Citation
(2007), "Beautiful – in parts", Strategic Direction, Vol. 23 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2007.05623bag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Beautiful – in parts
“The SBA (Small Business Administration) aims to ensure small businesses obtain a fair share of government contracts and subcontracts”. Although this aim may not hold much relevance for UK businesses (the site is American) much of the information contained in the site is generic (and useful). At first glance the web site appears rather bitty and disorganised. However it actually holds a fair amount of useful information, including start up and financial advice, with a section on ways to raise capital for your business and information on strategies for obtaining loans.
There is an electronic gateway to procurement information for and about small businesses, a search engine for contracting officers, and various marketing tools for small firms.
It also runs its own loan scheme, which, unfortunately, seems to be the dominant thread of the site (something you would not generally expect from a government-run web site). Some of the articles are worth a quick look though, especially the one on management action styles.
Campaign group
The UK Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is “the largest campaigning pressure group promoting and protecting the interests of the self-employed and owners of small firms”. It is a non-profit making and non-party political organisation (though you would not always necessarily believe that from some of the material). The site is well presented although aimed mainly at its members (of which there are over 196,000). The home page contains various articles, press releases, and business news all of which is available for the general public to browse through. To gain access to the majority of the site though requires annual subscription. In general this site gives a good overview of the FSB, what it does, and what it aims to do. However it can be frustrating continually coming up against member only links and some “carrots” for non-members would be a good idea.
Community care
Business in the Community is an independent, business-led charity whose aim is to improve the impact companies have on society. The site has a colorful and welcoming homepage which is extremely easy to navigate. The links are clear and accessing the information you require is quick and painless. The environmental link is particularly worth following, with some fascinating articles and case studies. There is also a link to follow on how your businesses environmental performance measures up. On each page there is a short paragraph containing facts and figures about social business practices that are very interesting. Various influential people support the charity, and it is presided over by HRH the Prince of Wales. This site is definitely one to have a look at.
Money matters
A revisit to a site we have covered before is relevant as the whole caboodle has been changed fairly recently. The home page appears rather daunting due to the very high volume of information it contains. Crammed onto one page are news features, stock quote searches, company performances, bank rates, discussion topics, web offers, finding people, and cool clicks. Add to this an advertisement for a loan company and the result is a general mish-mash. Oh, and you can also run a Google search from this page.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the volume of information, it is actually relatively easy to navigate around the site to access relevant resources. The forum, under the heading “hot discussion topics”, is good, and the “finding people” section has various links ranging from dating agencies (a bit bizarre!), to unlisted number searches, to criminal record searches. By far the biggest part of the web site though deals with the stock market, business news, and other financial services such as investment, insurance, and financial planning. The information provided about these is both comprehensive and detailed.
Interesting stuff
The Arts and Business site contains information on the linking together of business and the arts. The site is well laid out and the content is precise and informative. The case for business and art to work together comes across strongly, with case studies of companies for which the arts have acted as a tool to help meet their strategic objectives. Facts and figures are included to back their claims up. Arts and Business is sponsored by the Arts Council England, and receives funding from them to invest in creative projects across the UK. However, the content of the site is let down by the first impression you get, as we felt it looked more like a wedding planner site than a serious business archive. Do not let this stop you from giving it some time though. The content is excellent and the research and articles are very credible.
And finally
An American businessman whose tame joke drew a hilarious response from his Japanese audience asked his official translator why. She replied: “The joke was not appropriate, so I did not translate it.
“I simply said: ‘The gentleman has told a joke. Please laugh’.”
It is not uncommon for interpreters to avoid translating humor.
Contact us
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try the Emerald one! And if you have any favorite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, please drop us an e-mail and we will submit them to our reviewers’ usual rigorous analysis.