A quarter of middle-market firms in the UK are considering bringing back some business activities to the UK over the next 3 years, a study by GE Capital and Warwick Business School has found.
The research found that 26% of mid-market firms are looking to reshore at least some of their activities, potentially creating 378,000 jobs.
According to the report re-shoring could:
- increase annual revenues by £3.8 million per firm
- increase total revenues by £27.6 billion per year.
However, not all regions will benefit evenly from re-shoring:
- 42% of surveyed businesses will re-shore to either London or the South East
- London is the most popular destination, with 28% of surveyed firms reporting they will head to the capital
- in contrast, Wales (1%) and Northern Ireland (2%) are the least popular.
The top 3 reasons for businesses wanting to re-shore business operations were:
- management or control issues
- the UK business culture
- levels of productivity in the UK.
Professor Stephen Roper of Warwick Business School said:
“Historically, re-shoring activity has focused on regions outside London, yet our research indicates that mid-market firms see the value of being active in the Capital, despite the high costs associated with doing business here.”
Talk to us about business planning.