Business Articles

Is your business expanding? This handy guide offers helpful advice and tips on how to grow your business sustainably. 

Maximising efficiencies can help to grow your farm. AIB can help with a farm development loan.

If you need a SWOT analysis example, our simple guide will tell you how to apply SWOT to your business.

If you’re starting, or have just started a business, a well thought out business plan is one of the most critical tools you need to help you succeed. So, what are the ingredients that make up a good business plan? We’ve compiled some top tips to help you with your business plan.

Once an afterthought, building and maintaining a strong company culture has become an increasingly important concern for most of the world’s top companies. In the following article, we’ll explain the elements that make up a great organisational culture and show how these changes could make the difference for your company in 2018.

Making a plan for 2018? Read on for some business resolutions to make this year your most successful ever.

Read how Automatic Plastics have come through two recessions and countless technological changes to become one of Ireland’s largest injection moulding companies.

Read our guide to surviving the Christmas crush, with tips for management and growth of your business over the holiday season.

It’s not every day an Irish-made product orbits the sun. But that’s exactly what will happen when the European Space Agency launches their solar orbiter mission in 2018.

When starting out in business, many entrepreneurs choose to operate initially as a Sole Trader (or Partnership if there is more than 1 person involved) as opposed to forming a Limited Company.

Known for its rugged, untamed beauty – Galway – a county along the Wild Atlantic Way, is not only home to some of the best festivals in the world, but it also attracting an influx of tech start-ups that are availing of its well-established and growing business infrastructure.

Starting a business requires serious graft. Ask yourself these key questions before you get started. We offer a variety of start-up business loans for all stages of the process.

10 October 2017 saw the unveiling of the second Budget of the 32nd Dáil.  Delivering his first Budget, Minister Donohoe said the Budget “achieves sustainable and affordable tax reform, delivers improvements in services and ensures increased investment in our national infrastructure.

Irish dairy farming has experienced considerable structural change over the past decade and is the fastest growing agri-food industry within the EU. Since 2010, there are over 300,000 extra cows being milked on Irish dairy farms. This increase in cow numbers has created a new and growing demand for labour writes Marion Beecher, Teagasc Research Officer.

Improved output prices especially in the dairy, beef and pig sectors coupled with the availability of grant aid under the TAMS II farm investment scheme have all contributed to a large increase in demand for farm investment finance in the first half of 2017, says AIB Agri Advisor Donal Whelton.

This year’s Irish Grasslands Dairy Summer Tour, sponsored by AIB Bank focused on milk production on leased land visiting grass based dairy farms in Skeaghvasteen, Co. Kilkenny and Tullow, Co. Carlow on Tuesday July 25^th. George Ramsbottom, Teagasc and IGA shares some of the key lessons to emerge. 

2017 has been a much more buoyant year for Irish farming and most sectors have experienced a welcome margin uplift. The strong weather pattern in the first half of the year resulted in strong grass growth and livestock performance, and supported good crop performance in many parts of the country. Input prices are in general down on last year while output prices have recovered across most sectors, with some faring better than others. Combined, increased incomes is likely on many farms in 2017.

The Irish economy continues to grow at a strong pace. Recent GDP figures from the CSO showed that GDP rose by 6.1% year-on-year in Q1 2017. This follows on from strong growth of 5.1% in 2016. While the data are distorted by issues related to the presence of large multi-national firms, Ireland remained the best performing economy in the Eurozone last year. 

In the fifteen months since the UK made the historic decision to chart its future outside the EU, much ink has been spilled on fathoming the political and economic implications for Ireland and the food and drink industry in particular. 

The nature of work is changing, becoming more fluid. The days when you would go in to the same place every day and sit down on the same desk for eight hours are gone.

Thinking of investing in your farm? AIB Agri Advisor Liam Phelan gives some practical lessons on farm investment based on previous trends in Irish farming.

AIB Agri Adviser, Tadhg Buckley outlines the key considerations to take into account prior to expanding your farm.

From improving grass management to introducing a closed herd system, Thomas shares his insights into driving efficiencies with the help of AIB Farm Finance and reflects on The Big Picture for beef farming in Ireland today.

Searching for a workspace or office? Here's how to find the perfect premises for your business.

The Irish Grassland Association Dairy Summer Tour is a firm fixture on the farming calendar, attracting hundreds of farmers from around Ireland as they share their knowledge, network and socialise.

Harry McCann (Kid Tech, Digital Youth Council) talks about his experiences as a young entrepreneur, and how he got ready for starting off in the business world.

From an assistant chef made redundant to photographing top models, Dubliner Evan Doherty is one of the most sought after photographers in Dublin.

Are you a student in need of grinds? Perhaps you’re not getting the one-on-one attention that you need at school or college and you want to find someone to help you fast, but someone who is highly qualified and living in your area?

Ideas and insight need to be transmitted and put to good use effectively throughout the organisation. Efficient communication is the key to perfecting this process.

How many needless rows, arguments and disagreements have you had with colleagues, employees or clients that were down to simple misunderstandings and bad communications?

Got a new business, or simple looking to increase your brand? Making your mark from the start can be tough, but in terms of marketing your business, your product or your services, there are some simple steps to follow.

If you’re too casual in your dress sense, you’re going to be casual in your job.” That’s the advice of tailor Louis Copeland, and there’s no shortage of places to get fitted in Dublin these days either.

Claire McHugh, the CEO of Axonista has risen to the top of the tech start-up game, leading a company that makes television and video more interactive and lists media giants MTV, ESPN, and QVC among their clients.

Your business or product launch is the first impression people will remember. These five steps can help you make your launch a success. It’s not enough to create a great business or product.

Irish people can sometimes be guilty of overestimating our influence around the world, but when it comes to business, it’s most certainly a trump card.

Identifying your target market is one of the most crucial steps you need to take when you're starting a business or launching new products and services.

Getting to grips with cash flow management is integral to farming success. But with farmers facing a variety of challenging factors from the weather, to volatile output prices, to Brexit, it can often feel like navigating a minefield.

When a company devises a new product, part of the creative and marketing process involves constructing a brand or trade mark for that product.

With decades of experience and success between them, Bill Wolsey, Eleanor McEvoy, Caroline Wilson and Diane Roberts shared the following advice.

As a small business, it’s important to have contact with your customers. But some phone calls could easily be handled by your website and other digital channels.

For 15 years, David Wallace was a familiar presence on the rugby pitch, representing Munster, Ireland and the Lions with distinction. As a two-time Heineken Cup winner and member of Ireland’s historic Grand Slam winning team of 2009, David is someone who reached the very pinnacle of his sport.

Meet the Weldons, who farm Brussels sprouts each year from their base in County Dublin, for the Christmas market.

It is important that brand owners be aware of the trademark registration process when choosing a new brand name. Not only should a brand name address the commercial needs of a company, it should also satisfy the legal requirements for registration. To qualify for registration, a trade mark needs to be distinctive so that consumers can easily identify the trade origin of products or services.

The agri sector needs young, well-educated people to provide vibrancy and fresh thinking to aid industry progression, but entry isn’t always easy, particularly for those who don’t inherit a farm.

Most people in business complain that there are just too many meetings. That may be true, but business meetings are a fact of life, and the best we can do is learn to make them worth the time and effort they require.

A lack of investment in apprenticeships has led to a decrease in their availability and uptake in Ireland over the past few years. However, Ireland’s National Skills Strategy 2025 looks set to change that.

Whether it’s a fear of missing out or an overconfidence in their employer brand, businesses often delay hiring decisions and miss out on top talent, writes Siobhan O’Shea of Cpl Resources plc.

With just days to go to the UK referendum on its EU membership, and uncertainty undercutting the debate, there is a big decision facing more than 46 million eligible voters. An EU without the UK would unequivocally be bad for Ireland, bad for the UK, and bad for the EU.

How would Brexit affect the international logistics industry? At this stage, it’s difficult to predict every potential implication for Irish business, but what we can state with some confidence is that Britain operating outside the EU would add complications and costs to the supply chain and inhibit movement of goods across our borders.

As one of Ireland’s largest indigenous industries, tourism is vital for the country’s economic well-being. If the UK votes to leave the EU, there could be far-reaching consequences for the sector in Ireland.

Applying a consistent process to address such requests is crucial to ensure a good result for employees and employers.

The UK Referendum on EU membership in June will put polling back in the spotlight. Such an important vote, which will likely be decided by a fine margin, is a challenge for pollsters.

The UK Government has set 23^rd June 2016 as the date for its “In-Out” referendum vote on Britain’s continued membership of the EU. Opinion polls are pointing to a very close outcome, and an “Out” result would undoubtedly change the landscape for business owners in Ireland.