What do you get when you cross a coupé with a 4X4? An X6 ‘Sports Activity Coupé’. The rarity of this BMW suggests, however, this untimely crossbreed is the answer to a question nobody wanted to ask, says Dave Sumner Smith
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Regional business excellence rewarded
Over 400 business leaders and guests attended The National Business Awards Regional Programme, sponsored by Orange, in London on Tuesday 14th July, to celebrate the success of South of England’s most innovative, ethical and successful businesses.
Nine organisations were duly rewarded including London-based Clearlybusiness, a Barclays company, triumphed with The Orange Best Use of Technology in Business Award for the operational and financial success of its software services for small UK businesses. Octopus Investments, the leading London investment company, won the prestigious Grant Thornton Business of the Year Award.
Give your business a ‘cost healthcheck’
A recent study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development concluded that making job cuts should be the last resort in the current economic downturn, after revealing that the cost of laying off an employee could be more than £16,000.
Against this another study revealed that 69% of Financial Directors feel under pressure from board colleagues to find more ways to cut costs. With Britain now officially in recession, how does a business keep costs in check to maintain a healthy bottom line without necessarily making redundancies?
Reviewed: Babington House
The difference between a good restaurant and a good hotel is that in a good restaurant you expect to find high standards of service and product, decent value, and then also originality, flair, wit and sophistication, whereas in a good hotel you just cling to the dream that it won’t be utterly dismal.
I go to hotels quite a lot, overnighting after an evening function somewhere and, honestly, it is so dispiriting.
Profile: Simon Woodroffe
Paul Jones chats to Simon Woodroffe about why he decided to start Yo! Sushi, his brush with the law, why having money makes him happy and what his investment plans are for the future in these difficult times.
Hitting the phone & getting results
Andy Preston explains why you’re not currently getting the results from your cold calling that you could be….. and what you can do about it to get the results you deserve……..
Selling for high growth
A fast-track programme to help ambitious companies out of recession has doubled quarterly sales for a video production company.
Paul Drew, managing director of award-winning production company The Communicator Ltd has enjoyed one of his best sales quarter ever, despite being in a highly competitive business during a recession.
10 tips for effective haggling
Many people and business owners remain reluctant to haggle, but the credit crisis means many more of us might need to learn new tricks when trying to make our money go further.
Threshers fails to deliver for franchisees
Some franchisees of the off-licence chain Threshers are suffering a stock crisis and are furious about how its private equity-owned parent, First Quench Group, is running the operation.
Don’t like your clothes? Just tweet us…
Online clothing retailer ASOS is now addressing customer complaints and comments through micro-blogging site Twitter. Is this the start of a change in dealing with customer complaints and something that other companies should follow?
Smart technology can give businesses the edge
Paul Bray looks at how if you prang your new BMW and the air bags deploy, the car can automatically tell the manufacturers so they can alert the emergency services. If you’re in hospital in Madrid and a nurse tries to administer the wrong drug, an alarm automatically sounds. If you buy a chop in a Norwegian supermarket, you could be told the name of the pig it came from.
Can you sell with integrity?
Leading sales expert Grant Leboff looks at how, regardless of the economic conditions, you can boost your sales by selling with integrity,
New BT Cloud accounting application launched
BT Business has launched a new web-based accounting application, to replace the complex software blighting smaller firms, forcing their employees to work longer hours.
The launch of Xero, a new online tool designed for firms and their advisors, is supported by new research by BT Business which finds that almost 50 per cent of smaller business staff work extra hours to clear their current workloads, with 41 per cent admitting that they actually waste work time because of poor technology and systems.
Sir Alan Sugar to face Employment Tribunal
The 62-year-old, who was appointed the Government’s Enterprise Tsar earlier this month, is embroiled in a legal battle with a senior female executive at one of his flagship companies.
Are you ready for The Pitch 2009
Doug Richard, former Dragons’ Den panellist; Tim Campbell, the first winner of The Apprentice; and Deirdre Bounds, star of Channel 4’s Millionaires’ Mission, have all signed up to take part in The Pitch 2009, a competition which is going on the road to track down the UK’s most innovative small companies.
