WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: Have the wisdom to resign

Just days after Apple chief Steve Jobs stepped down from his position, Australia saw another long-term tech chief executive resign – Vaughan Bowen of M2.

The timing of Bowen’s departure is curious, given the business just delivered another solid result, and its profit has also grown as Bowen’s team continues to improve efficiencies after managing a number of acquisitions.

But in an interview with SmartCompany, Bowen said while his key skills lie in the ability to manage acquisitions, mergers and growth during such a period, it’s time for someone else to take the reins.

Both Jobs and Bowen’s departures highlight a key skill good chief executives must possess – the ability to realise when they must step down.

Both Jobs and Bowen have built businesses that can operate without them. Other entrepreneurs should do likewise, and realise that when the company is at the top of its game, it may be time to step aside.

Start thinking about Christmas

While the Christmas season seems to be starting earlier and earlier every year, it’s never too early for businesses to start getting ahead – especially with the retail industry expected to take a beating.

Google retail industry analyst Andrew Eckfords told SmartCompany earlier this week that not only are internet users becoming more savvy in how they search, but that Google expects the number of location-based searches this year to increase.

If you’re thinking about getting ready for Christmas, you need to start doing so now, and especially pay attention to your SEO.

With more emphasis being put on location-based searches, you should start optimising not only for your state, but also for your surrounding suburbs. Ensure that if users are making location-based searches, you’ll be the first thing they see.

Don’t over-extend yourself

This week Facebook announced that it would be scrapping its Deals program, a trial run of a scheme that would offer daily deals to combat the growing group buying space.

The announcement wasn’t much of a surprise – Facebook is a minor player in the group buying market and it hadn’t expanded the trial outside of five cities in the United States. The program never made it to Australia.

The company is also facing substantial competition, with Groupon and Living Social taking over most of this arena.

The decision highlights a key aspect of business entrepreneurs must realise, especially when operating online – stick to what you know.

While the Facebook platform may allow group buying to take off, the competition in the market is just too intense, and the network realised it wasn’t able to do it well. If you can’t fully compete in an area, then don’t attempt to enter it at all.

Watch out for scrapers

Google put out a warning earlier this week about a practice that is causing more users grief every day – scraping.

This occurs when other sites collect content for their own selfish purposes, such as stealing copyrighted images or content. This content is usually put into low-quality websites, purely for the purpose of getting page views for advertising.

Google has had enough, and has urged users to inform it of any scraping activity they see.

That also goes for online entrepreneurs – you need to protect your content. If you see any scraping activity, inform Google so they can go about getting rid of it. The more businesses do try to get rid of this activity, the less it will appear.

Don’t get angry – poach

Apple has faced a lot of trouble from hackers since the iOS launched, particularly around those savvy programmers who like to break the software in a process known as “jailbreaking”.

However, earlier this week Apple turned a negative into a potentially large benefit – it hired hacker Nicholas Allegra, known for highlighting exploits in the iOS software.

While most SMEs don’t usually have hackers pocking holes in their software, it’s a good reminder that there are alternatives to competition. If you spot a particular employee at another company that shows some promise, or an individual programmer that exploits a security flaw in your company, don’t get mad – bring them in for an interview.