Business rates in Wales, local retention and regional growth deals : policy report

This report describes existing business rates arrangements in Wales, summarises the current approaches to business rate retention in England and Scotland, and discusses existing proposals for NDR change in Wales. It then explores a conceptual city-region shared-gain business rates incentivisation model which would enable regional growth partnerships to retain a portion of the business rates they generate and incentivise them to grow their business rate tax base

Economic intelligence Wales: Export finance in Wales

This is the first in a series of bespoke reports produced by Cardiff Business School for Economic Intelligence Wales. The report is focused on Welsh supply and demand for export finance amongst small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The report examines the role of export finance for SMEs, and includes the findings from an Export Finance Survey of over 500 Welsh SMEs undertaken in November/December 2018, exploring SME export activity, intentions, finance needs and exporting constraints. The report makes a series of recommendations in respect of export finance products to Welsh SMEs

The effects of the 2007 global economic crisis on firm relocation factors: SME movements from Greece to Bulgaria

This chapter examines the ways in which the 2007 global economic crisis has influenced firm relocation factors. Firm mobility constitutes a dynamic process, with its aspects changing in response to significant broader processes, such as globalisation. Specifically, the recent crisis has modified the socio-economic conditions under which firms operate. In order to examine the crisis-driven changes in firm mobility, this chapter employs a comparative analysis of the pre- and post-crisis relocation of Greek small and medium-sized companies to Bulgaria, which has recently increased. Greece is at the epicentre of academic and political debate in Europe, being the European Union member state mostly affected by the crisis. In the context of the changing economic and institutional conditions, it is demonstrated that the significance of the firm relocation factors, such as labour cost and level of demand, records considerable differences between the pre- and the post-crisis period