In my role as a lecturer in Business Studies, I am often asked who is my favourite female entrepreneur. My answer is Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, who tragically died in 2007. Business women like Karen Brady and Jacqueline Gold are often held up as examples of the best British female 'entrepreneurs'. But I would argue that both Brady and Gold were not entrepreneurs at all, having been born with ‘silver spoons’ in the mouths, and given ready-made successful companies to run (with a lot of help from hired managers and business executives!!) But Anita Roddick was a genuinely successf ..read more

Readers might be surprised to learn that I’m a big fan of William Shakespeare. I regularly attend Shakespeare plays all around the UK, and I was recently at Manchester Opera House watching Sir Ian McKellen (one of the UK’s most famous actors) play Falstaff in Henry IV parts 1 and 2. While watching these two plays in Manchester, it occurred to me that there are many quotes within Shakespeare’s plays that could be applied to business - giving inspiration and insight to entrepreneurs and people working in a corporate environment. So I have put together a list of my 20 favourite inspirational qu ..read more

Everyone loves John Lewis. Or do they? Its loyal customers certainly seem to love the business, and we are often told that its staff members (or ‘partners’ to be technically correct) also love working at John Lewis. But in recent years all has not been well with John Lewis and there have been various financial problems and job cuts. The John Lewis Partnership has been under financial pressure for several years, and in March 2023 they announced the second ever full-year loss, totalling £234 million. It also scrapped its staff bonus last year and closed 16 department stores, along wi ..read more

The price of stamps will rise yet again next month - the fourth increase in two years for the cost of sending a letter first class. Royal Mail has announced that the price of a first-class stamp will rise by 10p to £1.35 and second-class stamps will increase by 10p to 85p. The price rises come after a warning by the loss-making company over the impact of higher costs and lower demand for letters. Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: "We always consider price changes very carefully, but we face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years ..read more

The Customer Service Blog has featured several articles about Britannia Hotels and their terrible reputation with the British public. Readers of this blog will already know that Britannia are often ranked as the worst chain in the UK by the public. This has been confirmed yet again in a survey by Which? magazine, that has named them the worst hotel chain in the UK for the eleventh year running!! After surveying around 5,000 people, the Which? annual ranking of British hotel chains has once again placed them at the very bottom of the list. The chain, which operates 63 hotels across the UK, ha ..read more

Misinformation isn’t just blurring political lines anymore. It’s quietly infiltrating our shopping trolleys in subtle ways, shaping our decisions about what we buy and who we trust. Spurred by political events, misinformation has garnered widespread media coverage and academic research. But most of the attention has been in the fields of political science, social psychology, information technology and journalism studies. More recently though, misinformation has also gained traction among marketing and consumer experts. Much of that research has focused on the direct impacts of misinformation ..read more

The Institute of Customer Service will be holding their Annual Conference on 12th March 2024 at the London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. The event is open to members and non-members. The event is the biggest forum for customer service thought leadership and best practice in the UK. The event draws hundreds of service professionals and business leaders together to learn from examples of global service excellence. The event will be chaired by the well-known TV presenter, broadcaster and journalist Amol Rajan, and it will feature several well-known special guest speakers including: Tom Athron, CE ..read more

As some readers will already know, I do a lot of investing on the UK and USA stock markets. I thought I was pretty good at choosing stock market ‘winners’, but that can’t be said for my decision (exactly two years ago this week) to buy shares in Royal Mail, which have fallen an incredible 49% in value since I bought them in January 2022. Oh well, you win some, you lose some! I invested in the company because I thought Royal Mail (now officially known as International Distributions Services PLC) was a company heading for success. How wrong I was! The company’s share value has plummeted in the ..read more

“Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.” Jon Bon Jovi “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” George S Patton “Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” Coco Chanel “Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble.” Shah Rukh Khan “Failure is success, if we learn from it.” Malcolm Forbes “A minute’s success pays the failure of years.” Robert Browning “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour.” Truman Capote “Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.” Michelle Obama “I’ve failed over ..read more

New ‘consumer duty’ rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) aim to set clear standards for the protection of financial consumers. Banks, building societies, investment and insurance firms, as well as many other types of business, are being told to “put their customers’ needs first”. The timing couldn’t be better. Amid a cost of living crisis, the UK regulator’s new rules should hopefully address the increasing recognition by consumer groups that people cannot always solve the financial problems they face. Consumers are under pressure and need more support. Yet, trust in fin ..read more