SME

Business Extra: News in Brief

Finance still tight: Businesses are still having difficulty accessing finance from their banks despite a fall in decline rates, according to figures released by the Institute of Directors earlier this month. The survey of 899 company directors carried out in June also shows that one in three firms applying for finance in the first six months of the year were declined by their banks. In addition, there is evidence that banks’ lending criteria are being tightened. Miles Templeman, director-general of the organisation, said:

Inside SME

Doing business in China

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

To most people, when British companies do business with China it usually involves outsourcing manufacturing to the rapidly emerging economic power’s low-cost factories. However, it does not have to be like that.

Soap box: Creativity is the future of business success

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

The economic malaise afflicting business in Britain, and many other parts of the developed world, has catalysed a change in the way that business leaders need to think. Yet it’s one for which few of them are well prepared.

Business analysis: "The need for companies to innovate has arguably never been greater than at present"

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

With growth in most major industrialised countries likely to be modest for some time to come, organisations cannot rely on “business as usual” to see them through. They need to come up with products and services that are fresh and exciting. Above all, they need to capture the imagination of the public.

Having a clear cut vision for your business

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Why Tom Byng - founder of Byron - doesn't plan to expand beyond London

Valued employees can make a real difference

Thursday, 24 June 2010

How to bring about fundamental change in the way your company delivers service

An imaginitive approach for entrepreneurs

Thursday, 24 June 2010

As the nanny state is scaled back, it will leave a vacuum for businesses to fill

Business Extra: News in Brief

Thursday, 24 June 2010

Women shun politics Only 1 per cent of female entrepreneurs would consider standing as an MP, compared with 10 per cent of their male counterparts, according to research for the business price comparison service Make It Cheaper.

Business analysis: 'Flexibility and opportunism will be key attributes in the times ahead'

Thursday, 24 June 2010

These are strange economic times. On the one hand, the Government and most commentators are full of gloom. On the other, well, people might not be quite so ready to part with their cash as they were in the heady carefree days of a few years ago, but supermarket and some department store groups seem to be surviving the downturn in a lot better shape than most people expected. Even John Lewis, owner of the decidedly upmarket Waitrose, posted a near-10 per cent increase in profits for the most recent period and handed out hefty bonuses to its “partners”.