Sandy Needham, Bradford Chamber of Commerce chief executive

IT may seem a strange thing to say, but not all of the changes brought about by the recession were bad.

Many businesses took a good look at what they were doing and how and made improvements. They consulted staff on how to reduce costs without making people redundant. The give and take on paid holidays, hours worked, changed hours etc were agreed through dialogue and probably achieved more than legislation ever could.

A down side is that many middle management roles have gone and some of the tasks people at that level undertook may not be missed in the short term, but there are gaps. For businesses to remain competitive and grow there is a need to invest and try out new approaches, develop new products and services and test new markets.

There are businesses who have good leaders and competent teams, but who is going to do the development work?

We often talk about the benefits of starting to export and there is funded help available, but what about the people to take on those activities? I know companies, particularly family-owned SMEs, who have recruited people from larger businesses with the experience and skills to make a step change to an SME. Are we losing those individuals? There is external help available, but often public funded support requires the company that benefits to create new jobs.

We have to find ways of helping companies with potential to follow in Captain Kirk’s footsteps and “boldly go” forward.