Mr Marcus McGowan MSc PgDip BA (Hons)

This Business Education Learning Blog is aimed primarily at Higher Business Management students/teachers and ICT students/teachers.

The aim of this blog is to provide you with interesting articles, news, trivia as well as resources or links to materials which will help in your course of study.

I am a Teacher of Business Education and I have written for Education Scotland and BBC Bitesize.

If you'd like to contact me please click on the link to: email me

Thursday 19 December 2013

HGTV Logo

 

Our new logo for our school TV station, HGTV! Created by Mr Phee, Technical.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Plastic bank notes by 2016

The UK’s currency joining the space age at last!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25427663

 

What do you think the costs and benefits will be?

 

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Tablet Wars Continued

A new ultra cheap entry into the Tablet PC market at the low price of £30.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25402621

 

HOPE City, Ghana

An ambitious plan for Ghana. A new international airport and a modern, 21st century city to be built near Accra.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/20/tech/hope-city-ghana

 

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Google's Driverless Car in Action

An inspirational video about Google’s Driverless Cars:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE

 

Amazon Prime Air

My pupils were excited and intrigued by the rather sci-fi idea of Amazon delivering to your house within 30 minutes of delivery by a drone called an Octocopter. We discussed it in some detail about the amazing pros and the all to practical cons. Will it ever become a reality?

 

 

Here is an interesting article which covers some of the things we talked about in class, though it also suggests a cynical ploy by Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon!

 

http://memeburn.com/2013/12/amazon-prime-air-just-another-pipe-dream-or-technological-breakthrough/

 

Ideas like this fire the imagination of learners both young and old. Who knows what kind of a world we will live in by 2020? Driverless cars, 3D printers, undersea hotels, space tourism, and now parcels delivered by robots…. Maybe Blade Runner was on the money after all?

 

Festive Cyber Scams

Keep a look out for these cyber scams which appear en masse at Christmas time:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25200338

 

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Market Research and Surveys

Some detail when it comes to polling and market research of the political kind:

 

http://news.stv.tv/politics/252342-stv-poll-on-independence-referendum-puts-yes-at-34-and-no-at-57/

 

Aldi has a success on its hands

Aldi’s discount tablet a sell out.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25299602

 

It is called the Medion Lifetab and was a rival to Tesco’s Hudl Tablet, but is much cheaper. What will be the impact on Apple and its premium product – the iPad?

 

Monday 9 December 2013

Supermarket for low income families

 

A shop in Barnsley has opened up with heavily discounted items for families struggling on low incomes.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25264865

 

Lost in communication!

Ray Kroc did not invent crocs and Donald Trump did not invent Top Trumps! #Entrepreneurs

 

Odd locations for McDonald's

Here is a link to some of the most unusual McDonald’s restaurants in the world!

 

http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/09/03/mcdonald-s-international-top-ten-most-unusual-around-the-world/

 

Business Locations - World's Smallest McDonald's

This is the world’s smallest McDonald’s in the Pudong area of Shanghai.

 

Friday 6 December 2013

Amazon Prime Air

Just how will this drone delivery service really work? More details here from Amazon:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BIu9dpwHU

 

Distribution - Singapore

 

While discussing delivery and distribution as one of the 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix, my mind went back to this extraordinary scene in Singapore. Cargo ships, in their hundreds, as far as the eye could see. In the USA most freight is by rail, I also recall in South Dakota counting an incredible 244 cargo sleeper cars… which took something like 7 minutes to pass by.

Driverless Cars for the UK

Tuesday 3 December 2013

The South Korean School Day

The typical school day in South Korea for a pupil…

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25187993

 

 It achieves results in PISA tests, but comes at a high price.

Saturday 30 November 2013

S2 STEM Awareness Day

Our first ever STEM Awareness Day was very successful. Pupils got hands on experiences in Lego robotics, codebreaking, bridge building, tower building, building a PC, forensics & fingerprinting, DNA testing, engineering and the Bloodhound car and other interesting activities. #STEM

Friday 15 November 2013

STEM EEP Schools

Please watch Hamilton Grammar’s video entry to the #EEPschoolsentry

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe_sXAiHyvc

 

Scottish Space School

 

Applications are now on for the Scottish Space School! Hope to have a few applicants from our school to enter. It is an opportunity of a lifetime!

 

Terms and conditions are here: http://www.scottishspaceschool.org.uk/Pages/GuidanceNotes.aspx

 

And the application form is here: http://www.scottishspaceschool.org.uk/Pages/ApplicationForm.aspx

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Tuesday 5 November 2013

It is all in the eyes

The future is here now!

 

Tesco are installing facial recognition technology just like in the film, Minority Report, which then will tailor adverts to the person.

 

http://www.theweek.co.uk/technology/55896/tesco-installs-alan-sugars-minority-report-ad-screens

 

When I first saw this in the movie I thought it was hogwash. How wrong can you be? What other incredible changes will we see in the near future?

 

Product Failures Video

Good video on famous marketing failures.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxRqKgjD3vY

 

Robot who always beats humans!

Incredible video of a robot who always wins at rock, paper, scissors!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24803751

 

 

Thursday 24 October 2013

Concorde - The Supersonic Plane

 

10 years ago today Concorde was mothballed after the tragic crash in Paris and other mechanical issues. Here is a great article on the history and possible future of one of the most remarkable pieces of engineering ever:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24629451

 

I was interested to find out that hardly any of my pupils knew what Concorde was!

 

Tuesday 22 October 2013

STEM Club Logo

 

Here is our new STEM logo for our Young Engineers Club which has now been renamed STEM. Thanks to Mr Phee in Technical for his creative work of genius!

 

Friday 11 October 2013

Apple's New Campus: The Spaceship

Startling design concept for Apple’s new venture... an up to date HQ nicknamed “The Spaceship”, and next door to rivals Panasonic!

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-spaceship-campus-2013-10?op=1

10 Future Technologies That Exist Today!

Great video on technology that exists today – some products inspired by the movies as well!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYPqZ_SJCjw

 

Monday 7 October 2013

A massive blow for Cadbury

British chocolate giants Cadbury have lost a 100 year old patent on the colour purple thanks to Nestle. Read more here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/cadbury-just-lost-exclusive-rights-to-the-colour-purple

Monday 23 September 2013

The Tesco Tablet

Tesco have launched the Hudl for £119. A cheap end Tablet PC which possibly is more of a competitor to Amazon’s Kindle Fire rather than Apple’s all conquering iPad.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24203271

 

Blackberry in dire straits

Shocking news from Blackberry as they seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place thanks to Apple, Google, and Samsung. The end of the keyboard for phones?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24182038

 

CV Tips!

Thursday 12 September 2013

Business of Football: How much does it cost?

Here’s a great wee season ticket and add ons calculator to see just how much it costs to follow your team for a year.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23723537

 

Albion Rovers at £70 is the cheapest season ticket in the Scottish Professional Leagues.

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Friday 6 September 2013

Candidate 'humiliated' in Job Interview

A graduate felt embarrassed and humiliated in an interview for Currys by being asked to dance to a Daft Punk song.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23972952

 

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Microsoft to buy Nokia Mobile Phones

News here on an incredible deal with Microsoft buying out Nokia’s mobile phone business which looks like a signal of intent versus Apple.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23940171

 

Wednesday 28 August 2013

TV Chef slams British youth

Not a good career move by Jamie Oliver here I think!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23860811

 

Bit of a generalisation saying that young people in Britain are lazy. Plus these young people may end up being his core audience on TV in a few years, so as well as disagreeing with his sentiments I also think it is a rather silly thing for basically a TV performer to be saying.

 

Rupee falls to record low

Worrying news from India

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23860458

 

Thursday 22 August 2013

Tata Nano in line for overhaul

Tata are now having to rebrand and reposition the Tata Nano – the world’s cheapest car:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23792196

 

Tuesday 13 August 2013

The successful inventor who didn't make a penny

Another great article about an inventor with a simple but revolutionary idea that changed the world. Yet he is still poor.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23536914

 

Fixed versus Growth mindset

Pertinent to read this article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23667965

 

especially after today we watched an excellent presentation by John Franklin, our PT Support for Learning who illustrated the difference in mindset between fixed and growth. Added to a pupil receiving poor exam results it could certainly crush a young person or knock the stuffing out of them for a while.

 

I like to think of the sporting analogy. Yes Tiger Woods may be an excellent talent with superb eye hand coordination but he still practiced well over the 10,000 hours which is now accepted as the norm in order to become an Elite Performer.

 

The old adage is true: practise does make perfect.

 

So if any pupil or student has not done as well as they hoped this year, please don’t give up. You may just need to keep trying and I am sure it will happen for you.

 

In life there are very, very few overnight successes. So keep your spirits up.

Monday 12 August 2013

What is inflation?

Often mentioned in Business class, here is Inflation explained from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12196322

 

Thursday 20 June 2013

EasyJet and Ryanair

Another great article from the BBC about the history of two of the UK’s most famous low cost airlines.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22888304

 

India's rupee falls to al time low

Worrying times ahead for India’s currency as it falls to a record low against the US dollar.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22981979

 

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Space Master Class

Our school have been invited to send a group of pupils to Russia’s Space Master Class in Korolev, near Moscow. Here is a video of the activities:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszAcJqnqWU

 

Monday 17 June 2013

Thursday 30 May 2013

Wednesday 29 May 2013

High Street Shopping in terminal decline?

Looks like the intervention of High Street guru Mary Portas has had little effect on the downward trend in high street shopping.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22693403

 

This also comes as Little Chef are also in serious trouble. They famously had superchef Heston Blumenthal to address their concerns and create a new menu for the 21st century. However, it failed also. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/may/26/little-chef-bids

 

Personally I don’t think it is just online shopping that is killing the high street – but crucially transport links. Perhaps the UK should copy the French, as Jeremy Clarkson advocated, and remove all the double yellow lines to allow people to park in town and city centres. Controversial? Perhaps. But how else will we save our high streets?

 

Wednesday 22 May 2013

K for C?

There is a growing trend for people to substitute ‘C’ with ‘K’. Wayne Rooney’s new boy is called Klay rather than Clay.

 

"Most English words which begin with K are borrowed from German or Japanese, like karate or karaoke. So by using K or Z, it could be that we are suggesting something exotic in some way," Ian Brookes from the Collins Dictionary.

 

But linguistics expert Prof Vivian Cook thinks it is quite the contrary.

 

"In the UK it has been used by businesses mostly at the cheap end of the market."

 

Monday 20 May 2013

Ryanir Profits Up

Budget airline Ryanair have posted record full-year profits and rising revenues. This comes despite soaring fuel costs. Profits after tax rose 13% to 569m euros (£481m) on revenues of 4.88bn euros for the year to 31 March.

 

Passengers who were carried by the airline rose from 5% to 79.3 million as Ryanair added 217 new routes, bringing the total to 1,600.  However fuel costs rose by more than 290m euros, and now account for 45% of total costs.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22593246

 

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Higher Business Management - Production Budgets and Sales Budgets

First of all state what a budget is. It is a financial plan for the coming year.

 

A production budget is what it says. It is a budget which works out  the number of units needed to be produced in order to satisfy the right quantity demanded by customers. i.e. BMW need to produce 40 cars a day at their Augsburg factory to meet demand. A production budget follows the sales budget, as you would need to know the predicted sales in order to then plan how to allocate resources such as raw materials, machinery and labour.

 

A sales budget is more like what we normally look at. It is a budget which plans the predicted number of customer sales over the year. Sales can be divided into cash (upfront) and credit (paid for later).

 

There are generic similarities for both (and indeed any budget).

 

·        Budgets allow you to compare the real or actual figures with the planned ones.

 

·        Budgets are also used as a motivational tool for employees to help reach targets.

 

·        Budgets can help highlight areas where high costs are being incurred and have to be reduced.

 

·        Budgets are normally stuck to religiously so if a department is heading over budget they will have to control their expenditure.

 

Wednesday 8 May 2013

A Great Leader calls it quits

Sir Alex Ferguson is retiring after a glittering career in British football. Fergie started his career at East Stirling before being sacked by St Mirren. He then led Aberdeen to break the Old Firm dominance in Scotland and led the club to a famous Cup Winners Cup victory over mighty Real Madrid in Gothenburg – perhaps still his greatest achievement. A short spell as temporary Scotland manager followed before he became manager of Manchester United. At United he broke Liverpool’s hold on the English title and has won it a record 13 times.

 

He also won another CWC and led United to 4 European Champions League finals, winning two in dramatic fashion.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22447018

 

Fergie is one of the best examples of a great leader in sport. He could always motivate his team and had the ability to blend youth with experience as well as superstars with home grown talent. He was also infamous for the ‘hairdryer’ technique, which involved Fergie setting his players straight on what went wrong.

 

He has achieved everything in domestic football, however it would have been a fitting end to his career if he had taken the Scotland job and led our small nation back to a World Cup. At 71, that seems to be gone. Fergie will now look forward to enjoying his other interests as well as retaining ambassadorial roles at Old Trafford. The big question for that famous club is who will replace the irreplaceable? Now that could be a poisoned chalice.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson sits at the top table in the pantheon of football’s great managers.

 

Lord of the Rings Periodic Table

Science teachers and English teachers may unite in loving/hating this novel idea:

 

http://www.geekosystem.com/lotr-periodic-table/?q5634665=1

 

Unsure whether this may catch on, but I am sure there must be may novel Periodic Tables online. I will try and find some. Would like one for Business and also one for Travel.

 

Google's Glass may be banned before release!

Looks like Google’s Project Glass (which now just seems to be called Glass) may have really opened a whole can of worms as many more organisations and businesses have banned them from their premises.

 

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2320880/Could-Google-Glass-BANNED-public-places-goes-sale-Experts-warn-legal-brawl-privacy-issues.html?ITO=socialnet-twitter-mailonline

 

As you can see here, there are a whole range of privacy issues also.

 

Personally, I think the concept of Glass has amazing and revolutionary opportunities for the way we shop, communicate and navigate. But as always there are always the negatives and the potential for abuse and harm which always seems to surround new technology, especially one such as this which could record people’s movements without any hint of such an action being undertaken.

 

So perhaps if Google’s Glass does fail, it won’t be due to the technology at all, but rather legislation.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Downsizing

What happens when businesses find out that downsizing isn’t all that it is cracked up to be:

 

business.time.com/2013/04/23/overdoing-efficiency-when-businesses-discover-they-cant-keep-downsizing-the-workforce

China and Pollution

Quiz: Bible or Bard?

Here is a fun quiz about famous quotations. You have to work out whether the author of the said quotations is from the Bible or Shakespeare. When I did it I scored 16, which I thought wasn’t too bad. See if you can beat me.

 

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/04/bible-or-bard/

 

Avoiding Stress

An interesting article on how to avoid stress in the workplace and life.

 

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/50-ways-to-de-stress-your-way-to-success/

 

I am sure our pupils who are ready to go off on exam leave will take heed.

 

The end of university lectures?

A warning from Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder on the future of online education.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22160988

 

What is your opinion? Do you agree or not?

 

Call Centre Staff Work Night Shift in New Zealand

This is an interesting article about a novel way to keep call centre support 24/7.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-22370334

 

 

Tuesday 30 April 2013

The end of Tablet PCs are near... according to Blackberry's CEO

Blackberry’s CEO Thorsten Heins, predicts that tablet PCs will soon be a thing of the past and will be taken over by smartphones.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/blackberry-ceo-tablets-will-be-dead-in-five-years/2013/04/30/dd3b6446-b18d-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_story.html?wprss=rss_social-postbusinessonly&Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

 

Personally I am unsure as smartphone screens are still too small and give many people (me included) eye strain. So personally, I think his argument may be flawed.

Monday 29 April 2013

Graphology

In Higher Business Management graphology is mentioned briefly as a selection method in Human Resources. While the UK and USA experts do not think it is a valid, France (and Poland for that matter) take it a bit more seriously.

 

Here is an article from the BBC here.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22198554

 

Also remember to look at the differences in Richard Nixon’s signature (I have put it on the blog before). One that was taken when he was newly elected, and later when he was under severe stress of the Watergate scandal. There is an incredible difference.

 

Saturday 20 April 2013

Business Facts

QANTAS is not a made up word designed to be unique because of no ‘U’ after ‘Q’ as is often said.

 

In fact it stands for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Service!

 

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Samsung behind bad reviews of HTC?

Websites that allow customers to review products and services are often criticised for allowing unfair or even fraudulent activity to appear. Trip Advisor has many counts of potential false reviews by hotel rivals. Now it seems that this dark practice has spread to the world of electronics.

 

Fair-trade officials in Taiwan are looking into reports that Samsung paid people to criticise rival HTC online. Samsung is alleged to have hired students to post negative comments about phones made by Taiwan's HTC.

 

Samsung, based in South Korea, said the "unfortunate incident" had gone against the company's "fundamental principles".

 

If found guilty of engaging in "false advertising", Samsung and its local agent could face fines of up to of 25m Taiwanese dollars (£547,000).

 

Read more here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22166606

 

Customer review based websites are excellent in my opinion. For example, I always look at Trip Advisor when looking to book hotels in a strange or foreign city. How do such websites prevent false or unfair reviews from appearing? At the same time we do have to allow criticism to appear. If every review had to be approved then all the firms would do is publish positive reviews and reject negative ones.

 

It has certainly changed consumer behaviour, so it is still a relatively new concept, but in my opinion a welcome one.

Tesco to pull out of the USA

Talking of strategic decisions in Higher Business Management, here is a real life one from Tesco – the UK’s largest supermarket.

 

Tesco's annual profits have fallen for the first time in almost 20 years, as it confirmed it was pulling out of the US.

 

Tesco is winding up its US chain of 199 Fresh & Easy shops, which have never made a profit, at a cost of £1.2bn. The company has also announced a one-off UK property write-down of £804m. Pre-tax profits were down 51% to £1.96bn, but post-tax profits including the cost of the US exit were just £120m, down 95.7%.

 

Tesco said sales at UK stores in the past three months, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, rose 0.5%, a slowdown from growth of 1.8% in the six weeks to 5 January when the company hailed strong Christmas trading.

 

Read more here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22179255

 

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Bad Idea: Pupil Pitches

So what products/ideas have the pupils come up with?

 

You can check it out here.

 

Here is Alice’s idea: http://www.bloomvc.com/project/The-Check-U-Later

 

And here is Louise’s idea: http://www.bloomvc.com/project/The-Ultimate-Phone-Accessory-Cover-It

 

Bad Idea

Two of our stellar S6 Higher Business Management pupils, Louise Christie and Alice Wilkinson, have reached the semi finals of the first ever Bad Idea competition held at Glasgow Caledonian University.

 

Pupils come up with an idea for a product and then have to deliver a 5 minute presentation to potential investors.

 

Hamilton Grammar School are very proud of our competitors and we wish them all the best and hopefully they will qualify for the final and be in the running for the £3,000 grand prize.

 

http://local.stv.tv/glasgow/magazine/221178-bad-idea-project-with-u18-helps-young-people-into-business/

 

Thursday 28 March 2013

New oil field discovered

A consortium of oil companies is to invest more than $500m (£330m) in an appraisal drilling programme which could lead to further development of a giant North Sea field. The BP-led consortium said drilling had already started on the first of five wells planned over the next two years at Clair, west of Shetland.

 

Up to 12 wells could be drilled, depending on initial results. The news came as the UK government unveiled a new oil and gas strategy.

 

BP's partners in the appraisal drilling programme are Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron. It is the latest in a series of announcements, aimed at transforming the Atlantic's role as an oil-producing region.

 

Clair is already known as a "monster" field, holding eight billion barrels of oil. Clair oil field was discovered 35 years ago, but production has only started in the last 8 years.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21955536

 

I have often wondered when the vast Oceans like the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans will be drilled for oil. They are so vast and huge that it is possible that we have only scratched the surface of Earth’s oil reserves. The technology may not be available yet or it is too expensive at present to drill.

 

Maybe we will get to see oil drillers like in James Cameron’s science-fiction movie The Abyss.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Why working at McDonald's might not be so bad after all

McDonald’s often gets a bad rep for the low pay and the working conditions of its employees. The dreaded term ‘McJob’ was defined based on the roles and duties that McDonald’s workers do. Long hours for low pay in a job with few career prospects. However, perhaps this is very harsh on the Golden Arches staff.

 

 

I found an interesting article entitled “5 life lessons learned by working at McDonald’s” which you can read below:

 

http://www.mnn.com/money/sustainable-business-practices/stories/5-life-lessons-learned-by-working-at-mcdonalds

 

Saturday 23 March 2013

High Street DVD Rental Store Blockbuster saved

DVD rental store Blockbusters video has been saved by Gordon Brothers and Deloitte, which will save 2,000 jobs across 264 stores. Blockbuster have been hit with similar problems that other high street chains such as HMV and Jessops have also had.

 

Blockbusters owed creditors a staggering £139 million, but now a deal has been reached.

 

Read more here:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9949948/Blockbuster-rescued-as-Gordon-Brothers-buys-rental-company.html

 

Friday 22 March 2013

Raspberry Life of Pi

Greg Holloway is using his Raspberry Pi for a novel use. He is using it to programme a robotic boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21848104

 

Monday 18 March 2013

Google's self driving car - potential issues

Here’s a great article on the problems Google are having with the cars that drive themselves:

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-self-driving-car-problems-2013-3

 

The iWatch

A video from Apple about the iWatch – the must have item of 2013… or 2014. Or 2015.

 

<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#ec=dxNjNlOTrGVNvDwRYIBUMtnjovW4JTus&pbid=6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>

Footage from The Deep

The BBC have an excellent video of life at the bottom of the deepest part of the Ocean, where James Cameron explored on his own, piloting Deepsea Challenger to the famous Marianas Trench.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17521115

 

Folding Cars

We’ve had the A-bike and folding bicycles. So what now? What is the latest in transport? Folding cars?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21805068

 

Higher Business Management Exam Technique

Here’s a thing. So you are given a question to describe the benefits of staff training.

 

The command word is Describe. Now if you just listed what is in the marking schemes then you will get a Family Fortunes noise (I don’t know how to spell that sound).

 

Eg Increased productivity

 

That is not good enough.

 

However if you use words such as “as”, “so”, “because” then you will deliver the goods.

 

So you could say one benefit of staff training would be increased productivity because employees will have updated skills, making them better at their job.

 

This is a worthwhile activity to do when you have the past paper books in front of you and it is all too easy to just give in and copy it out. You need to add something to answer the questions “Why?” and “How?” or my favourite “So what?”

National 5 Business Management

I will start posting materials, ideas etc on my new National 5 Business Management blog, which can be found here:

 

http://n5business.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Please feel free to share ideas, especially I want to know your thoughts on the assignment.

 

Also any good business stories or examples we can use in the classroom, would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thursday 14 March 2013

Oil in the Oceans?

The diplomatic row between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands has long interested me. I have always been sceptical that the real reason behind our interest is the potential for oil and gas deposits along the sea and ocean floors. Just think of the size of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. We haven’t scratched the surface of what could possibly exist down in the deep.

 

Now we can see the emergence of the new frontier in mining the oceans.

 

British firm,  UK Seabed Resources a subsidiary of Lockeheed Martin has joined the rush to exploit minerals in the depths of the oceans. It has plans for a major prospecting operation in the Pacific.

 

The company says surveys have revealed huge numbers of so-called nodules - small lumps of rock rich in valuable metals - lying on the ocean floor south of Hawaii and west of Mexico.

 

The exact value of these resources is impossible to calculate reliably, but a leading UN official described the scale of mineral deposits in the world's oceans as "staggering" with "several hundred years' worth of cobalt and nickel".

 

An expedition to assess the potential environmental impact of extracting the nodules will be launched this summer amid concerns that massive "vacuuming" operations to harvest the nodules might cause lasting damage to ecosystems.

 

Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21774447

 

 

Wednesday 13 March 2013

New passenger rights for EU fliers

New rights for airline passengers have been unveiled by the European Commission. They include rerouting travellers with rival carriers if a flight is delayed for more than 12 hours.

The rules also clarify what are considered exceptional circumstances for compensation. For example, mechanical failures on board the aircraft do not count, but natural disasters and traffic control strikes do.

The Commission says the new rules, which are not likely to become law until 2014, will give a lot more certainty to airlines and passengers.

Many view this new law change as a consequence of the Volcanic ash disruption in April 2010. What the impact will be on airlines if something similar happens in the near future is questionable. Many airlines are struggling as it is at present.

In the US two of the major airlines have merged to form the world’s biggest airline.

 

Tuesday 12 March 2013

NY Ban on large drinks blocked

A court has blocked a ban on the sale of large sugary drinks - including soda - from restaurants in New York City, a day before the law was to take effect. Judge Milton Tingling ruled that the measure was "arbitrary and capricious", after industry groups sued the city.

 

The law would forbid the sale of drinks larger than 16 ounces (473ml) in food-service establishments. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the judge was "totally in error" and has vowed to appeal against Monday's ruling.

 

He has touted the ban as a way to reduce obesity. Research suggests that 58% of adults in New York are obese or overweight.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21747568

 

Similar bans or even a so called ‘Fat Tax’ has been mooted in the UK. But would any such ban on large drinks or taxing them heavily actually stop consumption?

 

Look at schools. Many schools now offer healthy foods. However, some pupils end up eating outside the school at fast food takeaway shops. How to tackle the obesity problem is one facing developed nations without a proper satisfactory outcome. Many accuse the Governments of being the proprietors of a ‘Nanny State’ , while others say that overweight and unhealthy diets will increase the burden on the NHS.

 

Are young people lacking in IT skills?

A new report from the BBC:

 

A lack of computer skills could be damaging the career chances of young people, a charity has warned.

 

More than one in 10 young people do not think their computer skills are good enough to use in the job they want, the Prince's Trust said. The research follows a £500,000 donation by hip hop star will.i.am to the Trust last year.

 

His donation will be used on projects to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills.

 

"I was intimidated by science and advanced maths," said the music star, who donated his fee for appearing on BBC talent show The Voice.

 

"When I say, 'Hey kids, you guys should want to be scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians...' I say that because I too am going to school to learn computer science.

 

Is it the case that young adults have computer skills in using word, excel and the MS Office packages, but when it comes to IT skills can’t program and write software or indeed fix components of a machine? Just how practical are the courses we offer pupils?

 

Read the article in full here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21747206

 

I have often wondered why we don’t have a practical IT course for pupils who want to actually take apart machines and fix them rather than use software. And not everyone is keen on programming, but some are interested in getting their hands dirty with a PC.

 

Monday 11 March 2013

BBC Announce new Dragon

Cloud computing pioneer Piers Linney has been named as the new member of the Dragons' Den, replacing Theo Paphitis.

Mr Linney is the co-CEO of Outsourcery. Linney will join regulars Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden and another new Dragon, Kelly Hoppen.

In Dragons Den (a show which originated in Japan), venture capitalists leaders hear pitches from inventors and entrepreneurs before deciding whether or not to invest.

Some successes have included the iTeddy and some notable hits that escaped have been the Trunki and the Road Refresher (a non-spill dog bowl which President Obama even bought one!).

 

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Learning Rounds

Took part today in my second Learning Rounds activity at the school where we were joined by visitors from India. It was very informative.

 

For those interested here is the briefing paper we received thanks to our DHT Mrs McAuley, before our class observations:

 

Learning Rounds Briefing Paper
 
Observers

The key learners in Learning Rounds are the team of observers. Observers learn from the practice they observe, often finding their perceptions both validated and challenged. Above all observing combined with the group discussions which follow creates deeper understanding around the process of Learning and Teaching, especially on the learning experiences of pupils, and the process of effective change leadership. Members of the group are required to refrain from evaluative comment when involved in group discussion around the observed data.

 

Observed Colleagues

The Learning Rounds protocol means that there is no evaluation of the individual and the practice observed is described in non-evaluative language eg I saw… A composite set of descriptive data is drawn from the observations. Many observed colleagues have found the experience interesting and have become involved as observers in the next Learning Round.

Learning Rounds on the day

 

·       We meet at 8.45 am in the staffroom for coffee and muffins. This allows for a recap of the approach and review of the theme being observed.

·       We spend the morning in the allocated classes (20-25 mins) – the “ swap “ over times need to be adhered to allow for as comprehensive an overview as possible

·       Colleagues keep a record of what they see by whatever means suits them. There are no formal recording sheets ( memory, brief notes)

·       We will take a morning break in the staffroom. There should be no discussion at this stage of what has been observed

·       At the end of the schedule, mirror teams meet for 15 – 20 minutes in the allocated rooms for the initial post observation discussions, and to begin to agree their descriptive data.

·       The full team meet to exchange the evidence generated and agree a final consensus on what was seen using the descriptive voice.

·       At the end of the Learning Rounds,  the information generated by the Learning Rounds will be collated.

 

My group visited PLP, ICT, Art, English, Maths, RE, and Science. A rich spectrum of classes and a variety of really interesting and stimulating lessons.

 

I would recommend this experience to every teacher.

Business Quotes

"No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come."

 

 

Victor Hugo

 

Teleworking gone wrong?

Is Teleworking and Homeworking not the most efficient way of working after all?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21588760

 

Monday 25 February 2013

Expensive Oz

 

Ever thought of leaving the shores of the UK and immigrating to Australia or New Zealand? Well it seems that the dream of living Down Under is not as cheap as it once was.

 

In the following article it shows just how the cost of living has sky rocketed over the last 10 years. One key fact is that a decade ago Australia didn’t have one city in the Top 50 most expensive cities to live in. Now it has 3 in the Top 15!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21519050

 

Australia is often seen as a land of plenty. But many of her natural resources seem to be getting dug up and shipped to China. So will Australia eventually face the same manufacturing dilemma faced by other Developed nations?

 

And Australia, due to its unique geographical location, still sees a massive drain of talent, even if just in the short term as young Aussies head abroad for what they call the OE or Overseas Experience. Yet immigration has helped increase Australia’s population from a relatively small 14 million to nearly 23 million in less than 20 years.

 

So Australia as we know it is changing rapidly. But at what cost?

 

Worrying news for the Pound

Could the days of cheap Foreign Holidays be a thing of the past? The pound is heading towards a crisis.

 

Sterling has continued to weaken against the dollar and the euro on continued worries about the health of the UK economy. Against the dollar, sterling fell to a seven-month low, and against the euro it was nearing a 15-month low.

 

The falls came after Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale said that sterling may need to weaken further to bolster the UK economy. Currency speculators are also betting that sterling will fall, data shows.

 

Sterling fell 0.5% to $1.543, its lowest since 13 July, 2012. The euro was up 0.3% against sterling, making a euro worth 86.3 pence.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21496997

 

 

Friday 22 February 2013

Get Ready for PS4

Electronics giants Sony has announced its next-generation gaming console - the PlayStation 4 - at an event in New York. Its new hardware is designed to offer superior graphics as well as new social features including the sharing of recorded gameplay clips.

 

It will succeed the PlayStation 3, which went on sale in 2006 and has sold about 75 million units. This is down from 100 million units for PS1 and 150 million units that the PS2 sold. This was mainly down to increased competition from rivals.

 

Sony only revealed the new look controller.

 

 

The new PS4 will eventually compete against Microsoft's still-to-be-unveiled Xbox 360 successor and Nintendo's Wii U. Sony also confirmed a range of big-name software for the machine including Bungie's upcoming "shared-world shooter" Destiny, which will include exclusive content for the PS4.

 

SkyTeam main players post big losses

 

Air France-KLM, the Franco-Dutch airline, the major players in the SkyTeam Alliance, says it made a big loss in 2012 blaming sharply rising fuel costs and trouble with its cargo business.

 

Net losses increased 47% to 1.19bn euros (£1bn; $1.57bn), after a 471m-euro restructuring charge and a 890m-euro increase in its fuel bill. But operating losses fell to 300m euros, from 353m euros the year before.

 

Revenues rose 5.2% to 25.6bn euros, thanks in part to increased prices on its North Atlantic routes.

 

Debt fell from 6.51bn to 5.97bn euros after sell-offs and spending cuts - the company plans to reduce its net debt by 2bn euros by the end of 2014.

 

For more read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21544331

 

 

Wednesday 20 February 2013

BMW recall in progress

 

German carmaker BMW is recalling about 720,000 vehicles, mostly in North America, over potential electrical problems that may cause unexpected stalling.

 

The recall affects various versions of its 1-Series and 3-Series cars, as well as the Z4 sports car.

 

The firm is recalling some 505,000 cars in the US, 65,000 in Canada, 100,000 in Japan and 50,000 in South Africa.

 

BMW said the problem had caused one minor crash in Canada, but no injuries.

 

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Swiss Watches

Here is an interesting article in the Economist about Swiss Watches.

 

 

It throws up images of style, precision engineering and serious top quality craftsmanship. It also alludes to high price and high quality and what actually makes a Swiss Watch, a Swiss Watch?

 

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21571943-industry-ripe-shake-up-time-money

 

As might be expected the Chinese and Arab nations are buying their fair share of these expensive goods. Also there is a bit of a shock in that it turns out one firm dominates the market….

 

Thursday 14 February 2013

Heinz bought over by Buffet's group

US billionaire Warren Buffett is to buy food giant Heinz in a deal worth $28bn (£18bn).

 

 

Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company and private equity firm 3G will take over the food company, famous for its ketchup and baked beans.

 

In a statement, Heinz called the deal "historic", and the largest to date in the food industry. Shares in Heinz jumped nearly 20% in early trade in New York to trade at about $72.51.

 

The takeover has been approved by the company's board, but still needs to be voted on by shareholders.

 

"The Heinz brand is one of the most respected brands in the global food industry and this historic transaction provides tremendous value to Heinz shareholders," said Heinz chairman, president and chief executive William Johnson.

"We look forward to partnering with Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, both greatly respected investors, in what will be an exciting new chapter in the history of Heinz."

 

Read the full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21461779

 

Apple lose iPhone rights battle in Brazil

Brazilian regulators have ruled that Apple does not have exclusive rights to use the "iPhone" trademark in the country. Apple have already lodged an appeal against the decision with the Brazilian regulators.

 

The ruling is the result of a Brazilian firm, Gradiente Eletronica, who registered the iPhone name in 2000, six years before Apple. Apple can continue to sell iPhone-branded handsets in Brazil. It means Gradiente has an option of suing for exclusivity in South America's biggest market.

 

The ruling does mean that the US firm will still have the iPhone name elsewhere including on clothing, in software and across publications.

 

Read the full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21449890

 

 

Irn Bru merger to be investigated

AG Barr’s proposed merger with Britvic is to be investigated by the Competition Commission.

 

Read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21444787

 

The proposed new firm called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks plc would have annual sales of more than £1.5bn. AG Barr's product range also includes Tizer and Rubicon. Britvic’s products are Tango, Robinsons, J2O and they sell Pepsi brands under exclusive licence.

 

 

Followers

Visitors by City

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

Labels