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Market Conditions

SMEs have reasons to be cheerful in 2015

The manufacturing and services sectors are growing; the number of firms that are recruiting is at an all-time high; and businesses are well-placed to grow in 2015. These are the findings of the British Chambers of Commerce Q4 Quarterly Economic Survey, which polled almost 7,000 UK businesses. Director general John Longworth said: “With employment and […]

69. Leadership in recession for small business – John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership

Leadership has become a major management topic in recent years, and there is a tendency to think naturally about large teams and big corporations. Having yesterday attended a workshop of the Leadership Academy at the Open University the subject of leadership and leading out of recession is top of the mind. Small businesses usually lead the […]

59. Management by Walking Around for small business

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard are not just famous for their computer company – they named the concept of Management by Walking Around, which had a period of popularity and prominence some decades ago – and perhaps its a bit of a shame that it has been somewhat forgotten these days. In large corporates its easy for […]

40. Tom Peters searching for small business excellence in tough times No 2

Peters & Waterman’s first theme which characterised successful businesses from their study of 43 ‘successful’ US businesses was: A bias for action. What they meant by this was that they were companies that did not generally feel the need to spend years studying any development and months contemplating any action. They tended to get on with it, and […]

14. Gladwell’s Tipping Point meets Anderson’s Long Tail for small business

Chris Anderson’s ‘Long Tail’ concept works with Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Tipping Point’ to create results beyond expectation. Down in the Long Tail the niche opportunities exist, and every so often a success emerges – I have mentioned before Heather Gorringe’s WigglyWigglers.co.uk for instance. And here is where the Tipping Point concept comes in. From a remote rural worm-farming business […]

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