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Business Studies From a Pupils Perspective

Business studies poster

This trophy is given out to the best pupil of the week

These are the jobs that we are inspired to do.

Some headlines from the newspapers that give us infomation on the business world.

WHAT KEEPS THE TEACHER AWAKE DURING THE DAY!!!

How the face of sport changed in the 'noughties'.

Just been reading an interesting article about how the last 10 years have made sport almost unrecognisable to what it was at the turn of the century in where it is played and how it is watched. Recently, Brazil have played a friendly against England in Doha, Australia and New Zealand contested the rugby Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong and NFL have started recent regular-season games at Wembley. And people who once could only watch on TV if they couldn't attend games can now watch via High Definition, the Internet or on their phone. A survey by Motorola in America two years ago found 45% of people would rather watch an NFL game on HD than actually bother going to the game!

Here are some interesting figures from the article:

25 - times more income from the World Cup TV rights in 2010 ($2.3bn) than 1990 (£92m) - coinciding with growth of pay-TV.

58% - the increase in sports sponsorship in Asia over the last four years - roughly double the growth rate in Europe and the United States

6 - of the top 10 sponsorship deals worldwide in 2008 were by Nike or Adidas.

62% - of football fans in the UK use all the following media to keep in touch: TV, newspapers, magazines, internet, radio and mobile phone

The rate of technological change seems to be having a huge impact on the rate of sporting change.

How British Airways staff reacted to strike action

The video below which has been posted on Youtube shows the joy which met British Airways staff decision to to go on strike. 92% voted in favour of strike action. One worker asked the question if they could be sacked and a lawyer responded by saying the staff had protection for 12 weeks - if they were sacked during this time, they would have an immediate "unfair dismissal" claim which would be very expensive for British Airways.

Following on from my post about referees yesterday and their influence over an organisation, this is British Airways employees using the withdrawl of their labour as a way of influencing the business.

The issue for the employees is how the public react. Passengers affected by a 12-day strike over Christmas are not likely to be overly sympathetic to their decision.

Referees threaten 24 hour strike

Recently, I have been covering stakeholders of an organisation and their aims and influences. A stakeholder is someone with an interest in the success or failure of an organisation and can be internal (e.g. employee, owner etc.) or external (e.g. bank, customer, government etc.).

I was interested today to read that one of Scottish footballs main stakeholders are ready to wield their influence by threatening to go one a 24-strike. Their aim is to stop recent attacks on their professionalism and integrity and their influence is that they can withdraw their labour as referees therefore meaning games can't be played.

A nice example of stakeholder aims and influences.......

Gillette "distance" themselves from Woods

Following Tiger Woods announcement that he was taking an indefinite break from golf, Gilette have become the first major sponsor to distance themselves from him. They claim the move was out of respect for his privacy and will involve phasing him out of their television and print advertising as well as public appearances. The saga rumbles on....

Follow up to Tiger Woods story......

PepsiCo, owners of Gatorade, have decided to drop a Tiger Woods-endorsed product. However, they have said that the decision was taken a few months ago and has nothing to do with the allegations surrounding the golfer. Reports of the drink being dropped were first reported two days before Woods crashed his car in an industry magazine but the timing is bound to raise suspicion.

In other news, the last prime-time advert featuring Tiger Woods was a 30-second Gillette advert on 29 November, 10 days ago.

Do you think bankers deserve big bonuses?

Despite the US economy experiencing its worst year in 30 years, Goldman Sachs are likely to announce pay and bonuses for its bankers of $19 billion (£11.4 billion). In Britain, 5000 bankers are in line to collect more than £1m each despite millions of people being out of work as a result of the recession.

Goldman Sachs have enjoyed a fantastic year and their three leading executives will receive multi-million dollar payouts after not taking bonuses last year due to the business making a loss between October and December of that year.

The bonus culture has been attacked in both the USA and UK as a reason for the near collapse of the financial system as bankers took reckless risks. Bonuses are particularly sensitive for banks who took government money to bail them out during the worst of the crisis, Goldman Sachs being one of them.

An arguement continues in London as to whether staff in the invest part of RBS should receive bonuses worth £1.5 billion, when the RBS is 70% owned by the state after a taxpayer bailout.

Do Tesco name badges develop brand loyalty?

I have recently been working with my Higher Business Management class on Marketing and one of the areas we have been looking at is brand loyalty. A few months ago, I noticed that the staff in Tescos have started to wear badges which not only included their name, but also a phrase "I like...." followed by something like socialising, football, dancing etc. as well as a picture and when they joined the team.

On the way home tonight, I stopped at Tescos and on the way through the checkout, I couldn't help ask the assistant what the purpose of the badge was. She seemed somewhat shocked that I asked which was ironic considering the purpose is to give the customer some information with which to engage the assistant in conversation. She told me that during her induction training, she was asked to name something she liked doing and a picture which represented her. She went for "I like socialising" and a picture of a musical note as she likes music.

Does it make me more loyal to the Tesco brand? Probably not but it was nice to have some sort of human interaction during the shopping experience rather than the faceless nature of using the self-service machines which seem to be cropping up in all supermarkets.

Would knowing a person's name and interests encourage you to use the same supermarket?

How will sponsors react to Tarnished Tiger?

Tiger Woods is the wealthiest sportsman in the world, not simply because of his golfing talent but because of the big businesses that pay him to advertise their products. With sponsors such as Nike (they signed their first contract with him in 1996), Gatorade and Gillette, Woods has made more money off the green than on it. Last year he earned $23 million from golf tournaments - he made $100 million sponsorship deals.

However, allegations surrounding his private life since he crashed his car last week have tarnished his previously perfect image and his future earnings will depend on how the sponsors react. Nike and Gatorade seem to have offered Woods their full support but Gillette have not committed themselves to what they may do in future. Other major sponsors such as Tag Heuer, although continuing to use Woods in advertising campaigns, have been "unavailable for comment" when asked to discuss the situation.

Woods has become the first athlete in history to earn $1 billion in a sporting career and his success (and attraction to sponsors) in being a black player in a black player in a traditionally white sport has raised the profile of golf greatly.

Borders bookshop goes into administration

The well known bookshop chain Borders has gone into administration and a buyer will now try to be found for the all or some of the 45 stores. The chain has suffered from increased competition from online retailers and supermarkets and recently, the business had experienced severe cash flow problems and several suppliers had stopped or reduced its credit levels. The chain employs 1,150.

25 years since British Telecom was privatised

British Telecom's roots go all the way back to 1848 when it became the worlds first telecommunications company. However, by the 1980s, a decision was taken to privatise it and increase innovation within the new company to benefit customers as well as raising money for the government (£3.9billion).

The launch of BT shares on the London Stock Exchange was a big event and initially, the shares were priced at 130p each. The launch was aimed at small investors and was the first to be targeted by a widespread marketing campaign. By the end of their first day, the price had reached 170p.

Over the years, the now privatised BT has had to defend itself against allegations of preventing competition from it's very dominant position and Oftel (now Ofcom) was created to ensure it didn't abuse it's position.

With privatisation came the need to maximise profits and job numbers have been cut. In 1984, BT had a staff of 241,000 - it now employs 107,000. Revenue has grown from £6.8billion 25 years ago to £21.4billion. However, a pretax profit of £990 million in 1984 became a £134 million loss in 2008. The share price 25 years on sits at around 145p, roughly the same as when it launched.

British Telecom - 25 years on since privatisation

Even niche marketing can't protect businesses in this recession

The owner of a famous niche store in London's Covent Garden, specialising in American men's clothes which had been open for 29 years and survived 2 recessions, has decided to close his business in February 2010 and will sell everything, even the fittings, when a closing down sale starts in December. The owner decided that the business was not financially viable to continue.

Some interesting issues in this story which relate to what we study in Business Management:

• The reluctance of banks to lend to businesses is one reason given for the business closing down - without finance, supplies can't be purchased or orders met. Staff may not get paid and general expenses may become difficult to pay e.g. electricity, etc.
• This business operated in a niche market - it had little competition as it sold brand name goods not found elsewhere in the UK. Customers were loyal to the exclusive clothes.

No growth in Scottish economy in 2010

Gloomy news from a recent analysis by Strathclyde University which said that Scotland would recover more from recession more weakly than the rest of the UK, with almost no growth during 2010. Unemployment could peak next year at 234,000.

Reasons for the slow return to growth include:

• Scotland's reliance on a large public sector in comparison to the rest of the UK. This means there is a smaller private sector base from which to grow as well as the impending squeeze on public spending.
• The service sector - financial services, property and business services - had also performed poorly in recent months.
• Lack of size and capability in the manufacturing sector to take advantage of low exchange rate and increasing global demand.
• Scots being more likely to save than others in Britain, which would slow growth.

The poor figures has increased the possibility that the recession in Scotland will last longer than it does across the rest of the UK.

Business Management Revision Material

I have been creating lots of revision material for the Intermediate Business Management pupils using ClassTools, a teaching website. It is support for their upcoming BICs Nab. However, it may be useful for pupils at all levels of Business Management and in particular, for those who find it difficult to just sit and read notes. You can find it by clicking on the Intermediate Business Management page of the blog.

If there are any other things you think that would be useful to help people study, let me know and I will see if we can create them. Any feedback appreciated!

First virus hits Apple iPhone

My S4 Administration class have been learning about ICT related legislation and we have had a lot of discussion about the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and how it was aimed at hackers and one of its main offences was the release of viruses.

Now it seems that the Apple iPhone has its first "worm" which causes the phone's wallpaper to change to a picture of 1980's singer Rick Astley, with the message "ikee is never going to give you up". At present it only affects phones where the user has removed Apple's protection mechanisms so they can run any software. Although not harmful at the moment, there is concern that more malicious versions may follow which would do worse things than simply change your wallpaper.

The hacker, a 21 year old Australian called Ashley Towns, told Australia's ABC News Online that he only created the virus to raise the issue of security.

Intermediate Admin - Revision slides

As promised, I have posted some theory slides which might be of use for your upcoming end of unit test. Click on the Intermediate Admin link on the menu to take you to the slides. Speak to me if you have any problems.

S2 Business Management - Revision Material

My S2 have an end of unit test coming up on Ownership. I have posted some revision material on the S2 Business Management page of the blog that you may find useful to help you with your studying.

Remember to see me if there are any areas you are unsure of!

S3 Business Management - The Make Your Mark School Challenge goes live

I have posted the brief for the Make Your Mark Challenge on the Intermediate Business Management page of the blog. Feel free to start coming up with ideas and researching information now to help you next week.

Best of luck!

Rangers - what is the story?

A colleague came up to me today and asked what the real implications are for Rangers in a business sense after all the media speculation over the last few days following comments by Walter Smith, the Rangers manager.

News has been circulating that the Lloyds Banking Group have taken over the running of Rangers having forced David Murray to step down, news rejected by David Murray's son. It seems either a new owner needs to be found or the bank will run the business in a way that minimises its debt. Newspapers have reported that Barry Ferguson's £1m sale and the removal of 10 fringe players from the wage bill came as a result of an audit conducted by Lloyds. There was even reluctance to give David Weir a one-year, pay-as-you-play contract! A couple of weeks ago a Lloyds employee, Donald Muir, was voted onto the club's board of director in a move which was seen to show a lack of confidence of the people currently at Ibrox. Muir will represent Lloyds on the board and is classed as a "business transformation specialist". He is likely to oversee a radical overhaul at Ibrox, something that Lloyds allegedly forced upon Rangers under threat of being put into administration.

So what of the future? It is difficult to say. It seems that the entire first team squad is available for sale should any offers come in and a new owner is being actively sought. Only a takeover is likely to prevent a mass sale of first team players and replacement by youth players. But Rangers lack many assets on the pitch who would generate meaningful income and there is a real shortage of people willing to invest in a football team in the current economic situation. This is particularly true when you consider Rangers opportunity to generate more income is restricted as they are in the Scottish Premier League with no real avenue of escape.

Rangers are almost 90% owned by Murray International Holdings whose most recent accounts showed a net debt of £760 million, £704 million of which is in the form of bank loans and £432 million payable within the next one or two years. With Lloyds owning around 10% of MIH and currently in the process of trying the prevent the government lifting its stake from 43% to 60%, they will be keen to reclaim the £30m borrowed by Rangers and to address the financial issues of MIH.

It seems odd that a team reportedly only £30 million in debt are in so much trouble when you compare it to the monumental debt of some English and European clubs. However, the unravelling of Rangers fortunes has been rapid and shocking. This is a club who for the last 20 years have paid top dollar for players in the form of salaries and transfer fees and have reaped the success on the domestic front. Those days of profligate spending look like coming home to roost and the one saving grace may be Lloyds awareness of the negative implications of forcing such an institution as Rangers into administration. That might be their only hope!

Rangers' Sale of the Century

Class Representatives

I attended a CPD session on evaluating curricular development after school last week and one of the ideas our working group came up with was the introduction of class representatives. As a result of this, my four classes at S2 and S3 level have each democratically elected 2 peers to represent them. I felt it was important to give the pupils the responsibility of electing the people involved rather than me selecting them.

The idea behind this is to develop a closer link between the pupils and myself in relation to learning and teaching in the classroom. If pupils within the class would prefer to learn in a different way (e.g. group work, pair work, reading, internet research) or are finding a specific area difficult and want further revision, they can speak to their representative confidentially who can raise the issue with me. If I am able to do something about it, I will and if not, I can provide feedback to the representative as to why not.

This is a pilot scheme and I hope it benefits the learning the pupils experience in my class.

Barclays buy Standard Life Bank

When I left university in 1999, my first job was in the call centre at Standard Life Bank, part of Edinburgh based life assurance company Standard Life. At that stage, the bank had only been open a year and exciting times were anticipated as the bank rapidly grew its mortgage and savings book with its telephone and internet based approach. However, the bank remains a minnow in the financial world with only 287,000 savings accounts and 78,000 mortgage accounts and Standard Life feel that in light of the recession, lending money to the bank doesn't fit with the long-term objectives of the company. As a result, they have sold the bank to Barclays, a world renowned bank with millions of customers, for in the region of £230 million and all 270 Standard Life Bank employees will transfer to Barclays. The Standard Life Bank brand will eventually be scrapped, with £8.8bn of mortgages moving into the Woolwich home loan side and the £5.5bn of savings moving into Barclays itself.

The end of an era.....

Britain still in a recession....

Hopes that the UK would come out of the recession were dashed today as the economy shrank by 0.4% between July and September. This is the first time the UK gross domestic product (GDP) has contracted for 6 consecutive quarters since records began. The service sector unexpectedly declined with catering and hotels doing particularly badly. Unlike Germany and France who still have manufacturing, the UK is heavily reliant on the service sector and financial services which may have been the reason the recession continues.

The gloomy economic news had an immediate effect on the exchange rate with the £ falling against the $. The UK may soon become the only major economy still in recession. It will also have a negative impact on Labour's hope of re-election as they hoped they would be able to show they were the party to lead the country out of the recession rather than the Conservatives.

Vocabulary

• GDP - the total amount of goods and services produced by a country
• Quarter - 3 monthly period e.g. July-September

My mortgage woes.....

I popped into the Royal Bank of Scotland on Saturday to enquire about whether they plan to reintroduce a 95% or 100% mortgage in the near future. Alas, the answer was a rather definite no. I spoke to one of the managers in the branch who told me that the days of lending that type of mortgage have gone, if not for ever than certainly for the forseeable future. He also explained that the maximum mortgage they would do on a house under 3 years old is 75% and they will no longer allow someone to make up the remaining part of the mortgage with a loan from a financial institution, something they were inclined to turn a blind eye to in the past.

Why do I tell you this, I hear you say?

Well, it is the "credit crunch" affecting the person on the street. Only a few years ago, someone like myself, with a decent, secure salary, would have been exactly the type of person a bank would be looking at. Multiples of salary of 4 or 5, even 6 or 7, were commonplace as people were encouraged to take out ever increasing mortgages to pay the ever increasing house prices. With the banking crash, all that has come to an end and despite the average house price tumbling to a much more reasonable level, the problem is that banks are imposing more stringent lending criteria.

Gordon Brown himself has stated that "never again should banks and credit card companies encourage you to borrow more than you can realistically afford to repay" and that "we need much tougher rules to make sure that high loan-to-value or high loan-to-income mortgages are offered only when the lender has done rigorous checks to ensure people can keep up repayments."

I suppose to get a deposit together, I have to return to the thing my parents and their parents had to do in days gone by.....save!

Watch out for the phisherman!

At least 30,000 names and passwords from email providers including Yahoo and AOL have been posted online, according to the BBC News. The list also included thousands of Microsoft Hotmail users.

The term "phishing" relates to the practice of using fake websites to lure people into revealing data such as bank accounts or log in names. This phishing scheme seems to have targeted the whole email industry.

Advice from experts is to be very careful when opening attachments or links from both known and unknown sources and to install and regularly update anti-virus software. People should also change their passwords regularly as getting access to one password enables someone to access lots of things - 40% of people in a survey were found to use the same password for every website.

Phishing attacks are getting more and more clever and fake websites have been set up to look like reputable companies, asking for users login details.

Technology threat to Estate Agents

My Higher Business Management and Intermediate Business Management classes are both currently looking at Business and ICT and this story from todays Sky Business provides a slight twist on what we have been studying. We have looked at the importance of ICT in businesses and the role it plays in developing markets, encouraging new and existing customers and cutting costs.

However, the National Association of Estate Agents today announced that due to the popularity of on-line property websites like Rightmove, the days of the high street estate agent may be numbered. In the last 2 years, one in four UK estate agents have closed down yet the online property market has seen a 35% growth and most homes on the market can now be found online.

TV presenter Sarah Beeny who presents property programmes has set up a free website to help homeowners sell their property without having to pay out the huge fees often associated with moving. She says that selling your house online can be quite straightforward.

Has the improvement in ICT changed the estate agent market for ever?

Watch carrots and cows live at Asda!

Er, not sure about this story. The Guardian reported today that Asda have set up a series of web cams in a show of corporate transparency to let us know what goes on behind the scenes.

You can watch carrots on conveyor belts, cows getting milked or the foyer at Asda House. Click on the link below if you are in anyway interested!

Asda Webcams

Need for business training to boost economy

Strathclyde University have just published a report which says that enterprise education in universities and colleges can double the rate of business start-ups.

However, only Yorkshire and Humberside did worse than Scotland in business start-ups and although many Scots think they could go into business for themselves, few actually take the risk of being an entrepreneur. One explanation put forward is that few Scots actually know anyone who has started their own business in the last 2 years (20% compared with 30% in London and 43% in similar European countries). In Europe, people are 3 times more likely to invest in a friend or family members business.

The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde found that business training was a key factor in encouraging business start-up. Professor Sara Carter, head of the Hunter Centre, said "Entrepreneurship education gives students a more competitive edge in the graduate labour market as well as presenting new venture creation as a realistic and, in some cases, essential career option".

One positive from the current economic climate is that the recession may help the start-up rate as skilled people, facing redundancy, may have to look at new options.

No longer proud to be Scottish?

A company who make Harris Tweed have denied "de-Scottishifying" to appeal to the American market who are angry at the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. The creative director of the company said it was no longer promoting itself as Scottish. The chief executive has since said that the creative director did not speak on behalf of the company and there had been no reaction from the US market

Product placement ban lifted

Independent broadcasters such as ITV and Channel 4 were given a big boost today with the announcement that the ban on product placement is likely to be lifted soon. This will allow them to take payments for displaying commercial products during shows and it is believed could bring in £100m a year. The ban would remain in place for the BBC and all children's programmes across all networks.

The lifting of the ban will bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe and will be a huge help to broadcasters who have been hit hard by the recession. Currently, any products on programmes like Coronation Street or Big Brother have to cover up labels or ensure they are carefully obscured.

Business news of the week.....

Some interesting business news from the last week:

T-Mobile (owned by Deutsche Telecom) and Orange (owned by France Telecom) are planning to merge their UK businesses which would become the UK's largest mobile phone provider, with about 37% of the market. It would push O2, owned by Telefonica, into second plance and create a firm with sales of £8.2 billion.

In the UK, Orange employes 12,500 people and T-Mobile 6,500 and there is the possibility that staff may be made redundant. It is also likely that competition authorities in the UK and EU would want to look at the deal before agreeing it can go ahead.

T-Mobile and Orange merge

Cadbury rejected a £10.2 billion takeover bid from Kraft, saying it greatly undervalued the firm.

Kraft attempt to takeover Cadbury

The new owners of Tennent's, C&G Group who own Magners cider, refused to take on Tennent's Super because they felt it didn't fit with their more sophisticated portfolio. One national newspaper said that they didn't think it's "Rab C Nesbitt" image would suit the company's bill and the main goal was to secure Tennent's Lager, which has 55% of the Scottish market and would complement the Magners range.

And finally....the fast-food giant McDonald's has lost an EIGHT YEAR legal battle to stop a Malaysian restaurant calling itself McCurry. They claimed that the "Mc" infringed on their trademark but a court in Malaysia said there was no evidence the restaurant was pretending to be any part of McDonald's.

Business Studies teacher wanted.......

My S4 Business Management class are currently working through the Human Resource Management unit and having prepared a job analysis, job description and person specification for a Business Studies teacher at St Ninian's, they then had to use MS Publisher to prepare a small job advert for the Herald or Scotsman. They used the internet, job papers, myself and the Business Studies Principal Teacher to come up with an advert that would attract the right candidate to apply for the job. I was particularly attracted to the advert which highlighted the "13 week holiday every year!".

S2 Business Management Entrepreneur Presentations

Simon Cowell

View more presentations or Upload your own.

My S2 Business Management class have just completed a short project in which they had to research the life of an entrepreneur. They then had to present their research to the rest of the class. Click on the Pupil Work link on the menu bar to see some of the best work produced in the class.

entrepreneur presentation5

View more presentations or Upload your own.

A good time to start a business?

Despite the news that we may be moving out of a recession, surely now is not the time to start a new business. But a new series starting on Radio 4 called A Small Business says this might just be the time.

The Federation of Small Businesses has produced statistics saying that 120 small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) are closing every day. But for every one that closes, 11 new ones start up. This works out at nearly 500,000 new SMEs in 2009.

The majority are one person businesses, not scared of taking a risk, taking on little debt and not employing anyone else at the start. They won't have much of an impact on reducing the unemployment numbers!

But why are people taking a risk. Well, there are several possible factors:

• Savings interest rates are so low that people are more willing to take the risk.
• People don't want to work all hours for a lavish lifestyle - a reasonable income to support themselves and time for the family.
• People are afraid that their pensions may not support them so they want to keep working.
• Good deals are available on empty premises and from suppliers.
• Some people have a dream and being made redundant may have been the push they needed.

Of the 4.7 million firms in the UK, only 6,000 are big businesses and SMEs employ nearly 60% of the workforce - shopkeepers, taxi firms, hairdressers, plumbers etc.

To listen to the radio programme, click on the link below:

Radio 4 - A Small Business

Happy 25th birthday to Powerpoint

On August 14, 1984, Powerpoint was born, the brainchild of Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin. Initially called Presentation, it was originally developed just for Apple Macintosh. It was renamed PowerPoint in 1987 due to a trademark problem and in August that year, Microsoft bought the company the two inventors worked for. It was initially aimed at managers, professionals and salespeople but it has become the standard tool for anyone to explain something using a projector. Some interesting facts:

• The first PowerPoint presentation took place in Paris on February 25, 1992, to Microsoft employees.
• By 1993, it had become a market leader in PC presentation programmes.
• It is now estimated to have 95% share of the presentation software market with 500 million users wordlwide.
• Annual sales are now estimated of over $100m.
• 30 million PowerPoint presentations are made by businesses globally on a daily basis.

However, despite this success, PowerPoint has some critics.

• Presentations can be boring and just full of bullet points
• Information can be too simplified
• It makes communication presentation-orientated, not audience orientated.

Click on the link below to read through the problems of using PowerPoint in presentations and how you can overcome them.

The Problem with PowerPoint

Trip to New York

I have just returned from a week long visit to New York and I made sure I headed down to the financial district. It was really interesting to see first hand all the sites that have dominated the news over the last year with the economic downturn. Here are a few of the photos from my trip:

America's National Debt Clock

Site of the World Trade Centre towers

Me and the Wall Street Bull

New York Stock Exchange

The famous Wall Street

Well done!

I have spent the day reading over the exam results for S4, S5 and S6 and just wanted to say well done to everyone. The results look fantastic and are real evidence that with a combination of hard work on your part and good teaching by the Business Studies Department, we can achieve the excellent results we strive for. Well done!

Business news in the papers.....

A couple of unusual business stories caught my eye in the newspapers in the last couple of weeks which make for interesting reading.

Mafia take advantage of global economic crisis.

With many businesses in Italy unable to get access to cash at the moment and the value of their businesses falling, the mafia have emerged as one organisation who could benefit from the recession. The mafia, for example Sicily's Cosa Nostra, are able to get stakes in legitimate businesses at bargain prices and use them to launder "hot" money (illegal money). The combined annual turnover of Italy's mafia was calculated at €3billion two years ago, bigger than ANY legitimate Italian corporation. They have access to a vast pool of ready cash which can be tempting to businesses in trouble.

What media do teenagers think is worthwhile?

A 15 year old Morgan Stanley intern was asked to write a report on what teenagers liked and disliked and it has caused a lot of interest amongst media executives and investors. The bank wanted to know about the benefit of taking over social networking and mesaging sites but the intern said that although teenagers were using more and more media, they weren't prepared to pay for it. He also said that teenagers don't read newspapers other than cheaper tabloids, and prefer to listen to advert-free music on websites. Most teenagers wouldn't pay for music and find pop ups and banner ads annoying. He did identify the cinema, concerts and video game consoles which can be connected to the internet as the popular things amongst young people.

The report was described as "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen" and has generated five or six times as many responses from people as usual.

McDonalds move HQ to Switzerland

McDonald's have announced their decision to join Yahoo!, Google, Procter and Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive by moving their European headquarters to Switzerland to take advantage of their advantageous tax laws. The move will bring together all of McDonald's regional centres - London, Paris, Munich and Vienna. McDonald's have denied that it has anything to do with new UK tax rules which have recently taken effect.