Ownership of businesses -the situation in Cornwall

Data from the Office for National Statistics provides a useful analysis of the location of owners of enterprises that are registered for VAT and or/PAYE.  The figures are for 2022.

 

Research suggests that foreign owned enterprises tend to be more productive that those owned by firms in general. This can be attributed to access to R&D elsewhere in the enterprise the benefits of which are then transferred.

 

The table below shows the number of enterprises expressed as a percentage of total enterprises for various areas. Compared to the figures for England, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has a far lower share of enterprises with ownership in either the EU or the rest of the world (ROW).

 

The share of enterprises at 0.2% is far lower than the England average of 0.9%.  Employment is under a tenth of the England average while turnover is only a 17th. 

 

Area	Parent company base	Count	Employment	Employees	Turnover (£'000s)
England	UK	98.3	83.0	82.5	57.2
	EU	0.7	8.5	8.7	14.7
	ROW	0.9	8.6	8.8	28.2
	Total	100	100	100	100
SW England	UK	99.0	89.7	89.2	56.2
	EU	0.4	4.5	4.7	15.6
	Rest Of World	0.6	5.9	6.1	28.2
	Total	100	100	100	100
Cornwall & IoS	UK	100	97	96	89
	EU	0.3	2.4	2.6	9.4
	Rest Of World	0.2	0.8	0.9	1.7
	Total	100	100	100	100

 

What can we infer from the data?

It could be that as Cornwall has fewer large enterprises than on average the lower level of ownership is not surprising. It could be argued that the low levels of foreign ownership are a factor in Cornwallis lower than average productivity.

 

Is there a solution?

Possibly not due to the small scale of most enterprises in the region. An alternative economic strategy could be the only appropriate policy response.

 

[The data refers to enterprises rather than local units].

 

Source

Office for National Statistics, (August 2023), Analysis of enterprises in England, the South West and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly by area of residence of the Global Ultimate Parent, 2022, User Requested Data.