BizResearch

How to construct a killer resume from start to finish

                                                        

I like this short practical adivice on creating your resume (or CV) with handy tips and suggestions.

It comes from a personal finance blog: The Simple Dollar.

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VALUE OF PFI DEALS FALLS 2008

  PFI in the UK & PPP in Europe 2009

IFSL’s 2009 edition of PFI in the UK & PPP in Europe noted that the 34 signed PFI projects in 2008 represented the lowest number since 1995, and just over half the 60 a year between 2005 and 2007. The larger average deal size in 2008, however, meant that the total value of projects in 2008 was £6.5bn, only 11% down on £7.3bn in 2007. The PPP market elsewhere in Europe has developed steadily in recent years, although the €5.0bn value of 22 signed contracts in 2008 was down on €7.4bn in each of the two previous years and the high of €8.9bn in 2005.

Read the report.

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Will plant fuels fly?

Even though commercial aviation contributes a small percentage of total man-made global carbon dioxide emissions, the industry continues to be a target for environmental campaigners and politicians. Cutting carbon emissions is a growing priority for the industry.  In this article, Paul Steele, the environment director for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) discusses the potential role of biofuels for the aviation industry.

Last year the industry produced some 670 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, accounting for around 2% of the global manmade total of more than 34 billion tonnes. In 2007, IATA produced a strategy for dealing with aviation’s climate change impacts which included: investing in technology; flying planes better; building and operating efficient infrastructure; and positive economic arrangements such as tax credits and funding of research and development.

Second or new generation biofuels offer one of the greatest opportunities and an enormous amount of effort is being put into this. IATA has set a target of 10% of global aviation fuel to be derived from alternative fuels by 2017. However, requirements for jet fuel are stringent; a high-energy content is required and it must not freeze at low temperatures. First generation biofuels, derived from crops such as colza, corn, soybeans and sunflower seeds, do not meet these criteria. These fuels also compete with food crops for agricultural land and water and are inefficient and non-sustainable sources of energy. At worst they can lead to food shortages, deforestation and rising food prices. The aviation industry is therefore looking at second-generation biofuels from sustainable non-crop sources. These include algae, halophytes, babassu, switchgrass jatropha and camelina. They are far more efficient because they use new biomass-to-fuel-conversion technology. Aviation biofuels can even be created from waste products such as coffee grounds and forest residues. Click here to read the full article

This article is form the March issue of The world today, a monthly online magazine produced by Chatham House (free access to current issues only)

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Drawing on experience –older women workers in Europe

Increased life expectancy and a falling birth rate across Europe are presenting growing challenges to both the workplace and society as a whole. This report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) looks at the situation of older women workers in Europe.  Employment rates for women remain substantially below those for men in most of the EU Member States, despite the continuing reduction in the disparity between male and female employment rates. Data from recent Eurofound and Eurostat publications show considerable differences remain in relation to work. While it is true that women have caught up in terms of educational qualifications and have increased their employment rate, family responsibilities are still the main reason for women’s above average inactivity rate. Moreover, a gender-based entrepreneurial gap remains and women remain underrepresented in labour market policy interventions.
 
Key findings from the report:

• Older women workers represent an increasing proportion of the workforce in the European Union, especially in the 55–64 years age group. Employment rates for older women workers have been increasing in Europe.
  
  
• Older women workers tend to work part time and a higher proportion are on temporary contracts; women aged 55 years and over are much more likely to be working on insecure contracts than men of the same age.
  
  
• The gender pay gap still exists for both older and younger women workers.
  
  
• Women are still concentrated in certain occupational groups, such as care workers, clerical workers and service and sales workers.
  
  
• The likelihood of a woman being a boss is highest in the 55+ age group.
  
  
• Older women are more likely than men to play a dual role of both working and caring, if there are care responsibilities in the family.
  
  
• Only a small proportion of companies pay specific attention to gender and there is little evidence that gender considerations have become more prominent over time. However, with the rise in the employment rate of older women workers, some companies have introduced specific policies to improve the working life of their older women workers and increase their level of recruitment.
  
  
• Women are still retiring earlier than their male colleagues. But this situation may change in coming years with the growing need to keep older people longer in the workforce.

Click here to read the full report

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Development Co-operation Report 2009

The OECD's annual Development co-operation report provides key statistics and analysis on the latest trends in international aid. It shows how much aid donor country governments are giving, and to whom. How much goes to the poorest countries? How much goes to multilateral organisations like the United Nations? Which sectors get the most aid: economic infrastructure or social programmes? These statistics show that in 2007, OECD DAC members disbursed USD 103.5 billion, representing a drop from 0.31% of their combined gross national income in 2006 to 0.28% in 2007, or a fall of 8.5% in real terms.

The report argues that fragmentation is a serious obstacle to making aid more effective. Essentially this means that aid coming in too many small slices from too many donors is creating unnecessary and wasteful administrative costs and making it difficult to target aid where it is needed most.  The results of the survey show that aid is often spread thin: in total, 15 of the DAC members that replied to the survey have an aid concentration of less than 50%. This means that a large part of their assistance is distributed among a relatively high number of developing countries. The picture is even clearer when seen from the perspective of developing countries, which often have many donors giving relatively small amounts of money. Viet Nam, for instance, has 29 major donors, 17 of which account for just 10% of the aid it receives.

The report concludes that to make aid more efficient, donors need to rationalise and divide up their efforts. Better division of labour can help to concentrate the number of donors working in a specific developing country or sector, such as health or education, lowering transaction costs and facilitating co-ordinated efforts. It can also help to ensure adequate coverage of all developing countries, not just donor “favourites”. The Accra Forum saw extensive discussion of how effective division of labour can best be achieved, while ensuring that it does not lead to falls in overall assistance to any one country.

The full report is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from the SourceOECD database on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

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Japan's 40 Richest

Forbes magazine have just published their latest rich list covering Japan’s 40 richest. This year retail tycoon Tadashi Yanai, whose discount clothing chain Uniqlo has added $1.4 billion to his wealth to elevate him to the No. 1 spot from No.6 in last year's ranking. He is now worth $6.1 billion, becoming the fifth person in as many years to take the top spot. Japan's 40 Richest are now worth a combined $69.5 billion, down from $89.9 billion in May, when Forbes published the 2008 rankings. Even the soaring yen, which recently hit a 13-year high against the US dollar, couldn't pull up these dollar-based fortunes.

Twenty-eight of the 40 richest lost money, including everyone in the top 10, excluding Tadashi Yanai. Nintendo's  Hiroshi Yamauchi, whose net worth fell by $3.3 billion, slipped from first to third place. Kazuo Okada, who founded pachiko and slots company Aruze, and Yasumitsu Shigeta, who runs telecom provider Hikari Tsushin, have both lost half their fortunes since our last rankings. Another 13 list members declined 25% or more.  The year's richest newcomer is Internet entrepreneur Yoshikazu Tanaka. He debuted his social networking site Gree on Mothers Market for small high-growth stocks in December. The stock is trading at two-thirds above the listing price, with a higher market cap than rival Mixi, run by Kenji Kasahara, who just makes the ranking at No. 40 with a net worth of $480 million. Also joining the list are the Tada brothers, who share a stake in discount drug chain Sundrug, and Hirokazu Sugiura, founder of Sugi Pharmacy

Unlike other the Forbes billionaires' rankings, which highlight individual fortunes, Japan's top 40 includes numerous family fortunes. The list was compiled using shareholder and financial information obtained from the families and individuals themselves, stock exchanges and analysts. Stock prices and exchange rates were locked in on Feb. 6. Private companies were valued based on comparison with prevailing price-to-earnings or other financial ratios.

The full list is available from the Forbes website

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Global private equity report 2008

The world has changed for private equity. Out is the virtuous circle of low interest rates, steady economic growth, easy leverage and rising portfolio company valuations. Instead, tough economic times are beginning and capital markets are having a crisis of confidence.  The 2008 global private equity report from PricewaterhouseCoopers highlights the challenges private equity firms are currently facing. Based on conversations with leading industry players, this report highlights some of the challenges and opportunities shaping private equity’s future; ranging from issues that all agree are fundamental, such as how to create sustainable value, through to those that many private equity houses have yet to take seriously, in particular sustainability.

The topics covered in the report include:

• Creating sustainable value
• Accessing emerging market growth
• Building the business model
• Appreciating the business case for responsibility
• Reporting fair value
• Addressing tax in a wider world

The report also includes data from PricewaterhouseCoopers’ most recent survey of private equity, confirming the rise of the emerging markets as a destination for private equity investment. It also illustrates the generally buoyant level of private equity activity globally, as at the end of 2007. Demonstrating the rapid growth of private equity investment in emerging markets, eight out of the ten fastest growing countries for private equity investment in the ten years to end 2007 were either from the Asia Pacific or Africa.  In 2007, India ranked third in terms of funds invested with US$17.5 billion invested, representing a growth of 136% over the previous year. China ranked third, with US$10.62 billion invested, although the year-on-year expansion here was only 3%. In Asia Pacific as a whole, private equity investment rose by 36% to US$86.3 billion in 2007, which was equivalent to 0.68% of GDP – almost as high as in North America, the home of private equity.

The full report is available from the PricewaterhouseCoopers website (pre-registration is required)

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Brand management: then and now

In this article from Tim Ambler, Senior Fellow in Marketing at London Business School, discusses the future of marketing. As the word 'marketing' will mean different things to different people, the focus of this article is on brand management.

He argues that brand managers have always included some of the most talented people in business and, although complexity and the need for accountability are not going to decrease, the industry will find ways to cope. New technology will be a major part of the solution. Clearly the internet will play an increasingly important role for brands providing new opportunities for consumer-to-consumer communication. There is also the possibility that a common business language may emerge between marketers and non-marketers. However, marketers also need to ensure they respect continuity rather than chasing fashionable metrics. Establishing a brand dashboard will be one key way of achieving this, while also having access to a key range of metrics.

This article from Market Leader (Qtr 1, Jan 2009) is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from the WARC database located on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

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The impact of the credit crunch on European retail

This latest market research report from Verdict accesses the impact of the credit crunch on European retail. The report paints a bleak picture for the year ahead, suggesting that the aftermath of this severe financial crisis will stay with us for quite some time to come – at least until end 2010, but probably longer. Most consumers in the EU have reached the peak of private indebtedness, as unemployment rates are rising, consumer confidence is dipping and consumer credit becomes increasingly hard to get hold of. This will impact and hurt the housing market, stock exchanges and retailing. Already the effects of the credit crunch are becoming visible in the GDP performance of the leading Top 10 countries in the EU. CEE economies will also be severely impacted by the after-effects of the credit crunch, and many of the gains made in recent years in terms of employment, rising standards of living and increased stability will be reversed for the time being. Much foreign direct investment will be steered away from the region, currencies will come under pressure and demand from the US and Western Europe for Polish and other eastern European export products will be much reduced.

Verdict predicts that trading will continue to deteriorate further in the year ahead as the recession and mass redundancies continue to erode consumer confidence. Consumers will become increasingly cautious about spending and will think twice about where and on what they spend their money. In such an environment, retailers who focus on lower prices and better value products are likely to prosper. The effect of a slumping housing market will also knock consumer confidence and expenditure. Verdict urges retailers that are still looking at expansion opportunities to wait for real estate prices to fall.  They also suggest that retailers that are financially sound, should also exploit weak currencies if possible for sourcing as well as expansion. Indeed volatile currency fluctuations could become one of the most important things to watch going forward and as a result hedging will move into even sharper focus. Moreover domestically all retailers should look at ramping up and improving their private label offer and focus on value.

The Verdict report is available to current London Business School staff, students and  faculty from the Business Insights database located on the A-Z list of library databases in Portal.

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2008 UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook

  The Statistical Yearbook is a rich source of industry data and analysis, drawn from a range of reputable suppliers and detailing the full value chain for film.

• Covers: UK successes in academy and festival awards around the world
• The embryonic market for film on video-on-demand in the UK;
• Public investment in film in the UK
• The UK film economy including the latest Annual Business Inquiry data on the sector's turnover and value added.

Read the report

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Renewables Deals 2008 Annual Review

 

This recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers: 'examines the rationale behind the overall trends and the key individual deals.'  It also highlights, 'in a series of deal dialogues throughout the report, some of the critical issues for companies engaging in deal activity within the sector, drawing on our global experience as an adviser to players in major deals in renewable energy markets'.

Read the report

2008 worst year for hedge funds since records began

2008 worst year for hedge funds since records began

2008 was the worst year for hedge fund performance since data onalternative investment pools began to be tracked, with average returns of -17.08% across asset classes for the past year, a new report has revealed.

In the report, Hedge Fund Performance in 2008, the France-based Edhec Business School highlighted how widespread poor performance was across asset classes last year, with only two strategies posting positive returns.

Particularly hard hit were emerging markets and convertible arbitrage strategies, which saw their returns performance sink to -30.3% and -26.48% respectively. Fund of funds returns, which the report notes is "sometimes taken to give an aggregate view of the industry's performance" were down at -17.08%, the worst returns since Edhec first began to collate data in 1997. In contrast, fund of funds returns in 2006 and 2007 were 11.25% and 10.07% respectively."

This report was highlighted in the latest issue of RISK which is available in Portal (A-Z of databses) to the London Business School Community.

Read the report from  EDHEC

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Changing Relationships at Work

In the 21st century it is not just human capital that matters to successful organisations but also social capital: building and sustaining strong personal and professional networks. This report from the Work Foundation demonstrates the importance of workplace relationships to job satisfaction and highlights the role that technologies can play in creating and maintaining these links. It also demonstrates that social media is playing a real and surprising role in complementing traditional methods of communication to help people develop and retain their contacts at work.

Highlights from the report include:

When social capital is high, job satisfaction is high too: so being satisfied with your relationships at work makes it much more likely that you will also be satisfied with your job

Nearly half of respondents (45%) have access to and use one or more forms of new technology a day at work, where ‘new technologies’ include instant messaging, wikis, professional networking, social networking, the virtual world, blogs and integrated voicemail/email (‘unified communications’).

The least widespread technologies at work are Virtual World Technologies (used by 3% of respondents), Miniblogs (4%), Social Networking (13%), Blogs (13%) and Wikis (18%).

When people are asked to describe the organisational culture they prefer 60% of respondents said they would prefer an organisation characterised by a culture of loyalty and mutual trust. Although organisations seem to structure themselves with formal processes to ensure smooth running of the organisation, it is working relationships that really keep people going.

The full report is available from the Work Foundation website

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Access to Islamic Hedge Funds: - November 2008

CONTENTS

4–5 Introduction to Shariah
The tremendous growth of Islamic finance has generated innovative investment products. As the Islamic marketplace grows in sophistication, investors are beginning to expect more than the traditional returns offered by real estate and commodity funds. Hedge funds could be the answer.

6-7 Challenges to setting up
Running a Shariah hedge fund is a daunting task. Many issues, particularly ensuring the underlying stocks traded are all compliant, has scuppered attempts in the past. The Al Safi platform thinks it may have the answers that will be able to provide ethical Islamic investors with an acceptable product.

8–9 Al Safi Trust Platform
Scepticism among some Islamic scholars about how to make hedge funds mainstream in the Islamic investment community has challenged attempts to set up Shariah compliant funds. The question now is whether the Al Safi Trust Platform has addressed those concerns and found a workable solution.

10–12 Success of Al Safi
Islamic scholars have long disagreed about the merits of hedge fund investments. Nevertheless ethical Islamic investors are keen to tap into the high returns offered by hedge funds. One of the main stumbling blocks has been shorting. The short arboon sale may be an acceptable alternative to both scholars and investors.

13-14 DMCC profile
A strategic initiative of the Dubai government created the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre. Now DMCC is playing an active role in seeding the first five hedge funds on the Al Safi Trust Platform.

15–16 Fund administration
With the addition of several new players to the fund administration scene, the BVI is developing an industry capable of catering for all types of hedge funds — from start up to multi-billion dollar structures.

15 Access to Al Safi for investors
There is growing demand in the Middle East for access to Shariah compliant alternative investments like hedge funds.

16 Access to Al Safi for hedge funds
Hedge fund managers are keen to tap into Middle Eastern investors, particularly as sources of new cash is squeezed by the financial downturn. Putting a fund on the Al Safi platform could be a solution.

17 Why hedge funds?
While hedge funds were originally attractive only to high net worth individuals and family offices, institutional investors are now eager to take advantage of the higher returns largely uncorrelated to markets offered by these alternative investments.

Click here to download the pdf

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Food Futures: Rethinking UK Strategy

According to a report published by Chatham House, the global food system will come under renewed pressure from the combined effects of seven fundamental factors: population growth, the nutrition transition, energy, land, water, labour and climate change. The combined effects will create constraints on food supply presenting a very real threat for demand growth to outstrip increases in global food production.

This report argues that action is needed now if our future food supply needs are to be met. The environmental impacts of modern agriculture and of the wider food chain can no longer be ignored. It will also be important to establish a clearer description of a sustainable diet and to develop communication and education strategies to engage the public on key food issues. The UK will continue to rely heavily on the EU for its food supplies and as a market for its food exports. Many of the mechanisms to deliver the transformation lie at this level. UK isolation is not an option and the UK will need to work closely with the EU to develop the right policy frameworks.

The report is based on the findings of a two-year programme of research designed to evaluate the effects on the UK’s food supply of changes in the global dynamic. Focused on the UK’s wheat and dairy supply systems, the study’s aim has been to deliver an assessment of the UK’s capacity to respond to the new challenges. An important aspect of the project has been the development and use of scenarios to identify significant indicators of the future. The project’s scenario development process began with 45 research interviews conducted with food supply industry participants and stakeholders throughout 2007. They were used to collect participants’ perceptions of key food supply issues and future prospects for the UK’s wheat and dairy industries. The results were taken as the starting point for constructing a set of descriptions of possible ‘future situations’. These ideas and concerns were then complemented by desk research to identify key drivers shaping the present and emerging situation.

The full report can be downloaded from the Chatham House website

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Top 10 Food and Drinks Companies

This report from Business Insights profiles the leading players in the global food and drink industry (covering the production, distribution and sales of food products and beverages). The report analyzes company developments in light of industry size and structure, innovation and new product development (NPD), growth strategies and the competitive landscape in order to distinguish industry trends as well as its major players. As well as presenting the profiles of the top 10 leading companies, the report also includes a brief summary of those companies just outside of the top ten.

Highlights from the report:

The global food and drinks market recorded sales of $3,498bn in 2007, up 3.1% over 2006. It has been forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% during 2007–10 to reach $3,843bn by 2010.

The food and drinks industry is highly fragmented, with the top 10 companies together representing about 12.9% of the global market share, based on 2007 sales.

Rising consumption of food and drinks in emerging countries, elevated fuel prices, and climate change have contributed to the rise in raw material prices, which will adversely impact the operating margins of the food and drinks companies.

Increasing consumer awareness of health and environmental issues, along with an increasing resistance towards genetically modified (GM) food products and GM farming, have led to the rapid increase in demand for organic food. The annual growth rate of organic food is expected to continue at 15% to 20%, compared to a less than 1% growth rate for conventional food products.

Rising concerns over safety of Chinese food products has led its government to draft a five year food safety plan to place new controls on food and drug imports and exports.

This report is available to current London Business School students, faculty and staff from the Business Insights database, located on the A-Z list of library databases in Portal.

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Global Megatrends 2009

The world economy is experiencing a financial crisis bringing with it uncertainty about the future.  An aging population and the different demands of the younger generation (Gen Y) are challenging the workforce model that has existed for decades. Technology continues to alter how we communicate and act and climate change concerns challenge how businesses operate. This report from Ernst & Young presents some of the most significant trends in today’s in the marketplace that are likely to play out in the medium to long term. It offers a snapshot of the main themes and concepts within each trend in order to raise questions and spark new ideas. The megatrends include:

The shift of power from West to East: discusses how growth has moved from developed to emerging countries, how commodities and the advent of a new middle class are accelerating this move, and how emerging market multinationals are likely to become global champions in many industries.

The changing financial landscape: looks at the rise of the new power brokers (sovereign wealth funds, PE, hedge funds etc.) and how the financial crisis will impact their trajectory, as well as discussing how banking is being transformed and how governments are taking a more active role in financial markets.

Globalisation of the regulatory environment: discusses two key trends in regulation: 1) the move toward greater regulation and 2) the move toward more globally consistent regulation

Energy and commodities: looks at the scarcity challenge, the impact of uncertainty in oil price, the rise of cleantech and the drive toward greater energy efficiency.

The corporate agenda: considers the increasing environmental, social and ethical expectations on businesses and the associated opportunities and risks.

Technological innovation: how will technology developments continue to drive change for businesses and consumers and how will the next wave of digital technology takes this even further.

Managing and developing talent: discusses the difficulties in attracting, managing and developing a global workforce — a challenge compounded by changing demographics, the different demands of Gen Y and increasing diversity

The full report can be downloaded from the Ernst & Young website

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PricewaterhouseCoopers 12th Annual Global CEO Survey

The 12th Annual Global CEO Survey shows how the financial crisis has shattered short-term confidence. The percentage of CEOs who were ‘very confident’ about their one-year revenue growth prospects dropped to 21%, the lowest level in six years.  For this years survey 1,124 interviews were conducted with CEOs in 50 countries during the last quarter of 2008. By regions, 500 interviews were conducted in Europe, 276 in Asia Pacific, 168 in Latin America, 138 in North America and 42 in the Middle East and Africa. The majority of interviews were conducted by telephone. Main findings from the report:

Nearly 70% of CEOs believe their companies will be affected by the credit crisis. Of those, nearly 80% say that they face higher financing costs, and nearly 70% say that they will delay planned investments as a result. Companies in the banking, utilities, construction, entertainment and automotive sectors are most likely to be affected. Only 15% of CEOs in North America and 15% in Western Europe express confidence about their growth prospects for the next 12 months. This compares with 21% in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, 31% in Asia Pacific, and 21% in Latin America. Most CEOs around the world are planning for a slow recovery.

In terms of energy and environmental issues, more than 80% of CEOs are taking steps to reduce energy costs by finding efficiencies in their operations, and more than half are seeking alternative sources of energy. Sixty-one percent of CEOs say that the dependence on carbon-based energy will have an impact on the long-term success of their businesses. Fifty-six percent say the same about climate change, 55% about overpopulation, and 50% about a scarcity of fresh water.  

The full report and supplements to the survey can be downloaded from the PricewaterhouseCoopers website.

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Digital Britain - The Interim Report

The Communications sector is one of the three largest sectors in the UK economy alongside energy and financial services, accounting for around 8% of GDP. It has been one of the fastest growing successes of the past decade. Take up of first generation broadband has grown faster than that of almost all the other major economies. Britain has the highest proportion of internet advertising of any developed economy. By 2012 £1 in every £5 of all new commerce in this country will be online.  More importantly, the digital economy underpins our whole economy and builds our national competitiveness. Our readiness to adopt digital technology has driven productivity gains throughout our wider economy. Over the last ten years the UK has been consistently closing its historic productivity gap with the other leading European economies, based largely on our take-up and adoption of digital technology. However our productivity still lags well behind the USA and we face new challenges from the innovative companies of the successful Asian economies. At their best, they combine fierce competition, providing innovation and consumer services, with a regulatory framework that balances the value of investment in the next generation of technologies against the benefits for the consumer of a competitive market place.

Against this backdrop, this latest report from Department for Culture, Media and Sport assesses the UK’s readiness to fully to exploit the dramatic shift to digital technology. This revolution is still in its infancy and our demands and expectations of it will continue to rise at an accelerating pace. Are we positioned to meet those demands and expectations? 

The interim report contains more than 20 recommendations, including specific proposals on:

• next generation networks
• universal access to broadband
• the creation of a second public service provider of scale
• the modernisation of wireless radio spectrum holdings
• a digital future for radio
• a new deal for digital content rights
• enhancing the digital delivery of public services

The full report can be downloaded from the DCMS website

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The global market for Islamic financial services rose by 37% to $729bn at end-2007

 
The global market for Islamic financial services rose by 37% to $729bn at end-2007. In 2008, IFSL’s Islamic Finance report notes that the industry has felt the influence of the credit crunch and downturn in the global economy - Sukuk issuance has more than halved and the value of equity funds has fallen. Islamic banks, however, have been less affected than many conventional banks as they are prohibited from activities that have contributed to the credit crunch, such as investment in toxic assets and dependence on wholesale funds.

London has been consolidating its position as the key western centre for Islamic finance in 2008. Two Islamic banks, Gatehouse Bank and European Finance House, have been granted licences bringing to five the number of fully Sharia compliant banks in the UK. Principal Insurance became the first Shariah compliant independent company authorised to offer Takaful to UK residents. In capital markets, four new exchange traded funds and two new equity funds were launched.

IFSL’s report indicates that the UK’s offering includes a total of 22 banks, far more than in any other Western country. Professional services are provided by 18 law firms and the Big Four accounting firms. A cumulative total of 18 Sukuk issues raising $10bn have been listed on the London Stock Exchange, second only to Dubai. With 55 institutions offering educational and training products in Islamic finance, the UK has more providers than any other country worldwide.

Read the report.

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Cities Outlook 2009

The Cities Outlook 2009 is the second edition of the annual report from the Centre for Cities (an independent urban policy research unit). The report ranks the economic performance of 64 of the UK's largest cities and towns, drawing on data from the most recent releases from Government sources. This year's index includes an overall economic prosperity index, social deprivation index and built environment index. Last year the report predicted that times would get tougher for UK cities. The credit crunch has turned into a full-blown recession, and its impact is no longer confined to the financial and business services sector. We are now seeing falls in consumer and labour demand, high-profile firm closures, and extremely low levels of business confidence. The report argues that no city will escape the recession unscathed – though some will suffer less than others.

In last year’s report, it was argued that the North-South divide was oversimplified, with some high-performing areas in the North – and some under-performers in the South.  Economic conditions have changed since then, but the map of city performance remains as complex as ever. The immediate effects of the recession are being felt most heavily in Greater London, which has had a disproportionate share of jobs in financial services, construction and retail over the last decade. But it’s not necessarily ‘Grim Down South’, research by both the Centre for Cities and the Local Government Association confirms that once again, the true picture is more complicated. During 2009, it is expected that cities with higher concentrations of financial services jobs – such as London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Bristol – are likely to see more headline job losses. However, in the medium-term, cities with diverse business bases, high skill levels and traditions of entrepreneurship will be better placed to recover.

The full report is available from the Centre for Cities website

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Angel Investors 2009 - Special Financial Report

In a tough economy, angel investors are more cautious than ever. But it's still possible to find funding. Here's how

By: Kasey Wehrum

Published January 2009 in INC magazine

Where would we be without angel investors? In 2007, 258,200 angels pumped $26 billion into 57,120 companies, making these wealthy individuals the single largest source of start-up capital, according to the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research. But despite their ethereal name, angel investors are all too human. Their money comes from their investment portfolios, and theirs, just like yours, have been hammered. That's sparking big changes in the way angels invest. Even in a tough economy, deals can still be done, but don't expect them to happen in a hurry. Angels are pretty spooked these days. "Even highly diversified investors may be seeing a 20 to 40 percent decrease in the value of their stock portfolios," says Michael Gruber, founder and managing director of Cornerstone Angels, a Chicago-based angel group. Further complicating matters is the fact that many angels are entrepreneurs themselves and may be more concerned with shoring up their companies than with helping you build yours.

As a result, they are being a lot more cautious than they have been in years past. The Center for Venture Research says investments through the second quarter of 2008 totaled $12.4 billion, up 4.2 percent from the same period in 2007. But just 23,000 ventures received those funds, a 3.8 percent drop. Why? "There's safety in numbers," says Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Angel Capital Association. Angels, she says, see syndication not only as a way of reducing risk but also as a means of ensuring that good companies are properly funded....

Current staff, student and Faculty of the London Business school can read the full articlel in INC magazine in Factiva or Business Source Complete.

Or for further resoruces on Angel Investing (with a US bias) go to the business advice section on the Inc website.

 

Oicture Creative Commons; FlickR:Jeff_Kubina

 

 

The comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review

The comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review offers a birds-eye view of the overarching trends in digital marketing usage in 2008 and considers their implications for the year ahead. This report examines the trends in US internet usage, search activity, e-commerce, online video consumption, online advertising, and mobile, and what digital strategies will be critical to effectively navigating the uncertain 2009 environment

Key findings highlighted in the report include:

Nearly 137 billion searches were conducted on the five US core search engines with Google Sites accounting for nearly 90% of this growth.

Online video viewing accounted for 12.5% of Americans’ total time spent on the Internet in November 2008, up from 8.5% the previous year.

US Internet users viewed a total of 4.5 trillion display ads during the past twelve months, with the average person viewing more than 2,000 ads per month.

The fastest-growing retail category in 2008 was Video Games, Consoles & Accessories (up 29% vs. 2007), which continued to benefit from online sales of popular game consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3.

The mobile industry continued to witness the growing popularity of smartphones in 2008 with subscriptions to smartphones increasing more than 100% during the year.

The report can be downloaded form the comScore website (Registration required,free)

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Global Gender Gap Report 2008

According to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Report, Norway is leading the world in closing the gender gap. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains.  Featuring a total of 130 countries, this year’s Report provides an insight into the gaps between women and men in over 92% of the world’s population.

The index was introduced by the WEF in 2006, as a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of these disparities and tracking their progress. It is used to benchmark national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. There are three basic concepts underlying the Index. First, it focuses on measuring gaps rather than levels. Second, it captures gaps in outcome variables rather than gaps in means or input variables. Third, it ranks countries according to gender equality rather than women’s empowerment. In this way, the rankings are designed to create greater awareness of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. Secondly, the straightforward methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings is intended to serve as a base for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

The report is available from the World Economic Forum website

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Global pension assets fell by 18% to an estimated $25 trillion in 2008

  The January 2009 edition of IFSL’s Pension Markets report estimated that global pension assets fell by 18% to an estimated $25 trillion in 2008 from $30.4 trillion in 2007. The UK, with pension assets totalling $3.3 trillion remained the second largest market, accounting for 11% of total assets worldwide. UK assets are only exceeded by the dominant US market, where assets of $19.6 trillion made up 64% of global total in 2007.

The report is produced by: the IFSL which is an independent organisation representing the whole UK financial services industry. It promotes the industry around the world, influences trade policy and publishes research on the finance sector.

Pensions Market 2009 and Pensions Market Datasheet 2009

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