Elevate - for business leaders
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business advice,
Media sector
| Tags: business,
media,
Twitter,
social media,
Facebook,
marketing,
blogs,
LinkedIn,
Enterprise 2.0,
forums,
community,
Chris Brogan
There are powerful business facets to Twitter and Facebook, but it requires some close attention to leverage them. ‘Social media rock star’ Chris Brogan suggests the first four steps any business should take. (Click the image to see a day in the social media life of Chris Brogan).
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Monday, September 06, 2010 | Posted by: Francesca Lagerberg
Categories:
Business advice,
Tax
| Tags: tax,
offshore,
tax avoidance,
tax havens,
corporation tax,
relocation,
migration,
patent box,
CFC,
controlled foreign company,
foreign branch profits,
tax rate,
competitive
When the coalition government gained power, one of its stated aims was to make the UK’s corporate tax regime the most competitive in the G20. However, despite that announcement, William Hill has decided that it will join the long list of companies who have moved overseas in recent years in order to save tax. The question is, where should companies place their bets?
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Friday, September 03, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Retail sector
| Tags: business,
entrepreneur,
CEO,
online,
interview,
retail,
Nick Robertson,
ASOS,
e-commerce,
shopping
Since internet fashion retailer began 10 years ago, ASOS founder and CEO Nick Robertson has helped to define the new millennium’s online retail revolution. But it seems that ’s just the start. “We plan to make ASOS a £1 billion sales company in five markets in just five years,” he says.
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Thursday, September 02, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Media sector
| Tags: business,
Alex Connock,
media,
BBC,
Edinburgh,
broadband,
TV,
Google,
ITV,
Channel 4,
television,
James Murdoch,
YouTube,
Mark Thompson,
Sky,
Paul Abbott,
festival,
local TV
Alex Connock, CEO, Ten Alps: Edinburgh – it’s architecturally optimised for ghost stories. But last week there were fewer of the ghouls that traditionally lurk outside the city’s annual TV Festival – the economy, the supposed death of quality, lowest common denominator TV, the threat from YouTube and Google, and potential radical change to the BBC.
In fact, for the compulsively pessimistic TV industry – it almost felt upbeat.
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Friday, August 27, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Economy
| Tags: business,
tax,
recession,
investment,
CEO,
budget,
Scott Barnes,
recovery,
ICAEW,
Michael Izza,
BCM,
Business confidence monitor
Confidence among businesses has fallen according to the latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM), indicating that the economic recovery will slow in the second half of 2010.
Download the report here.
Despite uncertainty as to the impact on the recovery of the Coalition Government’s plans to reduce public spending, the BCM’s financial performance indicators suggest that the financial health of UK businesses continues to improve.
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Thursday, August 26, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Retail sector,
Thought Leadership
| Tags: innovation,
business,
survey,
report,
data,
business models,
retail,
analysis,
comment
Retailers desperately need to review or renew the way they do business in order to survive profound changes in the market and the economy – that was the finding of our recent survey of UK retail business models. But how? Here we’re republishing some of the advice from three retail experts and business analysts in the report.
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Friday, August 20, 2010 | Posted by: Gary Woods
Categories:
Business advice,
Tax
| Tags: business,
tax,
VAT,
Gary Woods,
tax year,
suppliers,
expenditure,
reclaiming,
rise,
increase,
admin,
timing
“In the bleak midwinter, the VAT rate increase made moan…” Not quite the first line of the Rossetti poem, but the planned 2.5% increase in VAT from the beginning of next year will still bring a chill to both consumers and businesses. So what can be done to make New Year a little happier for both?
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Thursday, August 12, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Economy,
Retail sector,
Thought Leadership
| Tags: innovation,
survey,
report,
data,
business models,
retail
…and suggests that it is time for retailers to move beyond cost-cutting as the main thrust in their business models. Read on for details of the full report.
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Thursday, July 29, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
| Tags: links,
online,
sales,
BP,
advertising,
Elevate,
CEOs,
Zappos,
payouts,
Old Spice
Our monthly pick of the most popular web stories for business leaders and entrepreneurs.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Financing
| Tags: economy,
international,
M&A,
retail,
corporate finance,
mid-market,
Private Equity,
Stephen Baker,
support services,
transactions,
consolidation
.
Which sectors are experiencing an increase in deal activity? And what types of buyers are the most active? In an interview with M&A magazine, Grant Thornton’s Stephen Baker provided his thoughts on the current UK M&A market and also makes a few predictions
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Monday, July 26, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Tax
| Tags: Francesca Lagerberg,
tax policy,
consultation,
Tax Manifesto,
tax reform,
David Gauke,
Forum for Tax Professionals,
UK, business
It’s great to see that Francesca Lagerberg has been appointed to the coalition Government’s newly launched Forum for Tax Professionals – not just because she’s our own Head of Tax, but because, ahead of the election, we were lobbying for just such a committee to give tax experts and businesses a voice on UK tax policy.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Media sector
| Tags: Alex Connock,
entrepreneurs,
media,
BBC,
Glasgow,
Manchester,
Media City,
Pacific Quay,
TV formats,
Monkey Tennis
Alex Connock, CEO, Ten Alps: There is a great game played by TV formats producers called Monkey Tennis. Look into it – the speed and creative invention, its similarity to the accelerated brutality of consumer demand – and you will see product development across any business in the shape-shifting 2010 economy.
Here’s how to play…
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Thursday, July 15, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
My big decision
| Tags: business,
entrepreneurs,
entrepreneur,
My Big Decision,
marketing,
customers,
crisis,
Seth Godin,
clients,
fired
Seth Godin has the top-ranked marketing blog in the world, is the author of 12 best-sellers and invented the concept of permission marketing. But in his days as a book packager, he was hated by his biggest-paying client and had to make the toughest of business calls, as he reveals in Grant Thornton’s new My Big Decision interview.
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
My big decision
| Tags: innovation,
entrepreneurs,
entrepreneur,
My Big Decision,
marketing,
brand,
Seth Godin,
action figure,
purple cow,
doll
We’re pleased to announce that our next My Big Decision interviewee will be the world-famous marketer and blogger, Seth Godin – coming shortly on Elevate.
Interspersed with him talking about a critical decision he has made, however, are glimpses of the Kewpie Doll and figures collection he keeps in his office - ending on shot of a Seth Godin ‘Mini-Me’. Yes, it seems the man has his own action figure! Here’s the story of the doll…
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Friday, July 09, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Economy,
Financing
| Tags: recession,
economy,
property,
survey,
data,
manufacturing,
construction,
British Chambers of Commerce,
sector,
service,
interest rates,
export sales,
interet rat,
BCC
The British Chambers of Commerce’s latest Quarterly Economic Survey out this week (6 July 2010) saw the UK economy managing to keep out of recession in Q2 and build on the growth kickstarted in Q1. But, while predicting further growth, it seems the BCC is also seriously concerned about a relapse.
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Wednesday, July 07, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business advice
| Tags: survey,
governance,
report,
risk,
emerging markets,
compliance,
Bribery Act,
competition,
risk management,
bribery,
corruption,
anti-corruption,
liability,
ethics,
FCPA,
bribe,
hospitality,
criminal
The UK Bribery Act became law in April 2010 and will come into force later this year, creating a host of fresh risks to business and commercial organisations, and presenting a complex ethical conundrum. And yet, our survey suggests senior management frequently turn a blind eye to business conducted abroad at local or ground level in order to grease the wheels of industry.
So, exactly what are the risks – and more importantly how can you mitigate them?
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Wednesday, July 07, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business advice
| Tags: business,
entrepreneurs,
links,
CEO,
blog,
list,
Enterprise 2.0,
chief executive,
blogging
Bosses who blog are few and far between, but do it well and it can reap the rewards for your business. So for the toe-dippers out there, we’ll be looking at 10 chief executives who blog and look at their different approaches …
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Wednesday, July 07, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business advice
| Tags: business,
entrepreneurs,
CEO,
blog,
David Cameron,
risks,
marketing,
leadership,
chief executive,
blogging,
Enterprise 2.0,
With entrepreneurship firmly back on the agenda, according to Prime Minister David Cameron, and Enterprise 2.0 seeing companies turning to social software to boost business, we ask: is it time to revisit the CEO blog?
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Tuesday, July 06, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Environment
| Tags: business,
links,
India,
property,
China,
emerging markets,
magazine,
non-executive director,
social media,
yachts,
fund management,
Elevate,
rethink
Hot off the press and with a theme of The Big Rethink is Elevate Issue 3. We’ll be picking out some of the features here on the Elevate blog, but why wait – you can download a virtual copy of the new issue and get inspired now. Here’s a preview of what’s inside…
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Monday, June 28, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Economy,
Tax
| Tags: media,
property,
technology,
capital gains tax,
CGT,
VAT,
reaction,
George Osborne,
Budget,
public sector,
construction,
IR35,
local government,
capital investment,
bank levy,
Budget2010
Pain today, profit tomorrow? That seemed to be the overall aim of George Osborne’s first Budget. But find out what Grant Thornton’s experts really thought as we round up the partners’ responses on Budget changes and how they affect the construction, technology, property, media and other sectors…
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