Forensic attention to cost management might help?
UK retail sales growth slows in July as confidence falters – Telegraph.
Back in 1996 I was living in Hong Kong and it was around the time that Alan Greenspan made his “irrational exuberance” speech. Roger Bootle, now of Capital Economics fame, wrote the book “The Death of Inflation” – it is an easy read for an economic study and well worth it. It should be required reading for all CEO and FD anyway, you are going to have to learn a whole new set of rules.
US economy ‘on the road to deflation’, warns Pimco boss El-Erian – Telegraph.
All Leicester city councillors to get iPads next year?.
I’ve seen this syndrome before in companies where as soon as a senior manager gets the latest upgrade, the IT department are beset by other managers and staff wanting to upgrade too. Leicester seem to be taking this new “arms race” to the nth degree. This is a case of “all shall have toys”. This facility won’t cut council taxes and it won’t deliver better services… it won’t even make mediocre managers better at their jobs.
Perhaps it is statement of the obvious but if firms want to benefit from cheap business energy bills in the future then they are urged to embrace renewable power sources. Andrew Charlesworth, journalist at BusinessGreen.com, says adopting an eco-friendly approach to fuelling an office or workspace makes [long term] financial sense.
He notes people should compare the alternative to taking advantage of sustainable energy – fossil fuels – with the latest technology. ”You have to make assumptions in your model about where those fossil energy prices are going to go. Pretty much every analyst and commodity dealer says that they are going to be going up,” Mr Charlesworth suggests.
If this is to be the case, rolling out green practices now may be the one of the best ways for firms to enjoy the most affordable business energy rates in the future. According to a Department of Energy and Climate Change report, businesses will feel the effects of a rise in power prices more than home owners.