Tag Archive for recession

Matthew Connaughton | May 7, 2010
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KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON: Parliament hung for small businesses.

It was the mantra of the blitz spirit that typified Britishness during WWII, and yet that advice is the most sensible thing to do following the rise to power of our newly elected sense of uncertainty and justified frustration.

Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On_2

We must “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” while our economy and our collective patience endures a hung Parliament, and be  comforted by the fact that all of us are united in confusion about what this actually means for the direction of our country.

We must “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” because of one thing you can be sure;  that everybody involved in this political mess has all but abandoned the idea of championing UK exports, and I mean everybody – as businesses are, in exporting terms, well and truly having to do things on their own.

Having made enough noise about this issue for well over a year now, we didn’t plan on making too much more about the lack of export support from any of the main parties. However, now our political powers are locked in stalemate, perhaps it’s the right time to voice discontent and hope that someone produces a ‘trump card’ that can inspire a meaningful coalition Government.

I’m not talking about the whole “will he, won’t he debate“, or proportional representation, but a call from someone, anyone, to come up with something new that will allow us to focus on economic recovery. Don’t hold your breath – I mean it’s only been the main theme of the 2010 election campaigns.

Whether you agree with proportional representation or not, and I’m not stating if I do (or do not), you can’t help but marvel at the irony of not having such a thing in place. For David Cameron (who has stated he is dead against the idea) it would have avoided this whole mix-up, and not having it could give Nick Clegg one extra reason to side with Gordon Brown (who is apparently open to it). I digress.

However, one big certainty for UK business and anyone who is currently in employment is this: We still don’t know whether we’ll still have to pay the extra National Insurance contributions or not.

It’s a good thing we’re not trying to recover from recession or anything remotely as tricky as that, as some businesses might have to put vital expansion/employment plans on hold.

So, as you were then, Britain – Keep calm and carry on (regardless).

Category: Business Management | Tags: , , ,
GavinWheeldon | April 19, 2010
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“Exports to lead recovery” – Hold the front page!

Politicians, financiers – get your coats and go home!  This morning I found that more than 12 months of ranting about the UK’s need to increase exports had been vindicated, after reading this, this, this and this, among other “news”.

Much of my ranting in 2009, despite appearing in print and online, seemed to fall on deaf ears with many ignoring me and some thinking I was mad to focus so much of my time on a relentless campaign for more export support.  So, I’m sorry to do this – but I told you so.

What took you so long, that you failed to see what I, along with a few others, saw in 2008 – that any economic recovery could only be achieved through exporting more?  We thought you didn’t care.

Why is it that only now our need to export more is suddenly being acknowledged by the mass media?  And I mean all of a sudden – notice that I linked to four news agencies saying exactly the same thing? Google news has over 70 articles that also do the “stuck record” thing this morning.  Hasn’t the horse already bolted a significant distance however?

Promoting UK Export - even a child could understand why we need it!

Promoting UK Export: Even a child could understand the benefits!

Apologies for my tone, but it’s as if somebody upon high deemed “the masses” weren’t ready for what is apparently, a revelation, until now. As if the truth may be too hard to swallow.

Take the widening trade deficit and the government’s need to cut public spending to reduce UK debt.

What were the chances that during the past year, somebody in Government or in the Bank of England, might have said at some point:

“Hey everyone, we have might a devalued currency, but people and businesses everywhere (i.e. overseas) are looking for the best deals. Why don’t we take advantage of this and give UK plc an incentive to export more? It would help balance our trade defecit and generate more tax revenues at the same – while we’re in recession! Say it quietly, but perhaps the Government could even afford to borrow a bit less.”

The chances were, unfortunately, nil.  Non existent. Even though it is proven that a weak pound increases UK exports without help.

However, this announcement (although I don’t think I should call old news or old ideas an announcement) might finally be the proverbial “kick” the powers that be need to incentivise UK businesses to increase their exports, and help repair our economy.

We’ve suggested a 10% corporation tax on new sales generated through exports and even Government guaranteed loans for viable firms looking to export (or expand). We’ve even launched a single-source exporting service for firms who haven’t done it before.

If only the powers that be had listened to what we’ve been saying for too long. They’d probably be having an easier time of it now.

It sounds like I’m gloating. I mean who hates being right, right? Actually, I do.

When it’s about this, I hate being right – because the implications of not acting to boost UK exports are far too costly in the long term.

On the plus side, at least nobody can accuse me of being mad anymore!

Category: Business Management | Tags: , , ,
GavinWheeldon | March 24, 2010
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Budget for businesses: So what took so long, Darling?

In anticipation for Alistair Darling’s budget announcement, I sat at home startled at what Sunday’s evening TV news threw at me… “Banks to be forced to lend to businesses”.  At first I thought “good news, at last”, and I still do. However the finer details of today’s announcement might prove to disappoint, and I’ll tell you why…

Today’s budget included a doubling of the annual investment allowance, a £200m growth capital fund for SMEs, a £2.5bn one-off growth package for small businesses and the guarantee that Lloyds TSB and RBS will together lend at least £94bn to UK businesses.

Great! All of the above is needed, but unfortunately that’s been the case for far too long.

Growth to nowhere? Darling's budget lacked direction in my opinion.

Growth to nowhere? Darling's budget lacked detail.

Back in October 2008 we rallied Government to extend loan guarantees to small businesses. The banks, either through collective ignorance or in self-preservation, started to rescind credit lines that viable companies had previously thrived on. This forced many companies capable of repaying debt to go bust – or in our case, put vital expansion plans on hold. We also urged the Government to force banks to lend to companies that want to grow, even suggesting that a change in VAT accounting could increase short term liquidity.

The Government and the banks could have helped (and saved) many more businesses in this past year to grow, expand, and keep more people in employment. They could have, that is, if guaranteed (forced) lending had been in place about year ago.

Our, very valid, argument was that exporting was the only real way to ensure we address our widening trade deficit and get the UK out of recession. When you look at  how countries like Japan, whose exports almost doubled last month alone, are coping with recession – it’s quite embarrassing on the world stage.

So where in this budget are the incentives that UK businesses and the economy need for boosting exporting? How do we redress our increasing trade deficit to make sure we’re not buying more than we’re selling?

Therein lies the huge gap in this budget – there are no such incentives.

Lanscape Gardener, Tina Powell shows Alistair Darling how it's done with Lego (Image courtesy of Metro.co.uk)

Building blocks of the economy: SMEs could stand to benefit from increased lending and Government support outlined in the 2010/11 budget

Perhaps it has finally dawned on Mr Darling that increased business lending was desperately needed. The ongoing improvement in market conditions is creating new opportunities for businesses all the time, and businesses can use this protection to secure funds for reinvestment and hiring new staff – but nobody’s steering the boat – a point I made after the last pre-budget report.

However, today’s help comes, admittedly, as a nice surprise, but we’ve yet to see the finer details about about how the Government will distribute this new help, and how companies will be qualified for funding.

As the saying goes “To qualify for a loan you must first prove that you don’t need it.”

How true. In pursuit of securing funding, many businesses incur accountancy and quality assurance fees that go with the due diligence processes needed to qualify their needs and prove they are viable. That can often dissuade companies from applying for funding, as sometimes the extra cost simply isn’t worth it – that is, if you know where to look and who to ask for said funding.

So, I look forward to seeing how these extra measure set out in the budget will be carried out in practice.

Now, when we started this blog we said we wouldn’t use it as a political soapbox. We would instead hold true to our values, promoting common sense and best practices for businesses who want to expand with localization. We also said we’d only mention the economy whenever appropriate for our audience.

Judging by the headline of this article, and indeed the opening paragraph, you could be forgiven for thinking that isn’t the case here, but you’d be wrong. My tone simply stems from my frustration about the lack of help afforded to businesses in the worst recession in over 60 years – that and the annoying little fact that we’ve been asking for this kind of help for over a year, without success.

So, to whoever is promising to help UK industry this week or indeed at the time the next Parliament is formed, may I please ask that you put our money where your mouth is – or just where businesses can get to it?

And yes, by that I do mean our money.

Category: Business Management | Tags: , , , ,
GavinWheeldon | January 28, 2010
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UK exits recession, but keep the bubbly on ice!

 

It’s official!  The UK economy has at long last, exited recession and returned to growth…just.

Now your first instinct might be to quip, as I did, “Yes but the economy only grew by a paltry amount, didn’t it?” Yes, this is true.

Although it wasn’t quite this bad, it didn’t grow by much more, either (0.1% in fact).

About boody time, too! The UK is the last of the G20 nations to exit recession

About time too! The UK economy is the last of the G20 nations to exit recession

I’ve been immersed in the news since this was announced, and I can’t help but think that, while some are predicting another slip back into negative growth and others are getting a little carried away, we’re still missing the point – exporting.

As someone who has successfully taken a business to other shores, I can testify to the stability exporting can bring and to the endless growth opportunities it presents.

Since the recession hit and in light of the news this week, I think it is unbelievable that the government hasn’t been promoting exporting as though the country’s future depends on it, because in my opinion it does. Clearly.

In short, exporting is a simple way to navigate the economy well clear of recession – and almost any company can do it.

Now, I don’t mean to come across a bit Rafa Benitez, but let’s look at a few facts…

1) All is not as it seems: Our “recovery” was aided by the Government backed car-scrappage scheme. It was a well thought out mechanism to encourage spending (and lending, if you were deemed worthy enough to qualify) within the automotive industry and it has proven to be very popular with the Great British punter.

So, good in principle and in practice, which makes it well worth pointing out, but not for reasons you might think. There is one glaring omission from the much-lauded exploits of the scheme – we don’t actually make the cars we’re selling anymore.

This begs the question “where has all this money we’ve been spending actually gone?” The answer is “overseas”.

You wouldn’t run a household, or indeed a business by spending more than you earn.

It is the same basic principle with import and export – our trade deficit cannot sustain our economy based on lending.

 

2) The Double Dip: There is still “a lot of uncertainty” about what our triumphant 0.1% means in the long-term. According to some sources, we may find ourselves back in recession again before the end of the year.

Double-dip recession: Not this nice!

Double-dip recession: Not this nice!

If that happens, it will present new challenges that exporting could help to solve – provided companies are given adequate support to boost UK exports, that is.

I believe Government should be incentivising companies to export more than they are now, by introducing reduced sales tax on revenues generated through exporting.

Just think of how many companies might just try exporting for the first time if we introduced something like that.

3) To state the obvious: Germany and China are the league leaders in the global economic recovery. We are one of the last and only scraped our way out of recession on a technicality.

In fact, China actually never entered recession – please bear that in mind as you read on.

What a strange coincidence that China, followed by Germany, now leads the world in exporting.

Actually, it is no coincidence.  Exporting is something that the UK has been lacking for far too long and is the single reason that we are the last of the G20 countries to emerge from recession – something this article seems to have missed altogether.

To summarise:

It has been said by the Prime Minister, that our economic contingency plans are “leading the rest of the world in taking us out of recession.” This, while offering no practical support for SMEs, the “lifeblood” of our economy, to do the dirty work of pulling us out of the mire.

However, when you see the economies of other G20 nations soaring compared to ours, actually we’re not leading anyone out of anything, Mr Brown.

Category: Translation | Tags: , , ,
Matthew Connaughton | January 12, 2010
One comment

UK recession ‘almost’ over. Does anybody care?

British headlines this week cover all manner of things, from Simon Cowell quitting American Idol, to the grit shortage – but one thing I’ve noticed is that the media don’t seem to be very interested in the UK being almost out of recession.

Why is that, exactly – perhaps it’s another false dawn (we’ve had a few of these already), or maybe it’s because we were resigned to the fact that a recovery was always going to take longer here in the UK?

Either scenario makes for a pretty sad state of affairs if you think about it.

World leaders: China and Germany, in export terms.

World leaders: China and Germany, at least in exporting, are enjoying the good life.

For a start, China has just emerged as the world’s largest exporter, overtaking Germany’s long-standing reign. Pretty big news then…

Well actually, no. Not here in the UK. And why is that, exactly? Is our attitude to new languages really that bad? I would guess not, but rather because of one ‘scary’ word – exporting.

Here in the UK we seem to be inherently ashamed of discussing the reason for China and Germany’s economic success on the world stage (exporting) since it’s something that, comparatively, we as a nation don’t do a great deal of.

Now, as a provider of language services, which enables other companies to trade internationally, it seems this is a very convenient argument for us to make – that exporting will help us out of recession. Too convenient, even.

However, what it does do is validate our place to make such arguments, which have been made and proven time and time again.

We see our customers doing well on a daily basis because they have taken the decision to invest in practical, cost effective measures that gets them exporting. Even if it’s just simple things like landing pages in other languages, with email translation services done on an ad hoc basis, exporting need never be something to fear simply because budget is an issue, or even (say it quietly) because language is a big concern.

We’ve said before that Government should be incentivising smaller businesses to export more as other governments have done, helping to redress their trade and budget deficits.

With a general election just around the corner, this could be the time for all parties to showcase ideas – and actions – that will stimulate natural, sustainable growth in our economy.

The UK could easily be one of these countries that lead exporting. Unfortunately however, it seems like our prediction is becoming a reality and that we may be just about to miss out on the export boat, which is being steered by the likes of China and Germany.

Category: Translation | Tags: , , , ,
GavinWheeldon | December 9, 2009
3 comments

Bingo! How Pre-Budget Report forgets businesses

Stopping short of jumping on any bandwagons, or just bashing the Chancellor for countless ‘Darlingisms’ that have been used to disguise the what would seem like a lack of help for just about everyone, I have to say that I’m not overly impressed with this year’s pre-budget report, since there wasn’t a great deal in it. But I was surprised…

Darling

For too long, companies like ours, along with the likes of Google, Royal Mail, HSBC, Alibaba.com and the Institute of Export have been beating the exporting ‘drum’ – to notable success, with our partnership and innovations we’ve developed in 2009. However, at a time when the nation is fast approaching £200bn in the red, you would like to think that the government would make a priority out of boosting UK exports. Not so, if today’s pre-budget report is anything to go by.

If you take a closer look at what measures in the pre-budget report would affect UK exports, there were some absences that simply shouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Well, they shouldn’t if you’re like me and you believe export is the only credible way to redress our increasing trade deficit, that is.

Two fat ladies... nothing to do with Bingo!

Two fat ladies - Nothing to do with Bingo.

For all the bingo-tax reductions, bank bonus super tax hikes and the growth-promoting rhetoric, I have to say I was very disappointed not to see anything that could have an instant impact upon unemployment and tackling the problem of balancing the books.

I would have liked to have seen more initiatives and incentives for SMEs to dip their toe, at the very least, in overseas markets. There is so much opportunity out there and it’s a shame that many companies aren’t given encouragement to take advantage of that.

Simple measures, such as a reduced (10%?) corporation tax on revenues generated from export sales would give businesses the largest incentive to start exporting. Other measures, like a six-month NI holiday for employers on new employees would encourage firms to create more jobs. These are the things that were plainly missing from what was a fairly flat, relatively inoffensive and meaningless announcement.

Today’s pre-budget report sets out measures that are by no means drastic, nor do most of them come as a great shock. However, the lack of focus on growth, notably since we’re in what is now an “exclusive” recession club, is very surprising to me – and frustrating. It seems, for now at least, if firms are to grow, they’re going to have to do it on their own.

I’ve said many times before that the UK could be missing out on the exporting boat – I just hope next year won’t be too late.

Category: Translation | Tags: , , , , , ,
GavinWheeldon | October 21, 2009
2 comments

Should you ban the ‘R’ word from your business?

I read an interesting article in the ATC newsletter today from Larry Gould at TheBigWord who has banned using the word recession in the business, along with no newspapers or outside media.

Now I am a very big believer in positivity in a business, negativity is contagious and has no benefit to anyone and I’m sure we’ve all had it where one person being negative can bring a whole team down. When you get that, it’s not a pleasant place to work and I therefore do not look kindly on anyone at Applied Language Solutions that is negative, gets involved with or creates politics.

Having said that I think positivity has to be balanced with realism and unfortunately we have/are going through one of the worst ever recessions. I think it is important to recognise that, adapt strategies to suit the market conditions and also have some empathy for what your customers are going through. This isn’t possible if you try to ignore, or ask your staff to ignore the fact it is happening. And let’s face it, they’re going to talk about it whether you like it or not. I think healthy debate and honesty with your staff dispels their worries and allows them to get on with their jobs in a “positive” manner.

We have taken on an additional 15 staff in the past couple of months and one of them commented that if the job was voluntary they would still come to work, as it was such a positive place to work, it is something I am very proud of that we have such a great place to work. We also had our IIP assesment recently and the assesor commented that he had arrived in a bad mood due to personal circumstances and by the time he left that day he felt uplifted and couldn’t believe what a great atmosphere we had.

So in short I don’t think you should ban the ‘R’ word, do you?

Category: Business Management | Tags: ,
Matthew Connaughton | October 6, 2009
One comment

Spendthrift or spend-shift? Online advertising overtakes TV…for now.

As a Marketing Manager and one who is, in part, judged by my spending habits, I love online advertising, love it. LOVE IT! And why?

As many CEOs (apart from mine, of course) will eagerly warn, “marketing people will find ways to spend your money”, which may be the truth. Well, half of it anyway…

A recent report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found that annual advertising fell this year by 16% to £7.5bn and, for the first time in the nuclear age, TV advertising spend was out-paced – by internet advertising.  Online advertising now has a 23.5% market share compared to TV’s 21.9% if this quarter’s figures are to be believed, but this doesn’t represent a true picture, as many cite the recession as the deciding factor in the shift.

With all things recession and with budgets duly squeezed in (ahem) every department imaginable, you’d be forgiven for thinking that marketers have taken to a new form of bargain shopping: Cheaper above the line methods targeted at practically the same mainstream audiences. You’d be right, of course.

However, there’s a key word in there and with it a dead giveaway to the real merits of online advertising – “targeted”.

American Express have bolstered their already huge online presence

American Express already have a huge online presence

The undoubted superiority online advertising has over TV is that your audience can be profiled, targeted and tracked to see what methods work and, more crucially, which of them don’t.

Now, ALS has never led a multi-million pound TV advertising campaign, actually neither have any of our competitors (that’s not the point I’m trying to make here), but there’s much to be said for the ‘bundling’ of internet advertising. What get’s thrown in to support your initial advertising spend for, lets say flash video, which you can broadcast online and even optimise now thanks, to the might of Google, presents the kind of value TV simply cannot match in its present form.

With each online banner advert, video or editorial comes an array of extras such as email marketing which spares your own companys SPAM listing, profile pages, site-wide links – not to mention forgetful administrators who don’t “no-follow” your links (thanks).

It is little wonder then, given the economic squeeze and the importance of ROI, that marketers are looking to added value for their budget and are thus migrating their spend to focus online.

Blogging: 'Stealth' marketing at its best

Blogging: Too big a subject to cover in just one post, but this begins to sum up its value!

However much online spending may be on the increase and a vital part of any modern marketing function, I doubt this shift in advertising spend will last until this time next year.

Since recessions are thankfully finite, I can say without doubt that the ambition of marketers with big bugdets at their disposal are not.

So, as much as this news may have threatened to shake the advertising industry to its core, don’t believe the hype just yet (leave it until well after the recession).

Meanwhile, if you want another reason why I love online advertising, just take a look at this (funny?) video I produced using a new tool our CEO found.

In between dicussing potential (proper) uses for it, such as supporting our customers in using our services, or development of interpreters, I’ve parodied a scene you might find in the slapstick world of DIY translation (canned laughter and dodgy accents optional)…

Category: Business Management | Tags: , ,
GavinWheeldon | September 28, 2009
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Pound on the plunge again…

Pound devalues against dollar and euro

Pound plunges against Dollar and Euro

Looks like the pound is on the plunge again and it was welcome to hear Mervyn King joining the chorus of people calling for greater export in Britain. With massive debt both in the Government and consumer sectors, growth in the economy will not come from these areas. If we are to achieve economic growth it really needs to come from export.

You will see much more rallying cries to increase exporting over the next year or so, and that is because we  simply don’t have a sustainable economy without a net or surplus trade position (we are currently in a massive deficit!).

The current position of the pound puts the UK economy in a fantastic position to get foreign buyers to give British companies a chance to prove their worth, as it makes financial sense for them to do so and, contrary to popular belief it is actually quite easy to do.

I don’t say this just because the very core of our business is supporting global trade, it is from direct experience as over 70% of our own revenues are export related – and that is set to grow significantly.

All the UK economy needs now is for companies to peer over the shores and see the golden opportunites awaiting them in lands afar! As the head of one of the UK’s fastest growing companies (see number 23), I promise it’s not as difficult as we are led to believe.

Category: Translation | Tags: , , ,
GavinWheeldon | September 9, 2009
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Exports rose by 5% in July

For a long time now we have been banging on about the fact that if Britain wants to get out of this recession and repair the big hole in the public finances, then we need to export more as a country.

The ironic thing is that for some time we’ve also had an amazingly favourable climate in which to increase exports.With the weakened pound and international businesses looking to reduce costs, UK PLC should have been at the forefront of export.

We weren’t – and that was acutely highlighted with the first quarter export figures showing a massive drop across most regions in the UK.

So, today I was ecstatic to see that finally UK PLC has peered over the borders and done some selling overseas! Exports showed a rise of 5% over June – cause for celebration? Possibly and I do sincerely hope so!

We still have a massive trade deficit and until the UK closes that gap we simply won’t fill that hole in the finances and, of course, there is still a long way to go.  According to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research we should be officially out of the recession this quarter – could this also be to do with an increase in exports??

We’ve seen an increase in take up in our Export Box offering so I would like to think, as a UK based language services povider, we have had a hand in this recession recovery (however small), and will continue to help businesses big and small to get their products and services exported.

Category: Languages, Translation | Tags: , , , , , ,
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