Alan Sugar is the best example of how *not* to run a business that I can see.

Where has all his money come from? Simple answer: property investing. Effectively, he threw a bunch of money at people putting up buildings, they went off and did what they did best (namely putting up buildings), and he got a nice cut of the profits.

But every time Alan Sugar has got directly involved, it always seems to go bad. His original money came from computers (the "PC-lite" systems back in the early 80s). But those were very much produced to a cost, and everyone knew they were cheap and nasty, and Sugar never put anything significant into taking them further. So when it was clear they were going down, he sold them - at a profit admittedly. But then he decided to build email phones, which no-one wanted. And then set-top boxes, which have gone under too.

If anyone wants to be someone's apprentice, I'd have to say you'd be better choosing someone who's actually succeeded in a big way. Alan Sugar ain't it, as far as I can see.

Graham.