Helping new businesses to cut away useless fat January 15, 2012 Q. WHAT ARE THE KEY TENETS OF THE LEAN STARTUP? A. The word “lean” comes from lean manufacturing, the system of management that has its origins in Japan with the Toyota Production System. The Lean Startup applies these principles to the process of innovation. Unlike the traditional approach to new product development, The Lean Startup [...]
FAITH IN NEW BUSINESS HAS GONE ABROAD January 15, 2012 IN A worrying sign, UK based entrepreneurs have signalled their lack of confidence in Britain, whereas entrepreneurs worldwide have more confidence in their local economies. This was one of the key messages found in the most recent edition of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Global Entrepreneur Indicator, which was conducted in November last year. Twice a [...]
Educating your kids requires a plan January 15, 2012 TONY Blair said “education, education, education”, while Abba said “Money, money money”. It’s still hard to get the best of the former without a pile of the latter. Many parents are faced with massive dilemmas due to the spiralling costs of giving their children what they believe to be the best start in life. For [...]
A scheme to help cut the cost of schooling January 15, 2012 WE HAVE devised a model that can significantly reduce, and potentially eliminate, the tax burden that comes with privately educating children, which is aimed primarily at higher rate taxpayers who own their own businesses. Since it was introduced a year ago, we have saved our clients tens of thousands of pounds. For families interested in [...]
10 key points for your investment diary in 2012 January 15, 2012 WHILE we remain cautious about the coming months and are positioned accordingly, we see the market environment slowly improving. Improving economic data, better than expected corporate earnings, fair equity valuations and low interest rates are all supporting equity markets and the longer-term global recovery. We still maintain that a global recession will be avoided and [...]
NEWS IN BRIEF January 15, 2012 CREDIT CARD SPENDING DOWN According to analysis of customer spending data carried out by Santander Credit Cards, the average credit card spend has fallen four per cent over the past 12 months. The data reveals that while the total number of transactions has increased by one per cent over that time period, the value of [...]
FTSE ends lower as retailers reveal a miserable Christmas January 12, 2012 BRITAIN’S leading shares fell yesterday after a profit warning from Tesco triggered sharp falls in retailers and eclipsed a lift for banks from a successful Spanish debt auction and restructuring at RBS. The FTSE 100 index closed down 8.40 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,662.42, once again missing out in a tilt at the [...]
Wall St sees gains for the fourth day January 12, 2012 THE S&P 500 closed at a five-month high for the third day on yesterday but had difficulty extending gains in the face of lackluster economic data and another European bond market test. Energy shares curbed gains after Chevron, the second-largest US oil company, said fourth-quarter profit would be far below the previous quarter. Chevron slid [...]
Oil majors lead the FTSE 100 lower as investors avoid risk January 11, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue-chip FTSE 100 closed lower yesterday after bouncing once again off an important technical resistance level, led by heavyweight energy stocks on a fresh bout of Eurozone debt-inspired risk aversion. The index traded in a fairly tight range for the early part of the session, rising to test 5,700 before bearish comments from a [...]
US stocks hold up despite euro woes January 11, 2012 US STOCKS held firm near recent five-month highs yesterday as investors awaited key bond market tests for Europe in the next two days that could determine the direction of the Eurozone crisis. US equities have been performing better in the face of turmoil from Europe’s sovereign debt problems. This is a major change from four [...]