BCC’s most recent update on the difficulties to find workers highlights shortages in several key areas.

The February 2023 update said:

“Attempted recruitment in Q4 remained virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, with 61% of firms looking to find staff (62% in Q3 2022).

“Overall, over eight in ten firms (82%) attempting to recruit reported recruitment difficulties, up from 76% in Q3.

“While the problem is persistent across all sectors, firms in the hospitality sector are most likely to face challenges when recruiting, with 87% reporting difficulties. This is closely followed by the manufacturing sector on 85%, and the construction sector; professional services; and public, education, health sector all on 83%.”

According to research from fintech provider Nucleus Commercial Finance 68% of SMES with up to 150 employees are concerned about staffing in 2023.

So what can SMEs that are already strapped for cash do to help themselves in the short and...

With trading conditions as difficult as they currently are anything that can help to safeguard your business would seem like a good idea.

One such suggestion is to collaborate with another business.

A successful collaboration will depend on several things, which can be summarised as doing the careful research before you go ahead:

• Are the two businesses a good fit, in other words are they genuinely complementary
• Do they share common values and ideals
• How sound are the finances of those involved
• How much will the set up costs be
• Don’t overestimate the time and money saved and the potential profits

Individual businesses can face several limitations when trying to compete in global markets. This may include scale and expertise.

So there may be financial benefits to collaboration in enabling the partners to tender for larger contracts and to benefit from a wider range of skills among the companies involved.

Swapping skills can also be highly valuable and cost-effective for...

Against a backdrop of soaring company insolvencies, up by 72% in the last year according to the Insolvency Service, and plummeting business confidence the new UK Chancellor unveiled a package of measures to try to deal with the current cycle of stagnation and rising costs.

The focus, said Kwasi Kwarteng, would be on growth and the measures included reversing the rise in National Insurance payments, freezing corporation tax and cutting stamp duty.

The limit on bankers' bonuses was scrapped and there will possibly be 38 new investment zones in England.

This hugely expensive package is generally called trickle down economics, whereby the hope is that with more disposable income, investors and businesses will pass on the gains to those lower down the economy.

However, it is not a new idea and dates back to at least 1972, when a similar package ushered in several years of boom and bust.

Will it work this time?

Who can tell.

Certainly the stock markets and investors were not impressed and...

Research by the UK organisation Make UK has found that almost three quarters of UK manufacturers have reshored their supply chains as a result of the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic and more recently the war in Ukraine.

“Nearly half (42%) of manufacturers have increased the proportion of suppliers based in Great Britain, with further reshoring in the pipeline for over two-fifths of companies,” according to their report.

This, together with the change in consumer purchasing habits moving to more online shopping has dramatically increased the demand for warehouse space.

According to latest research by Colliers, industrial occupiers are in a race for space as the UK is experiencing the lowest level of supply ever recorded, with only 18.1 million sq ft left, due to demand for logistics units continuing to be driven by the structural change in consumer spending patterns.

Colliers states that take-up in 2021 for industrial distribution warehouses of 100,000 sq ft+...

How feasible is it to reshore our industries?

The Office for National Statistics has reported that the UK has suffered “significant challenges when acquiring and maintaining their stock”.

Well, no surprise there as businesses have been well aware that a combination of Covid, Brexit, higher energy prices, events like the blockage of the Suez Canal and, of course, now Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has disrupted the global supply chain.

But this week the paper CityAM is asking whether now is the time to bring manufacturing industries back into the UK, aka “reshore” them to ensure not only supplies of essential but also growth.

While not underestimating the challenge, the paper points out that the UK “is still the ninth largest manufacturing country in the world, producing £183bn of products and employing 2.5m people”.

Reshoring, it argues, will have benefits, including reducing products’ carbon footprint, reducing lead times and...

Materials, parts, products; they have all been subject to delays and shortages over the last year thanks to a combination of factors from a shortage of lorry drivers to the effects of pandemic lockdowns.

It has all made running a business more stressful and expensive.

Is it time to rethink your supply chain?

Many businesses switched to buying from suppliers further afield because of the financial savings this brought them, but perhaps given the more recent difficulties it might be worth looking for sources closer to home.

It may end up costing a little more but if it improves your business’ continuity it may be worth it.

Reshoring is also becoming increasingly important for improving UK manufacturing resilience and ensuring that its manufacturing supply chains are fit for an uncertain future.

Perhaps you need a back-up plan?

It is also worth looking around for alternative suppliers and using more than one, again to ensure the continuity of your own business operations.

Giving...

Business activity is starting to pick up after 18 months of disruption but what lessons have those that survived learned, what new opportunities has it brought and what new practices will businesses keep as a result?

Changes in customer and client needs?

A recently-reported development has been the numbers of staycation bookings for 2022 that are already being made after people decided to holiday in the UK in 2021 due to all the complex rules overseas travel and quarantine on return.

This presents an opportunity for the tourism industry to develop their attractions and offers, notwithstanding some of the difficulties there are in recruiting enough workers.

There may well be opportunities in other businesses in the wider economy to respond with new products and services based on what clients have asked for during the various stages of the pandemic.

Changes in ways of working

While some businesses needed to furlough staff because of a drop in demand during the pandemic others changed...

Businesses planning their post-pandemic strategy are likely to be seeking future investment to shore up their balance sheets but directors will need to be mindful of the changing values of stakeholders and in particular those of their customers who in turn are influencing investors.

Before the immense disruption caused globally by the onset of the pandemic, climate change, global warming and the need for a more sustainable form of economics were a major preoccupation.

That preoccupation has not gone away.

While physical attendance at a second summit on ethical finance by international delegates from Government officials, financial institutions, consumer goods corporations, supply chain intermediaries and conservation organisations planned for Edinburgh this month has had to be cancelled, it has now been replaced by a virtual summit.

And this month, the UK’s Investors Association published a paper on the future of investment in which it, too, identified the importance going...

UK manufacturing was in dire straits even at the onset of the Coronavirus lockdown, with the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) reporting output dropping at its fastest pace since 1975 in the first quarter of 2020.

As it progressed the pandemic and lockdown revealed many weaknesses in the global supply chain, most notably in the availability of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for frontline health and care workers.

However, it is often said that in disaster there are also opportunities and many businesses demonstrated their agility in switching their usual production to manufacturing both PPE and sanitising equipment, for example.

But, as attitudes change, so the opportunities for innovation increase and it is a good time for directors to start planning strategies for not only producing essential supply chain elements within the UK but also for devising new products to fit the new agendas.

The UK Government has announced two initiatives aimed to protect UK...

Employing millennials should not be seen as a problem but according to some reports in the business press many employers would prefer not to.

The reasons given range from this generation having a poorer grasp of language to being less loyal than older workers, and allegedly having higher absence rates.

Quite apart from the fact that age discrimination is outlawed under equal opportunities legislation, millennials (the generation born between 1980 and 2000) now make up the bulk of the workforce.

While it would be fair to say that employing millennials means bosses need to understand that this age group may view their careers rather differently from previous generations, it is also true that each generation comes with skills and attitudes that are a benefit to their employers. It is also true for many employers that they are customers who need to be understood.

Approximately 10 years ago PwC produced a report that focused on the millennial generation, examining their career...