Entrepreneurs

...mix land, labour and capital with their enterprise to create businesses - meaning employment, jobs and wealth, hopefully!

In New York, entrepreneurs are being encouraged to try to build up the economy after the credit crunch. Video here!

Orange and T-Mobile to merge?

The two companies (really France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom) look set to merge, hoping to benefit from economies of scale so they can compete with Vodafone and O2 more effectively.

However, they may have to deal with the Competition Commission if the commission considers this to create a monopoly.

An appraisal

Winners and losers in the credit crunch

Co-operative John Lewis gives staff a 13% bonus, whilst British Telecom freezes staff pay... wonder what the latter will do for their motivation? Toyota have also cut both working hours and pay as the credit crunch continues to bite.

So what really motivates workers? If you worked for BT, would fringe benefits or non-financial rewards keep you there in a pay freeze? Or can BT rely on their staff's worries about finding them another job to avoid the problems of high staff turnover? Or is it just that they are in such dire straits that they have no choice?

Landrover gets government grant...

Land Rover is to receive £27 million to develop a new vehicle - story here.

It could mean job security for employees at their Halewood plant.

Meanwhile, the government is putting together another £2.3 BILLION of funding for the car industry...

Tesco Promise Price War on Easter Eggs

Tesco have announced a price war! Click here to read more

VAT cut fails to help small business

This article from the BBC is quite interesting. It shows that in a recent poll The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) found 97% of firms questioned said the cut had made "no impact at all".

Latest Video News Update!

British Airways hit by soaring costs...

...says the Independent.

Losses of £70 million in 9 months as costs soar to a whopping £7 billion....

Last year they made a profit of £816 million so that's a big change as the credit crunch hits home.

AS Students - any ideas how they can reduce costs? Have a read of the article and see what they're proposing!

Need to Know Business?

The Times website has a fantastic resource available to help you keep up to date with what is happening in the business world! The page includes a daily video, interactive map showing the hottest topics and includes top stories. Highly recommended! You can view the site here.

Guest Speaker!

Remember - on the 10th February at 3.00pm we have a guest speaker coming to talk to all Business Studies students about international marketing! The talk will be in the theatre so make sure you are there in plenty of time to get a seat. Speak to tutors in advance and remember paper and pens to make notes. Should be a really helpful session...

Wildcat Strikes

Read this article from the Guardian regarding the current strikes in the UK.

Honda factory shuts for 4 months

The story appears here.

Meanwhile, Toyota looks set to make its first net loss in 46 years.

Troubled times for the car industry...

Retail Sales Set to Fall

Check out this article which shows the current projections for retail sales in January.

Dragons Den