Climate Change Study

Climate change and/or global warming are regularly considered as Macro-External Environmental (-uncertainy) factors. This is a report by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, which acknowledges the need to go beyond mitigation strategies and to take into consideration adaptation and remediation (=direct air carbon capture, geo engineering).


Read the whole article at: http://www.imeche.org/NR/rdonlyres/77CDE5E4-CE41-4F2C-A706-A630569EE486/0/IMechE_MAG_Report.PDF

'Road trains' get ready to roll

Good example of how the evolution of a Technology (Macro External Environment) can influence an entire industry. It is also useful to note that this Technology was development by European Funds (Regulatory Macro External Environmental factor) due to Environmental and Socio-Cultural trends.

'Road trains' get ready to roll
Road trains that link vehicles together using wireless sensors could soon be on European roads.
An EU-financed research project is looking at inexpensive ways of getting vehicles to travel in a 'platoon' on Europe's motorways.
Each road train could include up to eight separate vehicles - cars, buses and trucks will be mixed in each one.

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8349923.stm

Climate rifts ahead of G20 talks

Several Macro External Environment factors are determined in these G20 meetings.

Climate rifts ahead of G20 talks

Disputes over climate change and stimulus spending have emerged ahead of a summit of G20 finance ministers.
Ministers of the 20 leading economies are meeting in St Andrews, Fife, to discuss the nascent global recovery and how to reduce carbon emissions.

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8347786.stm

Drug firms in $41bn giant merger

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the best examples on how market forces lead to consolidation and M&As.


Merck is to buy rival Schering-Plough in a $41.1bn (£29.4bn) deal, creating one of the world's biggest drug companies. The merger unites the makers of cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin at a time of falling sales.

Read the whole the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7932264.stm

Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"

Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"
Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:22am GMT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.
Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

Read the whole article at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKTRE51K0AV20090221

Virgin unveils next-gen broadband

Example of product development. The broadband market has reached its maturity with no new customers available; and hence Virgin has developed a product development strategy (think of Ansoff's matrix). Reading the article, it is interesting to note how the competition is based on different technologies (impact of macro environment) which have a completely different approach (modem etc). I guess pricing and reliability will determine the winners as switching costs remain low.

Virgin unveils next-gen broadband

Virgin Media has launched its new 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) domestic broadband service.
It doing so it will be the first UK ISP to roll out a next generation broadband service that runs far faster than most others available to UK web users.

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7776139.stm

Owner of Five 'eyes bid for C4'

Note how the environmental factors 'from a funding gap as advertising revenue falls' influence network level strategies. Good example of vertical integration.

Owner of Five 'eyes bid for C4'

RTL, the German firm which owns channel Five, is contemplating a takeover bid for Channel 4, a report suggests.
It has asked investment bank JP MorganChase to examine the prospect of the move, The Sunday Times reports.

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7782645.stm

Nissan profits slump on high yen

The impact of the exchange rate.

Nissan profits slump on high yen

Nissan has reported a 41% fall in half-year profits after it was hit by the high value of the yen and the "severe decline" in the US car market.
Japan's third-largest carmaker made a net profit of 126bn yen ($1.3bn; £803m) between April and September, down from 212bn yen a year earlier.

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7701398.stm

What is a recession?

After a talk with some of the students it seemed to me that recession is not clearly understood; that's why I am posting this link from BBC which is a quite easy to read text. I am sure that there are lot more scientific sources in the library.

Q&A: What is a recession?

The dreaded R-word - recession - is in the air as every day seems to bring more gloomy economic news.
Many commentators are now openly talking about the current slowdown turning into a recession.
But how do economists define a recession and when will we know if the UK is going through one?

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7495340.stm

Tougher climate target unveiled

That's an interesting announcement. In theory, tougher climate targets have significant effects on UK business; in practice though, this target is very long term, hence until this target is 'operationalised' with shorter term targets, the effects will be so visible.

It is also useful to note that the aviation and shipping emissions are not included. Could this be interpreted that these industries are not ready for such radical measures? Is this an opportunity for any companies?

Tougher climate target unveiled

The government has committed the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by middle of this century.
Climate change and energy secretary Ed Miliband said the current 60% target would be replaced by a higher goal.

Read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7673748.stm