Some of the UKs leading business leaders and opinion formers share their insight and ideas for growth
Royal Wedding boost for ailing craft businesses. The Online marketplace Notonthehighstreet is expecting a 25 per cent increase in orders for Royal Wedding related memorabilia. The company, which is backed by venture capital firms Index Ventures and Greylock Partners, launched a Royal Wedding section on its site yesterday as well as a campaign to direct international traffic to […]
Customer service is king and rightly so. Gordon Jones, a Chartered Marketer and author of several booklets including Successful Customer Care on a Shoestring, explains why companies are investing so much in it and how it affects each and every of us.
At SalesForce, we have examined some of the ways SMEs can migrate to the cloud. As they make their move, however, they should consider the following key tips.
Life’s scary. Think about those things that are scaring you right now. Is “losing my job” or “starting a business” one of those? Then face them now!
Many business owners refuse to face their fears and insecurities – they have a lack of awareness of their own personality, of their strengths and weaknesses, and their impact on others. Ultimately this means they are less able to build an appropriate team around them. This is Mistake Six of the Seven most common ways people kill their business.
It is not often that private sector business initiatives have a keynote address by the Prime Minister, are attended by some of the UK’s leading business entrepreneurs and also receive the backing and support from Sir Richard Branson, the man who many regard as the UK’s best entrepreneur. So surely nothing could go wrong…
Even though the Olympics haven’t taken place and construction of the Olympic Stadium isn’t yet finished, the flagship stadium has already been allocated to West Ham Football Club for use after London 2012.
I for one am relieved that West Ham won the bid. Not because l’m a die-hard ‘Hammer’ but because they appear to be wasting a lot less of the stadium by keeping the athletics track than the other hopeful club, Tottenham, would have done by re-building it as a football-only venue.
In 1884 Thomas Marks opened his first market stall in Leeds. Over the next few years he opened 20 other stalls around the UK. In 1894, Thomas Spencer invested in the business and retail chain Marks & Spencer (M&S) was born.
From humble beginnings, M&S became one of the UK’s biggest success stories and was the first retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion.
Companies like WH Smith, Woolworth’s and AMSTRAD all started the same way, so it would seem that in order to make it big, you should start small. Can the same thing be said of the web? Andy Budd, managing director at Clearleft investigates.
There are seven common mistakes that people make that can kill their business. Number five is “bringing in the wrong people”. This article looks at how you can avoid this mistake.
The creative industry has been on a turbulent roller-coaster over the last couple of years riding the wave of budget cuts, but digital in particular is finally starting to have a place in Marketing Manager’s strategies and budgets. So, recruitment is back in the spotlight as one of the key focuses in business expansion for many creative agencies, but it brings with it many challenges.
Are you killing your business? As a business grows, it’s crucial that your actions don’t strangle it. There are seven common mistakes that people make that kill their business. This week I am looking at Mistake 4 – You Haven’t Got Anyone To Bounce Ideas Off.
I was recently fortunate enough to be asked to join a panel of experts to debate the role of LEP’s.
While on stage, the discussion touched upon the demise of Business Link and the plans to centralise this business support service as well as introduce 40,000 free business mentors. It was reported, or rather tweeted, that I called the government’s new mentoring scheme ‘bizarre’ and asked whether you ‘trust a mentor who was free?’ I did say those things… so perhaps I should explain my concerns.
Don’t be the reason your business fails. There are 7 deadly sins that an kill a business. Mistake 3 is “Growing Too Quickly Before Your Model Is Proven”. Here Hilary Briggs explains why this is a problem, how to spot it, and what to do differently.
The recent judgement in favour of BSkyB, after the company’s £700m legal battle against EDS over a failed IT system, comes as a timely reminder to companies of all sizes that, when it comes to negotiating contracts, caution and transparency must be the order of the day.
I’m very lucky, as I’ve always found delegating comes naturally to me. I think it comes from naturally wanting to do the exciting stuff and letting others take the initiative and do the hard graft!
