The environmental dollar is a good dollar.

Appointing a Director for Corporate Responsibility is good for stock value.

And brand value lies as much in ethical sourcing and sustainable production as it does in the quality of the end product these days.

Click to read more ...

Staff are the most important part of an organisation, and employers should do their upmost to keep hold of valuable workers.

But, it's not always that easy, is it?

Despite reports from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development suggesting that companies have found it progressively easier to retain staff since the beginning of the decade, employers are being warned to guard against complacency.

Click to read more ...

By David H Freedman for Inc.com: Why interruption, distraction and multitasking are not such awful things after all.

Hey, stupid. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking to you. You might think that your e-mail, BlackBerry, smart phone, always-on Web connection, and ever-growing array of computer applications make you smarter and more efficient. But you're wrong. Instead, all those shiny new tools make it impossible to concentrate on any one thing for more than a few minutes. And that is why you have become dumber and less effective.

Click here to read full article.

Meeting plenty of fellow mothers and choosing her own hours, Claire Perera (30) has found the ideal franchise opportunity for someone with children.

BOB: What attracted you to this franchise?

Claire: The chance to choose my own hours, as I have two children; doing it at my own pace.

Click to read more ...

From the Arizona Republic: This is National Entrepreneurs Week.

For people like me, it's a special event. Not that there's some big celebration, or presents, or songs or even a Hallmark card. No, it's just the idea that we can celebrate people who take risks to bring their ideas to the marketplace and sometimes win big.

Click here to read full article.

50% of UK firms hit by fraud; a third say they can’t even spot the crime; 1 in 20 lose over £1 million a year to fraud.

More than half of UK businesses have lost money because of fraud, yet nearly a third of firms admit they have no mechanisms in place to spot when they are being swindled. In fact one in twenty companies say they have lost over £1 million a year due to fraud.

Click to read more ...

Walk around any street in a major city and you could be forgiven for thinking that sandwich shops are the growth industry of the 21st century.

The death of the company canteen combined with the fact that many people are too busy to take any time off during the day means that the take-away lunch is more popular than ever.

The once-humble sandwich is now a much more cosmopolitan, eclectic lunch. Years ago, chicken, ham or cheese was about as exciting was about as exciting as it got, filling wise. And as for bread, it was an uninspiring choice between white or brown, loaf or roll.

Click to read more ...

Bite-sized small business news from the Daily Telegraph.

Click here to read the article.

There are ways of minimising the threat to your business assets in the event of divorce, says Sonny Patel of RFB Solicitors.

Every year around 150,000 thousand married couples divorce, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Advisory service Relate says long working hours are a growing source of marital conflict – bad news for hard-working entrepreneurs.

Click to read more ...

Eco-friendly luminary Anita Roddick entered the world in 1942, in the sleepy seaside resort of Littlehampton, England.

Born of Italian immigrant parents she grew up fast as something of an outsider.

With a strong moral sensibility she strode into teaching, and blossomed. However, the footloose Roddick could not sit still for long, and was soon globetrotting on a working trip.

Click to read more ...

From Businessweek: Why high-powered women are leaving Corporate America to become entrepreneurs.

Ann Buivid used to be bothered at corporate meetings by the "great quacking noise" of people talking too much, yet saying too little. She hid her pregnancy for five months because she worried she might be passed over for a promotion if her boss found out.

Click here to read full article.

Sea View Bar Bistro Ilfracombe, Devon, £95k

Post Office Devon, £85k

Lochaber Delightful Guest House Fort William, Scotland, £350k

Tearooms and Gift Shop Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, £36k

Cosmopolitan Café and Bar Tenerife, €65k

Don't Dream It. Do It. BusinessesForSale.com

By Stephen Roach, global economist at Morgan Stanley, for MoneyWeek: I am returning from India with great enthusiasm. 

Many serious problems remain - especially the ravages of poverty.  But in the past couple of years, India has faced many of its macro imperatives head-on - especially low saving, inadequate infrastructure, and lagging foreign direct investment. 

Click here to read full article.

Although the weekly shop at the supermarket has become a tradition for many Britons, the convenience store still has its attractions – and not just if you have run out of eggs or milk mid-week.

While there are now fewer independent corner shops than in the past, the back-up of franchises such as Londis and Spar allows operators to offer a greater range of goods than before and even branch out into fresh bread or delicatessens.

Click to read more ...

For franchise systems looking to maximize their potential, personal relationships and networking within the franchising community are quite important.

"While strategic networking is a direct approach to meeting the right people, always remember that the biggest opportunities can present themselves in unpredictable, chance encounters," writes Valpak's Joe Bourdow in Franchising World -the International Franchise Association regular publication.

Click here to read more.

"In the spring," wrote Tennyson, "a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." 

With spring now fast approaching, and St Valentine’s Day upon us, if young men’s thoughts do indeed turn to love at this time, perhaps this is also an ideal moment for businesses to give some thought to it as well. 

Office romances happen - it is a fact of life. Employers ought to accept such situations are inevitable. However, this does not mean that businesses should not consider introducing relevant policies to manage these events, says Peter-Jon Chalmers, Director of Empire HR.

Click to read more ...

By Jenny Rose, for Ecademy: The year 2006 will be remembered, among other things, for being a time when 'social networking' fuelled a second web mania.

But if last year saw another honeymoon period for internet start-ups, 2007 could bear witness to second wave of e-business casualties if too many jump in gung ho again. For example, Ecademy, one of the world’s first online social networks, predicts some nasty libel cases if sites don’t set rules and values from the outset.

Click to read more ...

From Entrepreneur.com: Ever wish you had a cheat sheet for starting a great business? Icon Brian Tracy's 7 core principles are as close to it as you can get.

There are seven essential principles that you must practice as an entrepreneur throughout your business life if you are to achieve maximum success. They have been taught and repeated in thousands of books and articles over the years, and here they are.

Click here to read full article.

Entrepreneurial mums have received recognition for their hard work and innovation in creating wealth while managing to somehow juggle motherhood.

The founder of a nursery scooped the first ever Inspirational Business Mum of the Year award at the Prowess Business Awards on Wednesday night, fighting off competition from 125 other mothers with businesses.

Click to read more ...

Britons have 27 million days off work due to alcohol each year, according to an alcohol rehabilitation service.

And, say PCP, a quarter of UK workers have an average of three and a half days off each year, either through drunkenness or the hangover that follows a drinking binge.

Click to read more ...