Letter, Memo and Itinerary templates for NQ Admin

I have posted templates of letters, memos and itineraries for you to have a look at before your exam on the Intermediate Administration page. You can print these off if you want. Please leave a message if there is anything else you need or want to ask a question. 

Economic downturn hits UK's super-rich

This year's Sunday Times Rich List, a list of the top 1,000 richest people in the UK, shows that the economic downturn has had an effect on the rich as well as the poor. Last year, this group had £413 billion which has now fallen to £285 billion. The richest man in the UK, Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, has seen his wealth fall 61% from 2008 to £10.8 billion, and the overall number of billionaires has fallen from 75 to 43. 

In the 21 years of the Rich List, this is the biggest collective fall in the wealth of the 1,000 richest people. 

The Rich List Top Ten  

1. Lakshmi Mittal and family, steel (£10.88bn)

2. Roman Abramovich, oil and industry (£7bn)

3. The Duke of Westminster, property (£6.5bn)

4. Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli, pharmaceuticals (£5bn)

5. Hans Rausing and family, packaging (£4bn)

6. Sir Philip and Lady Green, retailing (£3.83bn)

7. Charlene and Michel de Carvalho, inheritance, brewing and banking (£2.96bn)

8. Sammy and Eyal Ofer, shipping and property(£2.68bn)

9 = John Fredriksen, shipping (£2.5bn)

9 = David and Simon Reuben, property (£2.5bn)

9 = Kirsten and Jorn Rausing, inheritance and investment(£2.5bn

9 = Joe Lewis, foreign exchange and investment(£2.5bn)

(Source BBC website)

Help with public speaking.....

The BBC have been showing an interesting programme on how to improve your public speaking. In the world of business, communication is vital, whether it is communicating with colleagues, managers or customers. We try and give you taste for public speaking in both Administration and Business Management. 

I have attached a link to the website - The Speaker - under "Interesting Websites" on the right. It provides short video tips on how to improve your preparation, conviction, persuasion and motivation, as well as helping you fight the fear. It is well worth a look!

The importance of costing......

Paula became the 4th contestent 'fired' from The Apprentice this week after a massive error in costing. Despite proving to be a pretty good team leader and ensuring her team came up with well designed, well marketed and well produced products, her failure to manage the costs of the teams product proved to be her downfall. 

Having nominated Ben and Yasmina to do the costs, she got personally involved with Yasmina in choosing the scent. Both of them failed to spot the huge price difference between Sandalwood and Cedarwood and as a result, they spent £700 on fragrances instead of  the £5 they thought they had. 

After a bitter boardroom battle between Ben and Paula, Sir Alan decided she had to take ultimate responsibility. 

Not my choice.......

Speed typing challenge

Found a website called Rank My Typing for checking the speed of your typing. I have put a link to it on both the S2 Administration and Intermediate 2 Administration page. I managed 75 words per minute which I thought was pretty good until a girl in first year managed to get 79 words per minute. Still trying to beat that.

Post a message here and let me know how you get on.

Coke buys stake in Innocent Smoothies

Innocent, the British "smoothie" drink famed for its ethical ethos, has sold a £30m stake in it's business to Coca-Cola. They have said that it's "socially and environmentally-aware" status will not be affected and that the investment buy Coke will allow them to expand further into Europe by providing funds and getting the product out to more people in more places.

Facts about Innocent

• Set up in 1999 by 3 friends who spent £500 of fruit, turned it into smoothies and sold them at a small London music festival
• Employs 275 people
• Turnover of £100m
• Sells 2 million smoothies per week
• Supplies retailers as far afield as Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Austria

Political rebranding

It seems it is not just products and services that can be rebranded in the hope of making them more attractive to consumers. I was watching the Daily Show with John Stewart last night and he reported that the new American administration under Barack Obama has changed the term "Long War" or "Global War on Terror" (GWOT) to "Overseas Contingency Operation". The term "Global War on Terror" was first used by George Bush after the attacks on the Twin Towers on Sept 11.

The importance of proper costing......

Rocky was the 2nd contestant to get fired from the Apprentice and here he discusses where it all went wrong with his costings for the event in London's Gherkin building. As project manager, he sent in his fellow contestant to try and get £65 per head. He based this on an element of guesswork and the lack of competition for the event. Unfortunately, the representative of the business knocked the price back and after some embarrassing "negotiations", the team settled for £15 per head. 

S2 BM "Text Speak" challenge

Check out the attempts of my S2 Business Management class to summarise their Dragons Den project into a 240 character text message on the S2 Business Management page. 

Rebranding the recession

Inspired by an article on BBC's Newswipe programme, I set my S6 Business Management class the task of rebranding the recession to get rid of the negative phrases like recession, depression and slump. They had to come up with a new phrase, a logo and a range of products to sell. Having done this, they then had to present their rebranding to the rest of the class and take questions. Finally, representatives of each group were questioned by a neutral pupil, who then decided who to "fire" Apprentice-style until the winner was chosen.

The winning rebrand was Capital M by Monica Farrell, Emma Kennedy, Sean Connolly and Max Costello. Their idea combined an excellent rebranding of the name and logo - I was particularly impressed by their decision to show the M as a £ sign on its side which also doubled as a representation of a collapsed financial system - with a range of humorous products.

Well done - a career in advertising beckons!

Scottish football & the credit crunch

BBC Scotland presented three little programmes on the effect of the credit crunch on Scottish football. Each is only about 2 minutes long and covers the effects on football itself, transfers and fans.

Like any business right now, it is vital that Scottish football balances it's incomings and outgoings. 81% of chairmen in Scotland said the economic situation was having an effect and 69% said it was their priority to keep banks and sponsors happy. 52% of clubs are looking to cut wages although most believe that will have no effect on the quality of football on show. This is going to be vital as attendances have already dropped by 5% with a further drop expected - less fans equals less incoming money and therefore more cuts. A worrying situation!

Football & the credit crunch http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7951565.stm

Transfers & the credit crunch http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7951569.stm

Fans & the credit crunch http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7955422.stm

The Apprentice - Anita first to go!

Anita became the first candidate to be fired from this years The Apprentice. Both teams were given the task of making as much money as they could from cleaning - it was up to them how and where. They were given a budget of up to £200 to spend on cleaning equipment to help them with the task. Sir Alan wasn't very happy with the girls group who used up nearly all of their budgets so had costs of £196 before they even started making money. He was particularly annoyed that they thought being inside the £200 was a success! His overall view was that the team had shown poor business planning and Anita was booted off for showing none of the business skills she claimed to have. 

S1 Administration Taster Lessons

With the S1 Options approaching, we organised Administration Taster lessons for all 13 of the S1 classes. We talked them through what skills they would learn during the S2 course, what pathway they could follow through school and gave them an idea of the types of job where the skills would be useful.

The classes were all given a task of producing a presentation on a capital city - they had to use the internet to research 3 places to see or things to do, a place to stay and a place to eat in the city. They then had to use MS Powerpoint to create their presentation. And all of this had to be done in 25-30 minutes!

To see many of the Powerpoint presentations the pupils produced, click on the Pupil Work link on the menu on the right. Please feel free to leave any comments about presentations you particularly like. 

Billionaires hit by economic crisis!

The economic crisis has hit the world's richest people hard with only 793 people now able to appear on Forbes Magazine's "rich list" of world billionaires. 332 names were wiped off the list! Only 44 people in the list managed to increase their money compared with 656 who lost money. Interestingly, 9 of the top 20 in the rich list made money from discount retailing, including Karl Albrecht, the german owner of Aldi supermarkets. 

The top 5 were:

• Bill Gates (US) Software $40 billion
  
• Warren Buffet (US) Investments $37 billion 
  
• Carlos Slim Helu & Family (Mexico)$35 billion
  
• Lawrence Ellison (US) Software $22.5 billion
  
• Ingvar Kamprad & Family (Sweden) Retail $22 billion
  

Top "Billionaire Cities"

• 55 billionaires - New York
  
• 27 billionaires - London
  
• 27 billionaires - Moscow

Article on Celebrity Endorsement

I have posted an article on Nestle's use of celebrity endorsement and marketing for it's Nespresso product on the Higher Business Management page. This is well worth a look for anyone studying Business Management. 

Girl sacked for comments on Facebook

A girl was sacked from a marketing company for comments she posted on her Facebook site about the job. She wrote on her site that her job was "boring" and although she never mentioned her employers by name, she was called into the office and sacked for the comments made on a public site. As you probably know, you can only read someone's comments if you have signed up as one of their official Facebook friends. In this case, she had asked her new colleagues to sign up. It was them that reported her! 

Because she had only been in the job 3 weeks, she couldn't claim unfair dismissal. Lawyers talking about the case have said that employees should take note - if you "slag off" your employer outside the workplace, there will be consequences and that could include dismissal. 

Business update......

The current economic downturn shows no signs of improving and each day seems to bring another business related news story. Here are some "highlights" from the last week.....

• RBS announced a record UK loss of £24.1bn
  

• HBOS announce pre-tax losses of £10.8bn in 2008
  

• Lloyds TSB's 2008 profits fell by 80% to £807m.
  

• Mosaic, which owns Oasis, Karen Millen, Warehouse and Coast, has gone into administration. All of these brands have been sold to their main creditor but Principles and the Shoe Studio remain in administration, which could affect 4,200 jobs.
  

There are many more business stories and I recommend you keep following the BBC Business News website.  It really helps to see the stuff we do in class in real life situations. 

Top 10 Most Embarrassing Celebrity Endorsements?

The Observer published a list of the Top 10 Most Embarrassing Sporting Celebrity Endorsements in their Sports Monthly magazine. It is well worth a look for anyone studying Business Management as this is an area we cover in Marketing. I have linked a few of the Youtube videos on the Higher Business Management page of the blog. 

As I said, this is an area which comes up in the Marketing section of Business Management and you are often asked to look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a celebrity to promote your product. Hopefully some of these endorsements the Observer has chosen will help you.  

Use your Business Management knowledge to run your own shop!

I was recommended a good game on the Disney website which involves running your own skate shop, comic shop  or pet spa. I had a wee look at it and a lot of the stuff we have covered in class is used in the game - where do you source your finance from? What do your customers want? What sort of marketing campaign would you run? 

I have posted a link below and also a link on the menu. Let me know how much profit you manage to make!

Disney Hotshot

Pupil blog update.....

Read Mariya Amin's review of the Dragon's visit to S2 Business Management on Tuesday to see how the different teams were getting on with their projects by clicking on Pupil Blog on the menu bar. 

RBS to cut sport sponsorship

The RBS have announced plans to cut its funding of British sport by 50% by 2010. The ongoing effects of the economic downturn means the RBS has to review all their current activities. These include:

• Ending sponsorship of the Formula One team Williams at the end of the 2010 season. 
  
• Reviewing sponsorship deals and contracts with individuals such as Andy Murray, Zara Phillips and Sachin Tendulkar. 
  
• Cancellation of all trackside advertising for 2010
  
• Hospitality costs in all RBS sponsorships reduced by 90% in 2009. 
  

The head of Williams has admitted that due to the current economic problems, attracting sponsors is becoming more and more difficult. However, the bank recently extended its sponsorship of the Six Nations for another 4 years. 

Panorama programme on Monday

The Panorama programme on Monday night was excellent viewing for anyone with an interest in Business Management. Theo Paphitis from Dragon's Den examined some of the problems Small & Medium Enterprises (small businesses) are facing due to the current banking crisis. The main issues revolve around the small businesses inability to get money from the bank in the form of loans or the removal of overdraft facilities. This is having a real effect on their ability to pay suppliers and meet their orders.

I recommend anyone who is doing Business Management to watch the programme which is available by clicking on the link below.

Panorama with Theo Paphitis

S2 Business Management's visit from the Dragons

My S2 Business Management class received a visit from two Dragons today to have a look at how their Dragons Den projects are coming along. Full information in the S2 Business Management page of the blog. 

Does a recession make people more polite?

Just like in the language of text messaging, the language of business e-mails has become more and more informal in recent years with a lack of any capital letters or no punctuation. I have just finished reading an interesting article in the Financial Times where the writer asks if the recession has led to a change. She compared 100 emails she received in 2000 and the last 100 emails she has received and found out some interesting things:

• In 2000, 25% were written entirely in lower case. In 2009, only one was. 
  
• In 2000, many people finished the email in a huge variety of ways including "rgds" meaning "Regards". In 2009, there was only one "rgds" and a huge number of "Yours sincerely" and "Yours faithfully".
  
• In 2000, there was little use of peoples surnames and terms like "Hi" and "Hey" were common. In 2009, nearly 40% of emails were addressed to Ms Kelloway, Mrs Kelloway or Lucy Kelloway and in many cases, the term "Dear" was used. 
  

This isn't a huge study and the person writing the article did it more out of interest than anything else. However, it is an interesting question to ask - does the recession make people think about things more? What words do I use? What do I wear? The same person wrote an article last week on how the recession has also made people think more about the clothes they wear. I suppose if your job is at stake you may look for any opportunity to impress.

BBC UK Job Tracker

The BBC News website have launched a new "Jobs Tracker" which gives a snapshot of jobs lost and created since 1 January this year. 

Check it out here BBC Jobs Tracker

Check out the pupil blog......

After a bit of a false start, I have now managed to get the "Pupil Blog" up and running. The idea behind it is to give pupils full author rights so they can write about the things we are doing in Business Studies at St Ninians. So far, Mariya Amin and Chloe Stewart from my S2 Business Management class are my main bloggers but hopefully I can encourage some more aspiring journalists to have a go.

 

Click on "Pupil Blog" on the menu on the right to see the first few comments.  

The problem with social networking sites......

I remember reading an article about a year ago about people putting information on social networking sites that had come back to haunt them later on. Another article suggested that employers were reading through peoples Facebook, Bebo or MySpace sites to get a feel of what the person was really like. The issues is that information held on social networking sites at the moment isn't automatically deleted after a specific time frame and unless you do it yourself, this means that any photos, comments or messages you leave would remain unless you yourself deleted them.

This week Facebook have been in the news for changing the terms of their service regarding user data. The new terms seemed to suggest that even if an individual deleted their account, Facebook would retain their personal data and any comments or messages left on someone elses Facebook page wouldn't disappear. Facebook have now decided to return to their original terms of service.

The reaction to the changes that Facebook proposed is part of a wider problem about who actually owns personal information - comments, photos, videos etc. - which is stored on social network accounts. It also reflects the problems of what to do with it if someone decides to close their account.

To read the article, click on the links below:

Facebook Article

BBC Technology Blog

Kilmarnock recession update.....

Further to my story on how the recession is affecting Kilmarnock, it is with regret that I announce my hairdresser has now fallen victim to the economic turmoil and has ceased trading!    

The increasing power of the internet on advertising

One of the joys of a long weekend is the opportunity to delve into the Sunday newspapers and every now and again, a few interesting stories crop up which are relevant to Business Studies.

An article I found was about the increasing power of the internet for advertisers. The new Cadbury's advert (below) was first shown during the final of Celebrity Big Brother but it has been online that it has really picked up unstoppable momentum. With unofficial celebrity endorsement from the likes of Stephen Fry and Kanye West, the advert has now been viewed more than 4 MILLION times online!

The marketing department of Cadburys said that they tend to put an advert on TV initially in big things such as Big Brother or X Factor and then it is immediately online where it is passed around via word of mouth, and viewed on sites like YouTube. Increasingly, advertising agencies realise that they need to create adverts which don't just work on TV, but across a variety of media sources. 

Real Madrid richest club in the world.....helped by a weak pound!

Despite being Premier League Champions, Champions League winners and World Club Championship winners, Manchester United are only the second richest club in the world......due to a weak pound!

Real Madrid remain top of the Deloitte's Football Money League for the fourth year in succession. The information is based on financial information for the 2007/2008 and Manchester United would have been the richest clubs if the pound was still as strong as it was in 2007.

The exchange rate factor also had an effect on the rest of the top 20 - there would have been 9 English clubs instead of 7 if the pound had not depreciated so much.

The top 10 are shown below:

1. Real Madrid: £289.6m


2. Man Utd: £257.1m


3. Barcelona: £244.4m


4. Bayern Munich: £233.8m


5. Chelsea: £212.9m


6. Arsenal: £209.3m


7. Liverpool: £167m


8. AC Milan: £165.8m


9. AS Roma: £138.9m


10. Inter Milan: £136.9m
    

"Don't each too much pizza" says founder of Papa John's Pizza

If you are the founder of a hugely successful pizza chain, it surely can't be good business sense to warn people of the health risks of eating TOO MUCH PIZZA!!! That is exactly what John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John's Pizza did on a Radio 4 interview last week. Even though customers can't buy any less than a whole pizza in any of the company's 118 takeaways across the UK, he said "Pizzas are healthy for you, if you don't each too much of it. You can't eat five or six slices." 

The blunder is similar to that of Gerald Ratner, the former chief executive of the British jewellery company, Ratners. In 1991, he said one of his products was rubbish and that some of their earrings were "cheaper than a Marks & Spencer prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long." The blunder wiped £500million off the value of his business overnight because customers boycotted the company. 

"You are responsible for your own learning"

The above is possibly the best quote I have heard in a classroom......and it came from a pupil!!!

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been covering the Marketing Mix in S3 Business Management and Health, Safety & Security in S3 Administration. We took a decision that rather than be "teacher led", we would hand over responsibility to the pupils in the two classes. The S3 Business Management class were split into 4 teams and each given one element of the Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Promotion or Place. The S3 Administration class were similarly split and given either the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992, Fire Precautions Regulations 1992, First Aid Regulations 1981 or Security. 

Each group was given the task of fully researching their area and creating a 25 minute "lesson" consisting of a presentation, questions (and answers!) for the class and some sort of related task. 

Towards the end of last week and the beginning of this week, all the groups delivered their lessons. Other than doing the register at the start of the period, I let the pupils run the entire class. The results were fantastic. I was greatly impressed with the amount of effort everyone within the group put in to their micro-lesson, from researching the task to delivering the presentation. It was also really encouraging to see the response of the pupils who were being taught - they actively paid attention throughout and were extremely patient during any times things maybe weren't going quite to plan. I was also surprised how hard the pupils are on each other, leading to the wonderful comment above. 

I have embraced this type of learning ever since coming in to the teaching profession and as someone who used to work in the recruitment sector, I believe the "soft skills" the pupils learn during this type of activity are priceless. During these types of activities, pupils need to show leadership skills, team-working, presentation skills, communication skills and creative skills - all hugely relevant in todays difficult job market. Obviously there is a need to assess the learning to ensure the activity has a value and it is essential it is combined with traditional teaching on my part but I have found it creates a really positive culture of learning within the classroom.  

You can find evidence of their presentations by clicking on the Intermediate Business Management and Intermediate Administration link on the menu. 

The changing face of the High Street?

When I moved to St Ninian's last summer, I took the decision to move to Kilmarnock. I had never been in Kilmarnock let alone considered living there before but I must admit I quite enjoy it. Having lived in cities since I left home to go to university, it's a nice feeling to finish a day or a week at school and get away from it all. 

However, in recent weeks I have noticed a real change in the town. Shops in the High Street have been offering massive sales for what seems like an eternity - 50%, 60%, even 90% off sales whichever way you look. But sales seem to have become commonplace in recent years with the traditional January and July sales giving way to drawn out "clearances" or "giveaway bonanzas." The difference this time is that usually, the sale ends and the store remains. On a recent walk, I noticed an Arnold Clark dealership completely boarded up which only a week previously seemed to have been trading well. As I walked up the High Street, I was aware of the number of empty shops and "To Let" signs. Kilmarnock is a town which seems to be genuinely suffering from the economic downturn and is probably similar to many provincial towns across the country. 

As a Business Studies teacher, I have had a keen interest in the developing economic situation but it always seemed to be happening elsewhere. The evidence in Kilmarnock is that it is happening close to home. 

And the news that the Icelandic Baugur group is expected to fall into administration poses the problem that the changing landscape of our high streets is likely to spread to the main cities. Baugur owns stakes in Debenhams, Karen Millen, Oasis, Nine West, Fraser, Hamleys and Iceland. Although Baugur don't own any of them outright, many of them did rely on now-collapsed Icelandic banks and now need to find new financial backers. Although it is likely that many of them will be bought, either through private equity firms or through management buy outs, the chances of empty shops in Buchanan Street, Princes Street and George Street is a growing possibility. 

Great time to set up a new business.....

I heard Richard Branson talking on the radio on Friday as I was driving home from school. They were interviewing him to get his thoughts on the current economic climate and he was saying that this is the perfect time to set up a new business. He explained that at this point, the cost of materials, property etc. is really low and so your initial start up costs are kept to a minimum. This increases the potential success of any new business. I thought this was an interesting, and positive, view of the current economic problems and shows it isn't all doom and gloom!

Higher Business Management - NAB Resit Supported Study

A reminder to anyone having to resit the Marketing & Operations NAB that I will be running a supported study session on Wednesday 28 January 2009 from 2.40pm to approximately 3.30pm. I would strongly recommend you attending if you need to resit the NAB.

Please see me if you have any questions or issues.

S4 Administration - Command Words

As promised, I have posted a slideshow with all the command words you will need for your theory answers in both the Intermediate 2 and Intermediate 1 Administration exam. 

Click on the Study Skills link on the menu on the right to access the slide show. Please speak to me if you have any questions.

Best job in the world....

I haven't been considering any sort of career change but I must admit I was attracted to this job in last weeks Guardian newspaper. I am not sure what the exchange rate is but I am sure $150,000 Australian dollars for a 6 month contract is good pay for cleaning a pool, feeding fish and collecting the mail! Surely the best job in the world indeed! 

S3 Administration Class - Voicethread Experiments!

My S3 Administration class have just finished doing the Working Practices part of the course. To finish the unit, I decided to experiment with Voicethread, a multimedia slide show which allows people to leave comments. The pupils created their own Powerpoint presentation as a class to summarise the unit and then provided the voice overs for the slides.

Voicethread was recommended to me by Mr O'Donnell and we are currently looking at the benefits this has on learning and teaching. I particularly like the interactive nature of it and feel that we can really utilise it as an extra learning tool in class.

To see what the S3 Admin class created, click on the Intermediate Administration link on the menu bar. Let me know what you think about the slides so I can pass it on to the pupils.

Higher Business Management revision questions

I have posted a set of Marketing & Operations revision questions on the Higher Business Management page of the blog. All the questions are taken from the work we have done in class and use the recognised command words. I strongly recommend you use these for any revision work. Please feel free to print them off at home. I will try and get ones made up for the BIC's unit and for any remaining units we have.

Do the best you can.....your job might depend on it!

As a Business Studies teacher, it is with mixed feelings that I read the daily news about the economy. On one side, it is great as it brings the world of business onto the front page and a year ago, some of the discussions we have in the classroom wouldn't be possible. On the other side, it is a shame that everything we talk about seems to be negative - people losing their jobs and businesses going bust. 

However, a story that appeared on the front of the Guardian yesterday really brought things home to me as a teacher of young people. The Government are so worried about 2009 university graduates getting a job that they are considering offering short internship schemes to give them experience on a reduced wage. Barclays and Microsoft have reportedly agreed to take part in what has been called the National Internship Scheme. The goal is that the scheme will give graduates a chance to develop their skills and show employers what they can do. The government are concerned about the effects the recession will have on the 18-24 year old age group and are desperate to prevent young people experiencing long periods of unemployment.

Evidence of the effect of the downturn on graduate recruitment includes:

• Major companies have narrowed their search for graduates to five elite universities as they cut recruitment numbers.
  
• The organisers of the annual graduate recruitment "milk round" say jobs in finance and retail are drying up.
  
• The management consultancy KPMG, seen as a recruitment barometer, says its 600 graduate entry jobs are nearly all taken months ahead of schedule as students scramble for the top jobs
  
• Careers service managers have been inundated with desperate students who don't know what to do when they graduate because their plans are in tatters.
  

A further worry is that the slump in graduate jobs threatens unemployment for people with lower or no qualifications as graduates turn their sights on non-graduate vacancies. 

Anyone paying any attention to the worsening financial situation needs to understand that the days of easy employment could be over for a few years. The importance of gaining qualifications and developing yourself as a person is vital to give yourself the best possible opportunity of getting a job.  

Football affected by economic downturn

I was listening to the Real Radio football phone in while making my dinner tonight and every call seemed to be about Kris Boyd's possible departure to Birmingham City for about £3.5 million. Every caller was arguing that Rangers are mad to sell Boyd and that it shows a lack of ambition at Ibrox. I don't know if the decision to sell Boyd is based on his ability or his attitude but the one thing that is certain is that Rangers are not in a position to turn down the money. 

This brings me to my point - football is a business and like every business, the economic downturn is going to have an affect. For a long time, players have been earning a lot of money which has been paid for mainly by television money, sponsorship and season ticket sales. The problem is that these sources of money are drying up and football is having to face the same decisions as that faced by everyone else - cost cutting! 

I heard on the radio that the problems are likely to get worse as the economic problems increase. Much of the money in football at the moment has been paid in advance. The television contracts will run out in the next couple of years and it is unlikely TV companies will be willing to pay the same amount. Businesses are likely to cut back on their sponsorship money and supporters will think long and hard before renewing season tickets for next year. Few teams will be immune to the economic problems - even Chelsea players now need to pay for their own lunches! - and will have to think twice before offering expensive weekly contracts or whether they can reject an offer for their star player. 

Football in recent years has enjoyed the lucrative rewards available to business but now will have to face up to the fact that it will have to suffer just like everyone else!

Festive period Credit Crunch victims....

The continuing economic crisis claimed more well known victims over Christmas & New Year:

Adams Childrenswear

Waterford Wedgewood

Morgan

Zavvi

Other names which are being watch closely by business analysts include JJB Sports, Jessops and Clinton Cards. Expect more High Street victims before the end of this crisis. 

The cost of making someone redundant

The average cost of making someone redundant is £16,875 per employee to an employer before they make any savings. This is the figure quoted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development who say that redundancies should be a "last resort".

Many businesses will look at saving money by laying people off but the CIPD have identified that redundancy contains a number of direct, indirect or hidden costs. They recommend that employers should "hold their nerve" and retain and invest in the skills of their talented staff.

Read the article for more information. 

Careers with a Business Studies qualification

I was looking at PlanIT Plus last night, a website targetted at young people which gives information on careers, qualifications etc. I found some really interesting information on careers where a Business Studies qualification would help you. It's not all about office jobs! Click on the Careers page link on the right and click on any of the jobs I have listed for details on the job, conditions, pay, training etc.

Make Your Mark Challenge Scottish Finals - Report

At 7.45am on Tuesday 25 November, six enthusiastic S3 Business Management pupils (David Ormiston, Graeme Cullen, Martin Coughlin, Ryan Doherty, Chris Brown & Darren Flynn) and myself set off eastwards on a mission to win the Make Your Mark Challenge Scottish Finals 2008 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. At stake was the possibility of winning through to the UK Finals in London on December 9. 

Despite heavy traffic, we managed to make it to Murrayfield by just after 9.30am so had a chance to get registered, have a drink and finalise a few last minute points on the presentation - did the boys know the exact running order, who would wear the ponchos, where they would stand, in which order etc.

The event started just after 10am and was hosted by Des Clarke, a Glaswegian comedian and TV personality. The winner and runner up would be chosen by a three person judging panel - Neil Hunter (Business Consultant), Sam Miller (Head of Client Services) and Claire Fraser (Project Co-ordinator, Social Enterprise Academy). Competition would be fierce with 20 schools from across Scotland represented - from Annan Academy to Peebles High School, Montrose Academy to North Berwick High School. 

From the very first presentation - St George's School for Girls' Banana Boat Ride - to the last - Montrose Academy's collectable Olympic figures - the quality of the work produced was excellent. The ideas were wide ranging, including energy drinks, maps, job training, green energy production, books & websites, and the different methods of delivery was testament to the work the pupils had put in - raps, music, videos, models, clothing, etc. There was a real mixture of male and female pupils, and what seemed to be good representation of all ages from 14-16. 

St Ninian's team did themselves proud with their presentation. It was easily the best I had seen them present over the last couple of days. Everyone played their part and they really got across the concept of Ponch-o-lympics. From my vantage point in the audience, I could see the judges smiling and nodding in appreciation as the boys explained how their idea could meet the values associated with the Olympic and Paralympic games within their business plan. The fact that 75% of the profit was going to a sporting charity demonstrated that the boys were not just focused on making money but on giving something back.

After all the teams had finished their presentations, the judges deliberated for 15 minutes and then it was decision time. The runners up prize of £100 went to Hermitage Academy from Helensburgh for their Personal Encouragement Device, an iPod style product which played encouraging quotes from sportspeople to help young people when training. The winning team was from Caldervale High School in North Lanarkshire who came up with the idea of an educational rap CD to bring together learning and young peoples enthusiasm for music. They won £100 and the coveted place in the London final. 

Overall, the event was very worthwhile and it was great to see St Ninian's High School represented in the Scottish final. Darren, Graeme, Martin, David, Chris and Ryan had the opportunity to learn vital life skills which they can take forward not just at school but beyond - team-work, problem-solving, public speaking, creative and innovative thinking. It was a real honour to help and support the team in the final. All the Business Studies staff have worked really hard over the last couple of weeks to ensure all the pupils in the department had a chance to participate in the event at some level and I believe this is an event which we should strive to do well in each year.