ISSUES
: Business and Trade
Chapter 1: Business today
2
boosting the number of enterprises, but not the number
employed in the sector.
Manufacturing firms accounted for 5% of businesses,
10% of employment and 16% of turnover.
Business births and deaths
In 2014 in the UK, there were 351,000 business
births, up 4,000 on the previous year. Business births
outnumber business deaths by 105,000 in 2014, the
second largest margin since the series began (the
largest margin was in 2013).
2011 was the first year that the business birth rate
was higher than the business death rate since 2008.
In 2014, the business birth rate was 14%, whilst the
business death rate was 10%.
Business births and deaths by region
In 2014, the largest number of business births
occurred in London (89,000). The largest number of
business deaths also occurred in London (53,000).
In all the regions and countries of the UK, business
births outnumbered business deaths.
The business death rate was broadly the same in all
the regions of the UK – within a percentage point of
10%. There was more variation in the business birth
rate: 9% in Northern Ireland compared with 18% in
London. Most other regions had birth rates of around
14%.
Women in business
Various sources are used in this section to provide
an indication of female involvement in business in the
UK.
Female-led SMEs
In 2014, 20% of SMEs in the UK were majority led by
women. This is two percentage points higher than in
2012 and equates to around 1.1 million SMEs.
Business at least partially led by women accounted
for 38% of all SMEs in 2014, around 2.0 million SMEs.
Examining only SMEs with employees, women-led
SMEs are underrepresented in the manufacturing and
construction sectors (accounting for only 7% and 8%
of business, respectively), but account for 43% of
businesses in the combined public administration,
education, health and defence sector.
It is estimated that in the UK women-led SME
businesses contribute about £75 billion to economic
output (16% of the UK SME approximate GVA total).
1
Female start-ups
Estimates have been made of the proportion of women
involved in ‘total early stage entrepreneurial activity’
1 BIS, Small Business Survey 2012: businesses led by women and ethnic minorities,
2013, p 2. Output is Gross Value Added.
or TEA. TEA includes the owning or running of any
business that is less than three and a half years old.
2
In 2014, the TEA rate (the proportion of working-aged
people involved in TEA) in the UK was 11%. By gender,
the TEA rate in the UK was 8% among women and 14%
among men.
3
Using these data we can estimate that 35% of TEA in
the UK was accounted for by women in 2014. In the US,
40% of TEA was accounted for by women.
4
The same source can be used to compare female
entrepreneurship in different countries. A positive
gender gap means that the male TEA rate is higher than
the female rate. A negative gender gap means that the
female TEA rate is higher than the male TEA rate.
In the UK, the TEA gender gap was 6.3, above the rate
in many of the UK’s competitor countries, such as the
US (5.3), France (2.7) and Germany (2.6).
Women on boards
A target that FTSE100 boards should have a minimum
of 25% female representation by 2015 was set in the
2011 report by Lord Davies of Abersoch, Women on
boards.
5
In October 2015, it was announced that this target had
been met, and that 26% of FTSE100 board members
were female.
There are now zero all-male boards in the FTSE100,
down from 21 in 2011. In the FTSE350, there are now 15
all-male boards, down from 152 in 2011.
6
Lord Davies’ report states that against his target, Unilver
and Marks and Spencer were the best performing
boards in October 2015, with female representation of
50% and 42% respectively.
7
7 December 2015
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2 Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring Consortium, Global 2014 Monitoring Report,
January 2015, p 12
3 Ibid, pp 36 and 86
4 These data assume that there is the same number of male and female people of
working age.
5 Lord Davies of Abersoch and BIS, Women on boards, February 2011, p 4
6 Lord Davies of Abersoch and BIS, Five year summary report, October 2015, p 34
7 Ibid, p 13
