The rapid growth of a new consumer class in these high growth markets is also changing the global economic balance; whereas in 2000, OECD research shows that Asia (excluding Japan) accounted for 10 per cent of global middle class spending, this could reach 40 per cent by 2040.²

We believe that the international growth strategies of UK businesses have a critical role to play in steering the nation to a strong and sustained economic recovery. We’re helping UK businesses of all sizes succeed in doing so by providing insight into the current drivers for growth, and advising on how to adapt and compete in this new phase of globalisation.

Our extensive research is also helping shape the debate among policymakers and business leaders about accelerating the UK’s trade and investment agenda. At this year’s Times CEO Summit, attended by over 100 business leaders from across the UK and abroad, David Sproul spoke about how British business can punch above its weight against global competitors and spur the economy to growth.

Our research shows that UK big business is becoming increasingly optimistic. With plans to invest £13 billion in growth strategies in 2013, two-thirds of respondents to our survey³ expect future growth to come ‘overwhelmingly from International Markets’. In response, we are supporting our clients’ in their cross-border transactions to expand their global footprint. A separate piece of research showed that UK’s SMEs typically lack the confidence and know-how to embark on export strategies to unfamiliar markets so we have recently launched our ‘Growth Accelerator’ programme, designed specifically for CEOs of SMEs to help them understand what it takes to be a successful exporter and to learn from each other as they progress.

The UK Government has set a target to double exports of products and services to £1 trillion by 2020. We believe that to achieve this, the UK must capitalise on its strengths in Financial Services, Technology, Consumer Business, Education and Manufacturing. At Deloitte, we support the expansion of British companies by combining specialist technical expertise with the in-country experience that the global network of DTTL member firms can offer.

Our investment in international mobility is a key factor in providing international talent capable of responding to clients’ global issues. In FY13, 225 UK staff were on international secondment with other Deloitte member firms, while 322 of our colleagues from other member firms were working for the UK firm. Through this exchange of talent, we are not only better able to serve our clients’ plans for global expansion, but we are also contributing to the cross-border transfer of skills and knowledge.

Developing consistent capability and core leadership skills across our global network will ensure that our clients receive the same level of insight and challenge from Deloitte wherever they operate. Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas which opened in 2011, delivered high quality learning to more than 50,000 Deloitte professionals from 70 countries in the last year. The EMEA region will soon open its own facility near Brussels, providing the opportunity for more of our professionals to improve their leadership skills and develop relationships with international colleagues.

We are very conscious of the potential environmental impact of our increased focus on international markets. In 2011 we invested in a number of video-conferencing facilities across our UK and Switzerland estate and this year we introduced Lync and other online collaboration tools to enhance our remote working capabilities. Use of technology has allowed us to be even more flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients whilst still reducing our business travel. This year we have been able to reduce our business travel by 2 per cent (in absolute terms) whilst growing our revenues by 8 per cent, demonstrating that we are managing to decouple business growth from our environmental impacts. This is a good start but there is much still to achieve. In the coming year we will invest further in our video-conferencing systems and develop a training suite to increase its uptake. Our newly created Low Carbon Engagement toolkit will enable our teams to work with clients to reduce the carbon intensity of their projects as we collaborate in support of a low-carbon economy.