Michael Izza, ICAEW chief executive, has called for government action to make globalisation a top priority on the government’s reform agenda following a survey showing small businesses want to take up opportunities but need help to do so.
‘The pace of global change has accelerated and UK businesses realise that they must adapt quickly if they are to thrive in an increasingly global marketplace,’ he said. ‘We would like to see the new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulation Reform (BERR) ensuring that globalisation is a top priority.’
The ICAEW enterprise survey showed that, of companies who have customers overseas, 49% are in the EU of which 36% are in the later EU accession countries such as Poland and the other former Soviet Bloc countries).
Businesses in London and the south-east are typically most likely to have customers in more of these markets. However, the exception are Scottish companies Scotland which are most likely to have clients in the USA, Australia and Canada, while companies in Wales are the least globally engaged (51%) compared with Scotland at 90% - above the national average of 72%.
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