Manufacturing jobs lost under Labour

It would seem that another myth has been shattered regarding the Welsh economy. According to a press release from the Welsh Conservatives, manufacturing jobs in Wales have been lost at a faster rate under Labour than the last Conservative government,

An average of 5,666 jobs a year were lost in the sector between 1999 and 2007, according to information obtained by the party. i.e. there are 51,000 fewer jobs in the manufacturing sector in Wales since the creation of the National Assembly

This compares with an annual average loss of 5,116 in the 18 years of Conservative government between 1979 and 1997 .

Indeed, the decline looks set to continue - since the Assembly election in May, hundreds of manufacturing job losses have been announced all across Wales, including

Corus, Llanwern – 220 Jobs
Graphoprint, Flintshire -170 jobs
Dolgarrog Aluminium, Conwy – 170 jobs
Alphasteel, Newport – 400 jobs
Dennis Ruabon, Wrexham – 80 jobs
Settan and Durward, Llandrindod Wells – 150 jobs

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is

THE MANUFACTURING STRATEGY FOR WALES

Last night, I received the following comment on the previous post relating to a piece I had written back in early 2007 about the state of the manufacturing sector in Wales. "Dylan, you seem to be ignoring the fact that manufacturers in Wales have written the manufacturing strategy. Small and large manufacturers, all represented at the Manufacturing forum, have co-written this strategy. WAG has recently supported this strategy and have funded a co-ordinator with resources. Manufactures are happy with this progress as they are following the strategy they wanted. I know that the Conservatives have attacked the strategy as they seem to think that WAG wrote the strategy. They couldn't be more wrong. The Manufacturing Strategy was written by manufacturers, for manufacturers and is supported by WAG. If you don't agree with this, then I can invite you to the next Manufacturing Forum and you can explain to the manufacturers how their strategy is wrong....I appreciate that there is

Change your business through change

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

PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

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