I recently visited Jaguar Land Rover with Lord Green and was privileged to see the new production line for the Range Rover Evoque which launches on 4 July.  Its manufacture at Halewood in Merseyside has created 1500 new jobs which is a great boost to the local economy and is testament to the fantastic reputation [...]

If I mention Cheshire you may think of a leafy county, the beautiful city of Chester with its Roman walls, the Cheshire set or even footballers’ wives.  Personally I just think of it as my natural backyard so I must declare a bit of an interest as I write this blog.
The truth about Cheshire is [...]

Forbes has just issued its list of billionaires for 2011 and it makes interesting reading.  I’ll admit that I struggle with understanding what it would be like to be a billionaire and, even if I were lucky enough to win the entire triple rollover Euromillions pot, I would still be absolutely nowhere near being a [...]

I have just returned from a two day tour of Lancashire, an area which I’m afraid I visit all too infrequently, despite having an aunt living in Blackpool.  Now when you think of Lancashire what do you imagine?  Is it the iconic 518ft Blackpool Tower?   Is it the wonderful countryside in the Ribble Valley or [...]

As a fresh faced young boy at grammar school in Newcastle-under-Lyme in the early 70s I recall being handed a stack of what they called punch cards on to which I was taught to apply binary coding to programme a computer. What seemed like hours later, I had a pile of cards at least six [...]

It’s that time of year again when we consider what we have been doing and plan how we can do things differently in the coming year.  As we look ahead to 2011, we have some uncertain economic times ahead but we are constantly being told that we should export our way out of the difficulties.  [...]

This time last week, I was waking up in a very snowy but extraordinarily beautiful Cumbria as I had taken my wife to Sharrow Bay to celebrate her birthday.  Driving up there I was reminded yet again how stunning the countryside is and in the snow the hills looked a little like marshmallows sprinkled with [...]

As I was scraping the car this morning before my drive to work and the dashboard temperature gauge had plummeted to -10˚c my mind wandered quite naturally to sunnier climes and the possibility of heading off for a winter break to the sun. Whilst it’s possible to use the car or train to more local [...]

Why should I export?  This is one of the commonest questions I am asked when I am out and about talking of the opportunities overseas in mature or emerging markets.  I often answer “because you will increase your UK sales as well.”  Why should this be so?
Well, I suppose I could have trotted out a [...]

I’m sure that most of you will be aware of the importance of “guanxi” or relationships when doing business with China. Taking time to understand your potential business partner will reap real rewards in the long run.  Often this means drinking lots of tea, discussing your favourite Premier League football team and exchanging stories about [...]