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Author Archive for Gordon

One big issue in the workplace these days is attaining balance between work and family life. And this goes not only for employees and rank-and-file staff, but also for management and company executives. In most cases, it doesn’t really make much of a difference whether one is in a large company, or running a small business. Companies have come to realize that they have to work out schemes by which employees can balance their careers with their personal lives. At first, it may not be clear enough, but after a closer look, it rings true that the best employee is ...


In order to further spur growth and achieve next-level expansion, some business interests and companies will have to start trading with foreign companies. There are inherent difficulties in dealing with foreign companies especially when it comes to the matter of money. Business solutions experts encourage businessmen to follow some of these good business practice tips on how to facilitate easier payment dealings with foreign companies: Extend credit with care. Some businessmen would extend credit to overseas customers without adequately studying the risks involved. They should remember it is harder to get financial data on a company from another ...


Having had my little baby accessories business for about a year, I somehow managed to elude what I perceived as the trappings of a “proper business”, scraping by quite happily, but admittedly inefficiently.

I sold my adorably useful goods at village fairs or simply by word of mouth through friends and family. Things were good, easy, manageable, and my modest home double-dutied as office, warehouse, call centre, shop front and so on - that is until I accepted an unprecedented massive order, and at the same time, received the happy, but stunning news that our cosy family of three would soon ...




Businesses who are going to give gifts to valued clients should do their homework when it comes to the type of gifts they plan to give. This, after a Royal Mail research revealed that presents that are ill-considered can actually damage a business relationship.

The research said that about 57 per cent of businesses felt that less than 5 per cent of gifts that were sent their way last year were designed with them in mind. But more telling was that 34 per cent said they will feel that their business is really important if a supplier sent a ...




Studying your competitor is one of the most important responsibilities of an entrepreneur. By gaining knowledge about a competitor they will be more equipped to handle the competition. But how do you go about this function especially if you have limited financial resources? Company formation and business solutions experts agree that it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive to study the competition. Some of the competition-studying tactics that can be done are: • Study the competitor’s website • Talk to the competition (depending on the sector, this is possible but you must follow certain etiquettes) • Ask friends and associates • Investigate the competitor’s SEC papers • Use ...


The usual problem of trying to find funding and finance to set up a business is no longer the biggest barrier to enterprise. This was the finding of a poll of early stage start-ups that overwhelmingly rated credit management as the biggest obstacle. The study was carried out by the Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG) as it polled over 200 small enterprises about the difficulties they have experienced in starting and operating a business into a thriving success. A similar small business enquiry made by Enterprise Insight, the group behind the forthcoming Enterprise ...


In an earlier post, we reported that most UK small businesses are no longer seeing the need to name their companies based on their family names. In the survey conducted by British Gas Business , 74 per cent of business owners now prefer more memorable names that are not related to any kind of family ties in forming their business . According to British Gas Business’ commercial director, Adrian Harvey said “Small businesses have to punch above their weight to compete against larger competitors with more established brands. A company’s name plays an important role in ...


One of the most common pitfalls for business owners is to make marketing plans without any competitor information. This is akin to devising a battle strategy without knowing who your enemy is! An effective marketing plan is based on information. The better the information, the more effective the plan. Analyse your competitors’ strengths and weakness. Their strengths are the threats to your business, and their weaknesses are your opportunities. Be as objective as possible, since this will be the backbone of your whole plan. A subjective view can break even the most well-thought out plan because ...


Now that you’ve done research and devised an impregnable battle plan the final step would be to “amass your forces”, so to speak. This is where your available resources and how you manage them will come into play. At this stage, it will be important to determine how your competitors are using and managing their resources . But this is not a battle to overwhelm a competitor with sheer numbers, rather it is a conscientious allocation of available resources. Use just enough to get the job done and follow your marketing strategy without any wastage. The question you ...


In the battle for market share and domination over your competitors, the right information can be your best defence and most potent offensive weapon. Now that you know who your competitor is, with an intimate knowledge of what makes him tick and how he is placed in your market, the next step would be the battle for perception. This is where inspired marketing, clever information dissemination and a feel for the pulse of your market will come into play. The questions that you would need to ask when dealing with perception is: How does my competitor position himself? ...


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