BRIC Nations lost in the MIST

The acronym BRIC nations has been around since  about 2001 to refer to the world's fastest growing economies :

• Brazil
• Russia
• India
• China

If you are looking at the success of these nations there are valuable Marketline ( Datamonitor ) Reports on each available through the library catalogue.

The growth of an  middle class in each of the four seems to be a key to growth, and has impacted for example on the appetite for luxury goods.

More recently the MIST nations have also been talked about in terms of economic growth too. Although I personally find these harder to remember. They are :

• Mexico
• Indonesia
• South Korea
• Turkey

Luxury Goods in India

One of the recent AMP Questions concerns the appetite for luxury goods in India.

Using Advanced Search on DISCOVER it is fairly easy to obtain a potentially useful set of results.

Luxury goods industry is Subject Term, so use the drop down box to select this, and the next box to choose India

You should now have around 300 results to choose from. The top one on my list is a short, but interesting survey of India's most popular luxury brands. Desire for these has been increased by the "youthquake" in India, and building of new shopping malls.

The Rolex pictured looks just like mine. Not really....

Online Shopping not the only way....

According to a number of different news stories published recently, online shopping has not entirely taken over the retail market.

The furniture chain Oak Furniture Land began life as an online presence but recently opened a huge store so that customers can lie down on their beds.

Might we ever see the return of High Street bookshops like this one in Luton ( now the 99p store ) ?

For further stories on this topic try a search on our Newsbank database for "showrooming"

Bad Weather - Good for business

Easyjet recent encouraging financial results ( end of July 12 ) have been attributed partly to wet English summer ( admittedly the weather has improved lately )

Other factors include the weak state of the Euro, cheap prices ( as ever ), and decreased airport delays.

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall recently announced this good news about the Luton based carrier. For more stories relating to this, and the budget air market in general, check out this name on Newsbank

Recession on the High Street...a new government strategy

12 UK towns have recently been awarded £100k to help revive their ailing town centres.

These so called Portas Pilots include Wolverhampton as well as smaller towns such as Lizkeard (Cornwall) and Market Rasen (Lincolnshire)

Luton ( pictured left ) , Dunstable and Bedford have not made the list.
It will be interesting to see what initiatives are suggested and whether these towns can overcome the threats of :

• internet shopping
• penniless customers 
• successful out of town centres 

Radio 4 recently featured the plight of Dunstable's Quadrant Shopping Centre. The Council are anxious to buy the site but cannot afford the price demanded by the owners ( Southend Property Holdings ) who feel that they are sitting on a goldmine.

Mixed news for BAE Systems

One of the companies studied by business management students is BAE Systems. There has recently been mixed news for this company.

On one hand the US Air Force has recently purchased a contract to supply 350 training planes.

It is thought that these will be the Hawk jets pictured left.

Worse news if you are employed in a shipyard however. Govan and the historic shipyards of Portsmouth still face closure.

For further reliable and impartial news on the company I recommend our Newsbank and Marketline databases

Latest Financial Results...

Financial performance doesn't just depend on sales. Wetherspoons, which announces it's financial position this week grapples with  a huge tax increase of 50 million pounds.

If you are looking at a PEST analysis of a company this might count as a political factor.

Wetherspoons recently attacked cost pressures from government legislation , including increases in excise duty, business rates and carbon tax.

Their total tax bill in the current financial year will be around 500 million.

(Daily Express, Monday July 9th, p.47)