Last week, it became official that the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter of 2022 mainly due to a record trade deficit, notwithstanding a strong domestic demand. This was an abrupt halt as the U.S. economy grew at a robust 6.9% pace in the fourth quarter of 2021. The decline in the US GDP …
Dealing with Constant Turbulence
As I meet business leaders all the time, I am constantly bombarded by the problems that are presently effecting every business. In essence every business is grappling with the need to make changes and drive transformation to best handle the turbulence coming from inflation, supply-chain issues and the tight labour market leading to spiraling wage …
What will it be about? Part 2
As previously explained, as from the 20th June a series of free training sessions, specially designed for Family Businesses, will be delivered.The topics that will be covered in the first 3 sessions have been outlined in an article I circulated a few days ago. May I remind you that the 1st session (20th June) and …
The Phantom of Stagflation
As you hopefully know by now the European Central Bank yesterday outlined its monetary policy which will be based on a number of increases in interest rates in response to the increase in inflation across Europe. Inflation typically occurs when an economy is growing and strong demand push prices higher. In this case the central …
Open your eyes (& mind)
If have said it ad nauseum, that businesses need to be more strategic in their thinking and decision making. However the magnitude of changes coming from the technological, geopolitical, social and natural environment spheres are such that the formulation of business strategy is becoming an ongoing process. Why is this so? Dynamic Change: The increase …
What will it be about? – Part 1
As outlined last Friday, as from the 20th June, a serious of online sessions will be launched with the aim of providing targeted training for family businesses. The 1st session on the 20th June and the last session on the 29th July will also be done in a hybrid format, to allow family business to …
Putting your HOME in order
The discussion held in the past days at World Economic Forum’s annual gathering at Davos makes some very sorry reading. A darkening global economic outlook was the number one talking point. Many economic analysts foresaw either regional pockets of economic recession in countries or continents particularly exposed to the Russia-Ukraine war and global supply chain …
Maltese Bread & Family Businesses
This morning I was reading an article as to how small & medium sized bakers where lamenting the drop in their sales revenue from maltese bread. The article had all the hallmarks of the usual issues that plague certain family businesses. It could be that the supply chain issues and the Ukrainian war leading to …
The Fall of Discretionary Spending
Netflix is just a case in point. Netflix last month revealed that it had lost customers for the first time in a decade. At first analysts believed that this was so, since clients had turned off their Netflix subscriptions for cheaper platforms. This was not the case. Further analysis revealed that in the two weeks …
Managing People in a tight labour market
Managing People was always a challenging task. However many businesses are finding that the challenge to manage people in such a tight labour market has become so difficult that they feel at a loss at how to balance a level of discipline and control whilst retaining the best human resource talent with the company. Many …
A Business Blog for SMEs & Family Businesses 