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2025
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| author | Simandjuntak, Daniel Fazio, Giorgio Jones, Jonathan Maioli, Sara |
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| contents | <p><strong>This report provides a bird’s eye view of the UK’s creative exports before zooming in to examine, in detail, the profiles of exporters from an important segment of the creative industries: micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). </strong></p> <p>Creative trade has come to the forefront of the UK government’s growth priorities, being a core part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan (the Sector Plan), new Trade Strategy and the UK Small Business Strategy (Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 2025; DBT, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c). The government’s ambition to make the UK the leading global hub for creative industries trade and investment is set against a backdrop of heightened global trade uncertainty, most recently associated with the US’s stop-start approach to tariffs under the Trump administration. With deep questions being raised about the future direction of globalisation, the challenge of growing exports looms large. The creative industries and their MSMEs, whose export ambitions may be outstripped by their capacity, may require sector-specific support – which must be informed by good evidence.</p> <p>Growing creative trade means expanding the pool of creative exporters as well as enhancing the ability of existing exporters to export further. For some years, Creative PEC has been reporting on macroeconomic trends in creative international trade (Fazio et al, 2024; Di Novo et al, 2020), but much less is known about exporter versus non-exporter characteristics within the sector or about the nature of barriers to exporting. The positive link between innovation and exporting, well documented in other industries, also remains underexplored in the creative industries (exceptions are Di Novo et al, 2021 and Tether and Yu, 2022). Even less is known, however, about the specific characteristics of creative exporters in comparison with exporters in the rest of the economy.</p> <p>To address the evidence gaps, we need to understand the profile of creative industries firms that already export in comparison with those that do not. This report examines this using firm-level data, particularly from the SME Finance Monitor (SMEFM), a nationally representative survey of SMEs including microenterprises. This data provides insights on a consistent basis over time into financing, innovation and exports, as well as detailed information on business demographics.</p> <p>Building on previous research, our report updates the evidence base on creative exports in two ways. First, it uses official statistics from DCMS Sector Economic Estimates (DCMS, 2025) to provide an update on recent export trends between 2018 and 2023 in goods and services from what was last reported by Fazio et al (2024), including a focus on priority international markets defined in the UK’s Trade Strategy.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1"><span><span><span>[1]</span></span></span></a></p> <p>Thanks to the information provided by the SMEFM, and using unconditional proportion tests across samples, the report compares exporters in and outside the creative industries around a large set of characteristics. These include: demographics (sub-sector, region, gender of owners, age of owners, ethnicity of owners, age of the business, employment size), business performance (turnover, profits versus losses, growth and growth plans), managerial and administrative capabilities (having a business plan or producing regular reports), awareness of policy support (General Export Facility (GEF) or British Business Bank), innovative profile of businesses (having introduced new products or services, having improved an aspect of the business, holding intellectual property (IP) rights, planning to innovate) and, finally, perceived business obstacles (e.g. political, economic and currency uncertainty, red tape and regulation, staff-related shortages, supply chain and demand issues, costs and cash-flow issues). The SMEFM also allows us to look at export champions – that is, those where over half of business turnover comes from exports. This category of <span>international businesses may have different characteristics from other exporters and our analysis may offer further insights on how to support MSMEs in their journey to become more international. </span></p> <p>By exploring these issues with a sector-specific lens, the report also provides targeted policy design considerations to strengthen export readiness and resilience in the creative industries, while aligning trade and industrial strategies with the sector’s innovation-led growth potential.</p> <p><strong><span>Key findings from the statistical analysis</span></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Macro-sectoral trends from DCMS statistics.</span></strong><span> Between 2017 and 2023, the absolute value of creative services exports rose, creative goods exports remained fairly stable, while exports of services export-intensive sub-sectors recovered or expanded post-Covid and post-Brexit in 2021 (see Figure A). </span></p> <h5><span>Figure A: UK creative exports of goods and services, 2017–2023</span></h5> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><strong> </strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><br></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p>Source: Authors’ calculations based on DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><strong><span>Priority markets.</span></strong><span> The relative importance of sub-sector exports, however, vary across primary and future growth priority markets. ‘IT, software and computer services’, Advertising and marketing’, ‘Film, TV, video, radio and photography’ and ‘Publishing’ remain the main exporting sub-sectors, with some variability in terms of their main destination, although the EU and the US are the main partners. Sectors like ‘Crafts’ (relative to other sub-sectors) export more into countries belonging to the GCC. </span></p> <p><strong><span>Micro trends from SMEFM data.</span></strong><strong><span> </span></strong><span>A higher share of UK creative MSMEs are exporters and export champions compared with the rest of the economy, with the gap widening over time between 2018 and 2024. Across all sub-sectors, the share of exporters increased in the post-pandemic and post-Brexit period, with some heterogeneity across sub-sectors. For example, the share of exporters in ‘Advertising and marketing’ went from 21% in 2018–2020 to 38% in 2022–2024 and in ‘Publishing’ from 31% to 40%. In 2024, ‘Advertising and marketing’ and ‘Publishing’ saw more than one-quarter of their MSME exporters generating 50% or more of their annual turnover from exports. In ‘Crafts’, this share was even higher, although the total number of exporters in this sector is small. Creative MSMEs are also more likely to be exporters than their non-creative counterparts across all UK regions and nations. This evidence confirms the increasing international dynamism of the creative industries observed in the macro-sectoral trends.</span></p> <h5><span>Figure B: Proportion of MSMEs by creative and non-creative MSMEs, 2018–2024</span></h5> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><strong><span> </span></strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span>(1) Exporters</span></p> </td> <td> <p><span>(2) Export champions</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><br></span></p> </td> <td> <p><span><br></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p>Source: Authors’ calculations based on SMEFM 2018–2024. Weighted results with denominator as all MSMEs in the respective industries. Shaded region represents 95% confidence interval. Values are provided in online supplementary material.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span><strong><span> </span></strong></span></p> <p><strong>Demographic profile.</strong> Most exporters are based in London, which is in line with what we know about the location of creative industries in the UK. However, the exporters and export champions as a share of total creative MSMEs are present across all UK regions and nations. Our analysis shows that the gender imbalance between owners of creative MSME exporters and export champions is (slightly) less pronounced than in other sectors. The owners of creative exporter are, on average, younger than both non-exporters and non-creative SME owners, with most creative owners aged between thirty-one and sixty-five and fewer over sixty-six. Over 60% of creative exporting MSMEs were set up less than fifteen years ago, and they are smaller in size than their non-creative counterparts, in contrary to conventional wisdom that larger firms are more likely to export. A large share of creative exporters and export champions – significantly larger than for the non-creative MSMEs – fall into the one-employee band. Hence, despite their size, creative MSMEs are very international.</p> <p><strong>Business performance.</strong> Exporters usually outperform non-exporters. Our analysis shows that regardless of export status, a larger share of creative MSMEs have turnover below £1 million. Across the economy, a significantly larger share of exporters report profits greater than the previous year than non-exporters, but this is more prevalent and significant among creative MSMEs. Relative to the rest of the economy, fewer creative exporters report losses. Higher growth expectations are a cross-economy tendency for exporters and export champions, indicating the importance of internationalisation for growth – even in a context of lower turnover – likely due to smaller size.</p> <p><strong>Managerial or administrative capabilities and public support awareness.</strong> Exporting entails some costs and requires managerial and administrative capabilities. Our analysis shows that, across the economy, exporters do have better managerial and administrative capabilities than non-exporters. However, fewer creative MSME exporters have processes in place such as business planning and regular reporting, perhaps due to their smaller size. More than one-third of creative export champions have a mentor, indicating that some degree of business support may help businesses in their internationalisation journey. When it comes to public support awareness, here proxied through awareness of the GEF and British Business Bank, we find that only exporters are aware of public support in the form of GEF, but this is around 10% of creative MSME exporters. This suggests that raising awareness across the population of firms and among exporting businesses may help increase exports.</p> <p><strong>Financing.</strong> The evidence gathered here shows that creative MSMEs tend to use fewer types of financial instruments and, even when exporting, fewer creative MSMEs access traditional finance. At the same time, they rely more on providers they already know, rather than reaching out to new providers – even if they are selling abroad, which is usually a sign of success. This evidence flags a potential problem with asymmetric and incomplete information in the credit market, even when businesses have overcome the boundaries of the domestic market.</p> <p><strong>Innovative profile.</strong> Creative MSMEs are more innovative than non-creative ones. Across the economy, exporters and export champions see higher rates of innovation in terms of developing new products and services or improving the business than non-exporters, regardless of whether they are creative. This suggests innovation is a key success factor when it comes to achieving foreign markets.</p> <p><strong>Obstacles. </strong><span>Larger percentages of creative exporters and export champions report <a>major</a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_1" name="_msoanchor_1">[T&C1]</a><span> </span></span></span><span> obstacles to their business, albeit with no statistically significant differences compared with non-exporters. Interestingly, the opposite is true for non-creative exporters, where smaller (and statistically significant at 10%) percentages of exporters <a>report major obstacles </a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_2" name="_msoanchor_2">[T&C2]</a><span> </span></span></span><span>(with few exceptions: access to external finance for the business, changes in the value of sterling, cash flow or late payment). Changes in the value of sterling affect exporters across the economy. The incidence of obstacles like the current economic climate, cash flow or late payment is significantly higher among creative export champions compared with exporters.</span></p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span><strong><span>Creative MSME exporters 2024</span></strong></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>25% of creative MSMEs are exporters</span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>19% are also export champions (majority of turnover coming from exports)</span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>33% are majority-owned by female owners</span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>41% are innovative in introducing a new product or services in the past three years </span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>94% applied to their main bank for funding</span></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span><strong>Policy considerations</strong></span></p> <p><span>The above results point to some policy considerations. The first is that there is potential for complementarities between the UK’s Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy. Increasing the international competitiveness of creative businesses requires a comprehensive approach that looks at success factors and removes barriers. </span></p> <p><span>Another issue to consider in formulating these strategies is whether policies should always be sector specific. The evidence presented in this report suggests that not all issues faced by creative MSMEs are sector specific, but some are. A combination of both policies that target firms because of their MSME nature alongside policies that target creative MSMEs specifically is likely needed. The following considerations are mainly inspired by the evidence of sector peculiarities when it comes to exporting by MSMEs.</span></p> <p><span>First, policymakers should ensure a more coordinated and holistic approach to increasing creative industries exports in the delivery of the Sector Plan. For example, the development of public support for research and development (R&D) through UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) forthcoming Creative Industries R&D Strategy should consider how this will align with and draw on administrative and trade promotion support.</span></p> <p><span>Second, evidence suggests that the share of creative industry MSME exporters is increasing, and there is a high prevalence of creative exporters and export champions across all UK nations and regions, underlining the importance of business and export support being available close to where businesses and exporters are located. DBT and UK Export Finance </span><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-international-trade-support-from-regional-teams-in-england"><span>already provide such local support</span></a><span>. In a context of devolution, local policymakers will be better able to consult and engage with the local creative industries and consider how to best coordinate local policies with existing national initiatives. </span></p> <p><span>Third, creative exporters tend to be younger and smaller than exporters in the rest of the economy. Exporters need a certain degree of managerial and administrative capability, which is not always easy to arrange for MSMEs. Hence, one specific area that both national and regional policymakers could consider is whether business support and mentorship programmes should be boosted to build MSMEs’ management capacity and knowledge of exporting.</span></p> <p><span>Fourth, the report considers awareness of the GEF as a proxy of public support awareness and shows that only (few) exporters know about it. This may be due to several reasons, including some of the eligibility criteria, (i.e. the GEF targets businesses that already have a certain degree of exporting activity). Other programmes may target businesses that export more sporadically or are planning to become exporters but have not been investigated here. Some successful examples come from sub-sector–specific programmes like the UK Global Screen Fund and the Music Export Growth Scheme. The more general consideration is that raising awareness around key export support programmes among those still not aware of them can further expand creative industries exports. </span></p> <p><span>Fifth, when we look at the financing profile of exporters, the evidence suggests that exporters are not more likely to be able to access further financing opportunities – if anything, the evidence points in the opposite direction. This evidence confirms previous findings in <a>Di Novo et al (2022) </a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_3" name="_msoanchor_3">[ED3]</a><span> </span></span></span><span>that innovation is not necessarily perceived as a sufficiently strong signal by funders when they make decisions. When it comes to the relationship between exporting and access to finance, this may not be just a creative industries concern but one more generally shared among SMEs, and there is no magic bullet to address the issue. As discussed in this </span><a href="https://www.gtreview.com/news/europe/how-can-the-uks-exporting-smes-get-better-access-to-finance/"><span>Global Trade Review blog</span></a><span>, it will likely require different interventions ranging from direct support to regulatory changes. Further evidence and input from sector representatives can help identify whether and if specific regulatory interventions and new financial instruments are needed when it comes to the creative industries. </span></p> <p><span>Finally, creative exporters and export champions report the current economic climate as an obstacle more than other businesses in the economy. Setting out clear public strategies for the sector, <a>like those in the Sector Plan</a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_4" name="_msoanchor_4">[T&C4]</a><span> </span></span></span><span>, and stabilising international trade uncertainty through agreements will hopefully reduce these concerns over time and encourage MSMEs to internationalise.</span></p> <div><br> <div> <p><a title="" href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"><span><span><span>[1]</span></span></span></a> The creative industries priority markets are made up of primary priority markets (Australia, China, EU, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), India, Japan, North America) and future growth priority markets (Brazil, Central Asia, Nigeria, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Korea).</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_1"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_1">[T&C1]</a></span></span></span><span>Please check that I have understood this correctly.</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_2"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_2">[T&C2]</a></span></span></span><span>Please check that I have understood this correctly.</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_3"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_3">[ED3]</a></span></span></span><span>Source missing from reference list.</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_4"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_4">[T&C4]</a></span></span></span><span>Please check that I have understood this correctly.</span></p> </div> </div> </div> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_17750369 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | Will the creative exporters please stand up? Recent export trends and features of exporting creative micro, small and medium-sized enterprises Simandjuntak, Daniel Fazio, Giorgio Jones, Jonathan Maioli, Sara <p><strong>This report provides a bird’s eye view of the UK’s creative exports before zooming in to examine, in detail, the profiles of exporters from an important segment of the creative industries: micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). </strong></p> <p>Creative trade has come to the forefront of the UK government’s growth priorities, being a core part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan (the Sector Plan), new Trade Strategy and the UK Small Business Strategy (Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 2025; DBT, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c). The government’s ambition to make the UK the leading global hub for creative industries trade and investment is set against a backdrop of heightened global trade uncertainty, most recently associated with the US’s stop-start approach to tariffs under the Trump administration. With deep questions being raised about the future direction of globalisation, the challenge of growing exports looms large. The creative industries and their MSMEs, whose export ambitions may be outstripped by their capacity, may require sector-specific support – which must be informed by good evidence.</p> <p>Growing creative trade means expanding the pool of creative exporters as well as enhancing the ability of existing exporters to export further. For some years, Creative PEC has been reporting on macroeconomic trends in creative international trade (Fazio et al, 2024; Di Novo et al, 2020), but much less is known about exporter versus non-exporter characteristics within the sector or about the nature of barriers to exporting. The positive link between innovation and exporting, well documented in other industries, also remains underexplored in the creative industries (exceptions are Di Novo et al, 2021 and Tether and Yu, 2022). Even less is known, however, about the specific characteristics of creative exporters in comparison with exporters in the rest of the economy.</p> <p>To address the evidence gaps, we need to understand the profile of creative industries firms that already export in comparison with those that do not. This report examines this using firm-level data, particularly from the SME Finance Monitor (SMEFM), a nationally representative survey of SMEs including microenterprises. This data provides insights on a consistent basis over time into financing, innovation and exports, as well as detailed information on business demographics.</p> <p>Building on previous research, our report updates the evidence base on creative exports in two ways. First, it uses official statistics from DCMS Sector Economic Estimates (DCMS, 2025) to provide an update on recent export trends between 2018 and 2023 in goods and services from what was last reported by Fazio et al (2024), including a focus on priority international markets defined in the UK’s Trade Strategy.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1"><span><span><span>[1]</span></span></span></a></p> <p>Thanks to the information provided by the SMEFM, and using unconditional proportion tests across samples, the report compares exporters in and outside the creative industries around a large set of characteristics. These include: demographics (sub-sector, region, gender of owners, age of owners, ethnicity of owners, age of the business, employment size), business performance (turnover, profits versus losses, growth and growth plans), managerial and administrative capabilities (having a business plan or producing regular reports), awareness of policy support (General Export Facility (GEF) or British Business Bank), innovative profile of businesses (having introduced new products or services, having improved an aspect of the business, holding intellectual property (IP) rights, planning to innovate) and, finally, perceived business obstacles (e.g. political, economic and currency uncertainty, red tape and regulation, staff-related shortages, supply chain and demand issues, costs and cash-flow issues). The SMEFM also allows us to look at export champions – that is, those where over half of business turnover comes from exports. This category of <span>international businesses may have different characteristics from other exporters and our analysis may offer further insights on how to support MSMEs in their journey to become more international. </span></p> <p>By exploring these issues with a sector-specific lens, the report also provides targeted policy design considerations to strengthen export readiness and resilience in the creative industries, while aligning trade and industrial strategies with the sector’s innovation-led growth potential.</p> <p><strong><span>Key findings from the statistical analysis</span></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Macro-sectoral trends from DCMS statistics.</span></strong><span> Between 2017 and 2023, the absolute value of creative services exports rose, creative goods exports remained fairly stable, while exports of services export-intensive sub-sectors recovered or expanded post-Covid and post-Brexit in 2021 (see Figure A). </span></p> <h5><span>Figure A: UK creative exports of goods and services, 2017–2023</span></h5> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><strong> </strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><br></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p>Source: Authors’ calculations based on DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><strong><span>Priority markets.</span></strong><span> The relative importance of sub-sector exports, however, vary across primary and future growth priority markets. ‘IT, software and computer services’, Advertising and marketing’, ‘Film, TV, video, radio and photography’ and ‘Publishing’ remain the main exporting sub-sectors, with some variability in terms of their main destination, although the EU and the US are the main partners. Sectors like ‘Crafts’ (relative to other sub-sectors) export more into countries belonging to the GCC. </span></p> <p><strong><span>Micro trends from SMEFM data.</span></strong><strong><span> </span></strong><span>A higher share of UK creative MSMEs are exporters and export champions compared with the rest of the economy, with the gap widening over time between 2018 and 2024. Across all sub-sectors, the share of exporters increased in the post-pandemic and post-Brexit period, with some heterogeneity across sub-sectors. For example, the share of exporters in ‘Advertising and marketing’ went from 21% in 2018–2020 to 38% in 2022–2024 and in ‘Publishing’ from 31% to 40%. In 2024, ‘Advertising and marketing’ and ‘Publishing’ saw more than one-quarter of their MSME exporters generating 50% or more of their annual turnover from exports. In ‘Crafts’, this share was even higher, although the total number of exporters in this sector is small. Creative MSMEs are also more likely to be exporters than their non-creative counterparts across all UK regions and nations. This evidence confirms the increasing international dynamism of the creative industries observed in the macro-sectoral trends.</span></p> <h5><span>Figure B: Proportion of MSMEs by creative and non-creative MSMEs, 2018–2024</span></h5> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><strong><span> </span></strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span>(1) Exporters</span></p> </td> <td> <p><span>(2) Export champions</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><br></span></p> </td> <td> <p><span><br></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p>Source: Authors’ calculations based on SMEFM 2018–2024. Weighted results with denominator as all MSMEs in the respective industries. Shaded region represents 95% confidence interval. Values are provided in online supplementary material.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span><strong><span> </span></strong></span></p> <p><strong>Demographic profile.</strong> Most exporters are based in London, which is in line with what we know about the location of creative industries in the UK. However, the exporters and export champions as a share of total creative MSMEs are present across all UK regions and nations. Our analysis shows that the gender imbalance between owners of creative MSME exporters and export champions is (slightly) less pronounced than in other sectors. The owners of creative exporter are, on average, younger than both non-exporters and non-creative SME owners, with most creative owners aged between thirty-one and sixty-five and fewer over sixty-six. Over 60% of creative exporting MSMEs were set up less than fifteen years ago, and they are smaller in size than their non-creative counterparts, in contrary to conventional wisdom that larger firms are more likely to export. A large share of creative exporters and export champions – significantly larger than for the non-creative MSMEs – fall into the one-employee band. Hence, despite their size, creative MSMEs are very international.</p> <p><strong>Business performance.</strong> Exporters usually outperform non-exporters. Our analysis shows that regardless of export status, a larger share of creative MSMEs have turnover below £1 million. Across the economy, a significantly larger share of exporters report profits greater than the previous year than non-exporters, but this is more prevalent and significant among creative MSMEs. Relative to the rest of the economy, fewer creative exporters report losses. Higher growth expectations are a cross-economy tendency for exporters and export champions, indicating the importance of internationalisation for growth – even in a context of lower turnover – likely due to smaller size.</p> <p><strong>Managerial or administrative capabilities and public support awareness.</strong> Exporting entails some costs and requires managerial and administrative capabilities. Our analysis shows that, across the economy, exporters do have better managerial and administrative capabilities than non-exporters. However, fewer creative MSME exporters have processes in place such as business planning and regular reporting, perhaps due to their smaller size. More than one-third of creative export champions have a mentor, indicating that some degree of business support may help businesses in their internationalisation journey. When it comes to public support awareness, here proxied through awareness of the GEF and British Business Bank, we find that only exporters are aware of public support in the form of GEF, but this is around 10% of creative MSME exporters. This suggests that raising awareness across the population of firms and among exporting businesses may help increase exports.</p> <p><strong>Financing.</strong> The evidence gathered here shows that creative MSMEs tend to use fewer types of financial instruments and, even when exporting, fewer creative MSMEs access traditional finance. At the same time, they rely more on providers they already know, rather than reaching out to new providers – even if they are selling abroad, which is usually a sign of success. This evidence flags a potential problem with asymmetric and incomplete information in the credit market, even when businesses have overcome the boundaries of the domestic market.</p> <p><strong>Innovative profile.</strong> Creative MSMEs are more innovative than non-creative ones. Across the economy, exporters and export champions see higher rates of innovation in terms of developing new products and services or improving the business than non-exporters, regardless of whether they are creative. This suggests innovation is a key success factor when it comes to achieving foreign markets.</p> <p><strong>Obstacles. </strong><span>Larger percentages of creative exporters and export champions report <a>major</a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_1" name="_msoanchor_1">[T&C1]</a><span> </span></span></span><span> obstacles to their business, albeit with no statistically significant differences compared with non-exporters. Interestingly, the opposite is true for non-creative exporters, where smaller (and statistically significant at 10%) percentages of exporters <a>report major obstacles </a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_2" name="_msoanchor_2">[T&C2]</a><span> </span></span></span><span>(with few exceptions: access to external finance for the business, changes in the value of sterling, cash flow or late payment). Changes in the value of sterling affect exporters across the economy. The incidence of obstacles like the current economic climate, cash flow or late payment is significantly higher among creative export champions compared with exporters.</span></p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span><strong><span>Creative MSME exporters 2024</span></strong></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>25% of creative MSMEs are exporters</span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>19% are also export champions (majority of turnover coming from exports)</span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>33% are majority-owned by female owners</span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>41% are innovative in introducing a new product or services in the past three years </span></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><span><span>94% applied to their main bank for funding</span></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span><strong>Policy considerations</strong></span></p> <p><span>The above results point to some policy considerations. The first is that there is potential for complementarities between the UK’s Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy. Increasing the international competitiveness of creative businesses requires a comprehensive approach that looks at success factors and removes barriers. </span></p> <p><span>Another issue to consider in formulating these strategies is whether policies should always be sector specific. The evidence presented in this report suggests that not all issues faced by creative MSMEs are sector specific, but some are. A combination of both policies that target firms because of their MSME nature alongside policies that target creative MSMEs specifically is likely needed. The following considerations are mainly inspired by the evidence of sector peculiarities when it comes to exporting by MSMEs.</span></p> <p><span>First, policymakers should ensure a more coordinated and holistic approach to increasing creative industries exports in the delivery of the Sector Plan. For example, the development of public support for research and development (R&D) through UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) forthcoming Creative Industries R&D Strategy should consider how this will align with and draw on administrative and trade promotion support.</span></p> <p><span>Second, evidence suggests that the share of creative industry MSME exporters is increasing, and there is a high prevalence of creative exporters and export champions across all UK nations and regions, underlining the importance of business and export support being available close to where businesses and exporters are located. DBT and UK Export Finance </span><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-international-trade-support-from-regional-teams-in-england"><span>already provide such local support</span></a><span>. In a context of devolution, local policymakers will be better able to consult and engage with the local creative industries and consider how to best coordinate local policies with existing national initiatives. </span></p> <p><span>Third, creative exporters tend to be younger and smaller than exporters in the rest of the economy. Exporters need a certain degree of managerial and administrative capability, which is not always easy to arrange for MSMEs. Hence, one specific area that both national and regional policymakers could consider is whether business support and mentorship programmes should be boosted to build MSMEs’ management capacity and knowledge of exporting.</span></p> <p><span>Fourth, the report considers awareness of the GEF as a proxy of public support awareness and shows that only (few) exporters know about it. This may be due to several reasons, including some of the eligibility criteria, (i.e. the GEF targets businesses that already have a certain degree of exporting activity). Other programmes may target businesses that export more sporadically or are planning to become exporters but have not been investigated here. Some successful examples come from sub-sector–specific programmes like the UK Global Screen Fund and the Music Export Growth Scheme. The more general consideration is that raising awareness around key export support programmes among those still not aware of them can further expand creative industries exports. </span></p> <p><span>Fifth, when we look at the financing profile of exporters, the evidence suggests that exporters are not more likely to be able to access further financing opportunities – if anything, the evidence points in the opposite direction. This evidence confirms previous findings in <a>Di Novo et al (2022) </a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_3" name="_msoanchor_3">[ED3]</a><span> </span></span></span><span>that innovation is not necessarily perceived as a sufficiently strong signal by funders when they make decisions. When it comes to the relationship between exporting and access to finance, this may not be just a creative industries concern but one more generally shared among SMEs, and there is no magic bullet to address the issue. As discussed in this </span><a href="https://www.gtreview.com/news/europe/how-can-the-uks-exporting-smes-get-better-access-to-finance/"><span>Global Trade Review blog</span></a><span>, it will likely require different interventions ranging from direct support to regulatory changes. Further evidence and input from sector representatives can help identify whether and if specific regulatory interventions and new financial instruments are needed when it comes to the creative industries. </span></p> <p><span>Finally, creative exporters and export champions report the current economic climate as an obstacle more than other businesses in the economy. Setting out clear public strategies for the sector, <a>like those in the Sector Plan</a></span><span><span><a href="#_msocom_4" name="_msoanchor_4">[T&C4]</a><span> </span></span></span><span>, and stabilising international trade uncertainty through agreements will hopefully reduce these concerns over time and encourage MSMEs to internationalise.</span></p> <div><br> <div> <p><a title="" href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"><span><span><span>[1]</span></span></span></a> The creative industries priority markets are made up of primary priority markets (Australia, China, EU, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), India, Japan, North America) and future growth priority markets (Brazil, Central Asia, Nigeria, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Korea).</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_1"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_1">[T&C1]</a></span></span></span><span>Please check that I have understood this correctly.</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_2"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_2">[T&C2]</a></span></span></span><span>Please check that I have understood this correctly.</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_3"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_3">[ED3]</a></span></span></span><span>Source missing from reference list.</span></p> </div> </div> <div> <div><span><a name="_msocom_4"></a></span> <p><span><span><span> <a href="#_msoanchor_4">[T&C4]</a></span></span></span><span>Please check that I have understood this correctly.</span></p> </div> </div> </div> |
| title | Will the creative exporters please stand up? Recent export trends and features of exporting creative micro, small and medium-sized enterprises |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17750369 |