Business and Economics

By John Newton, CTO and founder, Alfresco Software “It would be disastrous for the UK economy to leave the EU. That is why I am saying a firm ‘no’ to a UK Brexit. And now I will tell you why… Much has been written on productivity recently – the so-called ‘productivity puzzle’ as it has been tagged. George Osborne devoted a large part of his Budget to helping the UK move up the international league tables and has launched a...

 By Tom West from accounting firm Crunch @TomAlmeidaWest We spend all day being ripped off - whether it’s paying for that gym membership we never use, or spending £1.80 on a 99 Flake (the nerve!). If you’re running your own business, the last thing you can afford to do is rip yourself off. Of course modesty can get the better of anyone, but if your rates don’t reflect the quality of your work, you’ll be selling yourself short and hurting...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent Small and medium-sized enterprises in London are set to eclipse the rest of the country with revenues forecasted to increase by over £160,000 by 2025 compared to the £82,000 increase expected around the country as a whole. Despite the government’s Summer Budget pledge to put the power into the Northern Powerhouse, the gap between London’s small businesses and those in the North looks set to more than double in the next ten years according to new...

By Rebecca Mossman, HR Director EMEA & APAC at HireRight Solving the productivity puzzle is fast becoming a key strategic priority for UK business leaders if they are to keep up with their international counterparts. According to the ONS, Britain produces 30% less per hour than workers in Germany and France. This means that it takes British workers five days to do what our German counterparts do in four. As a result, earlier this month George Osborne unveiled a productivity plan in...

By Steve Taggart As we reported recently, micro businesses and entrepreneurship are getting some great press lately and the growth of small businesses is helping to drive economic recovery here in the UK. But new research has shown that the so-called ‘startup revolution’ appears to be losing pace. The data, which was gathered by business service website Company Check, shows the growth in numbers of new businesses being incorporated each year to have slowed from 13.4% year-on-year between 2010-11 to...

By James Rubin, CEO, www.envirowaste.co.uk UK recycling rates increased rapidly by 32% between 2000 and 2012 but recently this rate has flatlined. Only 33.9% of household waste in London was sent for recycling last year despite Boris Johnson suggesting an initial target of 45% and the EU setting a target of 50% recycling by 2020. As Europe’s greenest major city with 40% of surface area made up of public green spaces, we should be able to work towards these targets....

By David Dumeresque of executive search experts, Tyzack Peter Whitehead, former editor of the FT Non-Executive Directors’ Club, wrote in a Financial Times article titled Non-executive director: a task for which no one is qualified: “The list of attributes required of a non-executive director is so long, precise and contradictory that there cannot be a single board member in the world who fully fits the bill.” There is no doubt that the role of the non-executive director (NED) has changed...

By Mark Mason, Chairman enterprise app consultancy and developer, Mubaloo According to the latest budget, the UK is growing faster than any other major country (UK, 2.6%, USA 2.4%, Canada 2.4%, Japan 0.1%, France 0.4%, Germany 1.5% and Italy which shrank by 0.4%). The UK is also borrowing less and is more focused on long term sustainable growth than it was five years ago. Indeed, we are now at the end of the longest continuous rise in public debt since 17th...

By Jane Ollis, MD of Rift Accounting Micro businesses and entrepreneurship are getting some great press lately and it’s fully deserved. There are now over five million firms in the UK with between 0-9 employees, a huge rise of 1.5 million since the turn of the century. The growth in micro businesses has helped drive the economic recovery and put entrepreneurs at the heart of British business. A new report from the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and...