Recession

The Government has launched exciting plans to expand the scope of the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA), which it hopes will create 40 000 new businesses by 2013. The NEA will provide up to £2000 to unemployed people who want to start their own business. The scheme will be available to twice as many people as […]

Promising figures recently released point to an increase in start-ups in the UK. Companies House have reported that 359, 651 new companies were formed from January to November 2010. This is a 12% increase on 2009. The British Bankers’ Association have also confirmed around 570,000 companies set up bank accounts last year, the highest figure […]

1: A dead document A business plan that is created for a purpose and then discarded will always become obsolete fast. Making your business plan a living document is essential if you don’t want the whole process to be a failure. Only a regularly reviewed and updated plan can be the spur to look critically […]

The demise of the high street has been a well documented. However, it seems there has been an interesting development in terms of its future. Many customers complain about the fact that if you go to any high street in the UK, the range of shops available will be almost identical. However, not anymore if […]

When the economic downturn first struck and making redundancies became a reality for many small businesses and company formation owners, protocol and procedure went out the window, claims a recent report by the human resource website ‘Staff Seekers’. Now it appears that some corporations may face employees seeking redress and – in some cases – […]

While the small business sector may have lost faith in politics, they are confident about the future of the economy, according to a recent report, conducted by Santander. The report found that over seventy per cent of small business owners think that their company will grow in 2010. While over ninety per cent comment that […]

According to a recent report, conducted by business insurance consultants ‘Your Business’, one of the biggest challenges the small businesses have faced during the recession, is late payment and bad debt. The survey found that throughout the last two years almost fifty per cent of the SME sector have incurred some element of bad debt. […]

While the retail sector is currently experiencing a period of regeneration, according to a recent report, conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses, the business to business and business service sector have seen a sharp decline in profit, during the first quarter of 2010. According to the survey, management consultancy firms and business analysts are […]

One of the major casualties of the recession was consumer confidence. Consumers no longer wanted to spend money on non-essential goods or high commitment purchases such as furniture, and the retail sector suffered massively as a result. However, according to a recent report from the British Chambers of Commerce, consumer confidence has increased massively in […]

While many high street retailers planned for a surge in sales around Christmas and a further increase in revenue during the January sales, a recent report conducted by the BRC showed that retail revenue fell by 0.7% in January – the worst in fifteen years. According to the report, this was a consequence of the […]

When the government announced, somewhat tentatively, that the UK was finally out of recession, the public breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, many economists warn that the economy is still far from stable. Indeed, according to company liquidation experts, the number of small businesses going into administration is still set to rise throughout 2010, […]

Last week the Office for National Statistics revealed that throughout September and December, unemployment figures in the UK reduced by 7,000. However, a recent report by the CIPD warns that these figures, while positive, may well mask a broader issue. Many economists predicted that unemployment in the UK would reach an all time high during […]

You cannot fail to have noticed the drop in temperature over the past couple of days. However, if the findings of a recent report are to be believed, it is not only the weather that is freezing. According to a report conducted by the Institute of Management and Professional Development, since the recession began, just […]

If recent reports are to be believed, the UK will be on its way out of recession in 2010. But what has the ‘credit-crunch’ taught small businesses and people considering company formation? We know it hasn’t put them off starting their own company,  research has found that company formation figures are up on last year, […]

During the festive period, it is easy to think that most recent company formations are in the retail sector, and ignore the business to business arena. However, yesterday’s statement from Sage, the UK’s biggest professional software provider, reminded us that other sectors are still suffering. Sage announced poor quarterly figures last month and was identified […]

The biggest online shopping day of the year was announced in yesterday’s post. However, it was felt that the trend would not continue offline. However, a recent report conducted by business analysts ‘JWT’ found that all retail sectors experienced growth over the last month; with the biggest revenue increase being recorded in fashion. The report […]

MTV, Lexis Nexis, CNN and Microsoft ARE all companies that were formed during economic downturns – indicating that necessity is the mother of all innovation. Now, according to recent company formation figures, tenacity is set to triumph again, as the number of people forming companies, is increasing despite the recession. Regardless of the well documented […]

While the media has been saturated with news of the government’s increasing support of the SME sector, – with Business Secretary Lord Mandleson announcing that they are the ‘backbone’ of the UK’s economy. It seems that the majority of business owners still do not feel enough is being done to help them survive the recession. […]

Last month America announced that its economy had comes out of the recession. As the old saying goes; “When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.” That was the situation when the American first entered the recession and yet as it has now recovered; the same cannot be said for the economic […]

While the government has been concentrating on macro economics, most small businesses on the front line of the recession have been concentrating on how to ensure they don’t have to make redundancies. One of the many strategies – including cost cutting, better cash flow management and diversification – that many small business owners employed, in […]

On the back of the Government’s recent announcement, that they will be injecting a further £39 billion into banks, to make more finance available to small companies, their very own ‘enterprise champion” , Sir Alan Sugar, has claimed that it was lending inappropriately to small businesses, that got the UK into the recession to begin […]

Last week’s announcement that the United States had emerged from the recession, has put increasing pressure on the UK Government to follow suit ,by announcing the end of economic contraction. According to a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Alistair Darling is being strongly discouraged from raising taxation on small business, in […]

As the recession continues to bite, many business analysts have stated that the SME sector has been the worse effected. This, it has been suggested, is a consequence of a lack of available finance to help recently formed companies. However, if recent research is to be believed, this has not dampened the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit. […]

The media is saturated with news of redundancy and businesses going into administration. However, recent research suggests that over half of small companies feel that the demands of recession have forced them to become more efficient. Consumer spend has decreased to record levels as a result of a number of contributing factors, namely the fact […]

While hopes of a swift end to the recession were diminished last week, as the UK’s leading economic think tank reported a drop in Industrial output over the last month. According to a recent report by finance firm Collonil, business growth was reported throughout most regions in the UK The figures revealed a 5% increase […]

In a previous post, we discussed how a rise in online sales is helping secure the survival of the British high street .However, a recent report reveals that Christmas sales on the high street this year could be even worse than 2008. While, a reported increase in retail sales throughout June and July was encouraging, […]

In our previous posts, we have established that the credit crunch offers the company formation and SME sector numerous opportunities. But what impact has the recession had on the sort of marketing campaigns businesses are running? Aggressive discounts and sales have become the way forward for many brands, but is this sort of promotion the […]

The recession has had an impact on almost every person working in the UK today. From salary cuts to redundancy, we have all experienced the credit crunch in a personal way and adapted to the challenges it has presented differently. However, according to a recent report, female employees feel they are doing more than their […]

While they media continues to be saturated with stories of recessionary doom and gloom, a report published by intellectual property law firm Moran & Mercer suggests that it may not be all bad. According to Moran & Mercer, the number of patent applications they have received since the recession hit has almost doubled, suggesting that […]

The recession has posed many challenges to the small business and company formation sector; declining consumer spends, increasing business costs and aggressive competitor price cutting to name but a few. A recent report revealed that as a response to these challenges many small business are planning to invest in technological change to make the way […]

It is a widely acknowledged fact that running a small business is costly and bureaucratic. However, a recent report carried out by independent watch dog More Than Business has revealed that running a small company is not as costly as it was last year and that the company formation sector is set to benefit. According […]

In yesterday’s post we asked leading entrepreneur Mark Williams, not only how he started the company formation process in a recession, but also how he managed to grow it. In today’s post we suggest that by concentrating on your company’s objectives, identifying and incentivising your key team members, your business can grow during the credit […]

It is a well known and documented fact that nearly half of all new company formations fail within the first two years. This can attributed to a number of factors; declining market conditions, increasing market saturation or a poor sales and marketing strategy. However, in many cases it is simply the result of bad financial […]

As the credit crunch continues to dictate the future of small business, insolvency, client cut backs and longer payment cycles have become an economic reality. For many business owners, when profits fall, the immediate temptation is to dramatically cut back on areas which are not perceived as ‘business critical.’ However, many business analysts suggest that […]

Though the current economic climate is less then favourable, the good news is that even in bad times, there are businesses that emerge from the recession stronger and more profitable than before. At the time Business Strategist Ian Matthews joined property management company WRS, the business was in the process of decline. Cash flow problems, litigation […]

Only a year ago, the term ‘Credit Crunch’ didn’t exist. Now, it has become a phrase that defines not only a political party, but a generation. In this series, we consider the impact of the recession on the SME sector and why it is more important now than ever, that small businesses address not only […]

The news that publishing group EMAP was closing the iconic Smash Hits magazine after 28 years of trading, not only signified an evolving market but also the impact of not consistently evaluating your business. In this post, we consider how to spring clean the various areas of your company to achieve your strategic goals. Pay […]

In our previous posts, we have discussed the potential benefits of company formation in a recession and – subsequently – how to ‘recession-proof’ your business. In this post we will consider the main reason small businesses fail in an economic downturn – lack of cash flow. However innovative the idea, and well structured the business, […]

Beginning the company formation process in a recession, is not the easiest time .Historically, recently formed companies require a lot of capital to begin trading and in a recession investors are less willing to inject capital into a relatively high risk venture. However, if you are planning to form a small business with low overheads- […]

The objective of our Recession Survey was to establish the impact of ‘recession’ on the SME sector. This post will concentrate on how to ‘recession-proof’ your business. Small businesses often do not have enough control of their situation, the below advice will hopefully ensure you business comes out of the recession more streamlined and profitable […]