Any organisation that can create a barrier to entry which prevents new competitors entering the market can, in theory, keep prices high. Economies of scale (think Airbus or Boeing), branding (think Apple) and distribution channels (think Coke) are all excellent examples of barriers to entry but one of the toughest barriers to break through are [...]

Maybe the more important question I should have asked is “if you disagree with your boss would you tell him or her?” My personal view is that whilst you’ll need to show a bit of “emotional intelligence” when it comes to disagreeing with your boss, in today’s business world there should be a certain amount [...]

Have you ever been to lunch with a colleague? My guess is that unless (a) you work by yourself, (b) nobody likes you , or (c) you have a serious body odour problem then the chances are that you have had lunch with a colleague. Now let me guess. What did you talk about over [...]

If something goes wrong on an audit, whose fault is it? Is it the partner’s fault or the junior member of staff’s fault? Over in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has provided some interesting commentary on a legal case that is currently taking place concerning an audit undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The background to [...]

It never ceases to amaze me. You’re at an airport, you check-in and then wave goodbye to your luggage. When you arrive at your destination you expect your luggage to arrive on the luggage carousel at the same time you. I met an old friend last week who was telling me about a situation he [...]

It’s been a mixed year for Piet Hein Meeter the (former) chief executive of Deloitte in the Netherlands. It started well for him as he was appointed as the new CEO of the Dutch operations of Deloitte on the 1st of January this year. However within a few months his fortunes have changed dramatically. Deloitte [...]

The majority of you have no doubt attended an interview for a job at some stage. Some of you have also probably done the interviewing. So, what do you think are reasonable questions to ask at an interview? There are classic interview questions such as “What are your weaknesses?” (in my view the obvious answer [...]

The IT guys I’ve met in my career have all been very nice people. Admittedly they all seem to be slightly mad and do tend to talk in a strange language with lots of mentions of “coding this and coding that”. To be fair though they all probably think I’m slightly mad when I talk [...]

Companies often offer incentives to encourage people to sign up for their products or services. BOGOF is a term that’s well known in marketing circles. It stands for “Buy One Get One Free” and as the phrase implies it is a sales promotion encouraging people to buy a product or service. If they pay for [...]

Is this you? At a young age you decided that a career in finance was what you wanted. Whilst the other kids were running around dreaming of being football players or famous actresses you were busy dreaming about spreadsheets and calculators. You then went to University and worked hard. After that you studied for a [...]