As well as the slump in the commercial property market, other factors currently in favour of the buyer are the government pressure on banks to increase lending and favourable pension structures.

Interest rates are at an all time low, but maybe not for too much longer. There is now serious pressure on the Bank of England to increase the current rate. Many financial experts are predicting that the rate will be raised to 2.5% by the end of 2010, so if buying an office is something that you have been considering, now is the time to act.

Nick Terry of Deveno Property is among those that expects a change in the interest rate, saying; “Our forecasts are that interest rates will make their first upward move before 2010 is out.”

Indeed, Kevin Daly from Goldman Sachs states “With unemployment stable for the past year, growth strong and tax revenues healthy we can build an argument that the MPC should be raising rates already”. He goes on to say that once a rise happens, “Rates could then rise rapidly to 2.5% by the end of next year”.

Ray Barrell of the National Institute of Economic & Social Research goes on to add, “If higher inflation from sterling’s fall persists, the Bank [of England] is going to have to raise [interest] rates”.

If you are in the market for commercial property, Deveno Property offers a Weekly Freehold List where it details every London office building that is available to purchase in one place.

jaguar sales up

Growing interest in the former British owned luxury marques Jaguar and Land Rover have helped the current Indian owners Tata Motors to move back into the black, recording a net profit for the three months to June 2010 of 19.9bn rupees or £273million.

Since showing losses amounting to 3.3bn rupees a year ago, Tata have seen revenue grow by 64% , with car sales in India increasing by over 50% to almost 78,000 vehicles.

For their part Jaguar and Land Rover sales combined rose by 60% from the previous year, with sales of 57,153 vehicles compared to 35,947 a year earlier.

In a short but sweet statement, India’s largest car manufacturer Tata Motors said:

“Overall economic growth, robust production and availability of liquidity led to robust domestic demand during the quarter, resulting in volume growth comprising both new products and the existing portfolio.”

The Shogun was aimed squarely at company executives who had little interest in cars, but loved to have all the toys and gadgets that such a vehicle could offer.

The sad fact was that Mitsubishi could not make enough of these vehicles and other manufacturers began taking the Japanese offering very seriously, particularly when Mitsubishi shot itself in the foot by increasing the price for the later model.

Nowadays of course there is no better way to take little Johnny the half mile to school than in the safe confines of an enormous 4X4 and these lovely vehicles are often to be found parked half on the pavement half on the road blocking  school entrances around the country.

But hopefully the days of the gas guzzling utility vehicle will soon be over, if we were really as concerned about the planet as we make out to be there would be no market already.

It is another Japanese manufacturer who is making the headlines in 2010, at last we are being offered a vehicle, albeit not four wheel drive, but a vehicle none the less that can carry five adults and no matter how fast it is driven it will still record zero emissions.

The Nissan Leaf has been marketed as the world’s first mass produced, affordable, zero emission vehicle and interest in the car in Europe, has been strong, with 12,000 customers signing up for updates.

Government incentives make the Leaf an interesting proposition to anyone looking to renew their vehicle during the coming year, with first delivery in Europe expected in Portugal in January 2011.

Deliveries to the Republic of Ireland and the UK are scheduled for February and March 2011 respectively, with orders being taken in ROI staring from July 30th and in the UK from September 1st this year.

The US and Japanese markets have exceeded expectations with pre-orders of 23,000 vehicles since April, this high demand means that the car will now not be launched in the Netherlands until June 2011.

If you want to be one of the first in the UK to own this world first vehicle, there is only a few weeks to wait until orders from the UK will start being taken. Make sure to go compare car insurance before you make any commitment to order and don’t expect to be among the first cars delivered if you have not already registered with Nissan.

All business owners should consider purchasing different kinds of insurance for their business, such as employers’ liability insurance to protect their company.

As exciting as it might be to start your communications agency and round up interesting individuals with standout personalities, you need to consider the risk that having a business poses. Owning a business doesn’t need to be scary; if your protect yourself it can be exciting and highly rewarding.

Take comfort in knowing there are ways to avoid risks posed by taking the necessary precautions. All small business owners should consider purchasing different types of insurance for their business before they start getting things going. These insurance options will not only protect your company’s assets but will protect you and your employees too.

Unfortunately, we live in a ‘claims culture’ where people target small businesses by taking legal action. They do this in hope that they will acquire large financial rewards. Regretfully, many claims are dishonest and far-fetched in nature.

Small businesses that have not purchased insurance become vulnerable to such claims. However, if you prepare for the unforeseen, then you will be able to take responsibility for your business and its wellbeing.

Perhaps we should look at the so called ‘claims culture’ as being somewhat ironically positive. As the public has become driven to take legal action, it is creating a business culture that is ready to combat risk. This in turn has fostered a professional workplace that is ready for anything.

So before you start your client list and your next up and coming marketing strategy, research different kinds of insurance options small business owners can acquire. Three insurance types popular with most business owners include the following: professional indemnity insurance, employers’ liability insurance, and public liability insurance.

Professional indemnity insurance protects your business in the situation that a claim is brought against you of professional negligence. This can take the form of a negligent act, breach of duty, or a civil liability.

This insurance type is most valuable to businesses that are offering consultancy-based services. Therefore, in the case of marketing, advertising, and PR agencies, if you lead your client astray in the information you provide them with they can take legal action.

Any misguiding or incorrect information you give a client can translate into a direct financial loss incurred on your client. With any financial loss you are responsible for, they can then take legal action. Professional indemnity insurance will protect you in this type of situation.

Professional indemnity insurance, like other forms of business insurance, usually only covers you while your policy is ‘live’. So if you happen to cancel your policy and close your business it is a good idea to acquire coverage for the period of time afterwards.

Another type of insurance you should consider getting is employers’ liability insurance. Through this insurance, you protect your business’s assets from employees’ claims of damage as a result of being employed by you.

Employers’ liability insurance will protect you if an employee gets injured in a work-related accident. The plan will help cover things such as lost wages, disability coverage, and also support payments to their dependents.

Through the purchase of employers’ liability insurance, you are benefiting both your business and your employees. They can rest assured that if something bad does happen they will be protected and your assets will be protected from any lawsuits that may occur.

Finally, every small business owner should consider the purchase of public liability insurance. This insurance option focuses on civil wrongs. For instance, a member of the public might sue your business based on negligence.

The term ‘duty of care’ refers to the standard people should be treated to when under another person’s care. Most claims brought against businesses are based on some injury brought against a member of the public that violates their duty of care.

The degrees of duty of care are situation dependent. For instance, if you invite someone into the grounds of your marketing agency they now fall under your duty of care.

Under the court of law, you should guarantee the wellbeing of individuals you have invited onto your business property. However, if they are harmed in some way then you have failed your duty of care, and they can then take legal action against you.

This could happen in many different kinds of instances where you would then be liable. For example, perhaps you invite a client over for a meeting and when they get there something falls on them and they get hurt. Although you hope this would never happen, accidents do occur!

We live in an unpredictable, unfair world. This is why in building your business you should take the necessary measures of protecting it from anything that might put it in harm’s way, in order to put your mind at rest.

Once you have purchased insurance for your business, you will be able to focus on your business ventures without worrying about the risk. This will transform you into a responsible and dedicated business owner, with employees that know you are looking after them.

So, begin speaking to other small business owners to see what kind of options they have purchased. Many will provide you with stories of how business insurance has already saved them when things went wrong. This can be the first thing you successfully accomplish as a business owner with many more to come!

There is absolutely no doubt that the internet and in particular the World Wide Web has changed the way that most of the population of the UK go about their business.

Of course having a shiny all bells and whistles website is only the start of the journey and getting your website seen on the first page of search engines is a time consuming and costly process that may never be achieved.

Smaller businesses and the self employed seldom have the time or money to spend on optimising their sites for the internet search engines and many such websites are seldom seen and therefore have little value to the company.

Before the advent of the internet we all knew that if we were looking for good painters or decorators for instance we could find hundreds listed in the Yellow Pages phone book or in local press small ads.

Without recommendation finding suitable tradesmen was still a minefield, but the Yellow Pages was a local publication and we felt safer in the knowledge that the advertisers were also local businesses.

These days it is possible to restrict a search on the internet to local based businesses but the smaller or self employed tradesman who have not invested in search engine optimisation are still unlikely to be seen.

Fortunately for these tradesmen websites have sprung up over the last couple of years where smaller companies and self employed can advertise and tout for business.

These websites work on two levels and entering a search for good painters or decorators would bring up a list of people who are looking to have work done that tradesmen can then quote for. Clients who accept a quote are then encouraged to feed back to the site a suitable rating for the work they have had done by a particular business.

On the second level these sites can be used as directory for finding local tradesmen who have been recommended by users of the site, allowing you to check out the best ranking people to do your job.

The more people that use these sites the more information is gathered making life easier for those looking to have work done and of course offering some form of recommendation.

Despite often clearly spelling out their payment terms SMEs are having to wait an average of 41 days over the agreed payment terms from many of their customers.

Recent research shows that in 37% of cases customers are stretching payment terms by up to three months and at any one time £24billion is owed to SMEs.

The increase in VAT will only worsen the situation warns the Law Society and urges small business owners to guard against the problem of late payment.

The Society says that not enough businesses are aware of the protections available to them which safeguard against cash flow blockages. Solicitors will be able to help SMEs take advantage of these.

Law Society President Robert Heslett says:
“Average commercial debts caused by late payments are high in the UK, and for SMEs a lack of cash flow can be crippling. With credit less available to those businesses from banks, late payments have a far more serious consequence for SMEs.

Considering the amount of red tape SMEs and start-ups are faced with, it is no surprise that seeking protection against late payment from customers does not come top of the to-do list. However, it could be the difference between the business surviving or not, especially in the uncertain economic climate.

A carefully worded contract drawn up by a solicitor between a business and their commercial customers can include clear terms on late payments, including penalty clauses and strict time frames for payment. Such terms can act as an effective deterrent for late payment and encourage timely payment for services, thus avoiding these terms coming into play.”

The Law Society says that contracts between businesses which include late payment clauses need to become a common feature of the SME market. The European Union is currently looking at updating a directive aimed at tackling late payments such is the impact on the SME sector across Europe as a whole.

Robert Heslett adds: “Many smaller businesses perhaps felt the recent budget did not do enough to tackle cash flow problems head on, and although the EU is looking at it, the safest bet is to protect against cash flow blockage between the customer and the business with a solid, solicitor-drafted contract.”

Avoiding court
The Law Society says that should SMEs and start-ups hit problems with customers failing to meet payment deadlines, court is not the only next-step option. Alternative Dispute Resolution and mediation are alternatives for SMEs.

Law Society President Robert Heslett says: “There is a presumption that going to court is the only course of action when late payments cannot be resolved. However, many solicitors specialise in ADR and mediation, which can prove an effective way of solving the problems for SMEs and other businesses. ADR and well-drafted contracts can be effective in avoiding the last option, going court.”

Delivered exclusively through the National Skills Academy for Retail’s network of retail skills shops, located on high streets and in shopping centres nationwide, the series of seven master classes covers the key elements for success, including: the all-important vision for the store, developing the brand, buying the right merchandise, the look and feel of the shop and balancing the books.

Against the backdrop of tight economic trading conditions and with the BBC receiving over 6,500 applications from independent retailers desperate to feature on the current TV series of ‘Mary Queen of Shops’, The Mary Portas guide to successful retailing couldn’t be better timed and will be a real boost to thousands of independent and small businesses on the high street.

As outlined in Deloitte’s paper “2010 FIFA World Cup. A Turning Point for South Africa,” South Africa is reaping the rewards of hosting the Cup, including infrastructure improvements, an economic boost, and an increase of national pride.

“South Africa has been likened to a mix of the developed and developing world,” said Lwazi Bam, Public Sector Industry Leader, Deloitte Southern Africa. “On the one hand, a strong technological and economic base put it on a par with the well-developed nations of the world. On the other, infrastructure shortfalls have contributed to keeping it from realizing its full economic potential. This major global event is a catalyst for much-needed infrastructure improvements.”

The need to move tens of thousands of fans, teams, and accompanying supportpersonnel rapidly from one place to another prioritized the strengthening of South Africa’s transportation system.  The country completed much of the
first section of its new high speed Gautrain passenger railway and added bus lines.  Highways were upgraded and the city of Durban was able to finish the country’s first new green field airport in five decades.  These infrastructure projects have increased employment opportunities and provided workers long-term skills and training.

One of the challenges in building the infrastructure for the event was generating power without an unduly adverse environmental impact. New stadium facilities include such environmentally-friendly features as natural ventilation and rain water capture systems.

In addition, host cities have undertaken large-scale tree-planting projects in an effort to soak up excess carbon dioxide.  As a coal-dependent economy, South African faces challenges; however, these steps move the country toward greener energy sources.

To ensure security, the minister of police has consulted with officials from more than 30 different countries whose nationals are in the country, resulting in an unprecedented level of international cooperation.

Seeking to balance a welcoming atmosphere with rigorous security standards, 40,000 police officers, 25 percent of the country’s total force, have been assigned to the Cup.  All of these activities have required a renewed spirit of cooperation between national and local agencies and departments.

Greg Pellegrino, Global Public Sector Industry Leader, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said;

“South Africa has already realized many of the benefits hoped for by any national host of a major international sporting event. The event has provided a boost to national infrastructure improvements, increased employment during the global financial crisis, and provided a unifying rallying point for a still-developing nation. Moving the FIFA World Cup from a developed economy such as Germany, to an emerging economy such as South Africa, and to a continent that has never hosted the Cup, creates an important precedent for future hosts such as Brazil in 2014,”

Students who enroll for the new course will explore the latest thinking on technology, digital marketing and brand experience campaigns, and then explore how they apply to brand management.

The course is designed to be taken over a one year period full time or two years part time and will combine contributions from London Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Computing and Department of Applied Social Science as well as the London Metropolitan Business School.

The course structure includes six taught modules and a dissertation: Brand Equity; Data Mining Business Applications; Digital Marketing Fundamentals; E-Solutions and Digital Media Applications; Experiential Marketing; Marketing Research.

Dr Niall Caldwell, course leader at London Metropolitan Business School, said:

“Making sense of digital marketing is a top priority for most marketing professionals. This new course has been designed to explore the new digital world and expose students to the technical, social and commercial factors which are shaping the digital consumer. We want to equip students with the tools, understanding and skills they need in order to manage brands in the digital world.”

LMBS is located in the City of London and other central London sites and is the largest business school in the UK. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and has achieved an excellent rating for its teaching and research.

In addition to full-time study, LMBS also offers part-time courses, professional courses and executive education as well as conducting research and consultancy.

For more information visit the LMBS Digital & Experiential Marketing Degree webpage.

As European countries struggle to deal with the massive debts empowered upon them by anxious governments, keen to be seen doing something during the biggest crisis of our time, investors in currency are able to change the immediate future of those countries at a stroke and the slightest of twitches have resulted in the reduction in value of  both the pound and the euro at some point or other.

Many investors have removed themselves from the fragile currency markets altogether, choosing to seek out safer havens for their own security.

It is no surprise that commodities like gold have attracted more and more investors during the crisis, resulting in all time high values for the precious metal.

The value of gold increased so much in recent times that in the UK shops buying used gold jewellery and such were springing up on every street corner.

This in itself led to unscrupulous entrepreneurs with little or no knowledge of the precious metal markets, opening their own shops and in some cases ripping of customers and bringing the market into disrepute.

While gold remains a decent investment it is fair to say that like any other commodity prices will fluctuate and recent developments in the market have shown a dip in market prices.

Smaller items like coins are no longer in such great demand and if you are looking to sell gold jewellery for instance, now maybe a good time to do so.

Some financial experts are predicting a fall in gold and other precious metal prices  as European currencies bounce back a little as we fight our way out of recession.