WorkConnexions

Guest post this week from www.link4business.com

Ask most people how they would structure a new business and the chances are that they will talk about starting a company. That’s fine and works a lot of the time but usually only in conjunction with a shareholder agreement.

One of the oldest forms of business structure is the Partnership – and this is often overlooked when people think about starting a business. However a partnership structure does have benefits and used well is simpler to establish, run and wind up.

It is also easier to assign “partnership share” in situations where one person is providing the money and the other is providing their knowledge and experience.

Web 2.0 and the 'credit crunch' -

Web 2.0, an emergent feature of the last (probably by comparison) economic downturn, has not escaped this review.

A BBC News article looks at this issue - Web 2.0 or Web 2.No? (Maggie Shiels).

The article suggests the following:

The economic downturn will not sound the death knell for Web 2.0.

Tough times are ahead and to weather the downturn Web 2.0 must grow up focus on real problems.

Expect Web 2.0 to change somewhat over new few years!

At the 2008 Serious Play conference, designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play -- with many examples you can try at home (and one that maybe you shouldn't).

I came across some great research into Social Networks carried out by Dynamic Markets on behalf of AT&T. They surveyed over 2,500 people from a variety of industries (from commissioning steel buildings to selling automated OS recovery packages) in 5 countries and here are some findings that they published:

The economy sucks. Christmas will devastate retail sales. Businesses are cutting their marketing budgets (super stupid) and, in some instances, not hiring consultants. The natural reaction is to cut costs (always smart to cut non-producing expenses) and to slash your prices--DON'T!

Now is not the time to reduce your revenues; it is the time to stand up and stand out. Be the business that gets noticed and gets known for offering value at fair prices. In fact, on some offerings be creative and add value at increased prices. Here's a good example of being smart instead of scared.