Would your business benefit from some independent thinking?
Unsurprisingly, given the recommendations of the UK Corporate Governance Code, the use of non-executive directors is widespread in public companies. Their role is to provide some independent input to the leadership of the organisation including acting as a sounding board for the executives and offering a critical assessment of the effectiveness of the management of the organisation. So important are these activities that having too few non-executives or independent directors is often viewed as a sign of poor...
Sustainable Routes – the smart way to cut travel costs!
Has your business been trading since 1st January 2009?
Do you have a turnover of at least £75,000?
Is your business located in Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Berkshire?
Then Sustainable Routes can offer a grant of up to £1,000 to businesses who want to cut business travel costs by adopting new ways of working. If your business is a small or medium sized enterprise (SME) employing less than 250 people and has been trading for at least two years, then here is your opportunity to focus on business...
The Bribery Act 2010 and your business
From the 1st July 2011 the Bribery Act 2010 comes into law. The Act is concerned with bribery. Very generally, this is defined as giving someone a financial or other advantage to encourage that person to perform their functions or activities improperly or to reward that person for having already done so. So this could cover seeking to influence a decision-maker by giving some kind of extra benefit to that decision maker rather than by what can legitimately be offered as part of a tender process.
The Act will have most...
New Leadership and Management funding for 2011/12
Businesses in the south east and south west, with between 2 and 250 full time equivalent employees, can apply for funding to develop their leadership and management skills and support their most important asset.
Funding is now available to eligible businesses that display the potential for high or fast growth, defined as;
if trading for more than 12 months – have the potential to increase turnover by 20% each year for three years
if trading for less than 12 months – have the potential to achieve a turnover...
New funding scheme will support innovative small companies
A new scheme will offer funding to small companies to enable them to research and develop new products, processes and services that could stimulate economic growth.
Managed by the Technology Strategy Board, the Grant for Research and Development scheme, which comes into effect from 4 April 2011, will support small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) across the UK that want to carry out research and development generating new and innovative products and services. The new scheme supersedes the Grant for R&D scheme...
Have you thought about selling your business?
People starting a business are encouraged to prepare a business plan, in part to show themselves and other parties that what they want to do makes sense and will make a profit. Few owners think about selling the business at this time, yet the goal over the long term is to make a return on the financial and emotional investment made when starting the business and over the years ahead. So, why not consider from the start how that return will come about.
Few people get to sell more than one business and if they get it...
Is the Customer King in your Business?
The Governor of the Bank of England recently gave an interview to a British broadsheet newspaper and in it he suggested that the retail banks in the UK were still putting short term profits ahead of customers’ interests. I’m not going to wade into that debate but it got me thinking about the way in which customers interests’ are commonly viewed by businesses.
It’s well-known that the lexicon of business is widely strewn with slogans and credos like “The customer is king” and “No-one...
Business information is not the same as business advice!
There has been an explosion recently in the number of websites offering free business information and “advice.” They are filling the vacuum left since the Government announced the demise of the traditional free Business Link service, which will be replaced with an upgraded website service that will provide business information only. Face to face business advice will no longer be available from Business Link.
Appropriate and free business information is a good thing and a valuable resource for any business, especially...
When did you last review your business?
The business is up and running, you are focused on the day to day activities but do you know where the business is heading, or what is happening in your market sector. When was the last time you looked to the future?
The need to review your business is obvious, but is often put off, a lot of owners and directors will come up with a list as long as your arm as to why they can’t find the time to. Personally I think that is short sighted, having worked with and advised over 450+ businesses, the vast majority felt that...