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 [...]
A wake-up call for entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom January 15, 2012 A SIMPLE formula exists for writing about entrepreneurs: humble beginnings + fighting against the odds + eventual success = inspiring story. The fairytale profile certainly has its place, but entrepreneurship is a subject that deserves a bit more rigour. After all, it’s entrepreneurs that help create the future for the rest of us. The significance [...]
With the Eurozone tottering it may be time we signed up for some Norwegian lessons January 15, 2012 NORWAY is indeed a country of good fortune. Post World War II, the quality of living was relatively poor by Western standards, based upon the proceeds of an old-fashioned primary economy. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1960s, this nation of only 4.9m has rocketed to fourth in the IMF’s league table, [...]
Shareholders are accountable for executives’ pay January 15, 2012 BONUS season is always a potentially politically explosive time and this year is unlikely to prove any different. Total bonus payouts across the City are expected to fall steeply this year from £6.7bn in 2010/11 to £4.2bn (roughly a third of the £11.6bn peak before the crisis) but – understandably – this will not prevent [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 15, 2012 Disagree with Nick I very much agree with Allister Heath’s comments on Friday [Clegg’s latest nonsense] about Nick Clegg’s initiative regarding job applications. As you say, the key is improving education, and not coming up with idiotic proposals such as this. I come from a pretty humble background, and had a solid, redbrick grammar school [...]
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 [...]
