The leader in today's Guardian raises issues about the sheer amount of British businesses that have been sold lately - but arguably it masks a more interesting issue; that of when business owners decide to sell up.
I've interviewed a number of entrepreneurs, and am often surprised at the number that set up a company and don't have any planned exit point. Whether this is a lack of strategy or a lack of willingness to confide in a journalist whose job is to publish their words - and that's a good reason not to tell me - is impossible to say. It does seem, though, that there are a lot of business owners who, if you pin them down and ask them, don't really know why they went into proprietorship or what their objective was in the first place.
My own view is that these things need putting into the business plan at the outset and revisiting as the organisation develops. It's odd to see how many experienced people seem to disagree.
