 6% predicting contraction – a much more positive outcome than the previous 12 months. This is a sentiment that we have felt building over the last year, where businesses seem to be developing a renewed, albeit cautious, appetite for new opportunities rather than waiting for conditions to change.
“The next 12 months will not be without its challenges and, perhaps predictably, funding, price pressure and market demand all come through as key areas of concern. There is also some indication that enthusiasm to target international markets is waning slightly and this is a worry given that the competition faced by our region is increasingly global. A focus on international growth and recognition, coupled with a more bullish approach by corporates, should help to keep the wheels turning as we look forward into 2013.”
Brian Colquhoun, regional director for business and private banking at Yorkshire Bank, left, said: “The view of the potential for growth in turnover demonstrates the resilience of business owners across our region.
“Notwithstanding the economic conditions we have continued to see businesses with an appetite for growth however, encouragingly, these results show a much higher level of confidence and our desire to support these growth aspirations is why we recently launched our Growing Business initiative.”
The results also indicate businesses are looking to local markets more than others, which is something the bank said it had seen in its own research.
“Businesses are clearly not kidding themselves about the year ahead, while they can see opportunities for improvement; the expectation is that the economy will remain benign. That sanguine view is sensible and aids effective planning for the year ahead.”
What is your interpretation of these findings? Let us know.
Tomorrow: Your Business
