Where are the great British export brands?
Joe Wright, 1 October 2014
After the financial crisis revealed the weaknesses of an economy fuelled by service industries and importing goods, all three main parties pledged to make Britain a great exporting nation once again (like Germany). Since the Coalition entered office, there has been a small mark up in the amount of goods we send to overseas customers. But the size of the job remains colossal. The UK stands at 11th in the OECD’s league table of goods exporters, behind Belgium and Italy. The UK trade deficit is colossal, with thousands of containers entering the UK full of goods and leaving empty. The Economist neatly summarised that ‘Britain’s biggest export, say people in the shipping trade, is fresh Suffolk air.’
This is immediately apparent when considering which British brands could be considered truly global today, which products people would immediately connect with British manufacturing. The US has Apple, Germany has Volkswagen and Siemens, Japan has Toyota and Honda, South Korea has Samsung, all are recognised the world round. The emblematic UK products that could stand against these are only ‘British’ in branding. Of the UK’s car manufacturers, Mini is owned by Volkswagen and JaguarLandRover is owned by the Indian Tata Group. In a poll of the most recognised British exports, which included the car companies, PG Tips and Cadbury’s, precisely eleven were no longer in British hands.
That is not to say that the UK does not export some things rather well. Machinery and mechanical appliances like boilers top Britain’s list, followed by fuel and oils (BP still has its headquarters in the UK) and pharmaceuticals, but these are not the giant recognised exporting brands Britain once housed. As a trading nation, international consumers most recognise the UK for its cultural exports. The BBC is as British as corporations come, exporting programmes like Doctor who and Downton Abbey to many happy viewers worldwide. The UK exported six times as many shows than Germany during the past three years (though language is an obvious factor). Rockstar Games, an incredible success started in Dundee, Scotland, produced one of the world’s most popular games in the form of Grand Theft Auto. They are now based in New York.
As great and powerful as our cultural exports are, they do not bestow quite the same returns on a country as goods. They do not make as much money, nor create as many jobs. ‘Filmed in Britain’ is not quite so useful as ‘Made in Britain’.
That so many brands have been bought by foreign companies is pause for thought, but that so few great British brands have filled the void is a worrying sign of Britain’s productive capabilities, even during the period of a weakening pound. The next government will have a mountain to climb in order to change this. It remains to be seen if Chuka Ummuna or Matthew Hancock will be up to this.