GDP preliminary estimate Q4 2013: Good news for UK's SME manufacturers?

Dr Jillian MacBryde Director of Knowledge Exchange at Strathclyde Business School comments on preliminary estimates for UK GDP in Q4 2013, released by the Office for National Statistics this week.

Today’s GDP figures are encouraging, showing growing output in each quarter of 2013

The 0.7% increase in producers’ output in the last quarter, suggests an improving trading environment, driven by growing confidence among consumers and businesses alike.

Taken with other recent indicators such as employment figures, today’s release points to a more positive outlook for UK firms, which should come as good news to the country’s SME manufacturers.

The hope is this trend continues in the year ahead, as the economy returns to growth after a difficult period of consolidation.

What do you think to the figures? Do they suggest a return to growth and what should SME manufacturers think?

About Jillian MacBryde

Professor Jillian MacBryde is Head of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde Business School. She was previously Vice-Dean of Strathclyde Business School, responsible for Knowledge Exchange. Jillian works in the areas of innovation, process improvement and performance measurement with organisations in both the private and public sector and her research focuses on improving the performance of organisations through improving processes and developing innovation capacity