Measuring Business Growth

This report provides the first comprehensive study of business growth rates in the UK.

This report provides the first comprehensive study of business growth rates in the UK.

Key findings

  • High-growth companies represent only 6 per cent of all UK firms employing ten or more people, but accounted for more than half the growth in jobs.

  • Young firms are more likely to be high-growth, but most high-growth firms (70 per cent) are at least five years old.

  • All sectors have high-growth firms. 

  • High-growth firms are found across the UK.

  • The UK had a large number of high-growth firms compared to other countries.

The Measuring Business Growth report is a comprehensive look at UK business growth over the past decade. It makes a powerful case that a small number of high-growth businesses are responsible for the lion's share of job creation and prosperity. 

 

It is the counterpart to Business Growth and Innovation, which considers the wider benefits of growth businesses, their socio-economic impact, and the relationship between growth and innovation. This has significant implications for the direction of economic policy. It suggests that focusing attention on growing businesses and promoting excellence, far from being an elitist policy, gives rise to widespread job creation and prosperity.

 

Authors

Michael Anyadike-Danes, Karen Bonner, Mark Hart and Colin Mason