Dr David Bozward

Month: March 2013

  • The virtual enterprise industry, where is the SIC for it?

    In a week where we have had a new budget and Virtual Enterprise Conference in the same week, I think its about time we reclassified our industry into two classes. Virtual and Others under the SIC.

    Yes we should be encouraging people to start virtual businesses whereby from day one they are selling to others around the globe. You should be given help to start making use of the internet and servicing businesses in Afghanistan, Iran and the Sudan without ever burning carbon miles to get there yourself and be in harms way.

    All you have to do is pay all your taxes here. You don’t even have to warehouse in the UK, just pay your taxes.

    So what would be in my new Virtual Business Classification

     

    Creative Industry

    The Creative Industries accounted for 2.89% of gross value added (GVA) in the UK in 2009 . Relative to the UK’s total GVA, the Creative Industries GVA has increase by 0.07% (from 2.82% in 2008), but in absolute terms the GVA reduced by 1% from 2008 (£36.6 billion to £36.3 billion) . Music & Visual and Performing Arts account for the largest contribution to the number of  businesses (1.46% of the UK for enterprises and 1.21% of the UK for local units in 2011). Publishing alone bring in £11b.

    At the moment this is put into Arts, Entertainment, Recreation and other services. Yes a sector which brings in £36.6 Billion is under other?

     

    Retail

    Wholesale and retail trade continued to show strong growth in 2011 where UK exports rose by 65% from £8,609 million in 2010 to £14,176 million in 2011 (compared with a 26% increase in 2010). Total UK exports of merchanting, other trade-related and services between affiliated enterprises increased by 30% in 2011 rising from £17,254 million in 2010 to £22,356 million in 2011 (compared with relatively small growth of 11% in 2010). This may indicate a shift in UK exports patterns favouring merchanting, other trade related and services between affiliated enterprises.

     

    Professional & Online services

    This would be a new sector which bring together professional services, website services, telecommunication, email, social media and others. The virtual services sector is a massive growth sector and we need to give it the space and opportunities to take over the world . The Professional, scientific & technical is currently a category, M. Some healthcare could be put in this category. Create an industry Czar and promote it around the world, we are the virtual services hub of the world.

     

    Finance And Insurance

    This sector brings in £14B a year to the UK economy. As a sector its a very profitable part of the economy and we should ensure we are the bankers of the world. Money is only a number in a computer and therefore we should consider it a major part of our virtual economy.

     

    Education

    This is such an important industry for the UK, it now needs to focus on teaching the entire world, just as the BBC is a proved provider of news, UK Universities and Colleges needs to be the trusted providers of physical and virtual learning. We currently have 302,000 students from other countries, this should be 10 times this and another 1,000 times using virtual course. Currently category P.

     

    Others would include

    Agriculture, forestry & fishing A
    Production B, C, D and E
    Mining, quarrying & utilities B, D and E
    Manufacturing C
    Construction F
    Repair of motor vehicles G
    Motor trades G
    Wholesale G
    Transport & storage (inc postal) H
    Accommodation & food services I
    Property L
    Business administration and support services N
    Public administration & defence O
    Health Q
    Arts, entertainment, recreation and other services R, S, T and U

     

  • The power of story time

    I came across  Sarah Kay who is a Poetess and Storyteller and it reminded me of the power of story telling. The human brain has been programmed for millions of years by listening and remember stories. We all love to sit and listen with great interest at stories and I would like to thank her for reminding me of it.

  • Good governance is good entrepreneurship

    Over the last five years we have learnt how entrepreneurship can lead us down the wrong road. Having entrepreneurial bankers risking our saving is not a good place to be. I also watched Manchester United lose at home in the champions league and it was expected given the events of the last five years. Football lacks good governance, everyone knows this from the top (who enjoy great wealth from the game) to the bottom whereby fans get to see there teams spend every more money in creating spectacular entertainment. The same is in in many religions.

    As an entrepreneur, having to report to a group of people who may or may not agree with you is a major issue which you will try to tactically eliminate. However it is important to hear the truth, however hard from those who you trust and not from the fans, shareholders and voters. These three groups will never ever be pleased and therefore if you are pleasing them now, you are in about to fall. The independence  of others ensures your success, this is why mentors are so worth their weight in gold.

    This is one of the reasons I agree with more woman on the boards of companies, also diverse educational mixes. It reduces the group think and ensures a healthy debate occurs on all subjects before moving to a consensus. This is one of the major parts of good goverance, a diverse range of views who provide guidence, knowledge and thought behind every decision you make.

    The banks have failed to engage diverse educational background into there management stuctures which led to no one pointing out the obvious. i.e. Should we be investing in this at this time?

    The NHS have failed in Staffordshire becuse of the same reason. Everyone was happy to get their wage and not question, why are these people dying and how can be make this better?

    The same happens in government, small businesses and multi-national businesses. Its common as people like people who like them. We don’t like people to question us, we like people from our tribe (university, ethic group, gender or golf club), if we and everyone else is happy why should we ask for change?

    The fact is we all have to be entrepreneurs, and this is what entrepreneurs do, look at the system and say, I’ m going to make this better. It may be painful, risky and I am not going to be liked for saying this, but the world is going to be a better place after i have done this.

    And once I have done this, I willl ensure others have the opportunity to question me and make me continue on this path, never ever giving up because I have won this one battle. Afterall being an entreprenur is a war against complacency.