Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
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Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
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Blogs
Check out our blogs section where Chamber representatives, members and high-profile business figures write about a range of topics. If you are a member and want to submit a blog, please click here.
What are ‘standard terms of business’? court of appeal ponders
By Kamal Majevadia | Sydney Mitchell Solicitors
The law frowns on unreasonable contractual terms contained within standard terms of business – but what exactly does the latter phrase mean? The Court of Appeal considered that issue in an important test case that will be required reading for anyone involved in the lending industry. A consortium of three banks had lent $150 million to a company engaged in an oil production programme in Nigeria. The company defaulted and, following litigation, it no longer disputed its obligation to repay the loan in full. An associated company and an individual who had each guaranteed repayment of the loan also accepted that they were liable to make repayment. The company and the guarantors, however, had...
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British business must plug productivity with leadership and investment
By Glenn Caton | Mondelēz International
Speaking last week, the Governor of the Bank of England highlighted that uncertainty over Brexit means some businesses are not investing. Since the EU referendum last year, businesses he said “have invested much less aggressively than usual in response to an otherwise very favourable environment”. The Governor’s comments coincided with the Bank’s decision to keep interest rates at 0.25% and to lower this year’s growth forecast slightly, from 1.9% to 1.7%. The Governor was warning that the impact of Brexit is beginning to bite. So what should we do as business leaders? We can take some comfort from the recent Purchasing Managers’ Index survey which showed stronger growth in the manufacturing...
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The evolution of marketing segmentation
By Gillian Hutchinson | Aardvark marketing consultants
We’re in a golden age of marketing segmentation and automation. Marketers are benefitting from being able to personalise marketing messages using automation systems that segment us according to the choices we make, what we do, what we view, who we talk to and what we spend. Martin Hayward of Hayward Strategy and Futures recently wrote an interesting article about marketing segmentation through the ages. His historical analysis of how marketers have changed their segmentation techniques makes interesting reading: 1. You are what you earn – still used extensively today, this model grouped consumers by social class. This model assumes that class, employment and consumer spending power were related. For...
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We’re Going to Hollywood!
By Chadd Blunt | Millennium Cargo Services Ltd
We’re Going to Hollywood! We’ve all dreamed of seeing our name in lights and swanning down the red carpet at a blockbuster movie premier. But as entrepreneurs it’s rare that business ever takes us that way. Rare, but not impossible. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from my partner in LA. He had just had a great meeting in Hollywood with a big name producer, Ralph Winter. If you haven’t heard of him before then you’ll certainly have heard of his movies. With credits in X-men, Fantastic Four, I-Robot, Planet of the Apes and even Star Wars, you’d have to have been living under a rock not to have come across his work. Ralph is currently on set in Fiji, working on a movie called “Adrift”. A story...
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Supreme Court scraps 'unlawful' Employment Tribunal fees
By Sarah | Begley
In arguably the most significant judgement in employment law over the last 50 years, the Supreme Court has decided that the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees Order 2013 prevents access to justice and is unlawful. Additionally, it was found that the fee regime indirectly discriminates against women because a higher proportion of women bring discrimination cases. Sarah Begley of The Wilkes Partnership Employment Team examines this landmark decision and discusses the possible outcomes. The government introduced fees in 2013 with the aim of reducing the number of malicious and weak cases, but that led to over a 70% reduction in cases over three years. The short-term consequence...
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Putting the customer front and centre
By Aaron Ghuman | Shire Leasing PLC
If there’s one lesson that the ongoing PPI scandal has hammered home to our colleagues in the banking industry, it’s that product-focused selling doesn’t work. Engineering the sale of something that the customer doesn’t need, and ultimately doesn’t want, is a sure-fire way of damaging both the relationship and the organisation’s reputation. The longer term view Customer-centricity is proven to drive longer term sales and one of our largest, most-valued customers has recently re-structured their entire organisation to position customers firmly at the heart of what they do. They recognised that, where account managers tasked with selling only their particular service or offering were the primary...
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Why is social media important for businesses?
By Rebecca Coldicott | Realise Agency
Social media has grown in recent years from a platform in which young people could communicate with friends, to a fantastic marketing tool. There are now more people using social media than ever, with 1.94 billion people using Facebook each month, whilst Twitter sees 328 million users per month. Social media is of the easiest and most influential ways a business a can connect with its audience. Here are seven lessons you can utilise to attract consumers and save money by successfully harnessing the power of social media: 1. Increase brand awareness There are few people who are not active on social media nowadays, the same can be said for most businesses. Through adopting an online presence,...
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Is Broking the new Banking
By Russell Martin | Finance 4 Business
It is exciting times for Birmingham and the Financial Services industry that reside in this fabulous city. We will soon be relocating to Bruntwoods flagship development, Cornerblock in the heart of the commercial district. Over 70% has already been exchanged or in hands of solicitors, highlighting just how buoyant the city is. An article in a recent ChamberlinkDaily email also emphasised how important the West Midlands will be for financial services, relating to a report co-written by TheCityUK and PWC. The report focused on the infrastructure, significant development, the talent pool and a global profile as the thriving heartland of industry. HSBC is relocating its headquarters for UK retail...
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Restrictions on use of holiday homes – court of appeal lays down law
By Sundeep Bilkhu | Sydney Mitchell
Many thousands of holiday homes are subject to planning restrictions that forbid their occupation all the year round or as principal residences. Such rules are sometimes taken with a pinch of salt by their owners, but a Court of Appeal ruling showed that they must be taken seriously. The case concerned a number of properties that lay within a country park. They were subject to a planning condition requiring that they be used for holiday purposes only and must not be occupied as a person’s sole or main residence. All or most of the residents had signed licence agreements that reflected the condition’s terms. A number of occupants had, however, started to live in their properties full time. The...
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How to correct interviewing myopia
By Ted Robinson | The Alternative Board
TAB Members consider that recruitment is one of their biggest challenges. So let’s look at one of the major safety nets to help stop you plummeting to depths of the Valley of Recruiting Failure, Interview Bias. Owners of small and medium size enterprises have, at one time or another, done their own interviewing - it’s common for the boss to be involved at some point. Bosses are the best and worst interviewers. The best, because few people in the company share their passion, vision, ‘war stories’ and how new people really will make a difference in their growing expanding organisations. The worst, because they are biased. Let’s simplify. There is a point where the employer and the candidate...
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