What will the new enterprise zones mean for selling? New Business Generation

(N.B. Those kind readers of the ‘to go’ generation and short attention span may like to scroll down to the part with LARGE Writing. Those who respect history may care to settle down and ponder on these things. This post about 1300 words with photos of Docklands and videos of the DLR to keep the trail of the post ablaze!)

 

In a previous hour of the nation’s need UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill appealed directly to the United States via a radio broadcast on 9th Feb 1941 – maybe his motivating words could express today’s UK Selling’s plea to Chancellor Osborne at the moment.

“Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence all will be well.

We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire.

Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job”

Government Debt reduction targets are considerable yet Chancellor Osborne needs to promote the tools for the country’s growth.

Past promotion of growth from government was around regional hubs and thought by many to be overly focused in the south, in particular in financial services.

( See Institute of Public Policy Research IPPR midland Yorkshire and Humber unemployment report is worth reading http://www.ippr.org/?option=com_ippr&view=search&q=enterprise+zones&Itemid=112)
Now manufacturing are going to be assisted by Government.

Government minister Eric Pickles on the BBC Today Programme agreed that past schemes were expensive and did not really deliver.

These new enterprise zones are different because they focus on specific sites with specific industries.

The task involves a re balancing of the economy from Public sector to the private sector. Last year 500,000 new jobs came from the private sector.

Plans for 21 nationwide zones were originally set out in March's 2010 Budget.

Bids to host one of the zones were submitted by 30 local groups, made up of council and business leaders
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_90_11.htm

Yet a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development CIPD and KPMG indicate the north will fare worse.

Ministers claim 30,000 new jobs will be created by 2015 form the new enterprise Zones
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1967593

Today’s announcement brings the total to 22 Enterprise Zones across the UK.
The Zones are to attract hundreds of new start up firms, with simplified planning rules, super-fast broadband and over £150 million tax breaks for new businesses over the next 4 years.
Part of the Government sales pitch of the new zones include the following benefits:-

 

1. A 100 % business rate discount worth up to £275,000 over a five year period, for businesses that move into an Enterprise Zone during the course of this Parliament;
2. All business rates growth within the zone for a period of at least 25 years will be retained and shared by the local authorities in the Local Enterprise Partnership( LEP) area to support their economic priorities;
3. Government and local authority help to develop radically simplified planning approaches in the zone.
4. Government support to ensure super fast broadband is rolled out in the zone. This will be achieved through guaranteeing the most supportive environment and, if necessary, public funding.
Cynics and realists may wish to continue reading this post the next piece of history.

 Those who think history is ‘bunk’ skip it and scroll down to where the business opportunities lie in the new enterprise zones!

Those of us old enough will remember we had initiatives similar to these in the 1980s and 1990s. Margaret Thatcher and John Major had similar ideas. Thirty-eight zones were established between 1981 and 1996.

The most famous was the Isle of Dogs in London's Docklands - now Canary Wharf.

The shiny skyscrapers and thousands of very well paid workers seem to make the case for the zones.

Yet a report from the Work Foundation think tank suggests that is perhaps misleading.

“With the announcement of a new generation of Enterprise Zones widely expected in the Budget, This
Work Foundation report warns they are likely to be ineffective at stimulating sustained growth in depressed areas. Enterprise Zones, tax breaks and other localised incentives may stimulate rapid investment in the short-term, but this typically lasts no more than three years before the area begins a long-term reversal back into depression” Abstract from “ Do Enterprise zones work?” Sissons with Brown Feb 2011
http://www.theworkfoundation.com/research/publications/publicationdetail.aspx?oItemId=283

When the Docklands enterprise zone expired, there were just 7,000 people working in Canary Wharf, it says, compared with 90,000 today.

The zone may have helped, but the think tank says the success of the area is down to investment in regeneration and infrastructure, such as the Docklands Light Railway, not the government scheme.
The report's other conclusions are also off-putting:

• 80% of jobs created in enterprise zones are displaced from other places;
• the prosperity the areas bring is short-lived;
• and each job created costs £23,000 to create.

Enough of the cynical stuff let’s get positive!

 

Well as the management guru Peter Drucker is once supposed to have said “ If you are not part of the solution you have got to be part of the problem”
Salespeople are supposed to be problem solvers so it is up to us to seek out these opportunities and SELL.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We are determined to do everything we can to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

Enterprise Zones are a major step towards delivering this - cutting business taxes, easing planning restrictions and giving business the tools they need to invest and expand. “

In plain English low tax, low regulation & fast broadband

The enterprise zones previously announced were: Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Derby, Nottingham, the Black Country, the Tees Valley, the West of England and the North East.

"These new Enterprise Zones will be trailblazers for growth, jobs and prosperity throughout the country."

Q. What opportunities are there for you to sell to companies in these zones?

I have put the sector focus alongside each zone for those in sales who wish to seek out where you may find opportunities .

• Daresbury Science Campus in Warrington science and technology.
• Newquay AeroHub in Cornwall aerospace
• The Solent Enterprise Zone at Daedalus Airfield in Gosport R&D, including automotive, aerospace, transport, defence and manufacturing
• Rotherwas Enterprise Zone in Hereford; defence, advanced engineering, green technologies and food processing
• Discovery Park in Sandwich, Kent - Bio technology life sciences, pharmaceutical, bio-technology and broader R&D (including chemicals, food and renewable energy
• Enterprise West Essex in Harlow medical technologies and advanced manufacturing
• Science Vale UK in Oxfordshire green technology, advanced materials and engineering, space and other high value R&D (e.g. medical technologies, bio-technologies and cryogenics)
• Alconbury Airfield in Cambridgeshire ICT, biotech, pharmaceutical, advanced manufacturing, creative industries, engineering and processing
• Great Yarmouth in Norfolk & Lowestoft in Suffolk; energy sector (including offshore wind) and broader focus on ports, logistics, construction and engineering
• Northampton Waterside advanced technologies, precision engineering, low carbon technology, sustainable construction, and high performance engineering, supported by related professional, financial, leisure and business services
• MIRA Technology Park in Hinckley Leicestershire - R&D, including automotive, aerospace, transport, defence and manufacturing
• Humber Waterside Enterprise Zone offshore wind Original Equipment Manufacturers and supply chain
• North Eastern Enterprise Zone: low carbon
• Black Country Enterprise Zone: advanced manufacturing including aerospace, automotive and engineering and environmental technologies
• Tees Valley Enterprise Zone: petrochemicals and renewable energy

Each enterprise zone is described in terms of area size, sector focus, tax breaks, job creation estimates by the LEP in terms of businesses and jobs, planning, broadband and investment by UKTI.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1967593

Twitter site for the Department of Communities and local government DCLG is
http://twitter.com/#!/CommunitiesUK

Trying to ensure that new net jobs, of the right kind as well, are created is the big challenge for everyone.

These new enterprise zones are being located in areas that are already deemed to have high growth potential.

 

The zones are also being driven by the newly-formed local enterprise partnerships (LEP)- groups of public bodies and businesses.

They will be put to the test since the government is under great pressure to deliver growth and has a lot riding on these enterprise zones.

 

Expectations are high, quite possibly too high for the cynics; but what the hell come on brothers and sisters in selling let’s have a go!

The Chancellor has given us some tools let’s finish the job!