When to kiss, when not to kiss, how many kisses and who to? 

The rise of the social kissing culture is getting us confused in the workplace and beyond.

How well do you need to know someone before you greet them with a kiss? Do you give one kiss, two, three or even four? What do you do in a business meeting?  Do you put lips to cheek or go simply go ‘mwouah’ in their ear?

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From the BBC: Ten thousand students have been given £10 each to test their entrepreneurial spirit.

A British entrepreneur has put up £100k for a competition in which secondary school pupils try to make a profit from £10 in one month.

Click here to watch the report on the BBC News Player.

The days of the traditional, local co-op off-licence, which seemed to be stocked entirely with Carling Black Label and Blue Nun, are over.

Tastes have changed.

With consumption up 50% since 1970, the British spend more on alcohol now than ever before and are more inclined to pay extra for premium quality goods.

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Nearly 20% of small business owners actively want to sell up and liquidate their assets within the next 18 months.

That was a key finding of a poll of owner-managed businesses conducted by Robert James Partnership, the small business tax planning specialists.

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40% of small business owners have absolutely no pension plan or provision in place for either themselves or their staff.

Indications are that 83% of the current workforce will arrive at retirement with no employer-provided pension to see them through.

Those are the key findings of a survey conducted by Unicom, which specialises in telecoms and telephony for small businesses.

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Franchise Times is a US publication written exclusively for individuals looking to buy their first franchise.

Their latest article provides tips on going into business with a partner.

Spouses, friends and former colleagues may make for good company, but that doesn’t mean they’re the right ones to start a company with. Greg Balanko-Dickson, author of “Tips and Traps When Buying a Business,” learned that the hard way.

Click here to read the article.

Employee fraud is a growing problem. CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, estimates that employee fraud costs the UK £40million and some 1,500 employee fraudsters are dismissed each year.

It’s not just a question of people helping themselves to pens from the stationery cupboard or inflating their expense claims. 

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UK business is suffering from the poor leadership skills of Britain’s bosses, a study has revealed. 

The survey shows that business leaders fail across the board at setting clear objectives, motivating staff and weeding out poor performers. 

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Mark Ellis, employment law solicitor and CEO at business consultancy Ellis Whittam is proposing that employees be stripped of many employment law rights for the benefit of 'UK plc'.

The controversial proposal comes as the UK government and EU continue to introduce new laws intended to give employees more rights in the workplace. This comes at a time when many UK entrepreneurs are waiting to see if Cameron's new Conservatives have, as Ellis puts it, "turned a sharp left".

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From Businessweek: Imagine a restaurant for the MySpace generation—one that doesn't force diners to leave behind their digital life when they step out into the analog world.

That's the idea behind uWink, the latest restaurant business from serial entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell, founder of video game company Atari and the kiddie arcade/pizzeria chain Chuck E. Cheese's (CEC).

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40% of accountants believe that the greatest barrier to growth of small businesses is red tape, according to research from a leading small business bookkeeping software company.

The company also predict David Cameron is the best person to fix the issue.

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From Fast Casual: According to the National Restaurant Association, about one in four full-service restaurants offer loyalty or rewards programs.

The NRA predicts that 15 percent more will offer loyalty programs in 2007.

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From PR Newswire: A successful leader and business owner in today's workplace must demonstrate adaptability, self-awareness and purposefulness, as revealed by Entrepreneur magazine's in-depth look at leadership for the 21st century.

In the February issue now on newsstands, the magazine helps entrepreneurs focus on these and other qualities of leadership that can not only determine their businesses' success, but their very survival.

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Temple Porter of Triangle Business Coaching tells BOB what the company's research has revealed about why businesses so often fail.

1. 78% lack a rigorously-developed business plan keyed to the realities of their market; insufficient research is carried out before launch. 

2. 73% fail because the owner is wildly optimistic about projected sales, break-even point, and capital required.

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From the BBC: Western leaders must convince voters of the benefits of globalisation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

But speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos she also warned of the flip side of globalisation.

What was an opportunity for some translated into fear for others, said Ms Merkel, whose country currently holds the EU presidency.

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Chirin Gill (26) and his business partner were at university together and it was during this time that the two young men decided they would buy a business together.

Chirin showed early signs of entrepreneurship.

“I’ve always been interested in business,” says Chirin.

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The days of catalogue shopping are essentially over – or rather, they have been replaced by online retailing.

These days, home shopping, including mail order, increasingly means one thing: the internet.

According to market researchers Mintel, in 2003, catalogue sales accounted for 53% of the market. By the following year that share had plummeted to 25%. Meanwhile, the share of online sales almost quadrupled, from 9% to 32%.

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From Peter Day at the BBC: In the same way that double-decker buses used to materialise out of the dimness of the London smog, shape and substance is being added to the affirmations made - back in the Web 1.0 era - that the internet was only the beginning of great big change.

I must confess that I have been parroting that observation myself for some time, without knowing exactly where things were going.

But change happens most surely when it is not pushed by one big development, but arises from an alignment of many smaller things.

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The process of buying a business can be boiled down to one very simple question: Is the business you’re buying the business you think you’re buying?

Some purchases are more straightforward than others. Often, this is reflected in the type of business you are purchasing.

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From Businessweek: Experts pinpoint emerging trends and tell entrepreneurs planning their next ventures which opportunities to consider, on and off the Web.

No doubt about it, 2006 was a banner year for online social networking, user-generated content, and online video. YouTube made history when Google agreed to buy it for $1.65 billion in October, and so did Facebook, when it turned down Yahoo's $1.4 billion offer.

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