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.