AUNIVERSITYVIEW

THIS week is a very important week of celebration for South Wales and our business community.

The South Wales Chamber of Commerce Business Week is celebrating the success of businesses across Wales in categories which include Welsh Company of the Year, Achievement in International Business, Innovation in Technology, Go Green, Most Promising New Business and Entrepreneur of the Year.

The businesses who have entered range from micro to large businesses. Some are excelling by delivering conventional products or services using traditional business models.

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Others are excelling by developing highly innovative product or services or breaking into new markets.

Perhaps most interestingly, some are operating new business models which are socially innovative in their approach.

Moncler Jackets All of the businesses entered are adding value to our economy and each is a success in their own right whether or not they end up with the prize.

Business success is vital to the economic prosperity of our region. Successful private enterprise, working in tandem with the public and voluntary sectors, is essential and the entrepreneurial flair behind such enterprises should be recognised and rewarded.

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Successful business, however, is not just about economic prosperity and wealth generation. Most people want to be occupied in gainful employment and it is often fundamental to a feeling of well-being in our society. The wealth generated by businesses is intrinsic to a stable, happy and just society.

South Walians are well aware, as a result of our industrial history, of the importance of business and its impact on prosperity. Even the smallest of businesses can have a major impact on its local community, for good and bad.

Global businesses can sometimes be even more powerful than government as they transcend national boundaries. Many experts, for example, blame the world recession on the activities of American mortgage lenders in the sub-prime market.

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Businesses need to be innovative and respond to their environment and businesses can drive social innovation through their enterprise. Social innovation is an umbrella term used to describe sustainability, green economics, social responsibility, ethical behaviour and well-being. This is not an argument that business should not be profit driven.

It is about businesses behaving with responsibility and supporting both economic and social reform.

At the University of Glamorgan, the Business School's vision is to further grow its reputation for enterprise and social innovation as we feel it is important that we educate graduates to be enterprising and Patek Philippe Watches socially innovative in approach, whether they are going to work in South Wales or internationally, in the public, private or voluntary sectors, within organisations as intrapreneurs or as entrepreneurs running their own business. Business needs critical thinkers, problem solvers and people who have the leadership and management skills to make things happen.

I have had the honour of judging entrants to the Most Promising New Business category. It is difficult to pick out a winner as there were so many quality entries from different sectors. It was notable that several of the top-scoring entrants had adopted different aspects of soci