London
Economy
At over £162 billion, London's economy accounts for 17 per
cent of the UK's GDP. Known as ‘the City’,
the square mile located on the eastern part of central London, the
City of London, is the epicentre of British financial life and one
of the world’s leading international financial centres.
It is home to an impressive concentration and variety of banks,
insurance companies and other business services. Financial and business
services throughout London employ around a third of the Greater
London workforce. Over the past few years, the government has delegated
greater responsibility to the Bank
of England while the London
Stock Exchange has floated itself.
London accounts for about 50 per cent of all overseas visits to
the UK. The tourism sector employs about 350,000 people, accounting
for 10 per cent of all jobs in London.
London is Europe's most successful city at attracting overseas companies,
and there are 13,510 overseas owned companies from 92 countries
in the capital. The list of companies based in London is almost
endless as most major international companies have offices.
For the more fashionable industries, such as media and design, a
West End address is the most sought after, especially
in Soho. To the east of the City, the Docklands
has come of age and is now a popular business location with good
public transport links and modern office complexes. The centrepiece
is Canary Wharf, one of Britain’s tallest
buildings, which has been joined recently by two neighbouring skyscrapers.
A stone's throw away from Canary Wharf, the state of the art ExCel
is increasingly giving traditional conference venues a run for their
money, with the world’s largest travel exhibition, World
Travel Market, now calls ExCel home.
Business
Etiquette
Business hours are officially Monday to Friday 09:00 or
09:30 until 17:00 or 17:30 hours, although many companies
have much longer hours. Business is intense and fast paced. Extended
business lunches and post-work drinks were regarded as part of the
modern working environment until recently. Today, the emphasis is
increasingly on hard work and long hours.
Some older establishments can be strictly formal, however, meetings
are usually relatively relaxed and first names are often used after
the initial introduction. British businesspeople are unlikely to
be overtly demonstrative – hand gestures and the use of expressive
body language will be minimal and apart from shaking hands, physical
contact should be avoided. Standard dress code is a suit and tie
for men and a suit (or equivalent) for women but this varies greatly
depending on the company, with those in the new technologies sectors
tending towards informality.
See the London
Business Contacts and Services section |
