How do we ensure that companies with the potential to grow do so? Does a lack of finance prevent firms from growing and benefiting the wider economy? These are important questions if we are looking for economic growth. There has been much focus and debate on the funding issues affecting small...

All governments are concerned with tackling the problems of areas that experience sustained decline and underperformance. In the UK, several factors have combined to raise profound questions about future government policy in this area. First, it is becoming increasingly clear that the recession...

A growing body of research is making links between diversity and the economic performance of cities and regions. Most of the underlying mechanisms take place within firms, but only a handful of organization-level studies have been conducted. We contribute to this underexplored literature by...

Growing cultural diversity is seen as important for innovation. Research has focused on two potential mechanisms: a firm effect, with diversity at the firm level improving knowledge sourcing or ideas generation, and a city effect, where diverse cities helping firms innovate. This paper uses a...

Cities are drivers of economic growth, but how does growth affect poverty? This report explores the connection between growth and poverty in UK cities, and examines how strategies for economic growth and poverty reduction can be aligned. The report finds that: - There is no guarantee that...

London is one of the world’s major cities, and one of its most diverse. London’s cultural diversity is widely seen as a social asset, but there is little hard evidence on its importance for the city’s businesses. Theory and evidence suggest various links between urban cultural diversity...