As Britain’s small and medium-sized businesses battle harder than ever to stay profitable new research has revealed that ‘spouse power’ is providing companies with 230 million unpaid hours every month – a contribution worth some £72 billion per year to the UK economy.
Year: 2008
Company liquidations jumped by 25%
Company liquidations jumped by a quarter in the last three months according to official figures today.
The Insolvency Service said there were 4,001 voluntary and compulsory liquidations in England and Wales in the third quarter of 2008. The figures represented a 10.5% rise on the previous quarter and an increase of 26.3% on the same period a year ago.
Absenteeism – problem or symptom?
I have recently read a number of articles on the problem of absenteeism and was struck by how most of them completely ignored the causes of the problem, and instead focused solely on the measures organisations were taking to ensure that persistent offenders are deterred from taking time off.
Government’s small business package a welcome first step
The Government says that the proposals – including extending its pledge to lead the way on tackling payment by paying its own suppliers within 10 days – are designed to preserve small firms’ cash flow by improving access to finance. The FPB is calling on banks to commit to preserving and improving credit lines for small firms.
Credit crunch boosts home business start-ups
Spare room start-ups have increased by 16% during the past 12 months taking the number of UK home businesses to 2.5m, the report by BT and Enterprise Nation showed.
Released as part of Small Business Week, the study said home based entrepreneurs are also bucking the trend when it comes to confidence in their prospects during the financial crisis.
Women ‘prefer computers to men’
Women office workers spend almost three times as much time with their computer than their husbands or boyfriends – and they prefer it that way, an American study has revealed.
Tories urge small business help
He said local authorities could also help by paying small businesses for their services earlier.
Meanwhile, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, has said the government will help the economy by "re-prioritising" its spending to create jobs.
The Treasury’s Yvette Cooper has also urged lenders to be more lenient on people who default on mortgages.
Small business divided on Britain as a ‘great’ place for doing business
There is a clear divide on whether Britain is a great place to run a small or medium sized business according to the latest poll from the Orange SMS Business Jury. Over a third of SME and small businesses (36%) surveyed disagreed that Britain was a great place to run a small or medium sized business, while just under a third (32%) said that Britain was a great place to do business, despite the current downturn.
HSBC launches first business banking service optimised for BlackBerry users
HSBC Commercial Banking has launched the UK’s first Business Internet Banking service specifically optimised for use on a BlackBerry device.
This new service, a first in the UK for businesses, enables HSBC business internet banking customers to monitor their transactions via a new free service optimised for the screens of their BlackBerry (8000 series) devices*.
Managing your cashflow
I recently visited a growing IT business in the M5 corridor – that hot bed of entrepreneurial IT businesses.
During my conversation the MD described how they had grown from the original 2 partners in a small office in Hounslow to their present stunning barn conversion on the outskirts of Reading with some 8 staff onsite and a further 3 programmers working from their homes at far flung locations as far away as Scotland and Lincolnshire.
They had started by providing programming and general web support for local businesses but progress was slow. However, they were asked to develop a specialist wireless interface for a client. They had to go through a steep learning curve to deliver this project and on successful completion they realised this could be useful to other clients. More particularly it could be developed into a specialist niche market product. The beauty of this would be that it would have world wide potential and move them in a direction that not only interested them but would given them a platform for growth.
The rise of the social network
Andy Lopata, networking specialist, talks about the rise of social networking for business gain.
Very happy returns for Lastminute
Webvan, Boo, Pets.com. Remember them? Long-dead dotcom companies that illustrate the rags-to-riches – and back to rags – tales of the first cyber-boom.
Drinkers must soon pay £4 for a pint
First it was petrol, then food, now beer. Breweries have decided to hike their prices for the second time this year, bringing to the market, for the first time, the £4 pint.
Entering the DEN
We talk to Lesley-Ann Simmonds, Managing Director of Shoes Galore Limited in New Milton about her experience of taking part in the hit BBC2 programme Dragon’s Den. Her experience is set to be broadcast on Monday 4th August on BBC2 at 9pm.
Shoes Galore is a franchise giving women the opportunity to work around their family commitments selling shoes, bags, belts and accessories mainly by party plan, at corporate’s, charity events and shoe fashion shows.
The Experience in Lesley’s own words…
Do you speak your prospect’s language?
We all think of typical sales people as being great communicators. We say that they have ‘the gift of the gab’. But what if you are not a born sales person but regularly need to find new clients? Business development expert Richard White discusses one of the areas that can make a big difference on results – how we communicate with our prospects and clients.
