Real Business

Do paternity-leave changes spell bad news for business?

... but careful cost-cutting can save your business. Serial entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan gives us six golden rules to get the best results when cutting costs.

An M&A is a challenge for any business. Here’s how to avoid a transitional nightmare.

Niche markets rule – especially for entrepreneurs. Why? Two reasons. First, the mass market is simply too expensive for most new businesses to enter. Second, niche markets are characterised by well-defined customers who, because you know them so well, can be satisfied and delighted beyond anything the mass market can provide.

Real Business columnist Margaret Heffernan wrote a great (although perhaps controversial for workaholic entrepreneurs) article on American business news website Bnet this summer. Heffernan argues you need to stop working 60-hour weeks – it will make you more productive. Do you agree?

Are there any business orthodoxies left? I sometimes wonder. Especially after talking to entrepreneurs who seem to take pride in flouting them. No-one is more proud of his multiple heresies than Ray Kelvin. Ray who? The man that is Ted Baker.

You can get by with a little help from your friends. But to excel, you need informed advice from your peers.

Bright, young entrepreneurs are teaching this seasoned businesswoman a thing or two.

There’s a world of difference between selling in Europe and selling elsewhere.

Behind the smoke and mirrors of climate change: you can’t make a difference without paying a price.

Will the ill wind that’s blowing leave your business vulnerable, or expose its sturdy foundations? 

A downturn is the best time to take your foot off the accelerator and enjoy life in the slow lane for a while. 

Today’s struggling start-ups may be tomorrow’s boom-time success stories. Cut them a little slack.  

We’ve seen recessions before. So, take a deep breath and get on with it. You will survive this.  

Tough times, these. But family businesses know just what to do with a bit of chaos.