PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Having been away for the last few days, I have managed to catch up with the latest economic data released by the Office of National Statistics, most notably business R&D expenditure for Wales . It shows that not only has Wales' performance hardly improved since 2004, but that the gap with the rest of the UK has actually widened i.e. R&D expenditure in Wales grew by 2.2% as opposed to 4.4% for the UK. Remember, this is despite a quarter of a billion pounds being spent on innovation support under the Objective 1 programme in Wales in the last six years. What on earth is going on? We seem to be squandering the opportunities (and funding) that we have been given to close the gap with other regions. Would this have something to do with the fact that very little of the Objective 1 money has actually gone to the private sector? Given the fact that we now have a new 'science policy' that is not only four years late, but has been universally derided by eminent scientists, t...

Last week, I attended the 20th European Research Conference on Entrepreneurship in Brussels . This gave me my annual opportunity to catch up with colleagues from across Europe to discuss the impact of the latest research findings, especially in the context of Wales and its economy. It also made me feel very reflective (and older!) as I had attended the third conference back in 1989 as a young Ph.D student and was one of the few there who had attended more than ten such conferences during the last two decades. The one advantage of being involved for so long is that I have finally persuaded the organizers to bring the event to Cardiff for the first time next year, which will hopefully provide a great profile for Welsh business research and, more importantly, bring international visitors to see our wonderful country. However, I was not only there as the promoter of the next conference, as the prolific National Entrepreneurship Observatory research team gave three papers at the event, wit...

EARLIER this month, the UK Competitiveness Index - published by Welsh consultancy firm Robert Huggins Associates - suggested that the north-south economic divide in the UK is beginning to close. The data presented in the report suggested that the traditionally least competitive regions of Northern Ireland, Yorkshire, Wales and the north east of England had made the biggest improvements in competitive performance, although the "big three" regions of London, south east England and the eastern English region still remain the only regions performing above the average level of UK competitiveness. Indeed, Wales, despite some improvements in key areas of competitiveness, remains in 11th place in the index, just above the north east of England. Given that Wales is trying, like many other regions, to build a knowledge-based economy, it may be most pertinent to examine the data within the study relating to the development of the knowledge-based sector in Wales to assess the relative co...

All business organisations, especially entrepreneurial small firms, must cope with an ever changing business environment. However, small firms have a very limited ability in being able to control and relate to changes in the environment, although this can depend on the context of change. For example, if a major customer changes increases its order, the entrepreneur should be able to predict events and actions with regard to the timing and consequences of such a change and forecast any changes in the required resources and cashflow. Given this, the entrepreneur can undertake rational short-interval planning activity in order to underpin organisational control. However, much of the change facing business today is largely unpredictable in terms of its timing and its consequences. In other words, such change is open-ended, with it often being unclear what is changing or why it is changing. For example, the effect of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre was largely unexpected and its...

About two weeks ago, new statistics were released by the DTI’s Small Business Service which showed that the number of new businesses across Wales is continuing to decline. These results demonstrated that in the period 2003-2005, the number of VAT registrations – which is used as the primary method for measuring the health of the start-up market – had gone down by 10 per cent. This follows a steady increase in new registrations in the previous three years, mainly as the result of specific support strategies for increasing the number of new firms, especially amongst groups such as women, young people, ethnic minorities, and older people. This result was the second worst decline in the UK, marginally behind the South West of England. However, what is most interest is that this is in complete contrast to another devolved UK region – Northern Ireland – which demonstrated a 12.6 per cent growth over the same period. Indeed, only five out of the twenty six areas in Northern Ireland had shown ...

A very interesting article on the BBC website this morning on the decline of Asian investment in Wales. Perhaps the biggest issue is that all the overseas businesses which located here did were not encouraged to embed themselves in the local economy, especially in linking into higher value added services such as R&D from local universities. This made it relatively easy for them to close their down their operations and to move production to lower wage countries. Certainly, any future inward investment projects have to ensure that once businesses come into Wales, that they become essentially 'Welsh' firms with the foundation of their competitive advantage based on their links with high value Welsh institutions.

Earlier this week, I returned from a week-long trip to China, which combined a visit to my son's godparents with a stint of teaching at CELAP , the executive leadership academy for high- ranking officials within the Chinese Communist Party. As usual, the visit to Shanghai was an eye-opener in more ways than one - if you have never seen a Shanghai taxi driver weave his way, horns blaring, through the rush-hour traffic like a demented snake, then you haven't lived! During the visit, it was fascinating to share experiences with a group of Chinese chief executives, especially with regard to the development of entrepreneurship within their regions. Indeed, it went so well that I have now been invited to take the conversation further with officials in Harbin City in the north-east of China, so I guess my burgeoning love affair with this amazing country ain't over yet. Another Welshman who is quickly developing links with China is our most successful entrepreneur, Sir Terry Matthe...