Trade Deficit In Goods Now £27.4bn

The deficit on UK trade in goods widened by £0.9bn to £27.4bn in Q2 2014 compared with a deficit of £26.5bn in Q1 2014. There was a change in value of -£0.5bn or 0.7% in total exports to £71.3bn and a change of -£0.4bn or 0.4% to £98.7bn in total imports in Q2 2014.

At the level of the change in value by industry, exports in agriculture, forestry and fishing products fell by £45m and imports fell by £9m. Information and communications services exports increased by £25m and imports also increased by £2m. In professional, scientific and technical services exports fell by £3m and imports fell by £1m. Arts, entertainment and recreation imports increased by £91m and imports fell by £198m.

Significant Increase In Broadband Use In Europe

Internet access is continuing to spread across Europe. More than 75% of households in EU27 had acces to the Intrnet in 2012 compared to less than 50% in 2006. More significantly the spread of broadband has reached 72% of household had a broadband connection in 2012 compared with 30% in 2006. In every member state half of households had a broadband connection.

Sending and receiving e-mails is till the most common online activity (89%) along with looking for information about goodsa nd services (83%). Other activities are also widely used: online news (61%), internet banking (54%), social media (52%), travel services (50%). Building web sites or blogs was a much less common activity (9%).

Business Start-Ups Up In 2011

The number of business start-ups increased by 11.2% between 2010 and 2011 according to a recent statistical bulletin on business demography from the ONS. The increase of 26,000 brought the total number of business births to 261,000. The number of businesses that ceased trading fell by 20,000 to 230,000 or 7.9% during the same period.

Regionally, the highest number of start-ups was seen in London with a start-up rate of 14.6% or 61,000. The North East with 11.2% and the North West with 11.1% also figured among the regions at the top of the table. The highest rate for businesses ceasing to trade was in the North West with 10.7% or 25,000, then London with 10.4%.

The information and communication category saw the highest rate of increase in start-ups with an increase of 14.8% followed by professional, scientific and technical with 14.3% and business administration and support services with 14.1%. Business administration and support services also saw the biggest numbers cease trading with a rate of 11.9% follwed by finance and insurance at 11.5%. The highest numbers were in professional, scientific and technical with 39,000, construction at 35,000 and business administration and support services with 25,000.

The UK 5-year survival rate for businesses starting in 2006 to 2011 was 45%. The highest 5-year survival rate was seen in N.Ireland with 50.5%, the lowest was in London with 41.8%. The industry group with the highest survival rate was health with 60% and education with 52.8%. Hotels and catering was lowest with 35.7% lasting 5 years.

Information Exchange In Natural Resources

The first expert meeting on the sharing of information on natural resources, the Natural Resources Information Exchange (NRIE), took place in Benin in July this year (2010) and attracted representatives from 24 African countries. The African continent is rich in mineral resources. Information sharing can help African governments manage their natural resources efficiently and can help in poverty reduction.

Management Services

Management services are responsible for gathering and analysing information and data about problems and opportunities. The provision of management services involves using a range of methodologies and techniques and requires an appropriate attitude to problems, opportunities and potential for change. Recommendations are suggested for action. Management should be aware of the effects that the implementation of recommendations might entail.

The main application areas are Control, Business Transformation, HRM, Quality Management, Operations Management, Information Management, Quantitative Work and Method Study.

Management services are concerned with people at all levels of business. Customer relationships should therefore be based on mutual respect.