CHAPTER 1: BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE SECURITY BUSINESS

1.1 Context

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky, NHL Hall of Fame.

Whether as an employee, senior manager, or self-employed consultant, we are all expected to be entrepreneurs. Growing a successful business, your own enterprise or somebody else’s, is one of the most satisfying experiences during anybody’s working life. Winning new contracts is a thrilling endorsement of conceptual plans, existing skills, prior investment and experiences. On paper, becoming a successful entrepreneur within the security sector can be viewed as relatively straightforward by those on the outside of our profession. There is a popular perception that the private security market is awash with money. Especially around high-value assets where niche specialisms and uber-exciting professional backgrounds may well be required by clients. Two recent conversations that I’ve had spring to mind. The first, with a young law undergraduate at my boxing gym. After sparring me out of the ring, my pal wanted to chat about how he could ‘diversify’ into security. (Doesn’t being a barrister pay enough?) Secondly, a talk with Jason Towse, a managing director at one of the UK’s biggest security operators. He told me that margins from manned-guarding had all but evaporated. Success was hard-earned and cumulatively accrued, he said, “from building long-standing strategic relationships”. Longer-term relationships enabled the client and vendor to develop a trusted synergy based upon an intuitive understanding of one another. There had to be a ‘cross-cultural fit’ between both organisations, Towse reflected (1).

The truth is, of course, that security markets are, in essence, volatile. Furthermore they remain vulnerable to changing commercial market conditions, like any other private enterprise. Security markets mirror wider global market conditions, unless specific local incidents or security cultures emerge. That is, if they are lucky! Some three or four years after the noughties banking crisis, major financial institutions in London were still laying-off dozens of security staff, despite the international terrorism threat level either being designated ‘severe’ or ‘substantial’ (2). Yet elsewhere, often in fragile spheres of instability and conflict, the private security market has boomed beyond the wildest imagination of most practitioners. For example, after almost a decade of military intervention in Afghanistan, by 2010, the US Department of Defense employed around 20,000 private contractors and licensed 37 companies in Afghanistan. Circumstances again changed rapidly that year. Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, issued a decree prohibiting private security companies and established an Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF). The APPF was tasked to replace all non-diplomatic private security management functions (3). Yet four years later, following significant security lapses, and consideration for wider national security concerns, the outgoing President revoked his 2010 force nationalisation decree. Thus, market continuity planning, to militate against inconsistent customers and uncertain markets, will be a recurring theme for entrepreneurs as we travel through this book.

Taking on the role of business planner, when the sands of politics and economics are permanently shifting, can absorb and expend a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It may even sap individual and team morale after a while. Chronic uncertainty causes fatigue. Yet, there is a positive side for security practitioners because surrounding instability, even adversity, should really play to our strengths. Uncertainty and adversity are the very reasons why our clients look for our services. After all, if a security consultant does not survive and thrive on instability, then why on earth should an external client ever need to have confidence in you?

As we will see in this chapter, and subsequent sections of the Handbook, information is a critical success factor to any enterprise. Knowledge is, de facto, commercial power – a mix of leverage, authority and trust in us to do the right thing, at the right time. Those who take time to properly research, analyse and make sense of surrounding business environments, will reap longer-term dividends. Not least, because a greater sense of authority and resilience will emerge about your enterprise in the eyes of your putative clients and market peers. By positively embracing uncertainty, and shining a torch of leadership in difficult and unpredictable environments, the modern day security practitioner is ideally equipped to add real value to most organisations, including their own. Security practitioners and successful entrepreneurs have many shared characteristics: adaptability, a preference for back-up plans, and, above all, psychological resilience and stamina. “There’s no such thing as a setback”, said self-help guru business mogul, Tony Robins, who declared this enjoyable truism after his latest TV series was cancelled by producers (4). Just a nudge in another direction, perhaps.

1.2 Competitive intelligence

“Competitive Intelligence is not an invention of the 20^th Century.” – (Leonard Fuld, 2013)

Enterprises thrive due to many factors; desirable products, effective marketing, blindly optimistic and wealthy investors, dynamic working cultures and, of course, good leadership and motivated employees. Nevertheless, in all likelihood, a business can only survive and prosper in the longer-term by remaining actively aware and adaptive to its operating environment. Such alertness includes keeping a careful and most respectful eye upon similar organisations fishing in the same waters.

Security sector job roles are more fragile than others. Services and consultancies are in many cases contracted out, licensed and regulated by government departments and public authorities. This extra political dimension – sometimes influenced by a swift change in public opinion, or a new ministerial appointment – means that projects or administrative regimes can be uprooted or radically changed with very little notice. Commercial security and risk services are often tasked around delivery into higher-risk domains, where the approach by government agencies could be more volatile and uncertain. The only consistent feature of many higher risk environments is their inherent inconsistency. Governments will often seek to take direct control of a crisis situation or contagion of negative events. Authorities may wish to extend their reach over a perceived, troublesome sector, such as security, by issuing a raft of measures that may be impracticable and toxic to continued business. Security risk management thus attracts a high degree of interest from media and NGOs which makes public authorities even more susceptible to intervening within this sector. Sudden alterations to the operating environment imposed by governments and public authorities, can lead to damaging losses if the new conditions are not quickly anticipated. On the positive side, riskier security or operating environments provide fantastic opportunities for security enterprises to shine and excel. Companies that know their operating environments well, and also uphold professional practices around individual and organisational resilience (those that we delve into across this book’s eight chapters), will gain competitive advantage over their commercial peers.

What is competitive intelligence?

“Competitive Intelligence is not an invention of the 20^th century,” reports Leonard Fuld, a pre-eminent expert in the field. It is just another form of intelligence gathering, specifically tasked to gather actionable and high-grade information about activities, strengths and weaknesses of market competition. Fuld points to a historical example of nineteenth century British financier, Nathan Rothschild, who, “managed to corner the market on British government securities by receiving early warning of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo”. Fuld adds: “He used carrier pigeons, the email of his day. He knew the information to watch and how to make sense of it; in the end, he used this intelligence to make a killing in the market” (5).

Competitive intelligence (CI) gained ground in American business journals half a century ago. Competitive intelligence is a process which identifies and researches various important market information sets, which when integrated together, provide a company with insightful information and therefore a ‘competitive advantage’ over others in the field. We will take some time in the next sub-chapter (1.3) to look at management tools which enable us to build and achieve competitive intelligence products; perhaps the most famous being Harvard Professor Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model. With Porter’s work, CI gained a greater business educational grounding in the US. His 1980 study, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, is deemed a seminal paper by corporate strategists. Security planners confidently deploying Porter’s modelling will undoubtedly impress potential clients! Porter summarises his findings by saying: “Customers, suppliers, substitutes and potential entrants are all ‘competitors’ to companies in the industry and may be more or less prominent depending on the circumstances. Competition in this broader sense might be termed extended rivalry” (6). An important document emerged in 2008 that attempted to pull together the range of definitions and parameters set by CI practitioners and academics. The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) published a definition in its journal: “… a necessary, ethical business discipline for decision making based on understanding the competitive environment” (7). Stephen Miller, formerly an editor of SCIP’s journal, describes CI as a positive corporate business function: “CI enables managers in companies of all sizes to make decisions about everything from marketing, R&D and investing tactics, to long term business strategies” (8).

Competitive intelligence includes the following traits and focus:

•   Its core focus is on the external business environment

•   There is some form of process involved, or established business function/s, whereby information and knowledge is gathered and processed into an actionable ‘intelligence product’

•   CI could also act as a radar-like ‘early warning system’ for a company to be made aware, sooner rather than later, of possible major market changes or incidents

How can we stay on the right side of the law?

With real-time global interconnectedness, and greater commercial pressures for transparency, Open Source Intelligence gathering (OSINT) has become big business. Decent OSINT briefings can provide real value-added services to clients. OSINT can also provide tangible internal organisational value. Unfortunately, the line between legitimate intelligence activities and unlawful espionage is sometimes crossed. One company, IT hardware manufacturer Hewlett Packard, was made to pay around $14m in fines, and its contracted private investigator was jailed, following unlawful intercepts carried out on senior employees’ telephones. The Fuld Gilad Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence runs the Competitive Intelligence Certification Program. Its President, Dr Ben Gilad, stated: “If more companies took care to thoroughly train their managers and executives in how to produce and how to use intelligence in all levels of the organization, fiascos such as those at HP … would be much less likely to occur” (10). It’s a good point and for that reason we more comprehensively cover the laws and regulations which regulate intelligence gathering activities in chapters 3, 4 and 5 of this book.

Pitfalls of competitive intelligence

Despite a huge amount of media and political anxiety around functions associated with intelligence gathering within the security sector, the fact remains that research, monitoring and evaluations of the competitive environment are routinely carried out by all types of organisations, including by the very same newspapers and politicians who may sometimes stoke up political firestorms related to intelligence-topic controversies! If this is the case, it is often under the guise of more benign terminology. Job titles, such as research assistant, or analyst, often do indicate some form of business intelligence role. Nevertheless, the iron-rule is to conduct research and analysis of competitors in a fair and lawful manner. Moreover, you may wish to ask a stack load of questions before accepting or seeking to fulfil an intelligence-related contract. For example, if a client is seeking to buy in CI services, their motivations may be vague: because how do they know what they really need to know? Seek to develop clarity around the task, or project, before you set off launching various lines of inquiry, or commissioning endless investigative reports. Moreover, can external security practitioners really step into other corporate environments and cultures, and credibly tell them what their risk exposure is? Be confident that you and your team can deliver. Before accepting a contract, consider other questions that might also need to be answered. Such as, to what extent is the client’s executive team behind this initiative? Or are you being recruited to serve a more personalised or discreet agenda? If so, why? For those individuals and companies undertaking competitive intelligence functions, The Society of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals exists to help you tackle such challenging questions (11).

1.3 Linking business intelligence to our operating environment

Each organisation is different, with a unique culture, mix of employees and a unique combination of incoming events which undoubtedly impact it. Therefore, it may well be that many organisations establish their own ways to read, anticipate and map-out their own operating environments. Management tools which help us to draw a map of our business environment are as critically important to the lives of private companies as navigation charts are to the survival of sailors. It is therefore worth familiarising ourselves with some widely familiar business-environment analysis models. If deployed correctly, these management tools can hugely assist enterprises to harness control of resources and target operations to optimum effect.

Three business management models: PESTLE, Porter’s Five Forces and SWOT

A widely favoured business tool is for business researchers and analysts to work to the PESTLE (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental) model to evaluate important external and internal forces that can impact an organisation. On the positive side PESTLE can provide structured information that can then be exploited by a company, because it has a coherent list of forces at work in its own operating environment. PESTLE, and other variations to this famous mnemonic out there, really does help business planners to dig under the skin of an operating environment. PESTLE challenges organisational autopilot and collective comfort zones. Like all of these business analysis tools that we’re looking at in this chapter, PESTLE provides for a crucial episode of corporate reflective learning. This management tool also nurtures a sense of belonging and corporate purpose, to all executives who play their part in devising the PESTLE.

Professor Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model helps companies to summarise the five competitive forces that provide a risk, or opportunities for them, within an industrial sector (12). These can literally be identified and listed under the following categories, Porter suggests:

•   Threat of new entrants

•   Threat of substitute products or services

•   Bargaining power of buyers

•   Bargaining power of suppliers

•   Competitive rivalry between companies.

However, it might be that a company chooses to look more internally at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities (SWOT): the team, product and brand that it has at its disposal to take on the world. SWOT analysis, credited to management academic, Albert Humphrey, has been a very popular management tool deployed for several decades. This model enables teams, and companies, to articulate and address some weaker points in a positive and transformational manner … rather than allocating individual blame to individuals or departments. This is because SWOT analysis tends to be collectivist and can be concluded by focusing on the more positive organisational elements (strengths and opportunities) towards the end of the exercise. This modus operandi should leave the team forum satisfied and reassured, if not entirely exhilarated.

The three management models above can all be considered effective and well-known corporate business tools to provide intelligence-led decision making. If you get five or ten minutes to address a C-suite (senior executive board) officer, give consideration to deploying some, or all of these, in a presentable and engaging manner to your target audience. Moreover, do bear in mind that bad news is best delivered in a sandwich of diplomacy and provisos.

1.4 Examining appropriate intellectual property rights (IPR) in order to protect business ideas and enterprise

As you set about establishing your enterprise, knowledge about how to best protect your expanding corporate intellectual property becomes critical. For security practitioners, familiarity and professionalism in this field is additionally important from a reputational point of view because potential clients and industry peers will expect your company to possess proficiency in this sphere. Information asset protection is a fast-growing business-line, as we shall see later (during the Information and Cyber Security pages of Chapter 5). Therefore, developing advanced capability and expertise in this important sphere may well help you to win new clients, and also expand revenue streams from existing buyers.

Common types of intellectual property rights include: copyright, industrial design rights, patents, trademarks, trade dress, and in some jurisdictions, trade secrets. Common definitions can be found within each country’s designated supervising agency. For example, in the United Kingdom, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is responsible for supporting and advising businesses in this area. All emerging security companies, and those responsible for intellectual property protections, would do well to familiarise themselves with baseline definitions and frameworks helpfully provided by the IPO, or any corresponding agencies in your country of operation (13).

Definitions, laws, protocols and rules can also be made or agreed by supranational organisations, such as the European Union (EU). The UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) based in Geneva is vested with overall global authority and responsibility for issuing guidance and resolving disputes (14). Issues and resolutions can also often be handled by delicate and detailed state-to-state negotiations (‘bilaterals’) or multinational forums, such as the G8 and G20 groupings on major national and emerging economies (15).

Patents: A patent grants an inventor exclusive rights to make, use, sell and import an invention for a limited period of time, in exchange for the public disclosure of the invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem which may be a product or a process (16).

Copyright: A copyright gives the creator of the original work the exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or works. Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form, or manner, in which they are expressed (17).

Industrial design rights: An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or colour, or combinations thereof, in three dimensional form, containing aesthetic – and thus significant commercial – value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft (18).

Trademarks: According to the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USTPO): “A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others” (19).

Trade dress: is “a legal term of art that generally refers to characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers”, explains the University of Princeton website (20).

Trade secrets: according to USTPO, a trade secret is “a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers (21)”. In the US, trade secret law is primarily handled at the state level under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which most states have adopted, and a federal law, and the Economic Espionage Act 1996, which makes the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a Federal crime.

IP: International governance and protocols

Patents and trademarks are territorial and must be filed in each country where protection is sought. Since the rights granted by any country’s patent office, such as the USPTO in America, extend only throughout the territory of that sovereign territory (or state in some cases), and have no effect in a foreign country, an inventor who wishes patent protection in other countries must apply to the relevant nation state or regional patent offices. Almost every country has its own patent laws. A full list of national authorities responsible for IP is published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Specific guidance has been produced for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) and some of this advice is amplified by interviews carried out with smaller scale security companies by the author in the next section (22).

USPTO usefully provides toolkits for IP-related issues as they pertain to specific countries. This provides a mix of general and location-specific guidance and findings including white papers from interest groups, such as the American Chinese Chamber of Commerce. A link to USPTO’s advice is provided in the end-chapter references list (23).

Difficulties with managing IP for start-ups and partnerships

Intellectual property cases are usually complex, ambiguous and resource-heavy for companies that seek recourse in this area. Public authorities and non-profit organisations in some countries offer mediation services, in order to help resolve issues between organisations and avert them from escalating into costly and very public legal battles. Modern, highly mobilised work patterns can complicate governance and parameters around intellectual property. Employees with expertise and sought-after skills, particularly those at a senior level, often move between new employers or different geographic markets with alacrity. Moreover, directors and executive-level staff or contractors with access to sensitive operational details, can often be employed, or retained, by several different organisations; possibly companies with a conflict of interest.

These are just some of the challenges to sensibly retaining critical information within key groups of collaborators and enterprises. But add in to the mix ‘real-time’ digital communications, international business collaborations, increased expectations of product scrutiny (at exhibitions, etc.), then intellectual property protection becomes an almost fanciful concept. Trade shows and exhibitions, technology magazines, journals and digital information, and self-publication, have all extensively proliferated in modern times. Dominant trade publications and journals now expect access to all products and employees!

Moreover, sometimes there are cultural barriers which can scupper plans to protect information or designs during business trips. Some cultures tend to reject that knowledge and research should be privately owned. Development and progress is seen as a fraternal human obligation. Lessons for security contractors, which arose from several first-hand experiences of IP fragmentation, do raise the issue of teamwork and trust: “transparency among one another, and an awareness of the value of our information to everybody else, is vital”, reports Rob Scott, a UK-based security contractor (24). Tips from a range of security contractors include:

•   Be clear from the outset; what information are you providing to the company? Also, be clear in your own mind, what will you retain copyright over?

•   Be proactive in registering intellectual property with national authorities. Despite media horror stories, they can actually be helpful and informative.

•   Perception is reality. Entrepreneurs sometimes start out in teams or alliances of individuals coming together to fill a market gap. You may all be juggling a variety of commercial interests. Therefore, if you have a perceived conflict of interest in the eyes of your team members (remember, you might not think so, but we are talking about perception), then be really clear from the outset about your commercial aims and interests. Full disclosure is always better than falling out.

Counterfeiting and piracy

“Counterfeiting is the ultimate technology for people who want to get something for nothing.” – (Financial writer, Marshall Brain, ‘How Counterfeiting Works’)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that up to $200bn (US) of world trade is made up of counterfeit goods. OECD statisticians admit that this figure is magnified to “several hundred billion dollars or more” because they were unable to calculate “domestically produced and consumed” so-called ‘knock-off goods’. The OECD is just one high-profile organisation urging national governments and industry sectors to share information in relation to useful anti-counterfeiting strategies, and busily issues various missives upon domestic police agencies and prosecutors to “enhance enforcement” (25).

Counterfeiting and piracy are terms used to describe a range of illicit activities at the core of IP infringement. The impact upon business communities has become so severe that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) enshrined provisions relating to fair play and honest business practices when it was established by the Marrakesh Agreement (1994). Provisions within the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) do form a continuous workstream for some of the WTO’s 600 staff in Geneva, Switzerland (26). This body, which has the unenviable task of liberalising trade barriers, replaced the well-known 1948 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). TRIPS brought in provisions of expected standards and dispute resolution procedures. This body attempts to provide global governance, controls and policy direction around: trademarks, copyrights, patents and design rights, as well as a number of related entitlements.

Business impact of IP breaches

Counterfeiting and piracy are longstanding problems which are growing in scope and magnitude, argues the OECD and many likeminded organisations. They are of concern to both government and industrial sectors because of the profound damage that information theft can bring into societal and industrial levels of innovation. Moreover, many IP breaches pose a clear and present danger to the welfare of consumers, such as poor or fake medical products and equipment. Counterfeiting and piracy activity does tend to channel substantial cash and functional resources that can be used by criminal networks and organised crime groups, that profoundly corrode the normal functioning of everyday civilian life, argues the OECD.

Furthermore, companies are also badly disadvantaged by knock-off products and unlicensed goods or operators that can undercut existing, lawful, business enterprises. Moreover, the incentive for companies to invest in their own research and development is massively undermined if they are unable to enjoy the benefits of such effort and expense.

Business and law enforcement responses

Despite international protocols and emerging agreements between international organisations and states, legal recourse against counterfeiting and piracy is usually addressed within the country where suspected offences are committed. Nevertheless, some domestic police forces, such as the UK’s City of London Police, and the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are chasing down British and American-based persons and companies involved in large-scale IP criminal activity (27). Action Fraud is the UK’s National Fraud Reporting Centre (NFRC). The service is run by the new National Fraud Authority, the “government agency that helps co-ordinate the fight against fraud in the UK” (28). In terms of gathering information, the NFRC is part-supported by the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. Suspected counterfeiting, and other frauds, can be reported into Action Fraud.

Under the clever strapline ‘Fake costs more, I’ll buy real’, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) launched an impressive research and publications programme, in order to identify and offer solutions in response to counterfeiting activity. Several years on, the ICC-run Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy program continues to keep business communities well briefed in relation to areas of IP risk. The ICC also provides a toolkit for public authorities, such as policy-makers, police and prosecutors, to strengthen proceeds of crime legislation (29). Should you wish to develop your knowledge in this area, the following report is recommended: Controlling the Zone: Balancing facilitation and control to combat illicit trade in the world’s free trade zones, produced by the ICC (2013), listed in the references section below (30).

1.5 Emerging markets

“The twenty first century may well be the time when the balance of power shifts to Brazil, Russia, India and China, nations collectively referred to as BRICs. These nations constitute the shape of the future, giving rise to a new world economy.” – William C Hunter, Dean of University of Connecticut Business School (31)

The concept of new emerging markets (EMs) does generate much excitement among entrepreneurs. This optimism has been compounded by the global economic downturn from 2007, which has subsequently remained resilient across most of the established, so-called, advanced industrial economies (AIEs). Cost-cutting, which has driven lots more innovation, ICT dependency and efficiency, has occurred across almost all commercial and public sector domains since. So, what is it that is actually driving forward globalisation and an enthusiasm for emerging markets?

•   The rapid growth of middle income purchasing power for non-essential goods in emerging economies (including Brazil, Russia, India, China … commonly now known as BRIC markets). The products include domestic appliances, cars, computers and smartphones. For example, analysts at the Economist Intelligence Unit report that by 2020 China will be a larger domestic automotive market than America, and Russia will topple Germany as Europe’s biggest car market (32).

•   The rapid spread of interactive ICT (Web 2.0) due to accessibility of digital and social media and ecommerce platforms. There is also now instant access to information sources for market and competitor intelligence.

•   The untapped markets still to come: at the time of writing, India had 250 million internet users, and ecommerce penetration was relatively low compared to developed markets, such as the UK, where 19 out of 20 citizens now buy online (33). This type and profile of untapped market is hugely exciting to entrepreneurs, who may well reflect upon Ferdinand Porsche’s splendid motivational quote: “We build cars that nobody needs but everybody wants to have.”

•   A rapid ‘catch up’ of productivity levels in emerging economies to close the ‘productivity gap’ in comparison to established AIEs.

•   Expansion of international and supranational organisations, such as the G8, IMF and World Bank, which marshal trade liberalisation and development strategies within some emerging markets.

•   An ‘infrastructure boom’ led by the BRIC quartet, with India predicted to implement a one trillion dollar investment in national infrastructure between 2013-17 (34).

•   The rise of ‘city economies’. According to eminent global management consultants’ company, McKinsey, the gross domestic product (GDP) of global cities will surge by $30 trillion during the period between 2010 and 2025. Some 47% will be generated in 440 ‘emerging market centres’; most of these are to be found in Asia, Africa and Latin America, say McKinsey’s researchers (35).

What is an emerging market?

In 1981, World Bank economist, Antoine W Agtmael, coined the phrase ‘emerging market economy’. Although parameters around a definition are widely set, Agtmael’s thoughts did include reference to, “an economy with low to medium per capita income” (36). Emerging markets are transitional. They are usually perceived to be on the move, from a closed (controlled) economy, surrounded by barriers to entry, towards participation into international markets. Some common features of emerging markets can be expected. In order to achieve greater accessibility and international leverage, leaders in potentially successful emerging markets will often seek to introduce reforms to business and taxation policies, such as promoting fiscal transparency, uniform levels of legal compliance, and also the removal of barriers, such as anti-foreign property laws, as well as the privatisation (sale) of many state-owned enterprises. Such a process will usually displace some of the economic and political ancien regime. Thus, do not be tempted to ‘put all your eggs in one basket’. Ongoing power struggles and regular changes of influential personnel are hardly uncommon in emerging markets. Some countries have also been able to ‘emerge’ and flourish due to a decline in armed conflict; for instance, Indonesia and Colombia are fast becoming tigers in Pacific Asia and Latin America respectively.

Where are these ‘emerging markets’?

Since Agtmael’s definition became broadly accepted, the world’s most successful emerging economies were spread quite evenly around the globe. Six of the top 20 markets (also four of the top six) were located in East Asia, as identified by business monitoring organisation, Bloomberg. These being: China (first), South Korea (second), Thailand (third) and Malaysia (sixth) (37). Headline hype around the vitality of certain emerging economies does need to be further examined by potential investors and visitors alike. Seldom do headlines and selected data used by news organisations actually relate back an accurate and actionable picture. For instance, many economists do predict that the impact of the 2007/8 global economic crash upon emerging markets may well have been initially slower, and far less visible, than was the case in advanced industrial economies (AIE), such as the US, UK and Germany. These aftershocks have continued well into the following decade because quantitative easing programmes only came to closure five years later. Hence, emerging markets are not always the commercial ‘promised land’. Another concern is that productivity in AIEs has continued to stagnate or fall, almost a decade after the economic crash. To some extent, the fate of emerging markets is intertwined because stagnation of major economic powers will also continue to take orders out of the supply chain in many emerging economies, including Russia, East Europe and Latin America (6). Other age-old economic problems persist in emerging market zones, caused by serious political or military instability, the rise and fall of oil prices, and significant natural disasters. Thus a neutral and open-minded application of sensible business intelligence analysis techniques, such as PESTLE and SWOT, is strongly advised before the establishment security functions and consultancies in emerging markets.

Economic aid

Efforts to open up economies to international trade and to carry out market liberalisation reforms, will often attract international development aid from supportive national states, the IMF and the World Bank. Moreover, in 1970, the United Nations passed Resolution 2626 which stipulated that advanced industrial societies should each contribute at least the equivalent of 0.7% of their GDP directly to international development assistance (38). Development efforts and aid were consolidated by an agreement at the UN of eight millennium development goals (MDG). These MDGs are due for revision in 2015, possibly expanding the range of contributing countries and nature of their contributions. This could expand or reduce investment by aid organisations or government initiatives that directly invest in security management functions related to aid and humanitarian assistance projects.

Networks, such as the European Interagency Security Forum (EISF), ensure that security managers working for NGOs are able to share good practice, mutual aid and educational support between one another, and across many complex and fragile overseas environments, including many officially designated emerging markets (39). According to Lisa Reilly, chairperson of EISF, there are several attributes that will give some security practitioners an advantage over competitors. Reilly stated: “Consultants need to really understand the ethos and mandate of the organisations they wish to work for. Just using the term ‘humanitarian’ does not mean that training or services to be provided are appropriate in content or approach, and practitioners who do not understand this can cause more security risks than they resolve” (40).

Further information about emerging markets

The website Emerging Markets: News, Analysis and Opinion (www.emergingmarkets.org) is an increasingly important hub for financial and political information, even running awards ceremonies for economists and bankers in emerging zones, and employing Nobel Prize winning economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz, as columnists (41). Forbes Magazine in the US and London’s Financial Times (FT) provide upbeat, strategic market information that can be critically examined and corroborated via further in-country reports. Industry forums, such as the Chambers of Commerce and their in-country websites, are often excellent hubs for advice and further decent business contacts. Forbes’ does estimate that emerging economies will experience financial growth at some two to three times the pace of AIEs (42). Of the old guard, only Japan and the US are likely to remain as the world’s top six largest economies, with India, Russia and Brazil due to usurp Germany, France and Britain in the financial ‘pecking order’. According to Forbes’ analysis: “… another benefit for investors is the diversification that the EM’s provide, because they tend to perform differently than developed markets, and have been successful at decoupling from the greater, longer term woes of the mature economies of the West” (43).

Risks of emerging markets

Emerging markets generally do not have the level of market efficiency and strict standards in accounting and securities regulation to be on par with advanced industrialised economies. But emerging markets will typically have developing financial infrastructure including banks, a stock exchange and one unified currency.

Emerging markets can offer decent potential returns for security companies, not just by way of protective security contracts. Often lacking in stability and political certainty, inward investors do turn to physical security providers for employee safety reassurance and, possibly, also to achieve some form of ‘force projection’ that may act as a deterrent to potential adversaries. Security risk management companies that routinely deploy threat and risk assessment services, as core business for their clients, will also therefore correspondingly develop a very rich knowledge-bank of refined information about the in-country operating environment. The sourcing of local, dependable chaperones, translators, business network organisations, and also the processes of carrying out various reconnaissance and site surveys, does mean that security risk management can diversify beyond protective roles and into business enabling services, such as by launching business and market intelligence and analysis products (either as a value-added service or specifically intended separate revenue stream.)

Understanding what an ‘emerging economy’ actually is can be most helpful to a security department. Further research and clarity about the specific operating environment that is being targeted is essential; because sometimes a raft of credible assertions that a market is ‘emerging’ (often backed up by enthusiastic newspaper articles, government promotions and the march of semi-adventurous tourists) can sometimes lead to a disproportionately optimistic news narrative. Such positive terminology may encourage investors to walk blind-sided with their employees into a new market, and assume – quite incorrectly – that risk levels have reduced. Security practitioners should therefore be aware that emerging economies are still very much high-risk political/economic pendulums that can quickly and violently swing backwards, instead of forwards. Clients will undoubtedly expect their security teams to demonstrate strong, forward-thinking awareness around opportunities and threats in less stable markets. Moreover, it should be the case that at times of uncertainty and change, well-prepared security practitioners will actually be in their commercial and personal element.

Traditional markets: the brave old world

Before we close this section, it is worth reminding ourselves that more traditional, established domestic security markets still offer plenty of opportunity. ASIS and the Institute of Financial Management (IOFM) reported in a 2012 report (that interviewed some 400 security industry executives) that the US security market alone was worth $350 billion (around £220 billion) (46).

Key findings of the report include:

•   $350 billion market breaks down into some $282 billion in private sector spending and $69 billion of federal government spending on homeland security.

•   Operational (non-IT) private security spending is estimated to be $202 billion, with expected growth of 5.5% in 2013; IT-related private security market is estimated at $80 billion, with growth of 9% projected for 2013.

•   Number of full-time security workers is estimated to be between 1.9 and 2.1 million.

•   42% of respondents indicated spending on training would increase in 2013, with 12% anticipating a rise of 10% or more.

•   The private investigator is one of the fastest growing occupations; with anticipated growth of 21% projected through 2020; several IT positions are anticipated to grow 22% through 2020.

1.6 Targeting consumer markets and marketing

“Market intelligence is a must-have tool for all security directors planning their departmental and personnel budgets and resource needs, as well as for industry suppliers planning their marketing and product growth.” – RD Whitney, Executive Director at Institute of Financial Management (47)

Entrepreneurs usually start companies to solve problems. They believe that something necessary is missing from the market and that they provide the unique approach to fix the marketplace. Hopefully, during the initial period of establishing a business, there is clarity of vision and a sense of common purpose. The business has a clear understanding of its competitors, its finances, its goals, and the direction of its own market position. Most successful entrepreneurs write down and communicate their business plan and strategy. Nevertheless, a feature of a successful business start-up, is that it swiftly generates pace and momentum of its own. Hundreds or thousands of decisions must be made, equipment purchased, problems solved, etc. This activity curve is both an immensely rewarding window of opportunity for entrepreneurs, but also a period of substantial risk. A new, uncontrolled project is always at some risk from hurtling off the rails. The power and the velocity of an enterprise that gathers momentum can sometime surprise its founders. The brand may gather a level of momentum and generate a scale of interest that surpasses existing competences and capacity. Or an unexpected revenue stream may come in, which can move the entrepreneur some distance away from their company’s original vision. Control and co-ordination of market navigation is critical. Nowhere is this more important than in the sphere of developing a marketing strategy.

The ‘marketing mix’: the four Ps

Marketing is defined by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as the process “responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumers’ requirements profitably” (48). The business leadership company, Mindtools, identify marketing as: “putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time” (49).

To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet the following conditions:

•   Product: must have the right features to address market need. For example, it must look good and work well.

•   Price: the price must be right and build in profit (unless it’s a deliberate promotional loss leader). Discounts and margins must be accurately calculated.

•   Place: the goods must be in the right place at the right time. Ensure on-time storage, delivery and accuracy. Develop channels.

•   Promotion: the target group needs to be made aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion.

The Business Case Studies website gives some excellent case studies of how the 4Ps formula works within some exciting global enterprises including: Manchester United, supermarket Aldi, Red Bull Formula 1 racing team and the National Trust, a British charity. Integrating the elements, business processes, marketing, sales, finance, compliance, communications, security, and so on, will contribute to more powerful and relevant marketing. Marketing departments, like any other busy office functions, can be prone to slipping into silos. But how on earth can marketing be successful if marketing professionals don’t know the nuts and bolts, and strengths and weaknesses, of other business functions? This quandary for marketing professionals, who are often cajoled by boardrooms to ‘get to know the business better’, is not dissimilar to some complaints levelled against security functions! Thus, here exists an opportunity for security entrepreneurs and managers; explore together what functions are mutually supportive. You may find that synergies exist, such as around sharing business and market intelligence information, providing safety and security bulletins and workshops, or working together to invest and develop the company in exciting new emerging markets.

Much underestimated by some security professionals, marketing and sales strategy is the engine that propels forward any company in any sector. Carefully considered planning, coupled with accurate market analysis, will invariably determine just how successful your company and collaborations become. “Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve that problem”, is a piece of great advice from Laura Fitton, founder of oneforty.com (51). Moreover, beware of launching ‘loss leaders’; free or low-cost products or product samples. They can exhaust and bankrupt you as the following case study demonstrates:

1.7 Business funding

The success of winning investment involves entrepreneurs ‘stepping into the shoes’ of potential investors; what will encourage them about your company and vision? Conversely, what avoidable factors may dissuade an investment group away from your enterprise? It is worth accepting from the outset that – as in a job interview – applying for funding and then accepting a potential investor is a mutual, two-way, process. A poor investor match, based on poor information sharing, or divergent business philosophies, can sink an enterprise faster than an unexpected torpedo attack.

Moreover, if your capital investment is endogenous (perhaps derived from your own hard-earned savings), then it is essential for you to apply the same cost-benefit assessment models that others might apply to a decision about whether to invest in you. Imposing strict cost controls and carrying out regular cost benefit and profit and loss monitoring from the outset, will install a habit and, then, a culture of self-discipline and accountability. Further down the line, the benefits of cost control and prudence will be magnified, because it might mean that – thanks to your prudence – you will not be forced to release so much equity in the company, or sign up to unfavourable business finance terms, when it comes to the point that you might need to access extra funding. Being able to choose and carefully select an appropriate investor into your business, can be one of the most exciting and optimistic times for entrepreneurs who wish to expand and drive their business into its next development phase.

Demonstrating to your potential investor your competences and vision for the target marketplace is essential in unlocking investment for any business. But security companies in hazardous environments, or perceived to operate in risky environments, will need to provide extra reassurance to investors as to the legality, security and resilience of their own business. Investors will often look at the security market with a mix of trepidation and excitement around the return on investment (ROI).

As security practitioners, our skills and experience in delivering contingency planning and business continuity strategies for clients, are hopefully second-to-none. But we sometimes take these capabilities for granted. Potential investors, especially those with non-security career backgrounds, are likely to be far more welcoming if security companies demonstrate their own in-house business resilience strategies within any business plan and pitch that is supplied to the investor.

A clear sense of where liabilities and responsibilities exist is absolutely essential in collaborations and joint venture (JV) operations. The report of investigation by Statoil, one of three JV parties who owned the In Amenas oil plant in Algeria at the time of the 2013 terrorist attack, demonstrates just how complex and exhausting the security and legal arrangements of JVs can be in relation to claims for loss and damages (53).

General sources of business finance

Contrary to much media hype, banking institutions can be accessible and the first ports of call for business finance, although, as we will read below, many diverse forms of business finance are steadily coming on stream. Most banks attest to the fact that most applications for business finance do actually receive approval. Moreover, there are tangible reasons behind a banking decision (based upon their own financial risk assessments) to either deny funding, or ask for a business plan or loan application to be revised. The website yourbusinessmatters.net offers an excellent synopsis to the post-banking crisis sector approach to finance:

“Banks are repeatedly accused of being too cautious when lending to small businesses, yet the likes of RBS, Barclays and Santander routinely claim to approve approximately 90% of applications with the 7-10% of rejections being due to applicants having un-realistic expectations of their business operation and viability. If more businesses produced a sound business plan and could demonstrate their viability and positive use of additional finance for growth then the banks say that the money is there to be lent. Often criticised for only ‘backing safe bets’, the banks are quite rightly showing due diligence with responsible lending. Anyone being rejected by a bank should first question their own business plan, and then consider alternative forms of finance without running to ‘payday lenders’”. (54)

Moreover, the publication SME Finance Monitor Q1 2013: The Uncertainty of Demand is just one business publication that shows traditional landscapes of business finance to be changing. Many existing companies are focusing on longer-term resilience; they now seek to reduce debt by making efficiencies and are showing a bigger aversion to borrowing cash for expansion than before. Most start-ups are using personal finances, so that they keep control rather than give away equity in their idea. Furthermore, due to digital media and growth in online investment portfolios, there does seem to be a seismic shift in the amount and diversity of alternative business finance options (55).

Financing options

1.   Investment finance – Traditionally associated with venture capitalists and more recently identified as ‘angel’ investors (made high profile by the popular TV series Dragons Den), this involves selling part of your business to an/or investor(s). There are several reasons to consider this route to finance. Business ‘angels’ usually bring a degree of mentoring, necessary new skills and opportunities to a great emerging business that may not have been available before. The benefits are a quick and professional injection of capital and knowledge. The downside is that the investor ultimately takes a substantial equity share. You will also need to consult and persuade your investors before making any sizeable decisions, as they effectively become part of the strategic management team. This form of finance is also usually available to limited companies, as shares will need to be issued.

2.   Crowd or ‘peer-to-peer’ funding – Online communities of investors (crowds) are often keen to invest into promising micro-companies, fresh start-ups and SMEs. There are two types of crowd funding. The most popular being an actual capital loan, with interest repayments paid back to the cluster. A second method is to raise investment in exchange for equity (shareholdings) from the online crowd.

     Websites, such as Funding Circle, enable businesses to bid for finance by outlining their business plan, completing an initial credit assessment, and then requesting a specified amount of capital. At the time of writing, Funding Circle stated that some 37,000 investors were supporting around 7,000 smaller businesses at terms comparably preferable to traditional banking institutions (56). The website’s registered investors are asked to bid in order to contribute to a total sum requested. The money is consequently raised by multiple investors pledging relatively small amounts of money but looking for an agreed percentage return. It is essentially a capital loan, but at a very competitive interest rate.

3.   Credit unions – many start-ups only need £500-£1,000 to get started. Credit unions usually set a maximum rate of interest of two percent each month. Credit unions are owned by their customers and run as non-profit organisations (such as in the case of British ‘building societies’). Each union is made up of ‘members’ who deposit savings, which are then, in turn, lent out to other members. Regulated by the FSA, members’ savings are protected up to £85,000, and following tough credit checks, member businesses can apply for loans at better rates than with many banks. Because many credit unions are locally-based, and membership includes successful local businesses, they can also offer additional support, such as mentoring and member reductions on support services.

4.   Invoice financing – this can generate a quick injection of cash into your business and can help to reduce your bad debt on invoiced business. According to Businessmatters.net, there is a downside: “A viable alternative to running an overdraft, this does need to be approached with caution as the fees will eat into some of your profit margin”. If your profit margins are razor thin, or you underestimate costs on a contract, then invoice financing can be a risky proposal (57) Two types of invoice financing exist. Invoice ‘factoring’, where the debt is sold to a third party who then collect the debt owed by your customer. They give your company a percentage of the cost (usually 85%) up front and then chase down the full debt from your customer. Once they receive the money, the balance is then paid across to your company. Interest rates and fees are then charged to you by the credit control subcontractor. Invoice ‘discounting’ involves investors, usually banks, lending you money against your unpaid invoices, for a fee and/or interest rate (58). Although another disadvantage to this method is that companies will not then have ‘book debts’ available as security for further finance. Moreover, if the contracted invoice deals with your customer poorly, then prospects for repeat business diminish.

5.   Leasing and asset finance – companies often have to invest in machinery and equipment to service customer requirements and expand operations. Leasing enables start-ups and fast growing companies to get access to necessary assets and equipment. Financial planning and budgeting is helped by leasing and asset finance because businesses can spread steep start-up or development costs through leasing, via monthly instalments with fixed interest rates. If companies ultimately default on payments, then they may well lose access to the asset, but not necessarily their entire business.

6.   Grants and government assistance – the development and growth of small businesses is a priority for many governments and pro-business NGOs. In the UK, The Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) run a variety of initiatives to either inform businesses of government-funded schemes, or local and regional programmes to stimulate enterprise and growth. BIS’s 2013 Report, SME access to finance schemes, is one such portal to help smaller enterprises access funding (59). The UK government has launched a number of initiatives designed to encourage banks to lend and the private sector to lead the economy out of recession, including the new business bank, the finance for lending scheme and requiring LEPs to take the lead on their region’s structural and investment fund strategy. Small companies, with a decent business plan and emerging sector footprint, would be well advised to invest some time scanning the Internet and BIS-related websites to stay abreast of various support initiatives which can include; direct assistance for certain sectors and locations; relevant local and regional market advice (through local enterprise partnerships) (60). The Business is Great website produced by the UK Government provides a plethora of useful ideas, business finance articles, case studies and a ‘My Business Support Tool’ to identify what support may be available to UK-based companies (61). The BusinessUSA website run by the US State Department is the official government website to help start-ups, growth, exporting and financing for American companies (62). Moreover, several charities and NGOs offer start-up loans and ‘seed funding’ but these are usually aimed at specific social demographical groups or sector types. In the UK, The Prince’s Trust charity is perhaps the most well-known and it offers business loans to entrepreneurs aged between 18-30 (63). Likewise, their sister charity, PRIME, provides assistance to some companies established by those over 50 (64). Being environmentally conscious and sustainable is a key ethical and reputational concern for responsible companies but proactive initiative around supporting the ‘green’ agenda may also make your business an attractive investment proposition for some, as the green wise business website pointed out in a recent article: Consider ‘Green’ routes: £5m Green energy fund to target SMEs (65). Due to the importance of business funding, a further information section below has been compiled to provide you with key business groups and initiatives within BRIC economies and the EU, in order to help your company develop links to potential investor bodies.

Top tips: Business finance checklist

In summary of this section, here are checklist items for entrepreneurs to bear in mind as they begin to reach out to investors:

•   Ensure that your business plan is a realistic plan-of-action, not a ‘tick-box’ document to gain investment.

•   What analysis have you done, and can you clearly communicate to give investors’ confidence in your operating environment?

•   Will investment finance be provided by a Financial Conduct Authority-registered company (in the UK) or with the equivalent protection in your country of operation?

•   Be flexible, adaptive and ensure that you can diversify.

•   Do you need to patent your product and/or protect the intellectual property of your service?

1.8 Reviewing operations management

Any corresponding set of organisational tasks and corporate interoperability requires proficiency in operations management (OM). By the end of this sub-chapter we will be able to:

•   define operations management

•   explain the role of operations managers and their importance in delivering profit margins

•   be familiar with some baseline guidance and tools used by OM.

This section therefore follows a logical approach to developing baseline knowledge and competency in this topic, necessary for starting an enterprise and piecing together various business components as that enterprise scales up. What, in essence, is operations management?

All companies employ a range of people, processes, equipment and technology in order to successfully manufacture end-products or provide services (outputs). All organisations are unique, because they deploy different people, processes and technologies to achieve such outputs. According to management expert, Professor Harvey Millar, OM can therefore be thought of as, “the set of activities that create value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs (67)”. The US Department of Education defines operations management as, “the field concerned with managing and directing the physical and/or technical functions of a company or organisation, particularly those related to development, production and manufacturing” (68).

One of the principal industry guides for operations managers is the Body of Knowledge Framework (OMBOK) developed by APICS, a pre-eminent industry body for operations managers. I provide a little more detail about this pre-eminent body and guidance document towards the end of this chapter. OMBOK states that: “Operations management focuses on the systematic direction of the processes involved in the sourcing, production and delivery of products and services. It calls for a holistic or systems view of the processes with major impact on the costs required to operate a company … Operations management concepts apply to the complete chain of activities in the production and delivery of products and services, including those that cross commercial and geographical boundaries” (69).

Thus, operations directors and managers are responsible for operations strategy. This relates to policies and plans governing the use of the organisation’s productive resources, with the aim of delivering profits and, therefore, supporting long-term competitive strategy. In summary, delivering maximum efficiencies within the production cycle. OM is destined to grip and influence the following internal business activity, reflects strategic management academic, Hill (70):

•   Price: set mainly by purchase price, use costs, maintenance costs, upgrade costs, disposal costs

•   Quality: specification and compliance

•   Time: productive lead time, information lead time, punctuality

•   Flexibility: mix, volume, gamma

•   Stock availability.

OMs are extensively responsible for understanding how goods and services in their organisation are produced. To gain the most elementary view of production, some operations managers may therefore seek to look backwards along the production process, starting from the time that the end-product reaches the customer (and possibly beyond), then moving retrospectively towards the time when it was just a product concept. They will want the best possible ‘helicopter view’ of the production chain; their remits will often oversee various business functions, such as marketing (to generate demand), production (including stockholding and preservation), human resources (HR), and perhaps, also, financial control responsibilities. For example, the operations manager may well have responsibility for how well the company performs at revenue collection, and/or settling accounts with key suppliers, and prioritising those over lower priority creditors. Moreover, they may also manage customer relations teams in order to bring together the acquisition of customer feedback (gathered at the end of the product cycle), with actions at the beginning of any product cycle, such as research, development, commissioning and recruitment.

Cost control

In many large organisations – including some US-based commercial banks – asset protection and security practitioner roles have often been organised within the remit of operations management. OM roles do attract academic and management school interest because analysts are keen to understand how people can best organise themselves for ’productive enterprise‘, says Millar (71). Businesses ultimately seek ‘profitability’. Therefore, a core priority of an OM will be to reduce production costs and drive up efficiencies, particularly in more mature markets where competition may be saturated, and margins precariously thin. ‘Operations based activities’, the processes of bringing a product to market, will usually swallow up at least a large portion of initial revenues earned from a customer-base. Mass production does not always lead to mass profits; in fact, it can lead to the opposite if OM functions underperform. In this sense, weak operations management at any point during the production cycle, including poorly managed cost controls, credit controls and external customer service issues, will, ultimately, lead to longer-term resiliency challenges for companies.

The table above illustrates an imaginary start-up company. It demonstrates the importance, to the business, of controlling operational costs. If we look at the ‘cost of goods’ row, then we can see that a more effective control of business costs will lead to a greater profit margin.

For example, although sales revenues dipped from £200,000 in 2012 to £150,000 in 2013, profits were significantly greater overall in 2013 because operational management functions had reduced the costs of production from 80% of revenues in 2012, to just 70% in 2013.

If we now extrapolate the impact of improved cost controls further, to, say, a company 100 times the size, profits could either be £2.7m (with production costs at 70%) or £2.1m (80%). This £600,000 profit margin is a sizeable difference. It could enable a growing company to invest in new employees, recruitment. or indeed provide some return for investors and shareholders.

OM decision-making areas

At a strategic level, OMs therefore ensure that resources across the organisation are used as effectively as possible. The basic management functions of many OMs will include oversight of:

•   planning

•   staffing

•   project direction

•   organising

•   leading, supervising, accountability/control.

According to Millar, there are ten critical ‘decision areas’ that he describes as ‘dimensions’ to operations management roles. With some explanatory examples, these include:

1.   Design of goods and services: who are our customers and what do they need?

2.   Managing quality: what level of performance are we trying to achieve and what are our customers’ expectations? Who is responsible for quality control?

3.   Process and capacity design: processes and demand curves have different capacity requirements.

4.   Location strategy: where should we be based?

5.   Layout strategy: how should we lay out the facility? How large should it be to meet our short or longer term plans?

6.   Human resources and job design: how do we provide a reasonable working environment? How much product can we expect our employees to produce?

7.   Supply-chain management: how safe and resilient are our suppliers? How much should we diversify the supply chain?

8.   Inventory: retaining the right balance of stock; asset protection.

9.   Scheduling: coordinating different projects/productions within available processes and capacity; managing scale-up and scale-down.

10. Maintenance: how do we build reliability? Who is responsible? (73)

OM management tools

Below are two overarching management tools – Just in Time and Gantt – that are often deployed by some operations and project managers.

Just In Time: JIT strategy aims to reduce in-process inventory costs and carrying costs of stock and assets. This strategy of reducing all unnecessary overheads will increase return on investment, so the argument goes. Most famously pioneered by Toyota, production processes are designed with ‘signals’ (Kanban) that issue an alert as to when the next stage of a manufacturing process will begin. JIT practitioners view storage of unused inventory as a waste of resources. Business management analyst, Shinego Shingo, is perhaps the most pre-eminent JIT disciple and he advised Toyota on business structures during the 1970s and 80s. Shingo famously stated: “In the Toyota production system, overproduction is generally considered undesirable and many people regard it as an evil and make efforts to minimise it” (74).

Such practices nowadays might be frowned upon. Some fear that JIT methods generate added risk exposure, as businesses with low inventories and microscopic storage are more vulnerable to major disruptions. This is because their internal contingencies will be limited and dependence on others for supplies and stock during a crisis may be fatal. Yet JIT adherents point to the importance for low-inventory companies to develop close relations with suppliers, and to train all employees across all business functions, to save resources on hosting dormant and ossifying stock. In recent years, as the economic pendulum has swung back towards austerity, management towards quantification, and ICT technology provides us with extra contingencies, perhaps it is no coincidence that JIT theorists are back in fashion.

Gantt charts: Project management was strengthened from around 1910 by management consultant, Henry Gantt, who developed a tool to give an overarching view of multiple operational activities. Nowadays we might call this a ‘helicopter’ view. Described succinctly, the Gantt chart will list the following in a spreadsheet, or by way of a visual map:

•   What are all the tasks of this project?

•   Who is responsible for each task?

•   How long will each task take?

•   What hurdles might your team encounter?

•   What is the overall deadline?

The excellent business advice website, mindtools, sums up the strengths of Gantt charts well: “This detailed thinking helps you ensure that the schedule is workable, that the right people are assigned to each task, and that you have workarounds for potential problems before you start” (75). There are hundreds (if not thousands) of real-world examples of Gantt charts when one conducts a ‘Google images’ search. If entrepreneurs are not already familiar with Gantt, then it is well worth spending a little time researching some appropriate examples, and considering how those might best be adapted to your work environment. Being an entrepreneur or a manager in a fast-moving sector, such as the security industry, does often overwhelm us; and it is easy to begin to feel a loss of control over projects or enterprises. Both Gantt and JIT methods provide strategic controls and the tactical management mechanisms to rein in the worst excesses of fast-paced, multifaceted business environments.

Operations management: Further information and guidance

APICS is the leading professional association for supply chain and operations management. It regularly produces a Body of Knowledge Framework for Operations Managers, known within the sector by its acronym: OMBOK.

This is designed to be an overarching publication, generic in nature, which provides structured, consistent and revised guidance and pan-industry approaches to operations management. Some editions are available to freely download (77).

The website mindtools provides hundreds of useful business information briefings and video clips, including a video presentation on making your own organisational Gantt chart (78).

1.9 Business networking

“Sometimes, idealistic people are put off the whole business of networking as something tainted by flattery and the pursuit of selfish advantage. But virtue in obscurity is rewarded only in Heaven. To succeed in this world you have to be known to people.” – Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor (79)

For some in business, ‘networking’ instils the common sense of dread usually reserved for delayed housework, dog walks on a freezing weekday evening, or a twice-postponed journey to the dentist. While others seem to positively relish the opportunity to meet new folks or exchange pleasantries with their existing contacts at, say, the upcoming Chamber of Commerce dinner.

With business networking being, potentially, the single most lucrative source of sales generation for a start-up or unknown brand, why is it that some entrepreneurs and managers choose to avoid networking?

Consider, for a moment, what the word ‘networking’ means. The word can be split. Net-working suggests a proactive connection between a pool of people that can be ‘netted’ within the same environment! There is also an implication that this activity is very much about ‘work’; there can be little guilt as to politely disengage from a conversation to pursue an important business lead that may have arrived into the room. This part of the book will seek to draw some of the sting away from some fears that managers and entrepreneurs might have as to the value of networking. What is business networking? How can managers and entrepreneurs’ benefit from it? To be clear, a suitable definition is proposed by the website businessballs.com: “Business networking is an effective low-cost marketing method for developing sales opportunities and contacts, based on referrals and introductions – either face-to-face at meetings and gatherings, or by other contact methods, such as phone, email, and increasingly, social and business networking websites” (80).

Top tips for business networking

Recommended by the author and others cited below:

•   Plan beforehand: who might be there, how might you properly engage them and win their interest? Develop and rehearse your ‘elevator pitch’ (see Figure 6 below).

•   Ask good opening questions: ones that connect you to the other attendee including: What is your connection to this event/sector? What attracted you to this event? Where are you from?

•   Set your emotion disposition to ‘curious’: don’t clock-watch, engage with the event, relax and generate genuine interest in each individual and company there, to identify possible connections with your own.

•   Focus on relationships rather than numbers: don’t set a numerical target of people to meet. Instead, develop qualitative conversations and establish relationship foundations.

•   Develop your ‘story’; ensure that you have an engaging narrative to describe who you are, what you do, and why your organisation does it. Communicate in a manner free of complicated insider terminology.

•   Have a nice business card; according to Michael Margolis in his excellent article ‘5 storytelling tips to make networking feel good again’, published on Linkedin (81): “There’s no better way to make a bad impression than when exchanging business cards. Avoid the following: (a) not having a business card, or (b) having a cheap looking business card.”

•   Be positive on everything and everyone that you come into contact with (82). Do not express negative thoughts or question the integrity of others … these are public forums! According to psychology author, Donald A Laird, “Abilities wither under faultfinding, blossom under encouragement” (83).

•   Develop and host your own business networking event and invite your target audience. Perhaps host these with strategic partners and product collaborators to share the pressures and costs of organisation.

Security networking opportunities

The following is a summary of some pre-eminent security groups for education and networking purposes:

ADS: the pre-eminent Aerospace, Defence and Security trade association based in the UK which runs, or partners, more than 150 networking events around the world every year. According to its website: “ADS has offices in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, France and India, with new offices planned in China and the Middle East. ADS was formed from the merger of the Association of Police and Public Security Suppliers (APPSS), the Defence Manufacturers Association (DMA) and the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) in October 2009. ADS also encompasses the British Aviation Group (BAG)”. Further information: www.adsgroup.org.uk/.

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE): The ACFE is very much a global organisation but also usefully runs many national chapters. According to a dedicated UK section on the ACFE’s central website, “the UK Chapter holds regular events throughout the year in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow”. Further information: www.acfeuk.co.uk/.

ASIS UK: Formerly the American Society for Industrial Security, but now with a global footprint and national/regional chapter meetings. In its own words: “The UK Chapter runs dynamic seminars and training days throughout the year, publishes a quarterly newsletter containing articles from some of the country’s leading security practitioners and acts as a voice for the security profession, representing members’ views at the highest levels”. Further information: www.asis.org.uk/.

British Retail Consortium (BRC): The BRC runs an annual retail crime prevention conference, consults and forms policy to prevent retail crime, and engages its members through events and policy formulation and lobbying campaigns. Further information: www.brc.org.uk/brc_home.asp.

British Security Industry Association (BSIA): The BSIA is a large trade association in the UK for private sector security services and contractors. In November 2013, the BSIA launched its ‘Specialist Services Section’ that offers, “specialist services including Close Protection, Technical Surveillance Counter Measures, Surveillance, IT Forensics, Cyber Security and Security Consulting including Critical National Infrastructure”. Further information: www.bsia.co.uk/.

British Standards Institute (BSI): The BSI is based in Chiswick, south west London, and runs a plethora of security and business continuity-related committees which develop standards and publicly available specifications across an expansive range of resiliency issues. The Group’s mission is to ‘make excellence a habit’. The central Societal Security Committee (SSM-1) and its offshoots provide ample opportunities for ‘principal’ subject matter experts to contribute to, and peer review, emerging national and international standards in their domain. Further information: www.bsigroup.co.uk/.

The Business Continuity Awards: Run by CIR Magazine, each year the great-and-the-good of the security and resilience professions gather to be lambasted by a guest host, usually a high-profile comedian. The recent roll of comedic honour includes Glasgow’s Kevin Bridges, Stephen K Amos, and Mock the Week’s garrulous host, Dara O’Briain. Those foolish enough to attempt to ‘out-joke’ the host are suitably humiliated and shot down to size. But with around 500 guests at each gala dinner, and amid an atmosphere of relaxed revelry, the Awards provide an excellent and fun networking environment. Further information: www.cirmagazine.com/businesscontinuityawards/.

Business Continuity Forums (BC): Such BC forums are located on a random basis across UK local authority areas, and are usually facilitated by the local emergency planning office. Some forums run active educational and network briefings including (at the time of writing) in Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester and Milton Keynes. Moreover, some BC forums run ‘buddy schemes’, whereby larger companies support and mentor smaller companies in BC practices, such as in the UK city of Manchester.

Business Continuity Institute (BCI): The BCI is the leading BC standards and guidance membership forum and is intensively engaged in writing and refining its published works. The BCI runs membership events, an online library, develops and accredits courses (including the BCI Diploma, Level 5 with Bucks New University) and published the pre-eminent ‘Good Practice Guidelines’ for Business Continuity: a must-read for security and resilience professionals. Further information: www.thebci.org/.

Communications Electronic Security Group (CESG): CESG is the UK Government’s ‘National Technical Authority’ for information assurance (information security), based in Cheltenham. CESG helps run an annual cyber security challenge for aspiring information security professionals and accredits ‘providers’ and ‘consultants’ as certified services in information assurance that can be accessed via their website. Further information: www.cesg.gov.uk/Finda/Pages/FindA.aspx.

Chambers of Commerce: Branches run network meetings on a whole variety of sector-by-sector topics (including business networking and other business development skills). London’s own Chamber of Commerce and industry runs its own dedicated defence and security committee and network for members. Further information: www.londonchamber.co.uk/lcc_public/home.asp.

City of London Crime Prevention Association (CoLCPA): According to the CoLCPA: “The Crime and Disorder Act of 1998 placed unprecedented emphasis on both the role and the importance of crime prevention partnerships between the police and communities (CoLCPA website: 2013)”. This impressive networking and briefing organisation for businesses and stakeholders in London’s ‘Square Mile’ boasts more than 700 members and runs regular crime prevention and business resilience briefings. CoLCPA also operates a ‘Women’s Network Group’. Further information: www.cityoflondoncpa.org.uk/about/.

Continuity Forum – Building business continuity and resilience: The Continuity Forum is a member organisation pulling together a vast array of networking, training and published products, to support and expand knowledge of business continuity and resilience. It provides a bridge between business continuity disciplines and security professionals via its ‘Security and Counter Terrorism Information Portal’. Further information: www.continuityforum.org/content/page/security-and-ct-portal.

Council of International Investigators (CII): The CII is an international body with a ‘code of ethics’ but with national contacts and membership resources. Its calendar of education and networking events is very much global and its website can be accessed at: www.cii2.org/.

Counter-Terror Expo: One of the largest security industry calendar events, if not the UK’s largest, Counter Terror Expo’s website explains that it “is the premier international event delivering over 9,500 buyers and specifiers from the entire security sector within Government, Military, Law Enforcement, Emergency Services, Private Sector and the Security Services”. Further information: www.counterterrorexpo.com/.

CSARN: City Security and Resilience Networks is a UK-based (but not UK-centric) not-for-profit membership organisation whose goal is to provide education and commercial networking briefings for senior security managers and resilience directors. The format offers dynamic, agile presentations with advice and guidance rooted in real-world scenarios. CSARN recently opened a network chapter in Australia. The organisation provides business intelligence feeds to its members via its fortnightly Security Risk Monitor which covers the following chapters: terrorism and political violence; cyber security; domestic extremism and disorder; protest and disruption. Further information: www.csarn.org and for Australia/NZ: http://csarn.org.au/.

Federation of Small Business: The Federation is a huge regional and local based business network that campaigns on behalf of members. It provides a range of infrastructure for entrepreneurs and small businesses including economic briefings,newsletters, network events, discounts on office hire and member helplines to troubleshoot problems from understanding tax systems to government policy impacting their area. Further information: www.fsb.org.uk/.

HEBCON: the Higher Education Business Continuity Network is a group of BC and security practitioners within scholarly environments that meet and host conferences to share good practice. The website’s functionality and utility is (at the time of writing) mainly focused around registered members and is therefore relatively unexciting for others who may be job or course hunting. Further information: www.hebcon.ac.uk/.

Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Managers (ICPEM): ICPEM is a long established networking and educational forum that links academics, security and business continuity practitioners; many of whom are based in public sector emergency management roles. ICPEM’s website lists academic courses in emergency planning, resilience and disaster management, available around the world. Further information: www.icpem.net/.

INFOSEC: Annual exhibition and information event for information security professions featuring hundreds of exhibitors, education seminars, and a networking pool of more than 10,000 guests. Further information: www.infosec.co.uk/.

Institute of Directors (IoD): With plush offices at 116 Pall Mall, London, and elsewhere around the UK, which buzz with entrepreneurs and senior managers within fast-growing SMEs, the IoD is always a hugely useful networking hub. The organisation also provides a fantastic array of inspirational public speakers. Further information: www.iod.com/.

Information Security Forum: According to its informative website, the Information Security Forum is … “dedicated to investigating, clarifying and resolving key issues in information security and risk management, by developing best practice methodologies, processes and solutions that meet the business needs of our members”. The Forum is a large global organisation but with a UK network that can be contacted via a central website: Further information: www.securityforum.org/.

London First: London First represents several hundred large, London-based multinational companies and lobbies vociferously on behalf of its members in areas of skills, transport, security and policing. It runs regular network information briefings on business security and resilience with high-profile speakers. Further information: www.londonfirst.co.uk.

National Security Inspectorate (NSI): The NSI aims to “be the ultimate reassurance in fire, security and related facilities management approval”. The NSI evolved from a number of trade quality organisations that were concerned about poor standards within the security and fire alarm industry that had potentially caused major lapses in health, safety and security functions, and undermined consumer confidence in industry solutions around crime and fire prevention. The NSO carries out what it describes as: “robust, high quality audits of home security, business security and fire safety service providers”. Companies apply to be audited and quality checked by the NSI in order to provide customers, and their own internal stakeholders, with assurance and confidence. Further information: www.nsi.org.uk/.

Register of Chartered Security Professionals: According to the institution’s website: “Chartered Security Professionals (CSyP) must be of undisputed integrity and have a good awareness of general security principles and a high level of expertise, operating at a strategic level, or the senior end of the operational level, of security practice. Admittance to the Register demonstrates to clients, employers, peers and the public an ability to deliver quality results and a commitment to Continual Professional Development”. Further information: www.csyp-register.org/.

The Security Institute: In its own words, “The Security Institute’s aims are to provide objective standards for, and an independent assessment of, the professional competence and experience of those practising the art and science of security both nationally and internationally, and to raise awareness of professional security practices for the benefit of the public and industry”. It does this by hosting networking and educational events, advising and publishing guidance, and delivering its Diploma in Security Management. Further information: www.security-institute.org/home_page.

Security Excellence Awards: Organised by United Business Media, these pre-eminent awards are righty dubbed the “Oscars of the security business sector” by its proud convenors. Around 1,000 guests pile each year into the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane to applaud and reflect on good practice and also excellent academic achievement, since the introduction of the Wilf Knight Award. Further information: www.securityexcellenceawards.co.uk/.

Security Industry Authority (SIA): Apart from its licensing and enforcement responsibilities, the SIA runs an ‘approved contractor scheme’. The SIA also runs various conferences including its annual stakeholder gathering and forums allied to areas of licensing responsibilities, including a Close Protection Forum. Further information: www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/about-stakeholder-conference.aspx.

The Association of British Investigators (ABI): Formed more than 100 years ago, the ABI is the most pre-eminent UK organisation to lobby and promote standards and networking among private investigators, including private detective agencies. An academy, with links to publications and training, is accessible online. Further information: www.theabi.org.uk/.

TINYg: Terrorist Information New York Group is an influential networking and educational forum run between the large financial institutions of New York and London, involving the likes of the Bank of America, Nomura Bank (London), JP Morgan and other significant contributors. Membership is free (at the time of writing). Audiences tend to be senior directors and managers responsible for security functions at Transatlantic, or global-facing organisations. The group was formed by former London and New York law-enforcement officers, respectively, David Evans and Kevin Cassidy. Further information: www.tinyg.info/.

Women’s Security Society: Significantly underrepresented in the security sector, this network group is growing in numbers and influence. It lists among its objectives: “To share knowledge, provide support and encourage the empowerment and success of women in the security industry”, and also, “To reach out to women in the security industry through networking events and a web based forum”. For further details: www.womenssecuritysociety.co.uk/about-us/.

2.0 Social media marketing

“Instead of telling the world what you’re eating for breakfast, you can use social networking to do something that’s meaningful.” – Business guru Edward Norton (86)

A huge amount of data exists around social media in terms of activity, but far less around behavioural influence. Notwithstanding, by the time of the London 2012 Olympics, it was apparent that the most prominent social media platforms had become larger than some of the world’s most populated nation states, and the companies which owned them were worth more in cash terms than some of the poorest countries on earth.

Twitter – There are more than 800 million accounts worldwide, with an estimated 232 million monthly active users, reported Business Insider in 2013 (87).

Facebook – There are more than 845 million accounts. 27.5% of Europe is registered on Facebook. In January 2009 more than 175 million active users were recorded; slightly less than Brazil’s population (190m) and twice the population of Germany (88). 1 in 7 people in the world has a Facebook profile.

Linkedin – There are over 135 million members, with six million of these in the UK, showed CSARN research at the beginning of the London 2012 Olympics (89).

YouTube – Is the third most visited website in the US. 78% of all traffic is outside the US. It accounts for 10% of internet traffic (90).

Other key social media platforms frequently used by businesses are: Foursquare, Google+, Instagram and company website interactive blogs.

For some fun data sets comparisons about social media use, an expert, Daniel Brian, produced a video called A Day in the Life of Social Media (92). Brian reports that some 65 million Facebook users now access their accounts via smartphones. He reports that pop icon, Lady GaGa, has more Twitter ‘followers’ than twice-elected President, Barack Obama, and also that the pop star will ‘reach’ more people in a single Tweet than combined printed editions of popular newspaper titles, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and New York Times.

There is an incredible and diverse array of splendid advice in relation to using social media to your advantage. Like much security management work, the challenge for aspiring entrepreneurs is really to separate the ‘wheat’ from the ‘chaff’. With various permissions we bring forward some of the most practical and pertinent for security practitioners and start-ups who are keen to develop their brand with the assistance of social media.

Ryan Moore’s excellent presentation posted at maturesocialmedia.com is titled 22 Tips for Social Media. His quarter-hour film clip is expressed with crystal clear clarity (93). Moore provides a realistic menu for business executives who may not be naturally gifted technologists! To summarise, Moore recommends:

1.   Write blog content for your target audience.

2.   Use social media for customer service.

3.   Measure social media return on investment by analysing how it performs compared to more channels or advertising methods.

4.   Mobile check-in deals aren’t just for restaurants and bars.

5.   How frequently you blog does count.

6.   Twitter: if you follow more people than who follow you, you could harm your search engine credit score.

7.   Show your users that you really appreciate their contributions.

8.   Blog about the problems your service or product solves – not about the product or services: ‘talk about things people want’ … ‘provide tips and advice’.

9.   Think of marketing as storytelling, and think of your customers as the characters; ‘… learn how to tell a great story about your brand’.

10.   Depressing tweets, vague tweets, these are all tweets that are better kept to yourself.

11.   What does your social media strategy really need? It needs to answer simple questions. According to Moore: “Give people what they really want, which is simple answers”. You are here to ‘help people’, not give complicated biographies of your company.

12.   The medium isn’t the message. ‘Find out where your people are.’ What social media are they likely to use/need?

13.   Use geo-location Twitter searches to identify local prospects to connect with.

14.   Use social media data to find your key influencers, outline your media plan and develop your message. Identify ‘key influencers’ and ‘cross-promote with them’.

15.   Create a Facebook group to stay connected with those you meet at conferences months after the last panel. Particularly if there is something that everybody is advocating or lobbying for.

16.   Consider the timing of your social media posts – time of day, time of week and time of year. Think about what is latest news, and, equally, what might be insensitive timing.

17.   If you’re going to tell people to ‘Like’ your company on Facebook, have something of value waiting there for them.

18.   If your company makes a mistake on social media – step out and own up to the mistake.

19.   Use social media contests as an opportunity to learn more about your customers.

20.   Leverage social search and boost your rankings for target key words by offering content (eBooks, webinars, etc.) and having community members pay with a Tweet.

21.   Include social sharing and follow buttons on your site, your emails, and your blogs.

22.   Summary: ‘Do it!’ (94).

To develop your profile for Facebook, the YouTube videos that show interviews with Amy Porterfield, a social media analyst, offer good value for entrepreneurs. In a 2012 interview, Porterfield outlined four key steps to building a professional Facebook profile:

1.   Optimise your Facebook contacts

2.   Quickly grow a lucrative fan base of quality leads

3.   Create ongoing, massive engagement

4.   Turn your fans into profitable super fans.

The above is a headline summary, but Porterfield’s detailed menu of suggestions to gain traction and credibility over social media platforms, including Facebook, are listed in the references section at the end of the Chapter (95). Likewise, social media academics, Kaplan and Haenlein, produced a paper Ten pieces of advice for companies deciding to use social media. This important paper – entitled Users of the world unite! – discusses multidimensional questions that will be pertinent for businesses, such as around tone and attitudinal approach. For example, how can companies appear social rather than exploitative? How can companies ensure that they are not perceived as invasive, as they reach out across online communities (96)? The tone and pitch of specific social networks is an important domain to understand for entrepreneurs and professionals looking to increase their profile and market footprint. With the advent of 2.0 online communities, an ICT-driven communications democracy whereby we can all interact and become published content producers, means that we have the greatest ever opportunity to reach new markets. Yet potential customer attention spans are possibly dwindling due to information overload. Several experts attest to the reduction of attention spans, caused by information saturation. Apparently, in 1998, the estimated human attention span was 12 minutes. A decade later it was five minutes. Moreover, we humans receive five times more information than we did back in 1986 (97). This may well be the case, but perhaps as living proof, the author did not have time to corroborate the data! What must be true, though, is that the entrepreneur has a very limited window of opportunity over social media platforms in order to capture the heart and minds of potential new customers.

When establishing our business advisory company, CSARN, several years ago, our marketing director, Tom Hough, took the lead in developing a social media footprint which soon seemed to gather a degree of prominence within the UK and allied security sectors. “Keep it simple”, Hough reports. “Lots of relevant free and topical content, decent headlines, good collaborative networks, and the release of information to a disciplined schedule, appear to be the ingredients that work well for commercial security companies over social media platforms”, says Hough (98). The Hough family company, Cava Media, successfully set up the popular publication, the Crisis Response Journal, before his company turned its hand to co-founding CSARN in 2009.

The jigsaw pieces of inspiration and ideas for your social media footprint can be given a sense of coherence and order by drawing up a social media strategy. According to business writer, Kim Lachance Shandrow, there are ten questions to ask when creating a social media marketing plan.

2.1 Negotiation

“… to get concessions, they [ambassadors] have to make concessions.” – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, 2006 (100)

Poor negotiation skills can cost your company a lot of money. Conversely, good negotiation skills can earn your company pots of cash. Weak negotiation skills can turn a conversation into a disaster. Strong negotiation skills can avert a crisis and maximise future opportunities. This part of the book asks:

•   are there case studies that can help our learning?

•   what seem to be the core ingredients to effective negotiation?

Lessons from the political domain in the sphere of negotiations can be instructive. President George W Bush’s former Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control, later Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, stated the following: “Negotiation is not a policy. It’s a technique. It’s something you use when it’s to your advantage, and something that you don’t use when it’s not to your advantage”. However, as Bolton was to find out, displaying such naked self-interest saw him hit numerous brick walls at political negotiating tables (101). (Bolton was hardly heartbroken by this.) The late Richard Holbrooke adopted a more subtle approach. He was a skilled, long-serving US Government negotiator, who famously led the brokering of a fragile yet relatively enduring peace process amid Bosnia’s civil war. Holbrooke observed the following: “World War I was not inevitable, as many historians say. It could have been avoided, and it was a diplomatically botched negotiation” (102). Policy negotiation achievements are a little like a prolonged commercial sales strategy: positive results can only ever be created and realised due to the involvement of a range of people and fully functioning teamwork. Negotiation is an area of essential corporate leadership which can pose difficulties for those who dislike negotiating, or those who fear losing control of a self-imposed agenda. But as US President Bill Clinton warned the people of Northern Ireland after the 1998 Good Friday peace deal: “keep your eyes on the prize” (103).

Commercial negotiations

According to the National Audit Office, the UK Government wasted £31bn during financial year 2010-11 due to “poor negotiation skills” (109). Negotiation specialist, James Stuart, reports that UK companies lost approximately £75bn “in revenue or extra cost due to poor negotiation” (110). Negotiations can begin to go wrong right from the outset, argues management strategist, Adam Galinsky. Galinsky writes about the “dramatic effect of anchors” and finds a case against those who advocate a guarded approach where numerical or positional goals might be held back.

2.2 Company structures, corporate returns and regulation

Part of being an effective entrepreneur is being aware of various company structures and how liabilities can work to your advantage or otherwise. In this section we look briefly at the structure of Private Limited Companies, Public Limited Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and Community Interest Companies. Moreover, only by understanding how another company is incorporated, can we actually understand some key commercial or operational drivers that underpin the ethos and methods of its business. By incorporated we mean the registration of that company with the authorised national or regional bodies responsible for holding information and registering companies as legal entities in any geographic domain, such as Companies House in the UK.

Many countries follow similar legal approaches to the UK Companies Act (2006) or its predecessors. In the UK there are four types of company as defined by the commerce registration body, Companies House:

Private company limited by shares: This company has a share capital and the liability of each member is limited to the amount, if any, unpaid on their shares. A private company cannot offer its shares for sale to the general public.

Private company limited by guarantee: This company does not have a share capital and its members are guarantors rather than shareholders. The members’ liability is limited to the amount they agree to contribute to the company’s assets if it is wound up.

Private unlimited company: An unlimited company may or may not have a share capital but there is no limit to the members’ liability.

Public limited company (PLCs): A public company has a share capital and limits the liability of each member to the amount unpaid on their shares. It may offer its shares for sale to the general public and may be quoted on the stock exchange (113).

Some companies are established as Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), and this can be quite popular among some sectors including legal and accountancy domains. LLPs are usually a logical way of bringing together a large critical mass of existing equity partners from, perhaps, smaller companies looking to merge into a larger corporation. The benefit is that at the same time ‘partners’ do not theoretically lose decision-making power within the new company structure. Many accountants and lawyers are ‘equity partners’ within the company. This means that they own shares in the company. Partners are often empowered to elect the chief executive officer (CEO) and company chairman roles within the LLP (114).

Employee ownership schemes are not confined to law and accountancy and can be a smart way to incentivise growth. Perhaps one of the more familiar examples of an employee-owned business is the upmarket retailer, the John Lewis Partnership: “People who work in our business are not just employees, they’re actually the owners of our business. And they have a constitutional right to ownership”, CEO Charlie Mayfield proudly recounts in a company promotional video (115).

Such non-hierarchical structures are anathema to many security environments, but are becoming popular, particularly in technology and creative arts environments. Benefits of employee owned companies include:

•   working horizontally across projects and locations, and not causing friction by upsetting established hierarchies or silos

•   engaging employees into a security and emergency planning culture of mutual aid and assistance, because, ultimately, they are all business owners.

Disadvantages might be:

•   an inability to properly take steps to mitigate against internal business security threats (including collective rights to health and safety) due to individual employee over-empowerment that may even impede sensible preventative or disciplinary action

•   critical and priority business decision making is slowed down, or becomes slower than competitors.

Company returns

Once companies are registered by national authorities, they will receive a certificate of incorporation, or similar. Various demands for company returns are then issued by the regulatory body, in order for companies to remain legally compliant. Returns can be driven by events within the company, requiring records to be changed and updated with the regulator. Some examples might be: an update being required for senior personnel alterations; adjustments to share capital allocations; or a change of registered office location. For further information on updates, companies should consult their own regulator for any alterations that need to be altered. These are described as ‘event driven filings’ by UK Companies House (116).

Moreover, Companies House, and other similar national bodies, require companies to return a snapshot of their activity, usually on an annual basis. This is popularly known as filing company ‘returns’ (117). Please note, that this process is distinctly different to filing taxation returns, and other mandatory information that might be required by relevant government departments and regulatory bodies.

After submission by the company secretary, annual returns will either be accepted or rejected by Companies House. Different organisational structures are required to appoint certain roles in order to guarantee clear organisational responsibility for financial reporting. In the UK, public companies must meet the following Companies House criteria:

•   it must have at least two directors (who may also be members of the company)

•   it must have at least one director who is an individual

•   all individual directors must be aged 16 or over

•   it must have at least one secretary

•   the secretary must be qualified to act as a secretary.

A qualified secretary is someone who:

•   has held the office of secretary of a public company for at least three of the five years before their appointment

•   is a barrister, advocate or solicitor, called or admitted, in any part of the United Kingdom

•   is a person who, by virtue of his or her previous experience or membership of another body, appears to the directors to be capable of discharging the functions of secretary

•   is a member of one of the following professional bodies:

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (118).

UK Companies Act 2006

The UK Companies Act (2006) was established by the then government to tighten shareholder engagement within companies. It also had the stated intent to make it easier to establish companies within the UK. The Act replaced the 1985 Companies Act. Conversely, as reporting data was increased, some business organisations countered that the Act had added more ‘red tape’ to business reporting. Nevertheless, the Act tightened some areas of concern. One change required that company directors must be at least 16 years of age. Directors no longer had to report (and effectively publicise) a home address. In addition, PLCs became mandated to hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) within six months of the financial year-end.

The Act was, however, welcomed by some other small business owners, because a couple of perceptibly cumbersome procedures were diluted:

•   Company secretaries – a private company no longer needs to appoint a company secretary, but may do so if it wishes.

•   Shareholders’ written resolutions – the requirement for unanimity in shareholders’ written resolutions was abolished, and the required majority is similar to that for shareholder meetings – a simple majority of the eligible shares for ordinary resolutions, or 75% for special resolutions (119).

Chapter 1: Wrap-up

In closing this chapter on entrepreneurship, we reflect on some of the approaches and attributes that will help your company gain the competitive edge. These include:

•   Don’t cut corners, or get a reputation for doing so. Longer-term relationships enable the client and vendor to develop a trusted synergy based upon an intuitive understanding of one another, says Jason Towse, Managing Director at Mitie Total Security.

•   Competitive intelligence (CI) is a process which identifies and researches various important market information sets. When brought together, CI provides a company with insightful and actionable information which will help it to gain a ‘competitive advantage’ over others in the field.

•   Companies that know their operating environments really well, and also uphold professional practices around individual and organisational resilience, will ultimately gain competitive advantage over their commercial peers.

•   Entrepreneurs should familiarise themselves with some widely familiar business-environment analysis models, such as PESTLE, SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces analysis. If deployed correctly, these management tools can hugely assist enterprises to harness control of resources and target operations to optimum effect.

•   Developing advanced capability and expertise in the important sphere of IP protection, may well help you to win new clients, and also expand revenue streams from existing buyers.

•   Perception is reality. Entrepreneurs sometimes start out in teams or alliances of individuals coming together to fill a market gap. You may all be juggling a variety of commercial interests. Therefore, if you have a perceived conflict of interest in the eyes of your team members (remember, you might not think so, but we are talking about perception), be really clear from the outset about your commercial aims and interests. Full disclosure is always better than falling out.

•   According to the University of Connecticut Business School, “The 21st century may well be the time when the balance of power shifts to Brazil, Russia, India and China, nations collectively referred to as BRICs. These nations constitute the shape of the future, giving rise to a new world economy”. Therefore, think as laterally as possible about where to scope out next for new business.

•   Do not ‘put all your eggs in one basket’. Ongoing power struggles and regular changes of influential personnel are hardly uncommon in emerging markets.

•   A neutral and open-minded application of sensible business intelligence analysis techniques – such as PESTLE and SWOT – is strongly advised before the establishment of security functions and consultancies in emerging markets.

•   It is worth accepting from the outset that – as in a job interview – applying for funding, and then accepting a potential investor, is a two-way process. A poor investor match, based on poor information sharing, or divergent business philosophies, can sink an enterprise faster than an unexpected torpedo attack.

References

1)   Author interview with Jason Towse, Managing Director of Mitie Total Security Management (2014)

2)   Off-record contextual conversation with two EMEA Corporate Security Managers at CSARN and UK Foreign Office business briefing (London, 29/11/2012)

3)   CNN Wire Staff. (17th August 2010) ‘Karzai issues decree disbanding private security firms’, accessed and downloaded on 16/01/2015 at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/17/afghanistan.security.firms/index.html

4)   New York Times (08/08/2008) ‘No such thing as set back’, accessed and downloaded on 23/01/2015 at: www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/fashion/08With.html

5)   Fuld, L., (2013) ‘What is Competitive Intelligence?’, downloaded on 10/09/2013 from: www.fuld.com/company/what-is-competitive-intelligence/

6)   Porter, M., E., (1980) ‘Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors’ (p.6), accessed and downloaded on 09/09/2013 from: www.iseg.utl.pt/aula/cad1505/Textos_Apoio/Techniques_Analyzing_Industries_a.pdf

7)   Brody, R., (2008) ‘Issues in Defining Competitive Intelligence: An Exploration’, in Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management, Volume 4, Number 3, 2008, (p.4) accessed and downloaded on 09/09/13 from: www.scip.org/files/JCIM/02.%20JCIM%204.3%20Brody%20%28WEB%29.pdf

8)   Society of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals: accessed at: www.scip.org

9)   Fuld and Company (2013) ‘Boiling the Frog: A Global Survey and Report about Potential Industry Shocks That Concern Life Sciences Executives’, White Paper, accessed and downloaded on 10/09/2013 from: www.fuld.com/Portals/17073/resource-center/white-papers/pdf/fuld-and-company-white-paper-boilingthefrog2013.pdf?utm_content=9079503&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8HCrRetkxK-M81owaLEQoJrLJhLuPh_2uG0vdyw5x3WRsrgwruC7d1q2A5lMEFaDkD2JrJgeFWMwN47VVF2bDzmb607a7ZPc39Cdg7wdo8wa_GY4&_hsmi=9079503

10)   Academy of Competitive Intelligence (2006) ‘The First Competitive Intelligence Certification Programme Celebrates Fifth Anniversary; Reduces Chances of “HP Fiasco’; Downloaded on 10/09/13 from: www.marketwire.com/press-release/first-competitive-intelligence-certification-program-celebrates-fifth-anniversary-reduces-699754.htm

11)   SCIP’s website can be found at: www.scip.org/

12)   Porter, M., E., (1979), ‘How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy’, Harvard Business Review, March/April 1979

13)   Intellectual Property Office website can be accessed at: www.ipo.gov.uk

14)   World Intellectual Property Organisation website can be accessed at: www.wipo.org

15)   Reports on the work of G8 and Intellectual Property were accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: www.g20civil.com/documents/200/548/

16)   Among several definitions of ‘patent’ the author accessed and downloaded the Hothouse business advice website on 02/02/2015 at: www.dit.ie/hothouse/researchcommercialisation/understandingintellectualproperty/

17)   Clarification of copyright principles provided by University of California and accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: http://copyright. universityofcalifornia.edu/ownership/joint-works.html

18)   ‘Industrial design rights’ accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-9/index.html

19)   United States Trademarks and Patents Office, accessed and downloaded on 16/01/2014 at: www.uspto.gov

20)   Princeton University website, ‘Trade Dress’, accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Trade_dress.html

21)   United States Patent and Trademark Office (2013) ‘Trademark, patent or copyright?’ Downloaded on 10/09/2013 from: www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/definitions.jsp

22)   WIPO guide for Small and Medium sized companies, accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: www.wipo.int/sme/en/

23)   WIPO toolkits for specific countries, accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: www.uspto.gov/ip/iprtoolkits.jsp

24)   Interview conducted with Rob Scott, Managing Director of SSG Security, on 02/02/2015

25)   OECD, ‘The Economic Effect of Counterfeiting and Piracy, Executive Summary’ OECD, Paris. 2007. Retrieved 2007.

26)   WTO: ‘Trade related aspects of intellectual property rights’, accessed and downloaded on 02/02/2015 at: www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/t_agm0_e.htm

27)   FBI presentation, (16/09/2015) Terrorist Information New York Group, New York: U.S.

28)   Action Fraud was accessed and downloaded on 02/04/2014 at: www.actionfraud.police.uk/about-us/who-we-are

29)   International Chamber of Commerce: ‘Business Action to stop counterfeiting and piracy’, accessed and downloaded on 02/04/2014 at: www.iccwbo.org/advocacy-codes-and-rules/bascap/ and: International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), (2013), ‘Controlling the Zone: Balancing facilitation and control to combat illicit trade in the world’s free trade zone’: accessed and downloaded on 16/09/2013 from: www.iccwbo.org/Advocacy-Codes-and-Rules/BASCAP/International-engagement-and-Advocacy/Free-Trade-Zones/

30)   Op. Cit., OECD ‘The Economic Effect of Counterfeiting and Piracy, Executive Summary’

31)   Jain, S., et al (2006), ‘New Horizons in International Business: Emerging Economies and the Transformation of International Business’, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing

32)   Manktelow, A. et al (2014), ‘Guide to Emerging Markets: The business outlook, opportunities and obstacles’, London: The Economist

33)   Internet World Stats: accessed and downloaded on 04/02/2015 at: www.internetworldstats.com/asia/in.htm

34)   Op., Cit., Manktelow et al

35)   Ibid.

36)   Heakal, R., (2014) ‘What is an emerging market economy?’ Accessed and downloaded on 07/10/2014 at: www.investopedia.com/articles/03/073003.asp

37)   Bloomberg: ‘The top twenty emerging markets’: accessed and downloaded on 06/10/2014 at: www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-01-30/the-top-20-emerging-markets.html#slide10

38)   Global Issues website: ‘Rich Nations Agreed At UN to 0.7% of GNP To Aid’: accessed and downloaded on 07/10/2014 at: www.globalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance

39)   European Interagency Security Forum website: accessed on 07/10/2014 at: www.eisf.eu/

40)   Interview with Lisa Reilly, EISF, conducted on: 11/11/2014

41)   Stiglitz, J., (2014) ‘The world needs a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism’, accessed and downloaded on 12/10/2014 at: www.emergingmarkets.org/Article/3389531/JOSEPH-STIGLITZ-The-world-needs-a-sovereign-debt-restructuring-mechanism.html

42)   Forbes (2014), ‘What makes emerging economies markets great investments?’ Accessed and downloaded on 12/10/2014 at: www.forbes.com/pictures/eglg45gdjd/why-invest-in-emerging-markets-2/

43)   Ibid.

44)   Goldman Sachs (2001), ‘Building Better Global Economic ‘BRICS’, Global Economic Paper No. 66: accessed and downloaded on 06/02/2015 at: www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/archive/archive-pdfs/build-better-brics.pdf

45)   Morgan Stanley’s ‘Emerging Market Index’, accessed and downloaded on 06/11/2014 from: www.msci.com/products/indexes/country_and_regional/em/

46)   ASIS International and IOMF (2012), ‘The United States Security Industry’, accessed and downloaded on 06/02/2015 at: www.asisonline.org/Documents/ASIS%20IOFM%20Executive%20Summary%208.23.13.%20final.pdf

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50)   Op. Cit., ‘Business Case Studies’ (2013)

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55)   BDRC Continental (2013), ‘SME Finance Monitor, The Uncertainty of Demand’, accessed and downloaded on 16/02/2015 at: http://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/6888/mrdoc/pdf/6888_sme_finance_monitor_report_q1_2013.pdf

56)   Funding Circle website (2015), accessed and downloaded on 16/02/2015 at: www.fundingcircle.com/

57)   Yourbusinessmatters.net (2013), ‘Credit where credit’s due’, accessed and downloaded on 16/02/2015 at: www.yourbusinessmatters.net/credit-credits-due-finance-dilemma/

58)   HMG website (2015), ‘Business finance explained’, accessed and downloaded on 16/02/2015 at: www.gov.uk/business-finance-explained/invoice-financing

59)   Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (April 2013), ‘Access to Finance Schemes’, was accessed and downloaded on 17/02/2015 at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/192618/bis-13-p176b-sme-access-to-finance-measures.pdf

60)   Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, ‘Government Information and Advice’ was accessed on 16/02/2015 at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/helping-small-business-government-information-and-advice

61)   HMG ‘Business is Great’ website (2015), was accessed on 16/02/2015 at: www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/

62)   BusinessUSA website (2015), was accessed on 16/02/2015 at: www.state.gov/business/

63)   Prince’s Trust website (2015), accessed on 16/02/2015 at: www.princes-trust.org.uk/

64)   PRIME website (2015), accessed and downloaded on 16/02/2015 at: www.prime.org.uk/

65)   Greenwise business website (04/09/2013), ‘Consider ‘Green’ routes: £5m Green energy fund to target SMEs’, accessed and downloaded on 23/09/2013 from: www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/5m-green-energy-fund-to-target-smes-4071.aspx

66)   Daily Telegraph (05/08/2015), ‘SOAPBOX, SMEs are missing out on funding because alternative funders are no good at marketing themselves, says Will King’, accessed and downloaded on 5/08/2015 at: www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/festival-of-business/10220565/SOAPBOX-SMEs-are-missing-out-on-funding-because-alternative-funders-are-no-good-at-marketing-themselves-says-Will-King.html

67)   Millar, H., (2013), Operations Management video, Pearson Education, accessed and downloaded on 22/10/2013 at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F33ZantQdI

68)   U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences: Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). Retrieved on October 26, 2009 from CIP 2000 - CIP Lookup to Occupational Crosswalks

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70)   Hill, T., Manufacturing Strategy-Text and Cases, 3rd ed. Mc-Graw Hill 2000

71)   Op.Cit. Millar, H.,

72)   Transcript from the Energy Select Committee, House of Commons, 29^th October 2013, provided by the BBC and accessed at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24705280

73)   Op. Cit., Millar, H.,

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75)   Mindtools (2013), ‘Gantt Charts: planning and scheduling team projects’, downloaded on 21 10 2013 from: www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_03.htm

76)   University of North Carolina, Department of Computer Science: downloaded on 21 10 2013 from: www.cs.unc.edu/~stotts/145/pix/gantt.gif

77)   APICS, OMBOK (3^rd. ed.) was accessed and downloaded on 20/10/2013 at: www.apics.org/industry-content-research/publications/ombok/apics-ombok-framework-table-of-contents/apics-ombok-framework-1.1

78)   Mindtools (2013), Gantt charts with James Manktelow and Amy Carlson was accessed and downloaded on 12/11/2013 at: www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_03.htm

79)   Brainyquotes.com (2013), accessed and downloaded on 17/02/2015 at: www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sonia_sotomayor.html

80)   BusinessBalls.com (2013), Business Networking, downloaded on 12 11 2013 from: www.businessballs.com/business-networking.htm

81)   Margolis., M., ‘5 storytelling tips to make networking feel good again’, downloaded on 12 11 2013 from: www.getstoried.com/5-storytelling-tips-to-make-networking-feel-good-again/

82)   Op., Cit., Businessballs.com

83)   Laird., D., et al., (2010), ‘Poise and Self Confidence in Dealing with Others’, Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing

84)   Businessballs.com (2013)

85)   Author interview with John Walmsley, JKW Law LLP, on 22/01/2015

86)   Brainy Quote website: accessed on 20/03.2015 at: www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edwardnort449658.html

87)   Business Insider (06/11/2015), ‘Twitter’s Dark Pool’ was accessed and downloaded on 31/03/2015 at: www.businessinsider.com/twitter-total-registered-users-v-monthly-active-users-2013-11

88)   Kaplan, A., and Haenlein, M. (2009), ‘Users of the world unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media’, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University: downloaded on 27/11/2013 from: michaelhaenlein.com/Publications/Kaplan,%20Andreas%20-%20Users%20of%20the%20world,%20unite.pdf

89)   CSARN (2012), Security Viewpoint: 1, ‘The role of social media in emergencies’, downloaded from the CSARN.org website on 02/12/2013 from: http://news.csarn.org/2012/07/csarn-security-viewpoint-1-the-role-of-social-media-in-emergencies.html

90)   Ibid.

91)   Op. Cit., Kaplan and Haenlein

92)   Brian., D., (2010), ‘A Day in the Life of Social Media’: was accessed on 20/02/2014 at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iReY3W9ZkLU

93)   Moore., R., (2012), ‘22 Brilliant Social Media Tips’: (14.49), was accessed on 20/02/2014 at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kaMmKAYHs0

94)   Ibid.

95)   Porterfield, A., (2012) webinar was accessed on 20/02/2015 at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VfXljgensI

96)   Op. Cit., Kaplan and Haenlein

97)   Trackvia Blog (2015), ‘Your shrinking attention span: the truth’, was accessed and downloaded on 31/03/2015 at: www.trackvia.com/blog/productivity/truth-shrinking-attention-span

98)   Author interview with Tom Hough, carried out on 31/03/2015

99)   Shandrow, K., L., (16/09/2013), ‘Ten questions to ask when creating a Social Media Marketing Plan’, was accessed and downloaded on 31/03/2015 at: www.entrepreneur.com/article/228324

100)   Annan, K., cited in the New York Times (04/12/2006), at: www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/world/05nationscnd.html

101)   Bolton, J. US Ambassador to the United Nations, cited by brainyquotes.com and accessed and downloaded on 12/10/2013 at: www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/world/05nationscnd.html

102)   Holbrooke, R., Under Secretary of State in the U.S. Government, cited by brainyquotes.com

103)   Guardian (3/10/02), ‘Clinton tells Ulster don’t turn back’ accessed and downloaded on 31/03/2015 at: www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/oct/03/uk.labourconference6

104)   Kaplan, Lawrence F. (March 29, 2004), ‘THE SECRETS OF JOHN BOLTON’S SUCCESS’ The New Republic.

105)   Soo-Jeong. Lee (August 4, 2003). ‘North Korea bans Bolton from talks”, The Washington Times

106)   Holbrooke., R., (1998), To end a war, New York, New York: Random House. – ISBN 978-0-375-50057-2

107)   BBC website (2010), Obituary: Richard Holbrooke, downloaded on 03/12/2013 from: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11977155

108)   Ibid.

109)   Gap Partnership (2013), ‘This is more than just Negotiation Training’, downloaded on 29/11/2013 from: www.thegappartnership.com/p/negotiation-trainingb.aspx?gclid=CL2s762firsCFa-WtAodQksAiA

110)   Stuart (2011), The Essence of Negotiation, accessed and downloaded on 29/11/13 from: www.managementexchange.com/hack/essence-negotiation

111)   Galinsky., A., (2004), ‘When to Make the First Offer in Negotiations’, Harvard Business School, downloaded on 02/12/2013 from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4302.html

112)   Haden., J., (2011), ‘12 Negotiation Tips for People who Hate Negotiating’, downloaded on 02/12/13 from: www.cbsnews.com/news/12-negotiation-tips-for-people-who-hate-negotiating/

113)   Companies House (2013), FAQs downloaded on 03/12/13 from: www.companieshouse.gov.uk/infoAndGuide/faq/companiesAct2006.shtml and also: Companies House (2013), Incorporation and Names, downloaded on 03/12/13 from: www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/pdf/gp1.pdf

114)   UK PLC website (2013), LLPs Frequently Asked Questions: downloaded on 03/12/13 from: www.ukplc.com/company-types/specialist-uk-companylimited-liability-partnership/llp-faqs.html

115)   John Lewis Partnership ‘Employee Ownership, A Shared Passion’ video, accessed and downloaded on 13/10/2013 at: www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/media/webcasts-and-videos/employee-ownership-a-shared-passion.html

116)   Companies House (2013), Life of a Company Part 2 - Event driven filings, downloaded on 03/12/13 from: www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp3.shtml

117)   Companies House: Annual Return Demo (2012) – a brief and useful guide to filing your company return. What data do you need to submit , when and how? Accessed and downloaded on 02/10/2014 at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bd55GxkhaE

118)   Companies House website (2013), role of a company secretary, accessed and downloaded on 18/02/2015 at:

119)   UK Companies Act 2006: Part 20 Private and public companies, ss 755–767