Stephanie Flanders explains Quantitative Easing in 60 seconds
This has to be amongst the best 60 seconds of Economics you’ll ever see on television. The superb Stephanie Flanders takes a leaf out of the RSA playbook to explain the basic theory behind quantitative easing. Wonderful!!
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Return to article | View my favoritesParenting the French way
A fascinating article about cross-cultural differences in parenting. It would make a great resource for discussing the question of ‘child-centred’ families.
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Return to article | View my favoritesStarter activity - Contingency Planning (Japanese Style)
When it comes to contingency planning, no-one does it better than Japan. And here are two humorous videos that demonstrate the extents to which you can go to prepare for risky events…
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Return to article | View my favoritesExplaining the role of Select Committees
This 10 minute video from the UK Parliament site provides an introduction to the role and activities of Commons Select Committees.
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Return to article | View my favoritesKey term revision TABOO
A board game adaptation I’ve used to good effect in the past is Taboo. It works really well for quick revision of key terms as a starter or plenary activity.
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Return to article | View my favoriteseconoMAX - latest edition now available
The latest edition of econoMAX, our digital magazine for A Level Economics students and teachers, is now available to subscribers on the econoMAX website. Details of the latest articles below.
School / college subscriptions to econoMAX remain at just £50 per year (for the 7th year running!) - your subscription allows whole-school access and distribution of econoMAX articles, including the entire archive dating back to 2004.
You can order your subscription to econoMAX here.
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe Biz Quiz - 9 February 2012
The 9 February 2012 edition of The Biz Quiz is now available. Good luck everyone!
Launch the Biz Quiz - 9 February 2012
Download printable version (pdf)
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Return to article | View my favoritesA backward step on the Maldives’ road to democracy?
In development economics one of the issues that can often be a barrier to a country’s development is political instability, and it looks like the Maldives will be my case study this year. Read on to find out why
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Return to article | View my favoritesCompetitiveness
A useful blog entry for teachers and students of Economics and Business & Management
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Return to article | View my favoritesCompetitiveness
A useful entry on the Bond Vigilantes blog on competiveness.
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Return to article | View my favoritesBTEC First in Business - New 2012 Specification CPD Course
A diary date here for all colleagues teaching the new BTEC First in Business specification - Friday 15 June 2012. tutor2u is running a special CPD course at the amazing Drayton Manor Theme Park focused on the new requirements for the 2012 specification (for first teaching from September 2012). We’ll look at the new methods of assessment and provide guidance on resourcing and organising the other new units too. We’ll also have some guest speakers from Drayton Manor - a great case study to use for BTEC First.
Places are strictly limited. Please complete this provisional booking form to grab some places before they all go…
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Return to article | View my favoritesUK Electoral Reform demonstrated with Lego!
A hat-tip to Nicola Morgan for spotting this terrific video from Dr Simon Usherwood (Department of Politics, University of Surrey) who uses the universal medium of Lego to help explain some core concepts in electoral reform…
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Return to article | View my favoritesFacebook vs the world at night!
Lots of great posts on the upcoming Facebook IPO lately, including Jim’s post on what Facebook might do with the cash that it raises. But these graphics show what is really missing from the Facebook empire, and if they can crack that then $100 billion will probably look cheap!
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Return to article | View my favoritesTakeovers - the search for cost synergies
Students researching the topic of takeovers and mergers will come across several unfamiliar terms. One of the most important for them to understand is “synergy” and we’ll write in more detail in subsequent blog entries about what these are. However, here is a useful piece of research which indicates the potential and significance of the most common kind of synergy - “cost synergies”.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Economics: A Perspective from the Classroom
I headed to the Bank of England today to a conference organised by Diane Coyle (Enlightenment Economics) and supported by the Bank and the Government Economic Service.
All of the sessions were full of interest and I will blog on some of the themes a little later on. For colleagues who would like to see the slides from my short talk please click on the link below
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Return to article | View my favoritesRecommended Reading for Economics (February 2012)
Here is my regularly revised and updated selection of thirty books designed to enhance and enrich your understanding and enjoyment of Economics perhaps as part of an application process for university. I try to ensure that no author appears more than once; some books are due for publication later this spring and summer. Inevitably I have had to leave out many very good books but I stick to my thirty limit! I hope that you enjoy some of them!
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Return to article | View my favoritesGlobal Issues: Humanitarian Intervention: Sryia ~ Time to intervene?
Syria’s crises seems to deepen with no apparent end in sight. Amid increasing fears of a civil war in Syria following the failure of the UN Security Council resolution, commentators remain divided over the question of intervention and how best to address the crisis.
The US foreing polict think tank CFR has two articles which highlight the debate and the possible different options available:
1. It’s Time to Think Seriously About Intervening in Syria which asserts:
After all, if the many Syrians who have been in open revolt since March of last year are on the verge of bringing down Assad, then, as the conventional wisdom has it, there is no need for a international response and thus no need for an agonizing debate about whether to use force in Syria. But this logic seems less convincing every day, and it might be time to reconsider our assumptions about intervention.
AND
2. We Intervene in Syria at Our Peril which argues:
This is a juncture at which to rebuild and renew the United States, not be consumed by the civil war of a complex nation. Syrians will decide their own fate. When the British said to Gandhi that without their involvement, India would be in chaos, Gandhi retorted “At least it will be our chaos.”
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Return to article | View my favoritesA light-hearted look at induction training
I’m always on the look out for neat little video clips I can use to bring ideas and concepts to life. I’ve just seen the latest McDonald’s TV ad for the first time and it looks a great way of getting across the concept of induction training.
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Return to article | View my favoritesHappiness in the workplace still proving elusive
60 years ago we worked 30% longer and took half as many holidays. For most, pay was poor. Discrimination in the workplace was widespread, and permitted by law. Work was often hard, and for working class men it was often dangerous too. So it’s a sobering thought to think that several decades later, measures of anxiety in the workplace have risen, to the point that stress has replaced back pain as the most common cause of long-term sick leave, according to The Guardian. What’s going wrong?
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Return to article | View my favoritesWhich is better? Aldi or Lidl? Compare and contrast these (and others) using ‘Store Wars’
I’ve only just stumbled on this excellent resource which pits Aldi against Lidl - and takes a snapshot of the differences in customers’ opinions. In this example, Lidl won 60/40. This is a fun few minutes suitable for a starter activity, with over twenty other examples to choose from.
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe story of a failed takeover - Fred Goodwin, RBS & ABN-Amro
The catastrophic takeover by RBS (as part of a consortium with Banco Santander and Fortis) of Dutch banking group ABN-Amro has become a defining case study of how to mess up a deal. Just about everything that can go wrong with a takeover did go wrong.
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Return to article | View my favoritesChina bans its airlines from paying EU carbon tax
On 1st January this year, the EU introduced an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which levies a charge on flights in EU airspace based on carbon emissions. They estimate that this will add between 2 and 12 euros to flight tickets. Airlines are required to purchase emissions permits, like utilities and heavy industry in the EU, and airlines that do not comply face fines of 100 euros for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for which they have not surrendered allowances. In the case of persistent offenders, the EU has the right to ban airlines from its airports.
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Return to article | View my favoritesPrivate equity buyouts - Sunday Times supplement
Private Equity hasn’t really featured very strongly in the Business Studies syllabus before, but may come more to the fore this year in the study of mergers and takeovers. A supplement in yesterday’s Sunday Times which examines ‘private equity backed firms with the fastest growing profits’ is worth getting hold of, as it gives some help on the role of private equity in the M&A market.
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe economies of Superbowl advertising
A highlight of the year for many sports fans, the Superbowl presents advertisers with a unique opportunity to reach over 110 million captive viewers.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Vacancy - Economics (Part-time) at John Lyon School (Harrow)
Many thanks to Stuart Foster for pointing out this nice part-time opportunity for a tutor2u economics teacher to join the thriving Economics department at John Lyon School. Need to move quickly on this one folks!
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Return to article | View my favoritesHOD Opportunity - Business Studies & Economics at City of London Freemen’s (Surrey)
Superb HOD opportunities like this don;t come around very often. Good luck to everyone who applies for this role to join the lovely team at COLF.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Vacancy - HOD Economics and Business Studies - City of London Freemen’s School
Many thanks to Penny Brooks for letting us have news of this terrific HOD role for Economics/Business Studies in the beautiful Surrey countryside…
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Return to article | View my favoritesEconomics and Business News Quiz 6 February
Here is our weekly ten question quiz on economics and business in the news powered by Zondle. See who can get the highest score on the Space Destroyer game. Just register for free to try the quiz
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Return to article | View my favoritesDaniel Kahneman on decision-making
Here is a quick link to a guest blog on the Economist website provided by Daniel Kahneman - a handy overview of some of his key insights concerning psychological explanations for departures from rationality. Follow this link
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Return to article | View my favoritesTakeovers in the UK - the long-term trend
I’ve been delving into the datasets on the ONS site to pick up some evidence about the scale of takeovers and mergers involving UK businesses. Having worked in M&A during the 1990’s and early 2000’s, I remember the various short-term peaks and troughs of activity that the takeover market seemed to go through. However, I wanted to get a better sense of longer-term trends. Here’s what I found.
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Return to article | View my favoritesRevision Workshops
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 3 Micro: Video Resources on Carbon Taxation
The crucial issue of how best to tackle climate change and make significant progress towards a low-carbon economy is one that gives students tremendous opportunities to hone their analysis and evaluation skills. A few weeks ago the Australian government was successful in getting through the Senate proposals for a new carbon tax and in this blog we link to some excellent video reports on the background to this decision.
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Return to article | View my favoritesRussia’s monopoly power over gas supplies
It has been a bit chilly in the UK for the last few days, but nothing compared to the temperatures as low as -35 which have hit parts of central and eastern Europe. Of course, they are used to far colder winters than us, and have different ways of dealing with the weather, but reliance on gas supplies from Russia for the majority of their heating fuel leaves countries including Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia vulnerable to disruption in that supply.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 1 Micro: Winning the War on Deforestation
Justin Rowlatt from the BBC has been investigating some of the remarkable progress being made in controlling deforestation in Brazil. The battle focuses on an area known as the “arc of destruction” and the video reports here show the impact of a government making a clear commitment to tackling the issue and backing it up with force and with incentives.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 3 Micro: Richard Wilkinson on Inequality and Economic Harm
I have been using this talk given at TED 2011 by Richard Wilkinson when teaching the topic of poverty and inequality and the risks that a growing chasm between low and high income groups can have for society and economic performance. Students and teachers familiar with the work of Pickett and Wilkinson and their recent book “The Spirit Level” will know well the approach that these authors take.
They use published data on inequality and link to wide differences in a range of economic and social outcomes. Their work has been criticised by many on the right, not least because their argument is strong and clear - namely that we need to reduce inequality to tackle some of society’s deepest and most corrosive problems.
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Return to article | View my favoritesBuying-in to the Facebook culture
Want to buy shares in Facebook? The desire to buy-in to a business which has had such a revolutionary effect on communications will surely be huge. It almost feels like the emotional decision that football fans make when they buy shares in their beloved club. But the canny investor will analyse what they are investing in: is this a business decision in which they can examine the ratios and then the founder’s or directors’ mission statement, in order to assess their chances of gaining a suitable return on their investment?
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Return to article | View my favoritesPopulation statistics
I’ve seen a number of interesting stories and programmes exploring ideas relating to population levels. The most recent was this morning on the BBC, asking if the number of people alive today (about 7 billion) outnumbers the number of people that have ever lived on earth. Most of these debates centre on the fear that at some point there will be too many people for the world to handle.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 1 Micro: The Facebook Floatation
Is the business truly worth the astounding estimated market value when Facebook finally completes an Initial Public Offering? Will profit be paramount or will Facebook have other key objectives beyond the bottom line? Can the explosive growth of the business be maintained or will concerns about online privacy act as a major drag on revenues and profits?
The selection of news videos on proposals for Facebook provide some interesting background and asks whether Facebook can maintain their success once they become a public business. Ed Conway from Sky reflected on Twitter today that, in the last week, the Bank of England has spent more than $5 billion - more than enough to have bought the initial public offering for Facebook and kept some change into the bargain.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUWP Mission to Loyka – Week 3 activity
This week’s activity is for students (and teachers if they like) to create a podcast of the UWP Mission to Loyka case study.
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Return to article | View my favoritesRing the Bell for a Great Lesson “Check-out”
This activity is great as a starter or plenary for any subject. It’s a fun way to start or finish a lesson in a short period of time, whilst gaining a good idea of how much the pupils have understood about a topic. The best type of bell for this activity is a “check-in” bell. I bought mine from Beamish Museum, however they’re fairly cheap to pick up from the internet.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Vacancy - HOD Economics & Business Studies at Cheltenham College
Many thanks to tutor2u’s Amy Chapman for letting us have first news of this teaching opportunity in the lovely spa town of Cheltenham.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Vacancy - Principal Teacher of Business Education - George Heriot’s School (Edinburgh)
A wonderful opportunity to teach economics and business at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh here…
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Return to article | View my favoritesGlenstrata - Glencore proposes merger with Xstrata
Yesterday morning’s business news has been dominated by the proposed merger of Glencore and Xstrata. Glencore’s 34% holding of Xstrata shares had made a third party approach for Xstrata very difficult if not impossible.
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Return to article | View my favoritesU.S.A vs. China: A Visual Comparison of the World’s Largest Economies
Another great infographic below, this time from mint.com, comparing all the important indicators (and the cost of a Big Mac) in an easy to digest graphic.
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Return to article | View my favoritesResearchBuster: Acquisitions
Our ResearchBuster blog posts are designed to help students identify and integrate examples of business strategy for their synoptic essays and exams. This ResearchBuster look at some of the most significant examples of takeovers / acquisitions in recent years…
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Return to article | View my favoritesMini’s PR backfires badly in central Europe
No doubt it seemed a jolly good idea at the time. Someone in Sassenbach, the advertising agency that handles the BMW Mini account spotted an oppportunity; the German meteorology institute offers ‘Adopt a Vortex’, the chance to name, or ‘sponsor’, weather systems and encourages people to follow the path of the weather on meteorological websites. So they decided to name a weather system ‘Cooper’, and according to the BBC report they thought that naming the front after the open-air vehicle was a “wind- and weather-proof idea”.
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Return to article | View my favoritesDemand and Supply in Action - nail polish
Over the past year Superdrug have seen nail polish sales rise by 37 %. L’Oreal’s nail polish sales were up 24%, double the increase in lipstick and lipgloss sales.
‘We live in an image-obsessed world and nail varnish has become the ultimate accessory. Women want a quick and affordable way to get the latest look. A new varnish provides an expression of individuality and the same buzz as a new outfit for 10 per cent of the cost.’
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Return to article | View my favoritesCadbury’s Law - Should UK Firms be Protected from Takeover?
Back in 2010, the effect of the Kraft takeover of Cadbury’s brought business into the realms of politics as the unhappiness felt by some stakeholders spilled directly into the UK’s General Election.
One proposed response from the Labour Party was the so-called Cadbury’s Law, whereby new legislation would attempt to protect UK firms from takeover by foreign companies. Was this a good idea?
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Return to article | View my favoritesRichard Sennett on Cooperation
How many strangers have you met today? Did you meet your 5-a-day stranger target? In an orchestra or dance-troup made up of a team of egos, how do they eventually perform to a high standard night after night? Here are some notes from a talk given at the RSA tonight by the renowned sociologist Richard Sennett on complex cooperation. I took many ideas from this in terms of considering teaching techniques and the use of language in the classroom. Richard Sennett was talking about some of the themes in his new book “Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation.”
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe January Quiz
Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon.
Which BRIC country finally joined the WTO? Which luxury carmaker enjoyed record-breaking sales - a record held since 1978 - despite the global recession? Take the January Quiz to find out…
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Return to article | View my favoritesTop Totty Beer - Warning the image may demean women (or not as the case may be.
A small Staffordshire brewery may have a boost to its sales of one of its beers after a Labour MP Kate Green called for, and got a ban on sales of Slater’s Top Totty.
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe Biz Quiz - 2 February 2012
Another 10 questions on the business news here…quite easy this week; your quizmaster expects you to get at least 7 out of ten 
Launch The Biz Quiz - 2 February 2012
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Return to article | View my favoritesGlobal Issues: Changing Nature of Conflict - Pakistan Relations - A double game?
The leaking of a NATO report claiming that Pakistan’s intelligence agency continues to provide support for the Taliban is the latest in a string of events demonstrating a breakdown in the relationship between the West and Pakistan. The porous and Af-Pak border and the role crucial role of Pakistan in possibly brokering talks with the Taliban in the elusive search for an end game to the conflict in Afghanistan makes this recent development all the more significant. With relation to the Global Issues course, the issue is worth realting to the question of ‘why are assymetrical wars so diificult to end?’.
Chatham House’s Gareth Price has an excelleent analytical piece in the Huffington Post: NATO’S Leaked Report: A Breakdown in Relations With Pakistan Here is an excerpt:
At the same time, there is little hope of success in Afghanistan without Pakistan’s engagement. And as moves towards some form of peace process or reconciliation with the Taliban are expedited, the need for Pakistan’s involvement becomes greater still.
The leaking of a report suggesting that Pakistan continues to back the Taliban will probably have less impact on Western engagement with Pakistan than the bombing of a Pakistan border-post at the end of November; an act which led Pakistan to prevent NATO supplies transiting via Pakistan. That said, given the urgent need to start rebuilding the relationship it will do little to engender trust.
At the heart of the problem lies a void in Western thinking over how best to deal with Pakistan. Carrots, in the form of large cash transfers, would seem to have singularly failed in reducing Pakistan’s ambivalence in its dealings with Afghanistan. And the Western toolkit is somewhat lacking in sticks, short of threatening to withhold those cash transfers, in dealing with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
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Return to article | View my favoritesPEST - IAG and BMI acquisition
International Airlines Group or BA and Iberia are trying to acquire BMI from Lufthansa.
A move which would allow IAG would gain c. 56 additional take-off and landing slots at Heathrow. Lufthansa had bought up most of BMI’s shares in 2008 but has failed to prevent the group losing money.
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe 7p Valentines Day Card
With just a couple of weeks until Valentine’s Day, many shops are going into overdrive with the displays of flowers, hearts, chocolates etc… It’s a lucrative time of year to charge top prices for certain products that might have a very inelastic PED (depending on how late you leave it to purchase!) and many firms see this as a good opportunity for business - I know plenty of Young Enterprise teams in schools all over the country who see it this way as well.
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Return to article | View my favoritesMastering the art of merger integration
As the BUSS4 research topic reaches the students it is useful to be able to steer them towards something to get the process started. Finding something they can do alongside other work should help to motivate them as they feel their way into the topic.
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Return to article | View my favoritesHappiness
The world of work has fundamentally; more part time and flexible working hours. However this is not a change which is making many of us happy, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
A report, published today, examines working life in 1952 – and what it is like for workers in this country 60 years later.
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Return to article | View my favoritesBUSS2 Revision Workshops 2012 - Programme Outline
The detailed programme for our AQA BUSS2 revision workshops in March & April 2012 is now available. Details below. Bookings for these workshops can be made here. We’re visiting Portsmouth, Hull, London (Fulham), Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and then finishing off with a visit to the Olympic area at London Stratford City.
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Return to article | View my favoritesIntegration, integration, integration
HP is an example of a firm which is struggling to integrate acquisitions, and the perils of diversification.
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Return to article | View my favoritesBUSS4 Revision Workshops 2012 - Programme Outline
The session-by-session programme for our AQA BUSS4 revision workshops in March & April 2012 is now available. Details below. Bookings for these workshops can be made here. We’re visiting Portsmouth, Hull, London (Fulham), Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and then finishing off with a visit to the Olympic area at London Stratford City.
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Return to article | View my favoritesBusiness Case Studies: Alex Polizzi: the Fixer
This is a great program to illustrate numerous business issues. The program last night looked at a bridal shop that was experiencing problems due to poor management, the program looked at the range of issues that the business had to deal with referring to finance and human resource issues etc. Alex Polizzi: the Fixer on BBC 2 is worth watching and using as a source of business case study material in the classroom to bring various business concepts to life. The series continues on BBC 2 Tuesday 8pm. As its on before 9 it is suitable for lower school classes. Well worth a look. It is currently on BBC iPlayer.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTrucks are the new way of measuring debt
This is another excellent visualisation to put the scale of Europe’s debt crisis into some sort of perspective.
Ben has already blogged about this kind of visualisation in terms of the US Budget here and US debt here.
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Return to article | View my favoritesBUSS4 research - some initial ideas
The brief for the BUSS4 research task makes the point that “You are strongly recommended to compare and contrast a number of different takeovers and mergers.” There is a huge amount of news reporting on this topic; in addition to the Guardian hub reported by Miss C Wilkin’s blog below, both FT.com and Reuters have link pages which will take you to myriad of reports about Mergers and Acquisitions - more information that your students could ever need, and which they will need some help to negotiate.
It is early days at the moment to get the students too far into the bullet points, but if they want to get going on some of the issues that might be involved, here is my initial list of some key news stories that could give a start point:
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Return to article | View my favoritesBUSS4 2012 - Mergers and Takeovers on the Business Studies Blog
As you might imagine, there is already a substantial amount of relevant content on the Business Studies Blog which will be helpful for colleagues and students researching Mergers and Takeovers for BUSS4. We’ll be adding substantially to this over the coming days and weeks. Here are a couple of suggestions for the best way to find useful resources on the blog.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 2 Macro:Video Resources on Human Development Data
Here is a short collection of short video resources on measuring human development with specific reference to the annual human development report and to progress in improving welfare in countries such as Kenya and Brazil
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Return to article | View my favoritesTesco’s market share drops
Tesco’s market share has fallen below 30% for the first time in 7 years. This time last year Tesco commanded a 30.5% market share.
Sainsbury’s and Iceland both saw their market shares rise.
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe Guardian on Takeovers and Mergers
The Guardian website is a great source of information for students. In light of the AQA BUSS4 pre-release study theme of Mergers and Takeovers, I have started doing some research in the Guardian for my students to help with some case study material as a stimulus to get them started on this research theme. Below are some links to useful recent news articles.
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Return to article | View my favoritesIdeologies: New Edition of Heywood’s Political Ideologies
A quick heads up - Andrew Heywood’s Political Ideologies textbook is about to come out in a 5ed. Worth knowing if you are budgeting for next year etc. Palgrave’s blurb is here [includes sample Conservatism chapter] - Click here.
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Return to article | View my favoritesIdeologies: Hayek v Keynes - the Boom and Bust Rap
For a bit of amusement two great youtube clips on the battle between Hayek [the Free Market] and Keynes [the ‘managed economy’ and state intervention’]:
“Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem
Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two
And….Hayek’s Gift
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Return to article | View my favoritesGlobal Issues: Terrorism ~ Boko Haram: a ‘new’ global terrorist threat?
Boko Haram’s series of bloody terrorist attacks in northern Nigeria has announced their activities to an international audience which is starting to take Boko Haram seriously as well as the deep challenges that Nigeria faces. Boko Haram is certainly of interest to Global Issues students - to what extent does it represent ‘new’ terrorism in terms of being seemingly jihadi [with alleged al-Qaeda links], embracing more modern technologies and destructives means and possibly having an international dimension. Boko Haram has certainly sparked off a wide reaching international debate about its very nature and the extent to which it poses a global threat.
The Guardian, published on January 27, an interview with alleged Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa, conducted by Guardian Nigeria correspondent Monica Mark. In conjunction, the paper also included a careful analysis by Jason Burke that concludes the Boko Haram remains “a local phenomenon, not a global threat,” and an editorial that calls on President Goodluck Jonathan to address Nigeria’s religious divide and corruption, provide protection for all, and to redistribute state resources to accomplish those goals. The article asserts:
Boko Haram’s gruesome rise has prised open crevices where ethnic, religious and socioeconomic fault lines intersect
Also the Telegraph has a piece: “‘We will attack Nigeria again and again’, Boko Haram leader vows’. It is reported that the purported leader of Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group responsible for hundreds of deaths in Nigeria has vowed to attack “again and again” until the country becomes an Islamic state.
The full international impact of these attacks is also reflected in an excellent article in the Washington Times: Nigeria Islamist militant sect drawing increased scrutiny The article is well worth a full read but here is an exerpt:
But the extent to which Boko Haram, the Islamist sect that claimed responsibility for the blasts that killed 185 people Jan. 20, is tied to al Qaeda remains a subject of international debate.
While senior U.S. officials, including Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command, have suggested the Nigerian group has developed ties to the international terrorist group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), some regional experts are circumspect.
Boko Haram, they argue, remains a nebulous and ill-defined national movement - less aligned with the globally focused tenets of al Qaeda than it is eager to embrace violence to combat injustice in Nigeria.
What few dispute is the sheer level of sophistication marking the terrorism now gripping the oil rich yet impoverished West African nation, whose predominantly Christian south is tensely divided from its mainly Muslim north.
“Nigeria has never had a terrorist organization like this,” said Elizabeth Donnelly, the Africa program manager at London-based Chatham House, a British institution that analyzes international issues.
Several northern Nigerian sects, she said, have long embraced varied approaches to fundamentalist Islam.
And….
According to a congressional report three months later, the U.N. bombing “marked a significant shift in the targeting and goals of the group, largely unknown to the U.S. intelligence community, and capped off an evolution in the capabilities of Boko Haram, beginning in the mid-2000s, from attacks with poisoned arrows and machetes to sophisticated car bombings.”
The report, titled “Boko Haram: Emerging Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” highlighted claims by senior U.S. military officials that members of the group are being trained by AQIM and are thought to have established “ties to the Somalian militant group al-Shabab.”
Such assertions have caused an uproar among some regional experts, including Jean Herskovitz, an Africa historian and Nigeria expert. She argues that Boko Haram has “never expressed goals of an international sort that would make it the kind of threat that is being portrayed in that report.”
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe Nixonian King
It was Henry Tudor’s Birthday on Saturday!! Or would have been, if he had possessed a sort of rarefied human longevity that matched his legendary wealth. The man who founded England’s most famous and popular dynasty, the all-conquering Tudors, was born on January 28th in 1457. His mysterious, secretive personality, grasping acquisitiveness, extraordinarily canny political nouse and ceaseless intelligence gathering secured the throne for him in the most febrile of circumstances throughout 24 years of sinister rule. He bequeathed England his son, Bluff King Hal, and grand-daughter, Gloriana the Virgin Queen. He remains relatively unknown, but the brilliant book by Thomas Penn, “The Winter King”, has come as close as anything to unravelling the secrets of the first Tudor’s rule. A sort of Nixonian king who isn’t particularly likeable but is endlessly fascinating.
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Return to article | View my favoritesAQA A2 Business (BUSS4) Research Theme 2012
The Section A research theme for 2012 has now been released. The topic is Mergers and Takeovers. Our team is now working flat out to provide support for colleagues and students taking on the research theme ahead of the BUSS4 exam on Thursday 21 June 2012.
Details of the research bullets are provided further below.
In common with previous research themes, we have created a dedicated channel on the Business Studies Blog which we’ll use to post advice, including useful research links, exam technique guidance and other resources which will help save you time. The link to the BUSS4 channel for 2012 is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/C634
The BUSS4 channel also has an RSS feed for anyone who wants to get first news of new blog entries. The RSS link is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/rss_2.0/C634
Our detailed BUSS4 Research Toolkit is now used by over 1,000 AQA centres in the UK and overseas. This can now be pre-ordered from here or by downloading this printable order form.
As in 2011, we are running a series of one-day CPD briefing days for colleagues wanting further support on how to handle the Section A Research Theme. Details of these courses here
Finally, and certainly not least, our BUSS4 Student Rvision Workshops are scheduled to run in March & April 2012. These were hugely popular last year and all the signs are that they will be even busier in 2012. You’ll need to move fast to book some places for the workshops - all the details you need are here.
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Return to article | View my favoritesHow to turn threats into an opportunity at Ryanair
Michael O’Leary, quoted in Management Today, describes the situation facing Ryanair towards the end of last year. He highlighted the threats from the EU recession and higher oil prices, but typically O’Leary found the opportunities more compelling: the “unfolding failure of the package tour operator model, significant competitor fare increases and capacity cuts, created enormous growth opportunities for Ryanair, as large and smaller airports across Europe compete aggressively to win Ryanair’s growth” he said.
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Return to article | View my favoritesStarbucks growth - three out of four ain’t bad.
I think the song goes something like that….Starbucks has been very popular in this blog lately with a number of posts across different topics. It seems to be all good news at the moment as they pursue a number of different strategies for achieving growth. And I used this video clip to get my students to identify three out of the four main ways of growing a business.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 2 Macro: Growth and Development - Some Indicators
The dictionary definition of ‘development’ is to improve, to progress, or to grow – but development is not just about growth! It is concerned with the improvement of human welfare within an economy, and so it encompasses concepts such as the standard of living, cultural identity and political freedom.
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Return to article | View my favoritesWater water everywhere….
What do you think of when you think of water?
Here’s a fun lesson to share with your AS Business class.
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Return to article | View my favoritesSuccess for the Daily Mail’s online strategy
Last year I started my A2 students on the topic of business strategy by looking at the UK newspaper market. Analysis of their position paints a pretty bleak picture, but the industry has a successful record of innovation, so it was interesting to compare their strategies for survival. A year later, and the success of one paper’s strategy is becoming apparent.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTechnological change - the “consumerisation of technology”
This is a neat two-minute video from The Economist (in October 2011) which provides an ideal introduction to a key concept - the “consumerisation of technology”. Essentially this is about the integration of consumer tech products into the world of work. The main example provided is that of the smartphone, but you can apply the same concept to other hardware products such as tablets and also to software as a service (“SaaS”) such as cloud-based storage.
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Return to article | View my favoritesStrategic choice: What should Facebook do with cash from the IPO?
The business pages are buzzing about the impending flotation of Facebook, with some analysts speculating that the implied valuation of Facebook based on the flotation share price will be up to $100billion. It is thought that Facebook will seek to raise approximately $10billion of new share capital through the IPO. But, what should Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook Board do with the cash raised?
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership in a multinational business - what leadership style works best?
This is an interesting blog entry from Pekka Viljakainen, an entrepreneur from Finland who sold his IT consulting business to a multinational Tieto. Some useful insights here for students wanting to develop their understanding of how the challenge of leadership changes as a leader’s responsibilities become more complex and cross-border.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Vacancy - Economics & Business at Canford School
Many thanks to Stephen Grant for letting us have details of an opportunity to teach in a thriving Economics & Business department in a quite simply stunning part of the country - Canford School. Applications need to be in by 1 February 2012, so move quickly!
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership - Howard Schultz on the importance of leading an innovative culture
I’m a big fan of Starbucks as a case study for business students which provides some great examples of linkages between the different aspects of business strategy. In this clip from a recent business conference (London 2011), Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz discusses the importance of innovation in a competitive environment where businesses that stand still face defeat.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 2 Macro: Signs of Progress for Zimbabwe
Just a few years ago the Zimbabwean economy was in collapse and meltdown and the political system on the point of disintegration under the disastrous handling of the dictator Robert Mugabe. When hyperinflation ruled, a sign once appeared in the toilets of a hotel in Harare, “please do not flush Zimbabwean dollars down the toilets”
Three years since the creation of a coalition government, there are some tentative but notable signs of improvement. Inflation has fallen and the use of the US dollar and other regional currencies as legal tender has helped to finance essential imports of basic products. Unemployment remains above 75% of the labour force and there is huge absolute poverty, but the glimmers of hope are there as shown by this recent news report from AlJazeerah English.
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership - what is the best leadership style? It depends on the “situation”!
A somewhat different and more formal feel to this video, but it makes an effective classroom resource nonetheless. It introduces an important concept relating to leadership - that of “situational leadership”.
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership - Tough decisions to turn Starbucks around
Here is a gem of an interview with Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. In this short (3 minute) clip he discusses the difficult decisions he had to make about the business when he returned as CEO, including closing stores and making staff redundant. One of the success stories of the 1990s, Starbucks had grown too big and lacked clear focus. Excellent material to generate discussion on leadership, management, motivation, marketing, strategy, retrenchment and more.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 4 Macro: Why Making Stuff Creates More Jobs Than Healthcare Provision
Last week my A2 students were asking what’s with all the fuss about manufacturing - services create jobs too! There’s a lot of talk about how the UK economy needs to focus more on its manufacturing industries as a means to get the economy out of its current predicament. We should be more competitive in what we produce, so that we can sell more overseas, boosting export revenues and creating jobs at the same time. Here’s a timely video from The New York Times, dissecting the iPhone and using it to help us understand the importance of manufacturing as a means of creating jobs.
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership - 40 examples of leadership at the movies in just 120 seconds
This would make a great lesson starter to get the students focused on the topic of leadership. In fact, you might also use it at the start of studying a new course, or to refocus “Team Business” as they prepare for the final push towards exams! As Lord Sutch might say…“two minutes of business gold dust”
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership - what qualities does an effective leader and manager have?
What qualities does an effective business leader or manager have? How do these qualities differ? This five minute video provides some interesting and engaging perspectives from a selection of employees. Ok, so it’s a training video; but a high quality one and it is packed full of relevant business studies terminology too.
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Return to article | View my favoritesSchultz on Leadership, Love and the Competitive Advantage of Culture
We know that the BUSS4 is a big fan of the Apple and Steve Jobs - and with good reason. As our BUSS4 Topic Tracker indicates, a previous essay question (Jan 2010) used the example of Steve Jobs to ask students to evaluate how easy it is for a Chief Executive to change a struggling business into a more successful one.
Steve Jobs shares much in common with another well-known entrepreneur and CEO - Howard Schultz (Starbucks). Both men founded, left and then returned to lead a turnaround of their respective businesses. Both have taken on the challenge of taking a business idea through rapid growth and then also manage a global brand in a much more uncertain external environment.
Might Howard Schultz feature in a future AQA BUSS4 essay choice? Its certainly possible and this article from Ernst & Young ought to be essential reading for any A2 business student who wants to build their understanding of Schultz and his leadership style and business strategy for Starbucks.
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership - it’s not a popularity contest
I like this five minute interview with Allan Leighton in which he chats about what makes an effective business leader.
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Return to article | View my favoritesLeadership and strategy: what decisions does the boss of Microsoft make?
Steve Ballmer - one tough cookie, I suspect. Ballmer makes an interesting point about the nature and extent of his decision-making. He “makes” relatively few decisions; but he approves decisions and he also initiates things that he feels need to happen strategically.
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Return to article | View my favoritesManufacturing strategy: Is China losing its competitiveness?
Is China still a competitive location for overseas manufacturing? Certainly the nature of manufacturing in China is chaining rapidly, as this 4 minute video from the Financial Times explains. It features European firms that moved their production to China several years ago. However, as wages in China have risen rapidly in recent years, it becomes less cost-effective to make low value-added products in China.
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Return to article | View my favoritesMedia and Image
This is a fantastic commentary of the images of women portrayed by the media, commenting on how they project an impossibly flawless ideal. Jean Kilbourne argues, not just that this image leads to increasing eating disorders and mental health issues among teenage girls, but that the objectification of women’s bodies contributes to a growth in violence against women.
Watch the video and see if you agree.
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Return to article | View my favoritesTeaching Vacancy - Economics at Salesian College
Many thanks to David Good for alerting us to this Economics teaching vacancy with our friends in the department at Salesian College.
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Return to article | View my favoritesStrategic choice: What should Apple do for its investors?
This graphic says it all. Just look at the astonishing growth in quarterly profits achieved by Apple in recent years, culminating in a staggering result for the final quarter of 2011 which surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts of investment analysts. A key point for students to consider from this growth in profits is that Apple has followed a policy of retaining profits rather than returning them to shareholders as dividends (or share buy backs).
In Apple’s case, profits have turned into huge cash balances - now almost $100billion. To put this into perspective, in the last three months of 2011, Apple’s cash balances were increasing by $1 billion per week!
So, what should Apple do with the cash?
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Return to article | View my favoritesThe impact of interest rates
The US economy may have grown at nearly 3% in the last quarter of 2011, but the Federal Reserve announced last week that they do not expect to raise interest rates until the end of 2014. It has cut its growth forecast for 2012 from 2.5-2.9%, to 2-2.7%, and says that the economy faced “significant downside risks” and that it “expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy” - which I take to mean expansionary.
This article about that interest rate decision is useful for economics teachers and students as it highlights a couple of results of that announcement; firstly that the dollar’s exchange rate immediately lost value as the interest rate made the US a less attractive place to keep cash, and secondly that government benefited as the cost of its borrowing in markets for 10 years fell from 2.06% to 1.94%, as traders priced in the lower medium-term interest rate expectations.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 4 Macro: Gains from Trade Liberalisation
One way of expressing the gains from trade in goods and services between countries is to distinguish between the static gains from trade (i.e. improvements in allocative and productive efficiency) and the dynamic gains (the gains in welfare that occur over time from improved product quality, increased choice and a faster pace of innovative behaviour)
Some of the broader gains from free trade are outlined below:
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Return to article | View my favoritesEconomics and Business News Quiz - 29 January
Here is a ten question quiz covering the economics and business news this week - have a go and see who can get the biggest distance using the javelin challenge. To play the full quiz just register for free on the Zondle site! Good luck
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Return to article | View my favoritesTechnological change: 3-D printing promises a new industrial revolution
I’m going to show you a technology that may simply blow you away. This isn’t a make-believe technology; it’s real and it’s here now. The possibilities are endless; the implications for the future of manufacturing, business investment and business models could be hugely significant.
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Return to article | View my favoritesUnit 2 Macro: The Economic Disaster of Youth Unemployment
The official figures show that there are now more than one million young people counted as unemployed in the UK although the precise scale of the jobless crisis is difficult to measure accurately. Nonetheless, it represents a fundamental economic, social and political problem and one that policy makers must address.
In this video report from Al Jazeerah, Lawrence Lee visits Leeds to find a well qualified nineteen year old with good qualifications but who cannot afford to go to university and is finding it tough to win a place in the police force - his main ambition.
