UK Business Barometer

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Thursday, July 11th, 2002

The June survey sought views on inflation, intellectual property, changing banks and sales to businesses and to end customers. The 5 core questions, now asked on a quarterly basis, were also included in June, to allow an update of trends data. Results are summarised here. For the latest results please visit results.

• About the respondents

  122 respondents were drawn with the following population characteristics:

  Sector
  Production & Manufacturing	Distribution	Services	Total
  37.0%	9.2%	53.8%	100.0%

  
  
  

  Turnover (£)
  < 1 M	1M-3M	>3M	Total
  56.3%	21.0%	22.7%	100.0%

  
  
  

  Number of Full-time Employees
  1-10	11-20	21-50	51-100	100+	unknown	Grand Total
  37.8%	31.9%	10.9%	5.0%	7.6%	6.7%	100.0%

  
  
  

• 60% of our respondents agreed that inflation is no longer an issue for their businesses:
  
  

  

• The processes for the protection of Intellectual Property have recently been augmented by the introduction of Innovation Logbooks. These have originated from the Patent Office and the DTI to meet the needs of business innovators and inventors. We found that 58% of panellists agreed that there is a still a greater need for this type of extension to the range of ways in which IP protection can be achieved:
  
  
  

  

• We last asked about changing main banks and significant barriers thereto in March 2001 and have compared the results then with this months survey. Although there are small changes in the results between the surveys, still nearly a third of panellists actively considered changing banks in the last year.
  
  

• Over half of our panellists are suppliers to other businesses rather than selling to the consumer markets:
  
  

  

  Over the last three months, sales by business to business suppliers has expanded for 38% of panellists, while 14% of panellists have expanded sales to end customers. Excluding the 'not applicable' responses, this is equivalent to sales expansion by 40% of panellists to the B2B market and 32% of panellists to the end -consumer market.
  
  

• The 'core' questions have now returned the first quarterly results and show that compared to March 2002, the businesses surveyed perceive changes as follows: Constraints due to skill shortages have slightly increased, those due to lack of finance have eased back slightly. Constraints due to lack of market demand have increased on overall.

  

  

  

  
  
  

• Average growth over the past months remained slightly positive and at the same level from the March survey to the June survey. Looking forward three months, the expectation is of a slightly higher overall growth, similar to the March survey result.
  
  

Views expressed are those of individual panellists and may not represent those of the University.

Production & Manufacturing

The "inflation" that employees expect to see in their wage packet continues to exceed the national rate of inflation.

It is becoming apparent from our order book and comments from our customers that manufacturing is in recession in the UK. The service industries will follow suit shortly. Don't listen to the pie in the sky, batten down the hatches

We have struggled through BSE and FOOT & MOUTH but it looks as if the authoritarians of our state have won and we will go out of business due to the proposed banning of sheep casings by the FSA.

Retail

Business is recovering after effects of foot and mouth

Other

Not sure about the true inflation areas, especially with regard to house and land purchasing. I believe at this rate we will be going to expect a shudder or even some economic pain around September. Time will tell?

Manufacturing is on a major decline, many products being sent to India and China.

rick.eagles@nottingham.ac.uk / Tel: 0115 84 66860.