Business leaders join forces to push competitiveness agenda for UK
Business leaders from companies such as John Lewis, Lloyds Banking Group, Deloitte and BAE Systems will meet today to promote the importance of business competitiveness.
A business group pushing the competitiveness agenda called Be the Business will today launch Business Leadership for a Better Decade campaign to try and demonstrate the importance of competitiveness to the UK’s economic success.
Read more: UK productivity drops for third quarter in a row as crisis continues
Over 100 chairs and chief executives are meeting today to make commitments to increase the UK’s competitiveness.
They include executives from insurer Aviva, real estate firm British Land, audit firms EY, Grant Thornton and KPMG, pharmaceutical giant GSK and water company Severn Trent.
At the event companies including Lloyds Banking Group, Amazon, BAE Systems, McKinsey & Co and Salesforce will announce partnerships with Be the Business.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, chairman of Be the Business and John Lewis Partnership said: “Productivity matters. No growth for over 10 years means people are poorer and the UK is weaker, competitively, than we should be. We want to change that and we know it can be done. Today, we’re stepping up, as businesses, to support a movement across the UK. With this support we will work with businesses, with sectors and in places right across the country to build a better decade.”
Read more: UK companies complacent on productivity
Lloyds Banking Group chairman Lord Blackwell said: “Productivity is critical to the UK’s economic performance, so it is important we support the mission of Be the Business, using our combined strengths and resources to help drive productivity improvements. For its part, Lloyds Banking Group is committed to using its strong relationships with businesses of all sizes to assist them in addressing their individual opportunities for productivity growth, tapping into the wealth of skills, research and support available to them.”
Chairman of BAE Systems Sir Roger Carr said: “We are proud to be an integral part of Be the Business’s mission of helping every firm to be match fit to succeed. The UK economy is an ecosystem and by helping to improve the productivity of individual companies in our supply chain, we will make a real contribution to both the security and prosperity agenda of the United Kingdom.”