Some of the UKs leading business leaders and opinion formers share their insight and ideas for growth
Time to end the ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to health and safety: A British Chamber of Commerce survey finds that health and safety laws are putting businesses off making new hires Management Today are reporting. However, the employer group thinks it has a possible solution… Facebook, Twitter Increasingly Popular Among Small Businesses: Of those doing social […]
Since I started my company Actinic 15 years ago, I’ve sold almost exclusively to small businesses – it’s been a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the sense that no single customer is too critical. Against this is that none of these guys has much money, which means we have to be incredibly cost conscious. This experience has taught me a few tips about keeping costs down.
This £2.5 billion Business Growth Fund is ‘Fool’s Gold’ and I warn every small and medium-sized business owner to steer well clear of the fund!
Cable tells banks: Lend firms more or we’ll tax you harder – Vince Cable has threatened banks with higher taxes if they fail to abide by a deal to lend companies more to boost Britain’s recovery. The London Evening Standard is reporting that the Business Secretary admitted recent bank lending trends, particularly to small and […]
If you’re feeling swamped in your business and there just seems far too much to do and far too many problems that need sorting out, with new ones appearing almost every day – there is a little trick I learnt early in my career that will help.
If you recognise that you tend to go from fire-fight to calm and back again then its important to importantly establish a 100 day plan to help focus your activities on moving towards calmness permanently. This article explains how.
Coalition policy is failing to deliver the public sector innovation that could dramatically boost value for money and benefit the economy beyond the public sector, argues a recent report published by The Work Foundation.
The £1 shop lease. Entrepreneur Austen Pickles is taking advantage of rock bottom commercial property prices to expand his Bradford-based tailoring business by setting up ‘pop up’ shops in key town centres. The Telegraph & Argus are reporting that the boss of bespoke tailoring firm Norton & Townsend is pioneering the retail model after securing […]
North East small firms have chance to apply for funding: Small firms have been given the chance to claim a slice of £1m to boost their export sales. NEBusiness.co.uk is reporting that Market Accelerator, a UK Trade & Investment North East Service, is offering to make 100% investments of between £20,000 and £30,000 to SMEs […]
Making employment law more flexible so that it works in the interests of businesses as well as workers is a major component of our new Get Britain Trading campaign.
A loathsome show, a panto villain host and an insult to business: This is how one of the UKs leading business investors, and the ex head of Channel Four, Luke Johnson described The Apprentice in a column in the Daily Mail. Johnson says that Originally, the BBC characterised The Apprentice as a business programme. Now, […]
The seventh series of The Apprentice (BBC One) began last night, and the main news to report is that the title is now completely meaningless. The winner of The Apprentice in 2011 will not be Lord Sugar’s apprentice at all. Instead, he or she will get £250,000 of his cash and start a business. Why […]
From fire-fight to calm is a common continuum for many businesses. Over the last two columns I have looked at how to get calm and how to prevent the fires. But with the best will in the world – you’ll come up against blocks that will impede your progress to calmly functioning business with no smouldering corners. Here are some tips to get past the blocks.
If your business life seems to be a constant round of fire-fighting, getting calm, fire-fighting, getting calm… and round and round you go then here are some five minute techniques to help you get off that merry-go-round.
Microsoft confirms takeover of Skype: Microsoft has confirmed that it has agreed to buy internet phone service Skype. The deal being to buy to buy the operator, used by many small businesses, will see Microsoft pay $8.5bn (£5.2bn) for Skype, the BBC are reporting, making it Microsoft’s largest acquisition. Internet auction house eBay bought Skype […]
