Recovery is being driven by only 40% of firms

InterTradeIreland’s latest quarterly Business Monitor (Q2: April – June 2015) has indicated that 83% of businesses are stable or growing but that the recovery is driven by just 40% of firms, with manufacturing and business service firms being the two biggest growth sectors. However, while businesses continue to experience recovery across the island, it is at a slower pace than in recent quarters, where in the first quarter of 2015, 88% of businesses were stable or growing.

Over the last few quarters, businesses in Ireland were clearly outperforming Northern Ireland firms but figures from the Q2 report indicated more of a convergence between the two jurisdictions, with 40% of firms in Ireland in growth mode compared to 36% of businesses in Northern Ireland.

This quarter the InterTradeIreland Business Monitor specifically focussed on the characteristics that differentiate rapidly growing firms from the rest.

It was also found that growth firms are much more likely to have innovated across all areas of the business in the past three years. For example, three-quarters of moderate to rapid growth firms introduced new or improved products or services and 62% implemented new processes, machinery, equipment or tools.

The findings from the Q2 Business Monitor also show that:

• Size and market orientation matter more than sector or location; 53% of growth firms engage with cross-border trade, whilst 41% export outside Ireland and the UK.
• Skills and getting the right people are key characteristics of growth firms; 82% of the management team hold a third level qualification.
• Ambition and a culture that seeks out and encourages success is crucial with 82% having ambitions to grown in the immediate future and 71% have plans in place to invest in staff training.

View report by www.intertradeireland.com