Suchergebnisse

Here we are, just a couple of weeks since leaving the EU and the stories of empty shelves, shortages of goods in Northern Ireland supermarkets, confused rule of origin regulations hampering trade across the Channel and UK drivers having to surrender their UKmade sandwiches (possibly containing French cheese and Dutch ham) on entering the EU have abounded. But manufacturing, including processing of food account for some 10% of the economy.

Stagflation Is a term used to describe a period of no growth but with high inflation(1). This normally happens when an external shock sends prices higher , such as the oil price crises of the 1970s. Interest rates are then generally raised in reaction which lead to a slowdown in demand. Consumption and investment inevitably drop and a period of weak growth follows until inflation is brought back under control. But because that shock is external and not a result of market forces, the whole episode often lasts longer than it should, causing serious damage to he world economy. Stagnant growth and inflation=stagflation.

A lot has been written and discussed about the type of life we may all be leading once the pandemic is over. Many have hailed the benefit of the move to home working and overall impact on well- being and worry about whether much of that will be lost as we return to some sort of pre pandemic normality as restrictions are being lifted. Others worry than the distance from co-workers – and also from management, reduces innovation- inducing interactions, training opportunities and promotion prospects. Maybe a hybrid model will be the one that eventually emerges.

Unlike the UK, the EU economy was not able to avoid falling into recession at the turn of the year. Both saw falls in GDP in Q1 but the UK had avoided a decline in the last quarter of 2020 despite a November lockdown. But two quarterly drops for the EU with the economy contracting by just 0.9% in the last six months meant nevertheless a technical recession from which the region is only just beginning to emerge. What damage has it all done and what comes next?

Vaccine on the horizon or not, it is difficult for businessto see at present much beyond the Covid with cases still rising and restrictions tightening in much of the developed world, including the UK. The uncertainties around the timing and availability of any vaccine and the timing of any future packages of government support are also unsettling the markers which have in the past week been oscillating between euphoria and renewed sell-offs.

The 'productivity puzzle' – the substantial drop in productivity in the UK since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008 – has exercised economists and policymakers alike. The loss in productivity levels, mainly output per hour, should have been restored by now and the trend growth should have been recovered, or even exceeded. Instead after a very sharp fall, much faster than many of our competitors, it has only recently started to rise again, but at a stubbornly slow rate and at the time of writing stood some 2 per cent below its pre-recession levels. So although we are likely to get back to where we were pretty soon, it is possible that the gap, with where we should have been on pre-recession trends, continues. The Bank of England calculates this gap could stay as high as 16 per cent or even widen if the rate of productivity increase does not return to normal. This is bad for the economy and especially bad for innovation, investment, growth and competitiveness. This paper examines possible explanations and offers some possible answers. It sides, in the end, more with those that argue that demand deficiency looks like being at least a part of the explanation, but acknowledges that changes in the structure and destination of employment, since the recession started, have also played a role.

The well-known economist Professor Tim Congdon has attacked the Bank of England (BoE) in an op-ed in the Telegraph newspaper for letting inflation rise to the highest level since it was made independent 25 years – by the Labour government after the 1997 election victory of Tony Blair[i]. He argued, as the headline for the piece put it, that ' Labour created a Bank that doesn't understand inflation' Congdon laments the fact that as he sees it, the BoE "took the measures that have pushed money growth to its current excessive level" and that the bank's analysis of inflation is "entirely non-monetary", .and."could even be criticised as atheoretical, scrappy and ad hoc".

Pollsters are constantly worrying about our perceptions of politicians. What do their other halves look like? Who looks best when eating a bacon sandwich? Should they even be eating bacon sandwiches in the first place? For the voter, though, it all comes down to one thing: the economy. While good economic news can send popularity sky-rocketing, bad performance can blight a party's election chances for years. But, with policies often working with time lags, it's rarely clear who is responsible for what – especially when their stances on the biggest issues of the day – immigration, the EU, the N

Manufacturing in the UK has an image problem. Although this image problem is more fiction than fact, it nonetheless has an impact on the sector's ability to attract staff, capital, and policy interest. This book redresses this situation by focusing on the real successes of the sector and the strategies used by makers to achieve sustainable results, Manufacturing in the UK has an image problem. Although this image problem is more fiction than fact, it nonetheless has an impact on the sector's ability to attract staff, capital, and policy interest. Redesigning Manufacturing seeks to redress this situation by focusing on the real successes of the sector and the strategies used by makers to achieve sustainable results. In so doing, we broaden the debate about manufacturing to encompass issues of branding, design and creativity, craft, market creation, and supportive ecosystems. Rather than viewing the future of the manufacturing sector as reliant solely on productivity improvements, the pursuit of high technology markets, and investments in science, engineering, technology and maths, this book highlight the connectedness and complexity of modern manufacturing in the UK. Drawing on these insights and the success of many Midlands-based manufacturers the authors explore a more nuanced industrial policy

Today greenness is goodness; non-greenness is not an option. It is therefore critical to advance thinking on why and how business, consumers and policy makers can contribute to the goal of sustainable global wealth creation. This volume analyzes the strategic sustainability issues confronting contemporary business, and explores the transformation in values, strategies, and practices needed by modern businesses to attain sustainable business. It is is developed from a Global Business Symposium organized by the Centre for International Business and Management (CIBAM) at Cambridge University in February 2009, which brought together leading academics, scientists and engineers, government leaders, and business executives to consider the transformation in business values and strategies implicit in sustainability. Green Business, Green Values and Sustainability offers a concise and definitive book on the green transformation of business in major sectors including government, finance, energy, and retail. Different solutions to sustainability are explored including ethical approaches, alternative environmental strategies, corporate responsibility, and carbon reductions.