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

Costa Loyalty Card Case Study

My untidy desk just reminded me of an excellent case study on Costa in this week's copy of Marketing Week (6th October 2011). Costa is an unusual example of a brand which is flourishing. Here are a few snippets :

1.Costa won the Brand of the Year Trophy this year (awarded by Marketing Week)
2.Costa set up a loyalty card last year and managed to get 6 million in ciculation very rapidly(bucking the trend of loyalty card fatigue)
3.The company claim a high uptake of loyalty card use ( 41% of all transactions)
4.The company is extending the loyalty card scheme internationally ( for example in the UAE)
5.Costa has 700 outlets outside the UK (including China, Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe)
6.The average age of the UK customer is 44 (28 overseas)
7.The younger customer abroad may be more influenced by advertising on Social Media (Facebook etc)
8.Other coffee chains such as Caffe Nero, Starbucks also operate in the UAE ( a good example of globalistion)
9.Variations for local markets include spicier snacks and haloumi panini
10.Costa's biggest rival, unsurprisingly, is Starbucks. Pub chain Wetherspoons has also successfully broken into the Coffee market.