Why productivity matters
Productive companies get more out of what they’ve got, enabling them to increase their profits, pay higher wages and invest in their future. More productive businesses mean a more prosperous country. Discover why productivity matters below.
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Planning
Article
How Chance & Counters used personal experience to carve out a niche
Board game café Chance & Counters was founded on a simple belief that most business owners can relate to – that something could be done better.
Create a distinct offering
Sales & Growth
Article
Countries in focus: How the Irish economy took a hit but came out the other side fighting fit
It’s weathered crippling recessions and struggled with an uncompetitive currency, but now the Irish economy is booming and producing highly-productive small and medium-sized businesses.
Expanding & Exporting
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Productive meetings – Ditch mobiles and risk being kicked out
They’re critical for communication and collaboration, but what is the secret to productive meetings? Be the Business showcases eight innovative and original approaches to driving efficiencies.
Leadership Behaviours
Planning
Article
Linking staff incentives with frequent reporting and target hitting
Staff incentives provide a tool to increase motivation, shape the way people work and make businesses more productive. But how are they best aligned with hitting targets and KPIs?
Target Setting
Digital Readiness
Article
An online retail response to the coronavirus outbreak
Mohammed Patel, MD at Kiddies Kingdom, explains how his online retail business has tinkered with systems and processes to ensure it can continue trading.
Digital Commerce
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Joining a family business advisory board can unlock new leadership skills
Three business leaders share their advisory board experience and reveal an unexpected perk – advisors to family businesses gain as much as they give.
Improve your own leadership capabilities
Planning
Article
Coronavirus: Your company’s legal obligations
As the coronavirus outbreak continues it's important to stay up to date with how new developments affect your legal obligations as a business owner.
Video
Small changes make a big difference
Tiny tweaks in a business can turn out to be game-changers. See how many small changes you can spot in this video and watch how they can really add up.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
What a butcher can learn from a steel supplier
Sharing common business problems has brought companies from very different backgrounds together and begun to form long-lasting support networks.
Seek external advice
Digital Readiness
Article
Ecommerce insights from Mountain Warehouse and Emma Bridgewater
Having left the world of consultancy to carve out a career in retail, Kath Brown shared with Be the Business the ecommerce insights she picked up while working for outdoor apparel business Mountain Warehouse and ceramics brand Emma Bridgewater.
Digital Commerce
Sales & Growth
Article
Marketing on a shoestring – the creative ways to get your company’s name out there
From flash mobs to listing on Groupon, discover how four innovative SMEs embraced marketing on a shoestring to great success and carved out new ways of acquiring customers.
Marketing & Sales
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Peter Bibby: I hate waste and I’m efficiency mad
We spoke with Peter Bibby, an expert in turning around failing businesses, with over 20 survival stories under his belt. He shares with us the importance of efficiency and what it takes to make a small and medium-size enterprise successful.
Leadership Behaviours
Article
Pivoting from one business offering to another
As one of her hospitality firm came to a screeching halt, Hattie Mauleverer took solace in an astonishing spike in demand for her other business offering.
People & Team
Article
Tried and tested approaches to deal with staff missing targets
Be the Business spoke to three forward-thinking SMEs about the strategies employed to both identify when staff are missing targets, and get them back on track.
Performance management
Planning
Article
Good cash flow forecasting will show the way
Peter Watson explains how his four-point coronavirus crisis survival strategy is backed up by careful cash flow forecasting that will inform big decisions.
People & Team
Article
Linking innovative performance evaluation schemes with the company culture
Employees, especially millennials, are seeking new ways of working, so companies need to look beyond traditional forms of performance evaluation recommended Ian Hughes.
Performance management
Planning
Article
The power of setting, hitting – and even missing – sales targets
Nikolay Piriankov, founder of engagement ring specialist Taylor & Hart, reveals how using sales targets has incentivised staff to give customers their happily ever after.
Target Setting
People & Team
Article
Business is like sport, you need to balance strengths and weaknesses
Thinking that business is like sport has allowed Roger Smith to focus on building the right mix of people at the family business he's now at the helm of.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
Don’t fret about the costs – consider the motivation gains
"Company rewards schemes do come at a cost, but also help form the corporate culture, attract talented people and maintain job retention at high levels”, said Dave Barnett, who believes strongly in motivation strategies.
Motivation
Leadership & Strategy
Article
This family firm attracts new customers by thinking locally and acting globally
The family run Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway is attracting new customers internationally by working with their local community.
External Collaboration
Planning
Article
Setting targets as a family business – it’s about aligning expectations
Running a family business gives you the chance to think about long-term performance. But it's important to make sure the goals of different family members are aligned when setting targets.
Target Setting
Sales & Growth
Article
Our customers need us – but we can’t get to them
Louise Hosking, founder of Hosking Associates, is rapidly moving the business – and sharing her industry knowledge – online for customers.
Manage customers proactively
Digital Readiness
Article
Using strategic data isn’t as daunting as it might seem
Even if your company isn't of the digital variety, the volume of strategic data now at the fingertips of most business leaders can be quickly converted into practical improvement.
Digital Commerce
Digital Readiness
Article
Successful business process outsourcing comes down to asking the right questions
Whilst it can be tempting go all in on business process outsourcing to keep internal costs down, decision makers need to think about where knowledge gaps exist and how the situation might change as a company expands.
Digital Commerce