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survival of the fittest

One of the last Chamber Business Breakfasts of 2008 focussed on - to borrow a P&J headline - the great gamble to save the global economy. It looked at how the current economic climate and market turbulence was likely to affect business in the North-east and across the rest of the country and beyond.

During the Q&A session which followed, one of the speakers was asked what advice he would give to companies to help them during this time.

His answer was short, sharp and brutally to the point.

"Survive."

There's little point, he said in hoping that things will be better in a year's time if you're not here to reap the benefits.

It was a clear reminder that there is a sense of urgency attached to the initiatives being introduced by the Government and by banks to help businesses weather the financial storm. They can only be effective if they provide the support which businesses need now, not in six months time or three months time, in some cases not even in a month's time.

The Chamber's role in this, at local, Scottish and UK level is to help ensure that our members not only survive the current crisis but that they still have the opportunity to develop as a business.

Eleven months ago when we surveyed the Chamber's policy council and board members to identify their key issues, transport and skills/recruitment came out on top, there were a few rumblings about the impact the credit crunch was having on the economy but no red flagged items, in fact one respondent put forward the opinion that 90% of the population was shielded so far.

A follow up survey in June listed the credit crunch as the second ranked business influence, with the skills and recruitment issue still having the edge.

At the last Policy Council meeting of 2009 the current economic crisis was the main topic of discussion among members. Following the discussion they were asked to identify one key priority issue. Without exception these focussed on some aspect of the economic crisis whether it was the behaviour of the banks, the squeeze of pricing pressure, a lack of confidence or cash flow concerns.

Our role now as a Chamber is to pin down those issues which are having the worst impact on our members, to identify what must be done to help and to determine how the Chamber can work towards their resolution.

At the time of going to print we are working on doing exactly that through a series of high level, extremely focused sessions with our membership and with the banking community. We have also held a series of one to one briefing meetings with our MSPs to inform them of the concerns of the business community.

We work actively with both the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) to flag up our members issues at the highest level.

In December, David Frost, Director General of the BCC and other Chamber representatives met with the Prime Minister to discuss the state of the economy and what should be done.

They used the opportunity to give an overview of the current economic situation, both from the national perspective of the BCC's Quarterly Economic Survey and also local conditions as represented by the individual Chambers.

They also discussed pre-budget report and voiced the business concerns relating to the empty property RV threshold; fuel duty increases and the raising of the National Insurance Contribution rate.

A considerable part of the meeting was spent discussing the relationship between the banks and business. The Chamber team pointed out the failings at the present time and the way that business was being impacted while acknowledging the difficulties banks face in raising their own capital.

In connection with this, BCC has made a general and ongoing request to members for any information about the experiences they have had in respect of the banks' behaviour during the current situation. They would be particularly interested to hear from members who are experiencing changes in access to credit, in order to guage whether Government action is having the required effect.

It's a significant opportunity to highlight your issues so if you have any information you would like to pass on, please let me know.

It's just one way to make sure we're all fit to survive