It’s the era of the pet supplies superstore. With giants such as Pets At Home now springing up in every town and city, starting a small, independent pet shop isn’t for the faint-hearted. Add to the competitive aspect the fact that much of your stock will be small creatures with a short natural shelf life and the challenges increase further.

As the university year draws to a close, a new survey, from CareerBuilder.co.uk, shows university graduates can expect up to 20 percent higher starting salaries than they did in 2011. Finding that dream role could be less demanding too with 17 percent of employers saying they are planning to recruit more graduates this year than last.

It's widely believed that the UK lags far behind countries like the US when it comes to embracing the venture capitalist (VC) culture, with three out of five UK entrepreneurs believing that are less likely to invest in British businesses. However, research by accountancy firm PwC into the Venture Capitalist (VC) funding environment for the UK technology industry has sought to dispel some myths and has challenged certain widely held perceptions of what is preventing investment in early stage and growing companies.

Disaster preparedness for SMEs is closely linked with the adoption of technologies like virtualisation, cloud computing, and mobility, according to the latest research from Symantec Corp, The 2012 SME Disaster Preparedness Survey.

When people want to get somewhere quickly and are, for whatever reason unable to drive, they’ll usually call a cab or a taxi. However, what they really do is a call a private hire vehicle or mini-cab.

Only one in 10 organisations say they have robust plans in place to ensure their business continues to run smoothly if a number of employees leave or are absent unexpectedly.

The majority of UK entrepreneurs believe that there is a lack of understanding among venture capital circles of entrepreneurship, according to new research from Coutts & Co. Bank. The results of a survey released this week show that UK entrepreneurs are also largely sceptical about the benefits of venture capital and its fit with the entrepreneurial mindset. While 69 percent of entrepreneurs believe venture capital investment will deliver faster growth to a business, the majority have doubts about the experience they would go through and the sustainability of that growth.

New research has revealed that five percent of the UK SME population account for two thirds of private sector employment, suggesting that high growth small businesses are playing a key role in the recovery of the UK economy.

Until 1st October 2011, most businesses adopted the default National Retirement Age (NRA) of 65 for their staff. Under the then law, employers had the right to retire employees at 65, provided they followed the statutory retirement procedures. If such procedures were followed, such a dismissal would be neither unfair nor amount to age discrimination.

The Government has received 269 bids from employers looking to take part in a new pilot to design and develop their own vocational training programmes, it has been announced today (May 15).

British businesses getting to grips with social media are only dealing with the “tip of the iceberg” according to a study comparing brands and consumers’ digital interaction.

A new report will show that Britain’s apprentices are getting promoted, improving their confidence and taking on more responsibility in the workplace, Skills Minister John Hayes has claimed.

The immediate jobs outlook has turned positive for the first time in more than a year, driven largely by a decrease in redundancy intentions. This is the main finding of the latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)’s quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey of more than 1,000 employers, conducted by YouGov.

Multi-award winning, Naturally Cool Kids is the brainchild of mother of two, Fiona Wood. The company founded by Woods manufacturers and retails natural skin care and protection products for children. After being voted the winner of Barclays Take One Small Step New Business Idea Competition the company has been able to operate on a much larger scale and it products currently retail in a number of well-known high street stores including John Lewis.

Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, social designer Wayne Hemingway, and iconic photographer Rankin are among the industry leaders fronting a national Prince’s Trust campaign to inspire a generation facing record youth unemployment.

Before CVSeeMe.com, Keith Chaplin-Mabbutt fronted one of the UK’s leading online graduate recruitment consultancies, selling the business in October 2009 to a multi-million pound turnover group. In January 2010, he successfully raised a six-figure angel investment and assembled a multi-million pound shareholder syndicate to officially launch his third business, CVSeeMe.com. CVSeeMe.com was the first UK job site to utilise the concept of ‘video profiling’ in the online recruitment process. Chaplin-Mabbutt is a panel expert for the Guardian and is also a partner and investor in a new training and development company that specifically helps entrepreneurs secure business funding.

Energy costs and access to effective telecommunications, including broadband, are the most important infrastructure issues faced by small businesses, according to new research from the Forum of Private Business.

HR directors are concerned about losing top performing staff from their companies over the coming year according to a new report from specialist administrative staffing recruitment agency, OfficeTeam. The study revealed nearly three in four (72 percent) of worried HR Directors are offering additional incentives, other than financial remuneration, such as remote working in an effort to retain the best employees.

Development work has begun to entice logistics companies to one of the UK’s most neglected regions as part of a Government initiative to help create new jobs. On April 2, The Leeds City Region LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) launched the Aire Valley Leeds Enterprise Zone, one of 22 areas earmarked by the Government to receive regeneration funding.

Summer 2012 brings with it a number of opportunities and difficulties for UK businesses. With an additional public holiday in June for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the London Olympics in July and August, there will be an inevitable impact, not only on London, but on the UK as a whole. Work efficiency is likely to suffer as a result. But what can a business do to prepare for a decline in productivity over this period? Thomas Vollrath, chief executive of Webfusion warns companies that they must factor in planning well in advance to ensure they are prepared for an adverse impact on sales, and that they capitalise on opportunities offered through marketing.