Growth Engines: A kick-off starts the game, but the win is in the final score
James Thomas's Azzuu sports platform has grown rapidly after initially focusing on honing its platform by working with just one team: Everton
Growth Strategies
Growth Engines: Leverage historic liabilities to build a future asset
An early interest in diving led to Yvonne Whiteley moving into data and eventually buying RED Scientific, which combines scientific research, technical support and engineering
Virgin Group’s CEO on why it’s important to be prepared to fail
For many business leaders, failure is something to avoid. But for Josh Bayliss, being prepared to fail has meant he's learnt more – and taken more risks
The spicy tale of supersizing Nando’s
How a small venture in the suburbs of Johannesburg grew into a global success story without compromising its original down-to-earth vision
How government procurement can act as an SME growth accelerator
The government has promised to increase how much it spends with SMEs but it needs to go harder and faster to achieve its targets
Growth Engines: It’s the storms that make skilful sailors
RNB Group has weathered a series of storms, from GDPR to Covid, but has learned to invest for growth
Inside Sir Martin Sorrell’s world: Strategies for building empires
Sir Martin Sorrell is a titan of the advertising world. We met at S4 Capital for an exclusive interview, talking empire building and more.
Building B&M: Speed, strategy, and success
We speak exclusively to long-time CEO Simon Arora about the strategy behind building B&M and how it nearly all ended after less than a year
Retirement homes: The UK’s fastest growing non-tech sector
Retirement homes are big business as an aging population increases demand, but regulatory reform is needed to ensure quality of care
A look inside vinyl’s resurgence
Vinyl sales have been rising fast and new technology, including on-demand manufacturing, suggest its growth still has some way to go
The rise and fall of the Yellow Pages
The Yellow Pages used to make life easier for everyone. By sorting businesses alphabetically into categories, it streamlined finding products and services and changed how small businesses reached customers. But after being a permanent fixture in British households for more than 50 years, the final version of the print edition of Yellow Pages was delivered...
The top business pivots
“Adaptability is paramount in today’s dynamic business landscape,” says Chris Beer, professor of practice at Warwick Business School. “Organisations must be prepared to pivot their strategies swiftly, driven by factors such as market shifts, technological advances and changing customer expectations”. According to PwC’s 27th UK CEO Survey, one in five chief executives says their organisation...
To be or not to B Corp
We are among the believers at Future Leap, a networking space and café on Gloucester Road, Bristol’s indie-shopping mecca. Forty or so people have gathered in the name of sustainability to learn about a better way of doing business. Paradoxically, the building was once home to that palace of consumer consumption Maplin Electronics. Signs of...
The art of business wargaming
It’s 8.30 AM and a team of senior managers arrives in a City boardroom to be greeted by a table groaning with croissants, Danish pastries and Colombian coffee. The managers have no idea why they have been called in. The phone rings and a voice at the other end says, “You are now in a...
Price wars: Strategies in the battle against inflation
Fraser Smeaton, CEO at Morph Costumes, is in a pickle. With inflation easing and a cost-plus model in play, he’s facing a tricky balancing act. He’s not on his own as business leaders across Britain are tackling a pricing challenge, deciding between cutting prices to win customers or fattening their profit margins. “Our prices have...
Takeover immunity: Can it ever be truly achieved?
For some company owners, an acquisition is the perfect exit strategy. But for the leaders who want to continue growing, a takeover is likely to be the last thing on their minds. With the BBC recently reporting that Danish pharmaceutical giant, Novo Nordisk is “virtually immune to a takeover bid”, we investigated whether it was...
Entrepreneurship through acquisition: On the rise but no cause for concern
“Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) is a fast-growing trend in M&A and we’re beginning to see the pipeline of work building in this area considerably,” says David Baverstock, corporate partner at law firm Marriott Harrison. With ETA on the rise, we investigated how it could affect the wider M&A market. ETA emerged from Stanford Business School...
From toxic workplace to best employer: BrewDog’s astonishing turnaround
A crisis is a sliding doors moment for any business. A reputation built up over decades can be destroyed in hours by a botched response to a major issue. Controversy is nothing new to BrewDog. Since its establishment in 2007, the self-described ‘Punk’ of beer brewers have intentionally stirred the pot with shock strategies and...
Is the London Stock Exchange toxic?
The UK is a powerful country. Placed fifth in the world in terms of GDP, it recorded £2.23trn in 2022 and with more than 30 million adults in the labour market, it boasts the second-largest talent pool in all of Europe. However, it also has an Index losing out to its US counterparts and an...
‘Netflix for green content’ opens new Bristol office
Green.TV, the world’s first production and distribution house dedicated to the sustainability, conservation and the cleantech sector, has opened a new office in Bristol. It has also appointed a new managing director as part of its ambitious expansion plans. The global digital video network, which has worked with high-profile names such as Nissan Europe, the...