Advice on growing your small and medium sized business, SME, in the UK. Hiring and managing staff and finance plus marketing all on one website
As recessionary pressures continue to bite and are clearly impacting on the survival of the nation’s small and medium sized firms, a number of business owners and managers are embracing a blitz-type attitude and are resolute in spite of the ongoing challenge.
Government proposals to monitor social networking sites centrally fail to consider the impact of such action on businesses that now use these tools as an integral part of their marketing strategy and could result in some businesses abandoning social media altogether, according to a leading social media consultant.
Trademark applications have fallen 30pc from their peak, indicating the decline in business activity and new product launches.
One of the most effective funding initiatives by the Government is to help you increase the skill levels of your employees. You are encouraged to review your company’s strategy and ensure that all staff development and training will effectively support your business objectives. Then you need to specify the actions required to develop the strategy through an organisation and development plan agreed with your staff.
Business Matters is pleased to announce that we have partnered with one of the UK’s most exciting small business competitions of 2009. The Pitch will see entrepreneurs and small business owners from all over the nation competing to win a massive £50,000 of business related goods and services.
Pitching their idea to a panel of top industry experts, entrants will be asked to demonstrate the innovation, market knowledge, customer engagement and financial viability of their business. The contest kicks off in June with heats in Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London, followed by a grand final later in the year. The Pitch promises to offer a real taste of how resourceful UK entrepreneurs are reacting to current economic conditions, bucking the downturn with innovation and creativity.
Whilst watching the recent episode of The Apprentice we were struck by the use of The Olympics and London 2012 branding so we spoke to John Mackenzie, partner of leading IP solicitors Pinsent Masons for his advice of how to embrace the Olympic spirit without falling foul of the law.
We spend a lot of time at work. For many people they spend more time with their colleagues than they do with their family and friends. In these circumstances, it is only natural that as the working relationship evolves, the environment develops in such a way that people can find opportunities to let off steam by laughing and joking with each other.
Many employers actively encourage employees to find ways to make their work fun because, lets face it, a happy employee is more productive and none of us want to spend the day with a lot of miserable people.
The Award was presented at a gala reception in London by CNBC, in partnership with the Financial Times, to honour those CEOs who are making a difference through leadership and innovation in their industry sectors.
Initial nominations where made by CEOs from European companies in the FT Global 500, whilst the final winners were decided by a panel that consisted of EBLA 2008 winners from companies such as Arcelor Mittal, Autonomy, Fiat and GE, plus representatives from CNBC, the Financial Times and IMD business school.
The winners of the 2009 Make Your Mark Enterprising Young Brits Awards were announced today (Tuesday 24 March 2009) at a ceremony at the Institute of Directors (IoD), London.
They were each presented with a trophy and £1,000 prize money by Alistair Darling, who made time to chat to finalists and hear their positive stories.
Recognising and rewarding business excellence, innovation and success, The National Business Awards, sponsored by Orange have launched its eighth consecutive regional Awards programme.
What happens when you ask for directions? You interrupt someone, stopping them from going about their business, yet people are rarely rude. This is because of the way we ask. We will normally say, ‘Excuse Me’ in a slightly deferential way. We continue, ‘I wonder if you can help me? Could you tell me where Bromley Place is?’
When economic conditions are hard, leading a sales force can seem like the most difficult job in the world. One of the main ingredients to achieving outstanding results is to ensure the team is motivated. The key to motivation is recognition. Ultimately, everyone wants to be appreciated and their hard work acknowledged.
With the recession predicted to last for the whole of 2009, many of us will come back to the office in the New Year, with some trepidation. However, with the right mechanisms in place, it will still be possible to find the opportunities that are out there and prosper.
Regardless of your definition of success, there are, oddly enough, a great number of common characteristics that are shared by successful businesspeople. You can place a tick beside each characteristic that you feel that you possess. This way, you can see how you stack up. Even if you don’t have all of these characteristics, don’t fret. Most can be learned with practice and by developing a winning attitude, especially if you set goals and apply yourself, through strategic planning, to reach those goals in incremental and measurable stages.
The finalists of the 2009 Make Your Mark Enterprising Young Brits Awards have been named and must now pitch to a panel of judges including successful entrepreneurs and representatives from HM Treasury and the Institute of Directors (IoD), but now YOU the public have the chance to help them on their way to success.
