October 31, 2010
Filed under: Business Travel — Alan @ 2:32 am
Next week will see a rise in flight taxes and British Airways is speaking out about it. The BA Chief Executive has stated that the tax will have a devastating effect on the amount of business that is done in the UK because of the increased costs of travel.
He has also been quick to point out that the hike in flight taxes will impact the average family travelling on holiday more than the rich tourist. Families scrimp and save to put together enough money for their yearly holiday, he says, and now that holiday will cost the average family of four who are travelling to the U.S. an additional £60. In tern, the accommodation industry looks to be negatively affected. Smaller family run businesses will 'feel' it the most, while it might take some time until top boutique hotels are affected. Sources say that flight taxes will rise by up to 55%, mostly on the economy class fairs.
It is more difficult for that working man’s family to scrape up the additional air passenger duty than it is for the wealthy first class flyer, is Willie Walsh’s point. It is a bad time to make travel more expensive to the common man and to increase the cost for people wanting to travel to and from Britain.
October 29, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 6:48 pm
As the potential of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) is seen as being in swapping copper cables with networks of optical fibre. The Government has, as such, become bogged down with giving customers a better 2mbp service, which some believe is holding back the introduction of new technology. BT are committed to fibre optics but need reassurance that they can capitalise on any investment.
Ofcom are supporting the major players, knowing that these large ventures involving enormous amounts of money need to be encouraged by allowing a good financial return. Since BT launched the Openreach service, progress has ground to a halt so it believes that letting the networks set price levels for a more efficient service is justifiable.
The UK is the tenth most active user of Information Communication Technology as seen in the latest studies. This is despite the fact that it is one of the highest priced networks in Europe. This is a huge factor that keeps usage down, as consumers watch how much time they spend using their internet broadband and other services. .
October 28, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 6:57 pm
The Property Alliance Group based in Trafford has signed into a management agreement with the easyOffices of Sir Stelios Haji-Ionnou for its Manchester, Devonshire House, office building.
Devonshire House is found on George Street directly off of New York Street and has undergone a major refurbishment in order to produce a more modern entrance and reception area.
The office space contains six floors over 14,000 sq ft and is the first easyOffice to be established in Manchester when it opens this coming June. The Office space will contain around 260 separate workstations that will hire out for £45 per week.
Each office will be individualized and fully furnished and will also include telephony and IT services. Additionally, on the work site will be on-site parking and meeting rooms.
Chairman of PAG, David Russel, stated that due to the fact that the market has changed there is now a larger demand for flexible office space within the city, which was shown in the synergy utilized with easyOffice to bring the new office space to Manchester.
Russell continued to note that Devonshire House is found within the city centre at a great location, close to the business core, as well as arterial routes and major transport links.
Haji-Ioannou added that the new expansion will set the group ahead of their targets to offer office space at great locations to cities and towns that are located throughout the UK. He stated that the new Manchester opening shows that they are working to take the concept of easyOffice out of London and make it accessible to other regions of the UK.
Filed under: Business Advice,Employees — admin @ 9:41 am
PMI Health Group have produced some tips for business to help with managing stress in the workplaceis advising businesses that have increased workplace demands on staff in the wake of the economic downturn to take appropriate measures to manage employee stress.
- minimise anxiety by communicating in a clear, open and honest fashion with staff when implementing organisational change or revising working practices.
- give supervisors and line managers suitable training, where appropriate, on best practice to facilitate two-way dialogue and enable staff to adapt to any changes that might occur.
- ensure all employees are fully trained to carry out their employment duties, particularly when they are expected to adapt to new workplace responsibilities.
- ensure managers regularly review workload demands and realistically assess employees’ capacities so they don’t become overloaded.
- monitor employees working hours and ensure staff take their full holiday entitlement.
- foster workplace cultures that encourage positive relationships between management and employees. Even when business pressures demand increasing employee workloads, for example, staff should be given regular breaks during which they can engage with colleagues.
- ensure they have suitable complaints and support procedures in place so that employee grievances can be appropriately handled should they arise. Employees should also have access to union or staff representatives.
- provide employees suffering with stress with confidential counselling and access to information on support, advice and self-help groups.
- introduce flexible working practices where possible to encourage a healthy work-life balance and to support staff facing pressures outside of work, such as those with caring responsibilities.
- measure their workplace environment against the Health & Safety Executive’s Management Standards that define the characteristics, or culture, of organisations that have implemented best practice in stress risk management.
October 23, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 5:43 am
The new Comprehensive Spending Review has announced the largest government spending cuts since World War II. Chancellor George Osborne explained that the cuts were to help Britain step from the brink and heal itself from the damage imposed by nearly ten years of unchecked government spending. The total amount of cuts reach somewhere slightly above £80 billion.
In a further effort to cut expenses, the Chancellor announced the dismantling of publicly funded non-government agencies or quangos. Many of them will be cut at the Department of Business, Innovation, and Industry. Along with abolishing the quangos, the Train to Gain Programme, whose mission was to aid employers in getting training designed to uplift the skills of workers, will be cancelled.
He also broadcast plans to make 66 the new pension age and to cut half a million jobs in the public sector by the year 2015.
Despite the cuts, the private sector has responded with positive input. Representatives have described the chancellor’s moves as a call to action for small business and hope that such obvious reliance on the private sector to bail out the economy will make banks more cooperative with private sector lending.
To this end, they are still calling on the government to produce a Small Business Growth Program that would insist on help from banks and lenders for small business operators. While the private sector has been calling upon the government repeatedly for such a programme, the government, as of late, has made no mention of it.
October 21, 2010
Filed under: Business Advice — Alan @ 4:31 am
Often, traditional business plans do not work because while they should be the driving force behind a business according to the textbooks, business plans are not always flexible enough to meet the demands of the modern business world.
The aim of a business is to help a business work towards it s goals, however, most business plans are written, filed, and then never seen again. This is the main problem with a business plan, in order for it to actually work it has to be alive and present in the business. Every day in a business things change and while the final goal may change an adaptable business plan will change with it so that a suitable path can be discerned.
Since a business plan will not evolve on its own, a better path to success includes a strategic business plan. This type of strategy begins with a vision of how the company should operate and look and then looks back to see where the business sits at the moment. It also looks closely at the qualifications, systems, current strategies, organizational hierarchy, and tactics.
By taking a look at the business in this light, the plan is able to accurately identify what the business needs to do in order to turn its original vision into reality. To make this happen a strategic business plan needs to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ascertain where progress is being made and what can be adapted so that further progress can be made.
October 15, 2010
Filed under: Employees — Alan @ 5:26 am
Government cuts in spending are going to lead to nearly a million job losses, reports are claiming. About half of the job losses would come from the private sector because of jobs supported by government contracts. The rest would come from within the government itself.
The hardest hit are predicted to be business services and construction sector jobs. The report placed the total job loss, including those jobs cut from the private sector because of public sector cuts, at just a shade over 940,000 jobs.
The same report stated that this outcome would create a drag on economic recovery but not destroy it altogether. The report, compiled by the accounting firm of PwC said that increases in labour flexibility; people working for fewer hours and less wages, would help reduce the job losses. That, however, would affect the economic recovery.
The areas expected to be hardest hit would be the Southeast of England, Scotland, and the Northwest. PwC stated that percentage speaking; Ireland would be hardest hit with five per cent of all jobs lost.
Treasury replied to the report by saying that a decisive plan needs to be found in order to lessen the UK deficit and return faith in the economy. Although there was no speculation on what that plan might be or who was working on it, if anyone at all.
The Treasury further stated that not working on such a plan would jeopardize the economic recovery. Experts from the Bank of England, International Monetary Fund, and The World Bank agree.
October 8, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 3:59 am
Reports continue to show that the economic recovery is slowing, if it even ever really got started. A key indicator, the services industry, has experienced a reduction in new orders just at a time it was supposed that service sector businesses would begin to gain impetus.
The recent report has ignited concerns about another recession and slowed a small gain in employment. In August, service industry businesses hit a 16-month low. September’s numbers gained over that record low, but not as substantially as expected.
This slow in the service industry completely nullifies assertions that gains in private sector employment were about to begin offsetting public sector losses. The rate of increase from August to September could only be described as modest and the third quarter of 2010 reflects lows not experienced from the second quarter in 2009.
Mate this with a construction downturn and a fall off of export orders all through the same month, and you can hardly say you have recovery. Economists say these are all indicators of suppressed growth over the next several months, certainly not increased growth.
New business growth is nearly stagnant and confidence is at a level consistent with high economic stress. This lack of new business growth spurs reduced confidence, which indicates little business gains in the near future.
Economists and experts are also concerned that a lack of confidence, cancellation of government contracts, construction and export turndowns, and the service industry report add fuel to concerns that the recovery has lost momentum and negatively impacts the cycle of business inflow and employment.
October 7, 2010
Filed under: Business Advice,Business Books — admin @ 12:34 pm
Popular TV programmes like The Apprentice, which starts again this week on the BBC today, inspire many people to start businesses.
In the UK alone, around 400,000 new businesses are started each year.
With today’s poor job market, many more people are considering setting up a business, especially those who have received substantial redundancy pay offs.
But is this a wise move? Small business owner Neil Boom and author of the new satirical business book Going Bust: How to Ruin Your Business, says starting your own venture is often a sure fire way of losing your shirt. Neil Boom’s new book is a humorous guide to running businesses, which aims to make the venture fail as quickly as possible, so their owners can return to the old lives with the least damage done.
Here are ten good reasons NOT to start a business.
1. Over half of all new ventures go bust within a couple of years. Is this
how you really want to spend your redundancy money or hard earned
savings?
2. Running a business is much much harder than going to work, and when
things go wrong – which they will – you’ll have no boss to blame. This
is clearly no fun.
3. And that’s the last time you can throw a sickie. Doesn’t bear thinking
about does it?
4. You’ll have to understand boring things like profit and loss accounts,
cash flow and profit margins, when you could be talking about The X
Factor instead.
5. You’ll be lonely. Running a business, especially as a sole trader, can
be a lonely affair: no meetings, no gossip by the copier, no flirting
with Cheryl from accounts.
6. Say goodbye to sleep. You’ll never have time for sleep again, as you
rise with the paper boys and go to bed with the drunks.
7. If you end up badly in debt and are forced to go bankrupt, you’ll ruin
your credit rating. That’s no cheap mortgage for you ever again, sucker.
8. Remember how much you liked seeing your family and friends? Kiss them
goodbye too.
9. Remember too your company pension, car, bonus and other benefits. All
gone, probably never to return.
10. Did I mention holidays? Gone too, apart from a few odd days a year when
you’re far too tired and broke to enjoy them.
Going Bust: How to Ruin Your Business is available from www.amazon.co.uk.
Filed under: Business Finance — Alan @ 3:57 am
CEOs from Britain’s largest banks are in the process of setting up a venture capital fund to aid small businesses. The fund would provide a much needed cash flow injection into chosen small business applicants. It might also make them more likely to get credit from lending institutions.
The banks involved in creating the fund are Barclays, RBS, Standard Chartered, HSBC, and Lloyds. The fund will provide expansion and development equity for small businesses and each bank would, effectively, have a stake in the businesses.
The banks will all deposit millions into the fund to get it started, with the suggestion that the amount could go as high as 250 million pounds per bank, the venture capital fund could reach as high as one billion pounds.
This all came about as through a taskforce organized by British Bankers’ Association in combination with Department of Business and Treasury. The venture capital fund is awaiting approval from the Financial Services Authority and the bank boards.
Only a couple of dozen companies whose turnover is under 250 million pounds will probably qualify for funding. Companies whose turnover is under 20 million pounds are not likely to qualify. Business secretary Cable and Chancellor Osborne will receive finalized plans shortly.
The same taskforce who put together the venture capital fund is also expected to recommend assistance measures for small business, such as a new process for reviewing loan applications, a mentoring programme designed for small business, and a promise to provide small companies with more greatly detailed information on loans.
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