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There has been relentless upheaval in almost all industries in my time writing for the FT
Quiet industries and locations have advantages, especially compared with the madhouse of London
I have used specialist background checking firms but never polygraph testing
The company’s problems were probably irreversible but now it must treat its staff decently
We have just been through a beauty parade to select an adviser to sell a business
Culture matters when inventing but only a minority of companies are any good at it
Reader reaction to Luke Johnson’s column on thinking small but winning big
Large companies are mostly forced to generate value through financial engineering
Each sector has its recipe for disaster, such as rent in the restaurant trade and fraud at banks
Putting faith in business partners is a vital first step in any enterprise
Business opportunities are lost when academics and entrepreneurs inhabit separate worlds
The late retail designer Rodney Fitch embodied the greatest qualities of an entrepreneur
As businesses prepare their annual budgets they should not become blinded by sales growth
Pioneers such as Sir Richard Branson can never calculate precise odds for their ventures
Like other professional service firms, such as lawyers, they need to keep clients happy
The sheer variety and ingenuity of schemes that are seeking backing is inspirational
Having happy staff and customers does not always guarantee a sustainable economic structure
Luke Johnson’s article on the clash of parenthood and work drew a variety of reader reactions
Children of high achievers often long for more attention from their workaholic father
So often confidence is frequently a euphemism for ‘convincing fibber’
General business skills are not nearly enough
Keep the numbers down to a handful if possible and impose a two-hour limit
Younger customers are less tolerant of dominance by a few large businesses
Finding the perfect spots for retail operations is a favourite task
I have never known a period with such contrasting business conditions
