Does reputation matter in financial services?

25^th August 2015

To date, reputation has not been a significant factor influencing consumer behaviour in financial services. In other words, despite the real growth of fines and stream of bad press, consumers aren’t voting with their feet, and reputation has not significantly impacted the bottom line of leading financial organisations.

Financial Services + money + virtue

Enabling rural communities to thrive: Powering the rural economy

6^th July 2015

Britain, along with much of the rest of the world, is facing the infamous energy “trilemma” of rising energy costs, climate change and strains on security of supply. With about 20% of our population living in rural areas, it’s vital that we find clean, sustainable ways to address this trilemma within the rural economy.

Community energy + Energy + Rural economy

Vocational Banking: How can we restore trust and confidence in financial services?

29^th May 2015

It’s commonly held that business ethics begin where the law ends. But as we argued in our Virtuous Banking report last year, ordinary people are far from convinced that this applies to banking.

A tale from a maker

29^th May 2015

During my post-graduate study at the RCA in 2001 I really made some choices about which career path to take creatively. I wanted to be a studio-based artist working to commission and exhibiting.

craft + culture + Skills + vocation + vocational skills

A tale from a maker

29^th May 2015

I’m an artist and designer, based in Bristol.  I’ve been working for myself for 12 years and have grown from a sole trader to a VAT registered limited company, and have recently become an employer.

craft + culture + Skills + vocation + vocational skills

Craft, Luxury & Value

28^th May 2015

As Head of Exhibitions and Collections for the Crafts Council, museum objects and public programmes are my business. Exhibitions are a unique platform for public engagement with critical themes, profiling makers work, and creating an enjoyable, stimulating and learning experience.

craft + culture + Skills + vocation + vocational skills

Crafting Policies for Success: Support for sole traders and small businesses

27^th May 2015

“A decline in tool use would seem to betoken a shift in our relationship to our own stuff: more passive and more dependent. And indeed, there are fewer occasions for the kind of spiritedness that is called forth when we take things in hand for ourselves, whether to fix them or to make them.

craft + culture + Skills + vocation + vocational skills

The skills combination that can unlock economic growth and prosperity

26^th May 2015

Create UK articulates a plan for strategic action. The industrial strategy, developed by the Creative Industries Council and published in July 2014, reads as an essential ‘To Do’ list for industry and Government in order to maintain the industries’ remarkable growth within the competitive global landscape.

craft + culture + Skills + vocation + vocational skills

Our Future is in the Making: Educating and training craft

26^th May 2015

The huge talents of craft makers are incredibly inspiring, as we will see reflected in this week’s series of blogs from makers Rebecca Gouldson and Rosalind Wyatt, from the e-commerce platform Folksy and from the Crafts Council and Creative Skillset.

craft + culture + Skills + vocation + vocational skills

Self-Employment in the European Union

22^nd May 2015

The UK is not alone in it’s citizens aspiring to secure their futures, and finances, through self-employment and entrepreneurship. Here in Poland, and across the European Union, individuals want to work for themselves, increasingly need to create their own work and are searching out ways of circumventing the shrinking labour markets and constructing their own platforms to enter it through.

Careers + Employment + Skills + Unemployment + Work + Youth Employment