The top employee annoyances uncovered Anthony Pearlgood, commercial director of PHS Datashred and chairman of the information destruction section of the BSIA, discusses how irritating office habits can affect the security of your organisation.

Online Video Marketing: The Small Business Strategy Guide ‘Companies everywhere are recognising that video has become the factor that can provide an edge over the competition’ – the wise words of James Leal-Valias, creative director at iStockphoto, writing for Business Matters a few weeks ago under the title ‘Design for Small Business: Integrating Online into Your Marketing Mix’.

Forum of Private Business calls for tax breaks for private lenders With another recession looming, the Forum of Private Business is calling for the spotlight to be placed squarely back on small firms’ finances in the form of tax breaks for private lenders.

Keep you mitts off Private Exec Pay Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's statements that he is going to get ‘tough on exec pay’ in the private sector are ‘ludicrous and totally unrealistic’ according to Will Davies – co-founder of one of Britain’s fastest growing property maintenance companies.

Rebalancing our economy with Manufacturing – a fools errand? George Osborne’s budget speech promised that Britain would be “carried aloft by the march of the makers” and yet it would appear from the latest Purchasing Manager’s survey that manufacturing activity has declined unexpectedly during July reversing a two year trend. Terry Green, the author, innovator & entrepreneur looks further.

What’s on the minds of Europe’s top entrepreneurs? With Global Entrepreneurship Week upon us, we looked back on the recent roundtable discussions between some of Europe’s top entrepreneurs. According to them, the market should be seen as a place of opportunity, offering scope for investment, acquisition and even growth amongst small businesses, despite ongoing reports of uncertain times.

Road Crash Dragons' Den is not inspiring for young entrepreneurs Richard Hillgrove, the PR guru who built the profiles of BBC Dragons' Den stars James Caan, Duncan Bannatyne OBE and Simon Woodroffe OBE has come out with a stinging attack on the programme’s producers today for “chasing the lowest common denominator”with their current panel.

Why should your business join the Twitterati? Around a year ago, l noticed that a few business owners dipped a tentative toe into the world of twitter.

Many then didn’t quite know what to do with it, tweeted a few random things and then decided it wasn’t right for their business and didn’t seem that useful.

Maybe it was more for celebs to tell the world about what they are up to.

Some decided that it was all about people who thought the world wanted to know their opinions on things the whole time *yawn*.

However, other businesses have been using it a lot.

Where have all the good guys gone? Norman Burden, Chief Executive of True North Human Capital, the Human Capital Management Consultancy poses the question 'Where have all the good guys gone?' and why has the service culture evaporated?

Wanted – alternatives to sport and challenge-based charity sponsorship For years now, raising money for charity by taking part in a sport-related event or challenge has been de rigeur.

I think it’s time for change. We should look to the business world for inspiration on how to raise money for charity by giving people who sponsor something back.

The feel-good factor that comes from sponsoring people doesn’t really cut it in a time of recession when we’re all watching the pennies.

If people sponsor something, they should get something in return, even if it’s having their car washed or their lawn mowed or receiving some baked treats. I think it’s time to re-think the current charity sponsorship model.

Government's failure to understand innovation is damaging the economy Coalition policy is failing to deliver the public sector innovation that could dramatically boost value for money and benefit the economy beyond the public sector, argues a recent report published by The Work Foundation.

Should small businesses be exempt from paying for parental leave?
In the run-up to the Budget George Osborne announced potential changes to current maternity regulations which would have made small businesses exempt from paying for maternity leave.

As the owner of a small- to medium-sized business, l was pleasantly surprised, but as it turns out the proposals weren't followed through.

The UK Parliament – engaging with the needs of SMEs There is much criticism that politicians are out of touch with people who run small and medium sized business across the UK. We asked Lord McFall of Alcluith, who was the Member of Parliament for Dumbarton and the West Dunbartonshire between 11 June 1987 and 12 April 2010 to explain how the UK Parliament is engaging with SMEs to learn from them and offer them as much help and support as they can to help then grow.

Taking that leap of faith Life’s scary. Think about those things that are scaring you right now. Is “losing my job” or “starting a business” one of those? Then face them now!

Start Up Britain launch receives disappointingly lukewarm reception It is not often that private sector business initiatives have a keynote address by the Prime Minister, are attended by some of the UK's leading business entrepreneurs and also receive the backing and support from Sir Richard Branson, the man who many regard as the UK's best entrepreneur. So surely nothing could go wrong...

If even the Olympic Stadium will be ‘recycled’, why is there still so much waste in business?
Even though the Olympics haven’t taken place and construction of the Olympic Stadium isn’t yet finished, the flagship stadium has already been allocated to West Ham Football Club for use after London 2012.

I for one am relieved that West Ham won the bid. Not because l’m a die-hard ‘Hammer’ but because they appear to be wasting a lot less of the stadium by keeping the athletics track than the other hopeful club, Tottenham, would have done by re-building it as a football-only venue.

How much does a web start-up really cost? In 1884 Thomas Marks opened his first market stall in Leeds. Over the next few years he opened 20 other stalls around the UK. In 1894, Thomas Spencer invested in the business and retail chain Marks & Spencer (M&S) was born.
From humble beginnings, M&S became one of the UK’s biggest success stories and was the first retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion.
Companies like WH Smith, Woolworth’s and AMSTRAD all started the same way, so it would seem that in order to make it big, you should start small. Can the same thing be said of the web? Andy Budd, managing director at Clearleft investigates.

Having an entrepreneurial mindset will stimulate growth What does Britain need to do to stimulate economic growth? That is the question taxing so many Ministers in Whitehall. But according to Sahar Hashemi, the founder of the Coffee Republic and bestselling business author, they need to start thinking outside the box.

Embrace the long hours and work hard Working hard is the only way you can really 'make it', so why do so many people think working long hours is a bad thing?

Are degrees preparing students for the workplace or are they about indulgent self fulfilment? Think hard about why you want to study - real experience in a company can be a far better way to learn skills and get on in your career.