Italian Toni Mascolo opened his first hairdressing salon with brother Gaetano in 1963. Today, the Toni & Guy chain has more than 230 salons in the UK, a further 175 globally, and annual turnover in excess of £175m. The business runs 27 hairdressing academies globally, which train an average of 100,000 hairdressers every year. Mascolo received an Italian Knighthood in 2006 and in 2008, an OBE. The boys from Naples have done well.
Year: 2009
The ‘write’ approach to marketing
Most people in business have the (usually misguided) notion that they can write well. After all, they learnt English at school, so there’s nothing to it, is there? That’s a bit like saying that we all learnt maths at school, so none of us need accountants…
In this article. Phil Allcock looks at a specific type of writing – copywriting. (This shouldn’t be confused with copyright, which is an entirely different subject!) Copywriting refers to the production of words for different types of marketing material.
Businesses counting cost of snow
Disruption caused by the heavy snowfall could cost UK businesses more than £1.2bn, business groups have estimated. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that 20% of the UK’s working population, or 6.4 million people, would not make it to work. South-east England has the worst snow it has seen for 18 years, causing all London buses to be pulled from service and the closure of Heathrow runways. Trading on the London Stock Exchange was thinner than normal.
Small business aims to beat recession with smarter communications
Over 80 per cent of UK small businesses see smarter use of communications technology as the lifeline to help beat the recession, according to a study of small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners participating in the Business Growth and Development Programme (BGP) at Cranfield School of Management. The study of the 31 small businesses between £500,000 to £20 million turnover, which was commissioned by Siemens Enterprise Communications, found that 84 per cent of those interviewed think that enhanced communications will deliver competitive advantage in the current recession. A further three quarters want improved productivity when they are investing in IT and communications.
Communication is the key to global success, says WPP chief
“To be successful you need to know how to handle the difficult stuff. It’s easy to make money when the tide is rising. In the 1990s you could be a success by simply walking into the office and standing up. It’s not like that now. Some people have the desire to start a business. Others are passionate about growing a business but it’s unusual to be both things. But that’s what I’ve done.”
Search engine optimisation: Tips and tricks
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is the art of making your website communicate well with search engines. It plays a crucial role in gaining the right sort of visitors to your website, so it should be the first thing to think about when you start to build one.
‘Smarta’ help for SME’s to deliver over £5BN a year even during a recession
Budding entrepreneurs and small businesses could inject over £5bn a year into the UK economy and meet the economic crisis head-on, thanks to Smarta.com – a cutting edge new online platform backed by some of the biggest names in British business.
Workplace bullying is a problem for most brits
More than 70% of British adults feel as though they have been bullied or witnessed bullying of some sort in the workplace and over 30% were too worried about the repercussions to report the problem.
A study of 934 Brits commissioned by the UK’s leading recruitment scoring website has found that 73% of Brits have, at some stage in their career, witnessed workplace bullying or inappropriate behaviour and almost 1 in 3 admitted they were too worried about their job security to report the incident.
Equality experts: ‘focus on outcomes not process’
Businesses striving towards equal opportunities should focus more on outcomes than processes, according to a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) Think Tank event.
Speakers at “Quality and Equality – Standards for A Modern Society” concluded that progress on equality will only be made if companies and regulators alike focussed more on what they needed to achieve rather than methodology. There was consensus that accreditation is a good way to drive behaviour, whilst regulation should only be used to prevent harm.
Thinking about switching to VOIP
As a result of increased broadband penetration, advancements in VoIP technology and escalating business costs due to harsher economic conditions, more businesses than ever before are looking at VoIP telephony solutions to secure a reliable, cost-effective alternative to legacy telephone services, whilst future-proofing their communication strategies for next-generation Unified Communications at the same time.
Five Golden Rules for etailers in the credit crunch
In spite of the economic slowdown online shopping is still thriving, with more people taking advantage of the cheaper prices available on the net and shopping in the comfort of their own home.
However, internet expert WebTrends is warning ecommerce sites that they must provide a seamless online experience, or they could face missing out on a significant piece of the action, as internet shopping gets increasingly competitive .
BBC Dragons face losses after green haulier goes into administration
BBC Dragons Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden face losses after green haulier JPM Eco Logistics called in the administrators.
The pair invested £100,000 for a 40pc stake in the Oldham firm, which ran its fleet of nine Volvo trucks on bio-diesel, after directors Jerry Mantalvanos and Paul Merker appeared on the Dragons’ Den show in 2007.
People confuse luck with skill on the way up – and down, says Stelios
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou founded easyJet when he was 28. Today, it operates 157 aircraft on 392 routes between 101 airports in 26 countries. In the past 12 months the firm has carried more than 40m passengers. But Stelios, as he prefers to be known, didn’t stop there. He has since established more than 17 ventures, all with the “easy” prefix.
Legal and Business issues for new Creative Businesses
There has been substantial growth in the number of creative businesses in the UK in the last 10 years. Despite or even perhaps because of the current economic downturn people remain enthusiastic about starting their own business to exploit a creative expression. The process will present many challenges.
Interim managers could help firms survive the slump
In this current climate, hiring new permanent senior level staff to run projects might be considered a major risk and financially unfeasible for small businesses. But, to remain competitive, companies cannot afford to put plans on hold, put their head in the sand and hope the upturn isn’t too far away, while the competition steals a march.
