Lifting the Trophy

Lifting the Trophy: scale-up insights into the productivity puzzle

This report is published by the CBI in partnership with the ScaleUp Institute, Lloyds Bank and Aston Business School. It builds on research by Aston Business School and roundtable discussions held by the CBI, ScaleUp Institute, Lloyds Bank, ‎and numerous scaling businesses. It also builds on the recommendations within the original ScaleUp Report.

The report describes calls scaleup medium-sized businesses as “the entrepreneurial heroes of the UK economy” and critical to solving the UK’s productivity puzzle.

Based on data from companies across the UK and interviews with over 30 scaleup businesses, the report highlights new research on the impact of scaleup businesses on UK productivity and profiles their insights and strategies into raising competiveness and efficiency within firms.

The report highlights that a small number of scaleups make a large contribution to UK productivity. Scaleup firms, in particular those rapidly increasing sales, have higher productivity rates:

  • In 2013, four per cent of firms contributed 17 per cent to total UK productivity
  • Between 2012 – 2015, over 18,500 businesses rapidly scaled up their turnover – 650 of these were mid-market firms
  • Within the scale-up community, highly productive firms are twice as common
  • 8 out of 10 of the UK’s most productive businesses are located outside London

Through interviews with scaleups across the UK, the report shares practical insights into boosting productivity on a range of different issues – from adoption of technology to employee engagement.

The full report, Lifting the Trophy: Scale-up insights into the productivity prize, can be downloaded from this page.