BP's image ...

It can take a while to recover from major damage to a company's image as BP is currently discovering. The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico took place nearly two years ago now (April 2010)when 5 million barrels of oil leaked into the sea with huge ecological conseqeuences.

The case has only come to court this week however, and reporting of the proceedings is unlikely to enhance the company's reputation.

Manny websites about the disaster are politically motivated, and hardly unbiased. Some seem to have withdrawn comments where the company has threatened legal action. There are some good reports on the Newsbank database.

The State of the Economy

Facing a long train journey on Monday I bought a couple of newspapers ( I can usually manage the Daily Express Crossword, and complete about three clues from the Telegraph )

Look at the difference in the stories on the economy though ( both based on the same sets of government figures )The Express talks of modest growth ( falling inflation, rising house prices ) and the Daily Telegraph repeats a comment made when Labour left power that there was no money left.

The next Budget is on March 21st. Should be interesting to see how that gets reported in the UK Press.

Currency, Reliability, Authority and Purpose

Many of you will have heard Peter Godwin (above) talk about looking at the purpose of a newspaper or journal article.

I was reminded of his point this week when reading in the Daily Express about how successful Channel 5 has been lately. Channel 5 and the Daily Express are of course part of the same corporation ( Northern & Shell ) and they therefore constantly promote each other.

Here's an example from last week...

Channel 5 is football ratings hit
Express,Saturday, February 18, 2012
Author: Sarah Westcott

CHANNEL 5 scored a knockout this week after action-packed Europa League football pulled in record viewing figures .

A total of 8.2 million people tuned in to watch Manchester United defeat Ajax 2-0 in Amsterdam on Thursday.

The programme peaked at 4.62 million viewers during the 135-minute programme and held an average audience of 2.7 million, according to Channel 5 figures .

The peak audience beat that of ITV1's Porto versus Manchester City match later in the evening, which could muster only 4.57 million.

The Channel 5 game also helped it to claim a 9.91 per cent audience share of families.

Me in a Suit ( Made in Britain )

Well fancy that, with a family wedding coming up I've managed to squeeze into my suit. I last wore this to Chris Whitfield's wedding over 2 years ago. Chris is another of the academic liaison librarians here at Luton.

Even more surprises were in store when we found out that not only the suit but also Kathy's wedding outfit were made in the UK. In fact the dress which Kathy ordered online was made right here in Luton ( by Alexon Brands Limited ). It's hung up behind me in the photograph. Alexon - Eastex based in Guildford Street seems to be prospering quite nicely, and is one of the town's oldest firms.

Needing only a posh hat now we ended up in a shop which stoked boaters also made in Luton ( by the Olney Hat Company )Hardly suitable for a wedding though.

Who says UK manufacturing is dead !

Elsevier Profits Up

The Dutch publishing house Elsevier (nowadays Elsevier Reed) continues to prosper, and this week announced pre-tax profits up 9% ( despite the fact that sales of publications decreased during the same period )

Many academics at the University would like a subscription to the flagship Science Direct service. But as they say "pricing models" make this difficult, and we subscribe rather to individual journal titles at the moment.

Elsevier publishes highly prized journals such as New Scientist and the Lancet

The performance of the legal database Lexis-Nexis, much valued by our students, has given some cause for concern, and it was feared that this part of the company might be sold off. This has not happened however and chief executive Erik Engstrom is keen to keep all parts of the company together.

For details on the nature of Elsevier publications our Mediatel database may be of interest.

Made in Britain ( my trainers )

Imagine my surprise when I realised that my new running shoes ( New Balance ) had been made in the UK. Unusually enough the label on the which announced this was in French. Nonetheless perhaps this is what Chancellor George Osborne meant when speaking about the march of the makers in last years budget.

Could be a good example of UK Manufacturing for those studying this topic.

Clouds gather over BAE

One of the companies studied by Business Management students BAE Systems ( British Aerospace ) announces it's financial figures this Thursday. News is not expected to be good. With American withdrawal from Iraq and the delay in a Saudi deal for the Eurofighter profits are expected to fall by 10 %.

Further bad news ....the predicted closure of a Portsmouth shipyard, and rivalry from a French Company (Dassault) in manufacture of fighter planes for India

For these, and other reliable news about the company use our Newsbank database.

Prospering in a Recession

For those business students working on industries which are prospering despite the recession brewing might be worth looking at. As well as the continuing good fortunes of Wetherspoons Marstons pre-tax profits are up 9.4 % with solid performances in directly run and rented-out pubs.

Pubs and brewers employ 1 million people in the UK and Marstons are still opening ne pubs. The emphasis is on those premises large enough for kitchens. An average customer spends £6 on food.



Johnson, A. (2012) Pubs boss Ralph has the right pedigree Daily Express 11th February p.79

Olympic Legacy

Some statistics on the economic effect of the games (Business Management Students did a project on this recently)

Games (from 27th July to 12th August)......expected to raise £5.1 bn for UK
Consumer spending during that period.......£750 m
53 companies acting as corporate sponsors (of differing degrees)

Too early to judge the economic effect in full yet of course. Plenty of evidence available on Business Source Premier database to demonstrate previous effects on host cities / nations.






MacInnes, D.(2012)Olympics by numbers, Independent [i version] 29th January, p.49