Keele Management School Publications KMS News | Issue 3 | Page 5

Summer2015 l Keele Management School News

04

Breakfast
Business Briefing with
Robin Bladen-Hovell
“Driving a car with the windscreen covered
using only the rear-view mirror to guide you”
...was Robin’s definition of business and economic
forecasting at the Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce
Breakfast Business Briefing in April.
The Chamber’s quarterly breakfast briefing focuses on their
Quarterly Economic Survey which monitors key economic
performance indicators and their implication for the local
economy. Robin was able to add to this his own economic
appraisal which in brief was:
• The economic performance of the West Midlands has
been poor but the region is potentially well-placed to
take advantage of the current recovery
• The region is subject to the same risk-factors as the rest
of the UK
• Development is uneven within the region with the south
showing a tendency to outpace the north
• The key areas to think about include support for
supply chain, access to finance, and skills as the
recovery continues
• Global recovery appears to have strengthened but there
is considerable variability across markets
• Deflation remains a concern in many countries with a
move to monetary easing undertaken to offset the
effects of oil price decline
• UK economic recovery strengthened and stabilised in
2014; inflation remains close to zero
• UK budget neutral.

Professor Robin Bladen-Hovell