In Business Archives

External file transfers – do they need to be a risky business?

8 December 2021 Advice Cherry Martin 0 Comments

Nicole Lin, MD of Synology UK debates the future of file sharing issues and solutions facing business owners who support hybrid working.

Nearly 12 million UK employees would consider leaving their employer in the pursuit of better employee benefits, according to new research.

UK SMEs face ‘Big Quit’ over employee perks, research finds

8 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

Nearly 12 million UK employees would consider leaving their employer in the pursuit of better employee benefits, according to new research.

The United Arab Emirates, a hub of international commerce, announced Tuesday that it would shift its weekends to bring them more in line with the Western calendar and global markets, once again showing its willingness to part ways with its Arab neighbors. The government declared a four-and-a-half day workweek, moving the weekend from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday. It made Friday, the Muslim holy day, a half-day of work that ends at noon, just in time for the communal prayer that is normally held in mosques and customarily observed by Muslims. Like Sunday for Christian communities in the West, Friday is customarily the day Muslims take off to worship and unite with family and friends, and in most Arab countries, the standard workweek is Sunday through Thursday. Changing that practice, experts say, shows just how ready the U.A.E. is to forgo tradition in order to attract foreign investment and talent. In a statement, the Emirati government said the new weekend, which will begin on Jan. 1, “enhances the integration of the national economy with the various economies and global markets and ensures the matching of the days of exchanges and commercial and financial transactions.” Private businesses can set their own workweeks, but the new schedule, which applies to government agencies, creates a new set of expectations. The U.A.E., an oil-rich state on the Persian Gulf, has long been a commercial and tourism center, heavily dependent on a foreign work force that outnumbers its citizens. It attracts international workers with high wages and low taxes and a relatively safe and socially liberal atmosphere that circumvents religious traditions such as prohibitions on alcohol and conservative dress codes. Last year the country made a striking new set of changes to offset the impact of the pandemic on the economy and continue to cast the U.A.E. as a desirable place to live and work for foreigners. It introduced tougher laws against the harassment of women, allowed unmarried couples to live together and completely decriminalized the consumption of alcohol. And in January, it opened a pathway to citizenship for expatriates. “Once again, the Emirates sets itself as a pioneering country that’s looking to the future in a brave and flexible way,” said Nabil al-Qadi, president of Khawarizmi International College, a private university in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital. “I don’t see any conflict between the decision and religion or the fact that Friday is a holy day.” While the U.A.E. has become more liberal socially, politics are a very different matter. The country is a federation of seven monarchies, where dissenting voices are rarely heard or tolerated. Top-down decision-making gives the ruling sheikhs unchallenged control over policy, which can yield sharp turns that surprise U.A.E. residents and the rest of the region. One landmark moment came in September 2020 when the emirates announced they would normalize relations with Israel, a step that most other Arab countries — and all other Gulf states — have opposed, or at least been reluctant to take. “The Emirates has always had its own vision and way,” said Abdullah Baabood, an Omani academic and former director of the Gulf Research Center at Cambridge, pointing primarily to its decision and the speed with which it pursued normalizing relations with Israel. “And many of these matters are somewhat perplexing for the average Arab citizen.” But for many living in the U.A.E., Tuesday’s announcement introduced another tantalizing prospect. At a time when the pandemic has prompted renewed conversations around flexible working styles and four-day workweeks, changing the weekend and making Friday a half day appears to offer a more manageable schedule and a longer break. “I like it because I work with my foreign offices in Europe and now we’re aligned,” said Yasmeen Seif, an American-Egyptian communications director for a luxury fashion company. She moved to Dubai, the largest city in the Emirates, 13 years ago, and found a place that embraced elements of both sides of her identity — a place that was Arab and has appeal and good marketing, she added. “All I hear people talking about now is what are we going to do about the Friday brunch,” she said.

U.A.E. changes its weekend to align with West

8 December 2021 In Business Jamie Young 0 Comments

The United Arab Emirates, in a nod to global markets, has changed its workweek, declaring that Sunday, a work day in much of the Arab world, is now part of the weekend. Fridays will be half days.

More than half of UK businesses in a recent survey confirmed that having the right tools or technologies in place is their biggest challenge when considering long-term ‘work from anywhere’ policies.

UK businesses aren’t ready for a highly mobile, ‘work from anywhere’ world

8 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

More than half of UK businesses in a recent survey confirmed that having the right tools or technologies in place is their biggest challenge when considering long-term ‘work from anywhere’ policies.

BA is expected to announce plans for the new “Euroflyer” operation shortly. Details are sketchy, but it is likely to be based on the model followed by BA’s CityFlyer subsidiary, which runs in and out of London City Airport.

British Airways set for take-off from Gatwick again with new “Euroflyer” operation

8 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

BA is expected to announce plans for the new “Euroflyer” operation shortly. Details are sketchy, but it is likely to be based on the model followed by BA’s CityFlyer subsidiary, which runs in and out of London City Airport.

Booksellers have kept readers around the UK going throughout a series of lockdowns.

Crowdfunding offers the UK’s independent booksellers a pandemic lifeline

7 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

Booksellers have kept readers around the UK going throughout a series of lockdowns.

Employees seeking flexible working arrangements need to have completed a minimum of 26 weeks’ service for their employers before they are legally entitled to make a request.

Flexible working not a given right for employees

6 December 2021 Advice, In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

Employees seeking flexible working arrangements need to have completed a minimum of 26 weeks’ service for their employers before they are legally entitled to make a request.

Entrepreneurial teams perform better if able to choose their own team members or their own ideas, finds new research from ESMT Berlin. However, this benefit to performance disappears if given autonomy to choose both. Scholars suggest autonomy can lead to better entrepreneurial team performance, but there are different types of autonomy. Viktoria Boss and Christoph Ihl, both from Hamburg University of Technology, and Linus Dahlander and Rajshri Jayaraman, both from ESMT Berlin, investigated how two types of autonomy affect the performance of entrepreneurial teams: choosing project ideas to work on and choosing team members to work with. The researchers ran a field experiment involving 939 students on a startup entrepreneurship course in which students are organised into teams to develop and pitch business ideas. Individuals were assigned to one of four scenarios: 1) choosing their team members and idea, 2) choosing their team members, 3) choosing their idea, or 4) choosing neither their team nor idea. In teams, students developed an entrepreneurial pitch deck; a presentation aimed at hypothetical venture capitalists to secure funding. Pitch decks were assessed on six criteria: novelty, feasibility, market potential, likelihood of success, likelihood of invitation for follow-up, and investment amount. Results show that teams with autonomy to choose ideas or team members outperform teams without the autonomy to choose either. However, the effect of choosing ideas is significantly stronger than the effect of choosing teams. Also, these benefits were not seen for teams granted full autonomy over choosing both ideas and teams. Professor Dahlander says, “Choosing ideas or teams can lead to a better match of ideas with team members’ interests and prior network contacts among team members, respectively. Also, granting autonomy increases feelings of confidence which can have a motivational effect. However, if confidence rises above a critical threshold, teams can experience overconfidence and exhibit complacency and lack of focus. This points to the possibility that those who chose both teams and ideas experienced too much confidence too soon, reducing subsequent effort.” These findings are important to the professionalisation of entrepreneurship, particularly incubator and accelerator programmes, most of which give aspiring entrepreneurs a choice on both ideas and team members. These results suggest granting autonomy solely over choosing ideas would lead to the highest performance outcome.

Coworking and small business experts welcome UK Taskforce guidance

3 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

The UK Government’s Flexible Working Taskforce has published practical guidance for employers designed to support hybrid working models, in a bid to help organisations retain staff and improve working wellbeing.

Would you rather be an entrepreneur or an employee? Why franchising isn’t just buying a job

3 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

Becoming a franchisee gives people the chance to own a business in which they are invested and passionate – a stark contrast to working for someone and not reaping the rewards for all your hard work.

There are many reasons why people consider exiting a business. No matter the reason, it is always good to ensure that you meet your business goals and get a fair return on the sale.

What do you need to consider when selling your business?

3 December 2021 Advice Business Matters 0 Comments

Whilst we hear a lot about starting a business, it is not every day that we hear about leaving one.

There is no doubt that virtually every industry has experienced significant changes and shifts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why now is a good time to invest in a business as we emerge from COVID-19

3 December 2021 Advice Business Matters 0 Comments

There is no doubt that virtually every industry has experienced significant changes and shifts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new train ticketing platform launching today is promising to plant a tree for every ticket it sells, which it hopes will appeal to passengers who care about climate change.

New UK rail travel platform promises to plant a tree for every train ticket sold

3 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

A new train ticketing platform launching today is promising to plant a tree for every ticket it sells, which it hopes will appeal to passengers who care about climate change.

As we move into 2022, the trends we see emerging will increasingly be geared towards delivering improved user experiences and innovation at speed.

The rise of the ‘business technologist’ and ‘hyperautomation’

2 December 2021 In Business, Technology Business Matters 0 Comments

As we move into 2022, the trends we see emerging will increasingly be geared towards delivering improved user experiences and innovation at speed.

WhatsApp and Enterprise Nation have announced a partnership to educate and support small businesses in the UK on how to connect with customers and grow their businesses using WhatsApp’s free business tools.

WhatsApp and Enterprise Nation partner to support UK small businesses

2 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

Year-long national partnership will provide SMBs with resources and advice to help them connect with customers and grow their business using WhatsApp’s free business tools

A Scottish-based manufacturing facility which will enable the production of lower carbon cement products has secured a £500,000 award from Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund.

Sustainable cement innovation secures £500K grant for new production facility

2 December 2021 In Business Business Matters 0 Comments

A Scottish-based manufacturing facility which will enable the production of lower carbon cement products has secured a £500,000 award from Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund.

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