L6 Business Studies Review Surveys

The Lower Sixth progress review surveys are up and running!  Please click the following links to access the survey.

For L6 Business Studies:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZHSPQDS

For L6 Economics:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZHZCY8V

For those students who do both subjects: please fill in one of each.

The most important thing is that you be honest when answering these!

Mr. Hughes

Business Studies 12D Half Term Work

Business Studies 12D: Half Term Work

Assignment: You are to make a handout on Breakeven which explains the following situations:

1. Increase in Price
2. Decrease in Price
3. Increase in VC per Unit
4. Decrease in VC per Unit
5. Increase in Fixed Costs
6. Decrease in Fixed Costs

Make Column Names:
Output    Price    Variable    Cost Per Unit      Fixed Cost     Variable Cost      Total Cost       Revenue

Formulas:

Variable Cost: “=C2*A2”

Total Cost: “=D2+E2”

Revenue: “=A2*B2”

 

You can then use these values to make a table.

Using this table, you can make breakeven graphs for your handout.

Due Date: Monday 31 October 2011

 

If you have any questions, email me.  I will be able to provide help, but not for people trying to get it done last minute.

 

Mr. Hughes

With rising inflation and sinking intrest rates is Britain entering another recession, businesses are finding it increasingly hard to borrow money from banks and money invested in banks gives little return. This along with government cuts and rising costs of the everyday essentials like food, petrol and heating prices shows that Britain could easily be on the steep slippery slope to a recession. There is still hope, with Christmas round the corner, as people will be spending more and the multiplier effect will kick in and the economy should pick up. But this might not be enough to prevent a reseccion so Britains businesses will have to cost minimise if they want to survive other wise many business will be finding them selves with liquidity problems due to the rise in costs and the lack of sales.
Hugo
http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2011/01/british_economy_0

China

Is China becoming the worlds next big economic country !!!! This article by the economist outlines the huge surge in Chinas economic power as it fights with Amarica to become the next big economic superpower.

http://www.economist.com/node/21528987

Student Blogger Challenge

It's official!  The first ten A2 students who post articles after this points will be awarded pings.  Here are the rules:

1) Articles must be relevant.  Your post must include a summary with a comment to explain why this article is interesting (see some previous articles for examples).
2) Maximum of two pings per person.
3) When you see my comment on the article, you will know that the ping has been counted and added to your tutor file.

Long live the MIGHTY PING!!!

-Mr. Hughes

In The Wake of Steve Jobs

STEVE Jobs and Apple might have taken centre stage not only in the last week or so, but also in the last few years and it appears that they have left other companies behind. However, Microsoft is still a really innovative, creative and forward thinking company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WB7P4jVktU
This is an example of a really interesting product that has the potential to over shadow any of Apple's recent developments. In fact this product, coupled with the new "Cloud" concept, could become integral parts of all our lives in the next ten years.

Apple may be the company of now, but I think if microsoft keep going with this product and this line of development we could see some truly amazing pieces of technology.

Only one problem, Bill Gates is not the inspirational figure head that Steve Jobs was and still is posthumously.

Jack

Steve Jobs Interactive Story and Photos

If you're looking for a great way to get an introduction to Mr. Job's life and career, check out this link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/interactive/2011/oct/06/steve-jobs-life-career-interactive

Be sure to click on the 'play audio' so you get the full story.

Steve Jobs in The Economist

This was the cover article from The Economist this week.  You may soon discover it is my favourite news publication.

I think this is the best commentary on his death that I have seen so far:

http://www.economist.com/node/21531529

From this article, the two passages I think have the most relevance are these:

"As a technologist, Mr Jobs was different because he was not an engineer—and that was his great strength. Instead he was obsessed with product design and aesthetics, and with making advanced technology simple to use."

This is so clearly true.  The more I look at Apple, the more I realise that its products are designed from the outside in, rather than engineers working from the inside out focusing on functionality rather than design.  This has strong links to Jack's article, where people were describing how he would often throw away their idea if it didn't have the right look.

And:

"The gap between Apple and other tech firms is now likely to narrow. This week’s announcement of a new iPhone by a management team led by Tim Cook, who replaced Mr Jobs as chief executive in August, was generally regarded as competent but uninspiring. Without Mr Jobs to sprinkle his star dust on the event, it felt like just another product launch from just another technology firm."

This just made me a bit sad.  I don't think that I'm one of thsoe over-sentimental Jobs mourners who would light a candle outside the nearest Apple store, but I know that I like their products and I think they are valuable.  Without Mr. Jobs, will there be such value?  Will the next thing the company comes out with be so inspiring?  Has it lost some of its magic?  It's impossible to say at this point, but I don't like to think about it becoming just "another technology firm."

Steve Jobs' micro-management and Apple's flat structure

THE world is still shocked by the death of Apple's figure head Steve Jobs and its no surprise that there has a been a media storm around the enigmatic man's life and death.
This is a link to an article from The Guardian, which has statements from people that worked in all parts of the world's most famous company, and shows that Jobs' management style could make a huge corporation into a flat structure. It also features a video that further highlights this, and other eye opening facts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/06/apple-insiders-remember-steve-jobs

Jack.

Manufacturing Decisions: Location Decisions for Dyson

James Dyson is an icon of British Industry.  The self-proclaimed "Inventor of cyclone vacuum technology" set up manufacturing in the UK after failing to get the big vacum manufacturers to buy teh patents for his inventions.  In retrospect, this wasn't such a bad thing.  Through the 1990s and early 2000s his product was the fastest-selling vacuum cleaner ever made in the UK.

In 2002 his company attracted controversy when it announced that its UK production facility in England woudl be closed down and moved to Malaysia.  This left 800 workers reduntant and attracted national attention, as shown in the next two news articles:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1805050.stm

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/3750364.Job_losses_shock_for_Dyson_staff/

We've seen that locating manufacturing abroad can be a disaster for certain industries, e.g. Doc Martens or the fictional HiSonic.  To what extent does it matter for a company like Dyson?  Why is his company different from these others?

Steve Jobs Retrospective

What I love about this video is how you can go through the technology and see how it's changed.  Even the first generation iPhone looks like a brick today.  Do we create the illusion for ourselves, or is there something there which is truly valuable?

Tributes Pour in for Steve Jobs

Wanna know what people are saying about it?  Check it out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046056/Steve-Jobs-dead-Tributes-Barack-Obama-Mark-Zuckerberg-Bill-Gates.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

How do Americans Do Their Shopping?

In U6 Business Studies on Friday we were talking about the differences between shopping in the UK and the USA and why Tesco is having such a hard time with their new venture, Fresh and Easy.

To get an idea of why Americans might not be used to shopping at their corner shop, check out this view from Google Street View:

http://maps.google.co.uk

That big box "Nordstrom" you see is a department store, similar to what you British folk would find in Debenhams.  But have a scroll around the street view, or look at it in map view.  You'll notice that Nordstrom is simply one branch of a much larger shopping complex, the Park Meadows Mall.  This is the largest shopping centre in the state of Colorado, and as you can see there is plenty of parking.  But don't worry about walking too far from your car to the food court- they even have a valet parking service!

For more info about Park Meadows check out the link:

http://www.parkmeadows.com/

So is it any small surprise that Tesco had a big challenge trying to open their corner shops?

The Hits and Misses of Steve Jobs

There will be a lot of testimonials going out to Steve Jobs this weekend given the news of his death on Thursday.  People will have lots of different reactions to it.  Personally I find it sad to think that a person who has done so much to change the world will not be around to leave his stamp on the future, and my heart goes out to his family and those who were close to him.

I will be using my spare time over the weekend to find out as much as I can about this man to see what it teaches me about how he has done business for the past 35 years, and I would encourage you to do the same.  For Upper and Lower Sixth, this is your homework for the weekend.

To kick-start things off, here is a nice little article that goes through some of his greatest success stories and failures:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/10/06/f-steve-jobs-misses-and-hits.html

Good luck finding things and I'll look forward to hearing all about it on Monday.

Mr. H

Upper Sixth Monitoring Questionnaire

Upper Sixth Students:  Please click the following link to access the U6 Business Studies questionnaire:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5K6GFC6