Steve Jobs was an innovator and a "re-innovator" who created and re-imagined great consumer products for the everyday person. As a Mac ...

"Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free.  For the franchisor, the franchise is an alternative to building 'chain stores' to distribute goods and avoid investment and liability over a chain. The franchisor's success is the success of the franchisees. The franchisee is said to have a greater incentive than a direct employee because he or she has a direct stake in the business."

There are many sites that rank the world's top franchises. Each site uses its own ranking system although there are some common criteria and as a result some of the same companies are ranked in the top ten. Some of the more recognised sites ...

Brand Finance is reporting Google to be the most valuable brand in the world. This ranking takes into account a number of factors including brand rating which is more of a subjective measure. Notably, Apple has moved up twelve place into the top ten and Coca-Cola has slipped down out of the top ten. See the PDF release from brand finance here.

There is an interesting video from a site called "Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)". It was done by a company called "Cognitive Media", and it explains through analysing research done by institutions such as MIT and Carnegie Mellon with quite a few countries around the world, why our traditional ideas of reward may need re-examination.

For quite a few years, I have seen the concepts explained in this video myself when I was in my management career or as a business consultancy owner. When I have encountered this situation of "high reward potential, but low performance" I have often recommended alternative reward schemes and goal setting processes involving staff. This video and the underlying analysis is a good education for me and for all employers and managers to critically relook at their reward or incentive schemes and programmes.