BizResearch

The Future of Carbon Capture and Storage

The scientific evidence for climate change is abundant and irrefutable, as is the role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology can play in reducing emission levels. Despite calls to the contrary, CCS does not present insurmountable technical barriers. Only issues surrounding its commercial viability and the lack of credible policy incentives stand in the way of its wide-scale deployment.

Scope of this research

• A critique of the regulatory and policy framework proposed by the European Commission to drive the deployment of CCS across new fossil-fuel plants.

• Analysis of the wider EU 'green' policy landscape, how it lacks credibility and provides inadequate regulatory support for CCS.
• Reasons why the green 'New Deal' is a necessary but insufficient condition to drive a mass market transition to CCS.
• An objective review of the perceived limitations of CCS and the type of adaptive regulatory framework required to secure CCS' commercial deployment.

Research and analysis highlights

• Despite record growth in renewables, global emission levels will rise as fossil fuel power generation continue to dominate. CCS is the only technology option currently available that could allow abundant, flexible and entrenched fossil fuels to continue to be used for electricity generation without adding to the damaging effects of climate change.


• The potential for CCS is undeniable and stakeholders are competing to take the technological lead. However, the costs and risks of CCS - made more apparent by the lack of regulatory framework - stand in the way of its widespread deployment. It is unlikely that CCS will make a credible contribution without strong legislative and regulatory change.


• The potential for CCS is highest in Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece, based on annual levels of coal-powered generation. The benefits of CCS outweigh the liabilities, however, to implement CCS safely and economically requires an adaptive regulatory framework encompassing safety, investment, operation and responsibility elements.

This report is available to Current London Business School students, faculty and staff from Datamonitor 360 which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases within Portal

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Measuring Mobile Broadband in the UK

Source: Ofcom

In order to understand the performance of UK mobile broadband connections using dongles and datacards, Ofcom commissioned research to identify the average actual download throughput speeds that they deliver, along with a number of other metrics which determine the consumer experience of using mobile broadband services

Key findings from the report

Average mobile broadband speeds

The research, conducted between September and December 2010 in partnership with broadband monitoring specialists Epitiro, found that the average download speed achieved by consumers in Ofcom’s consumer panel survey was 1.5Mbit/s and basic webpages took on average 8.5 seconds to download.

This compares with the average fixed broadband speed of 6.2Mbit/s (Nov/Dec 2010), and average web page download times on fixed broadband networks of less than 0.5 seconds.

However, in good 3G coverage areas, Ofcom found that average mobile broadband speeds were 2.1Mbit/s, falling to an average of 1.7Mbit/s during the peak evening period of 8-10pm. Basic web pages took on average 2.2 seconds to download.

Some mobile broadband providers are faster than others

The research found some differences between the performance of operators’ 3G networks. O2, Vodafone and 3 offered faster average download speeds than T-Mobile and Orange.

O2, on average, delivered web pages faster than the other four operators and had lower average latency than 3, Orange and Vodafone. Latency is a measure of the responsiveness of a connection (it is measured by the time it takes a single packet of data to travel from a user’s PC to a third-party server and back again).

The slower speed of web page downloading on mobile broadband compared to fixed broadband is largely the result of higher levels of latency. In addition to increasing the time for web page downloads, high latency may make connections less suitable for some online games and VoIP.

Differences between locations

The research also looked at how performance varied by location, by testing speeds across Birmingham, in the M62 corridor between Manchester and Liverpool, in Swansea and the surrounding area, and in the rural and semi-rural areas of Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Urban areas outperformed rural areas, primarily due to greater 3G availability. However, performance was highly variable across urban areas, with no guarantee of good performance offered in a city centre location.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Ben Smith UK

The Power 100, 2011

Smirnoff has retained its position as the world’s leading alcoholic drinks brand according to the latest Power 100, the annual survey of the world’s leading drinks brands published by brand valuation and strategy consultancy Intangible Business. 

For this year’s survey nearly 10,000 brands in the spirits and wine sectors were researched. A panel of leading experts ranked each selected brand according to share of market, future growth, premium price position, awareness, relevance, heritage and brand perception.

Highlights from this year’s ranking:

Johnnie Walker remains the world’s leading whisky brand, despite slipping one place to number three in The Power 100, keeping it ahead in the whisky sector from Jack Daniel’s (6 overall), Chivas Regal (8 overall), Ballantine’s (10 overall) and Dewar’s (up two places to 14 overall).

Biggest climbers include Gallo’s E&J brandy, which climbs 16 places to number 48; Italian liqueur Disaronno, up 14 places to number 84, and Bombay Sapphire up 11 places to number 41

The biggest faller this year is Cointreau which drops 16 despite a slight increase in volume sales. The fall was due largely to the brand score falling 5% and the better performance of other featured brands. 

Pernod Ricard’s leading wine brand, Jacob’s Creek, also suffered this year – falling ten places - as a consequence of both declining brand score and volume sales which were among the greatest of wine brands featured.

There are only two new brands in this year’s ranking, Italian bitters brand Ramazzotti Amaro,  re-enters the top 100 this year having fallen out last year and Larios, the best-selling gin in Spain, enters The Power 100 for the first time at No.98.

The Power 100 2011 report is available for download from http://www.drinkspowerbrands.com/.

Photo from Creative Commons: Flicker: ilmungo  

Cities of Opportunity 2011

The Cities of Opportunity report, produced by PwC and the Partnership for New York City has just been published. This year the report covers 26 cities and presents in-depth results covering 10 different indicators and 66 variables

Key findings: Balance characterizes the top 10 cities

Only one of the Top 5, New York, might be called an economic powerhouse.
The successful modern city relies on intelligence and social well-being as much as economic clout—a conclusion that seems not so much to challenge any theory as to confirm common sense.   New York wins only narrowly, with its real key to success the balance that may have helped it weather the Great Recession

Toronto, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney round out the Top 5.
Livability and balance mark these four cities. Arguably that's just 'the right stuff' for a world less dependent on geography and historic connections and more reliant on holistic approaches to attracting and keeping creative minds and businesses that will build the future with fresh eyes.

The other 'alpha' cities -- London, Paris, Tokyo -- finish 6th to 14th overall
They're not bunched at the top as might be expected. London, 6th, leads in economic clout. Paris, 8th, tops infrastructure and transportation. Tokyo falls to 14th

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: plakboek

Sustainability: The ‘Embracers’ Seize

This report on the second annual Sustainability & Innovation Global Executive Study was conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and The Boston Consulting Group. More than 3,000 business executives and managers from organizations around the world were included in the survey. In addition, a number of academic experts and senior executives from a range of different industries where also interviewed to gain a better understanding of some of the more practical issues facing organizations today.

The study reveals two distinct camps of companies: “embracers” — those who place sustainability high on their agenda — and “cautious adopters,” who have yet to focus on more than energy cost savings, material efficiency, and risk mitigation.

The report identifies seven specific practices exhibited by embracer companies, which together begin to define sustainability-driven management. These include the need to move early, even if you don’t have complete information; to be authentic and transparent both internally and with the external stakeholders; and to work aggressively to “de-silo” sustainability, integrating it throughout company operations.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: D Sharon Pruitt

Destination Music

UK Music has just published Destination: Music – the first study of its kind to scope the economic contribution of music festivals and major concerts to tourism throughout the UK.

The analysis, carried out by Bournemouth University’s International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, focused on live music events with capacities of 5,000 or greater. The analysis set out to determine how many people come to Britain from overseas for the primary purpose of attending a music festival or concert.

This ticketing data was then cross-referenced with individual festival surveys, tourism reports, economic impact assessments and music industry revenue data already published, to estimate the economic activity generated as a result of each type of visit. The calculation totalled estimations of both on and off-site spending for the duration of the visit

Drawing on unprecedented access to more than 2.5m anonymised ticketing transactions, the report’s main findings are as follows:

• Large-scale live music across all regions of the UK attracts at least 7.7m attendances by domestic and overseas music tourists
• Collectively they spend £1.4bn during the course of their trip
• This is a positive contribution of £864m (GVA) to the national economy and equivalent to 19,700 full-time jobs
• Although 5% of all music tourists come from overseas, they contribute 18% of total music tourist spending

From these findings UK Music has issued a list of recommendations to Government – including the implementation of a national live music tourism strategy, with the immediate goal of increasing the number of overseas music tourists. The research follows the Government’s Plan For Growth, published alongside the Budget. This specifically identified the UK’s creative industries and tourism amongst sectors with the greatest potential to drive economic growth.

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: doop

Digital Opportunity: a Review of Intellectual Property and Growth

In November 2010 the Prime Minister David Cameron announced an independent review of how the Intellectual Property framework supports growth and innovation. Chaired by Professor Ian Hargreaves and assisted by a panel of experts, the review reported to Government in May 2011.

The Review makes 10 recommendations designed to ensure that the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation and promoting economic growth in the digital age:

Key recommendations (from BIS press release)

• The UK should have a “Digital Copyright Exchange”: a digital market place where licences in copyright content can be readily bought and sold, a sort of online copyright shop.


• The Government should legislate to permit access to orphan works, where the owner cannot be traced. For example some copyrighted works remain locked away because their authors either aren’t known or can’t be traced to give permission for use. In the worst cases, where one owner cannot be located - just one out of hundreds contained in a film or TV programme - they can effectively hold the interests of others to ransom as it becomes a criminal offence to exploit that work commercially.


• Updating what it is lawful to copy. This includes copying for private purposes (such as shifting music from a laptop to an mp3 player) and copying which does not conflict with the core aims of copyright – for example, digital copying of medical and other journals for computerised analysis in research. For example an academic working on malaria cannot draw on previous research through data mining because they cannot get permission to copy the datasets they need to mine.


• The Government’s IP policy decisions need to be more closely based on economic evidence and should pay more attention to the impact on non-rights holders and consumers;


• Changes to the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) powers to enable it to help the IP framework adapt to future economic and technological change

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: incurable hippie

Saga Quarterly Report

Source: Saga

From the Introduction and Key Findings:

This second Saga Quarterly Report once again combines Saga survey data (a nationwide Survey of 11,800 over 50s) with economic analysis and interpretation of official statistics to produce as accurate a picture of life for the over 50s in the UK as we can. As well as examining issues such as income, unemployment and inflation affecting the Saga age groups, it features the Saga Quality of Life Index which measures perceptions of happiness, standards of living and health. All survey comparisons are made with one year previously unless stated otherwise.

The Saga Quarterly Reports are designed to keep track of the wellbeing of the UK’s over 50s.
Government has placed increasing emphasis on monitoring measures of happiness and quality of life, in addition to measuring traditional economic growth factors. Saga aims to assist the Government in its task by providing regular updates from its exclusive over 50s survey data and combining these qualitative measures with the quantitative official statistics on growth, employment and inflation which are more generally used to track the nation’s wellbeing.

Key findings

• Over 50s’ quality of life and economic indicators have worsened over the past year.
• The Saga Quality of Life Index deteriorated between the first and second quarters of 2011 indicative of the significant financial squeeze on households so far this year.
• The deterioration in quality of life is most pronounced among 50 to 59 year-olds, especially with respect to their standard of living.
• Although the Quality of Life Index for the top socio-economic group did not fall further this quarter, inequalities are growing as it deteriorated again for all other socio-economic groups.
• Real incomes in Q1 2011 were lower than a year ago for all over 50s age bands – as income growth failed to keep up with inflation.
• More over 50s report the rising cost of living (56%), savings income (46%) and interest rates (40%) as a greater concern than 12 months ago, than reported health and crime as a greater concern.
• The over 50s have cut their discretionary spending, with four in ten reducing spending on eating out and entertainment and also using their cars less especially among lower socio-economic groups.
• Employment among the over 65s has risen by 35% over the last three years – with more over 65s staying in work, partly for economic reasons but also because they enjoy working.
• 63% of over 50’s want the Bank of England to raise interest rates.

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Leo Reynolds

Rethinking Music: A Briefing Book

This is a collection of papers presented to participants in the Rethink Music conference presented in association with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and Harvard Business School.

Extract from first paper Rethinking music: a framing paper

The music industry has been in a state of significant flux for more than a decade as music consumption has shifted online. From one perspective, this shift marks the downfall of the recording industry. Fans have little incentive to buy albums when they can instantaneously illegally download songs from peer-to-peer file sharing networks and other sources. And, the attention of consumers is increasingly drawn from music to an enormous and growing array of competing media and entertainment products. According to an NPD group study, in the third quarter of 2010, only 16.5% of American Internet users over the age of thirteen purchased music.  When fans do purchase music, they would rather download individual tracks priced at $.99 than full-length albums at ten times the cost.  As a result of all these factors and more, the value of the global recorded music industry has declined by one-third since 2004.

On the other hand, the digital revolution brings new opportunities for growth and innovation in music distribution. There are now over 400 licensed digital music services worldwide, with thirteen million tracks licensed for digital use. Since 2004, the value of the US digital music market has increased by over 1,000% to around $4.6 billion. New companies, like Rdio and Mog, give consumers an alternative to piracy by allowing them to stream the music of their choice on-demand. A large percentage of the subscription and advertising revenue from these services goes directly into the pockets of artists, songwriters, labels, and publishers. Smaller artists, music’s new middle class, are leveraging social networking platforms to reach out to a global fan base. Through do-it-yourself distribution tools, artists can cut out middlemen and distribute music directly to their fans, earning more in royalties than they could have under traditional recording and publishing deals during the heyday of the compact disc. Some artists even raise money directly from their fans to support the production of new music.

To survive the digital transformation, all players in the music industry are rethinking music. Labels are rethinking their business models. Digital companies are rethinking channels of distribution. Artists are rethinking their relationships with fans and traditional sources of revenue. And, lawyers, academics, and policymakers are rethinking the legal landscape in an effort to meet the needs of creators and consumers in the digital age.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Curious_Gregor

Inflation Report May 2011

Source: Bank of England 

Extract from overview:

CPI inflation remained well above the 2% target but the recent weakness in underlying output growth persisted. The recovery in the world economy was maintained and is expected to support growth in the United Kingdom, as should the considerable stimulus from monetary policy and the current level of sterling. But the continuing squeeze on households’ real incomes is likely to weigh on demand, especially over the next year or so. Further ahead, the chances of four-quarter GDP growth being either above or below its historical average rate are judged to be roughly balanced.

CPI inflation is likely to rise further this year and is more likely than not to remain above the target throughout 2012. The near-term profile is markedly higher than in February, largely reflecting renewed increases in energy prices. Inflation is likely to fall through 2012 into 2013 as the impact of external price pressures and the increase in VAT dissipates and some downward pressure from a margin of spare capacity persists. But the timing and extent of that decline in inflation are both highly uncertain.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Ken Teegardin

The Mobile Entertainment Industry Outlook

Source: Business Insights

This report helps stakeholders to understand the dynamics of the mobile entertainment industry, recognize the emerging opportunities, and capitalize on these trends in the future. For each segment - music, video, gambling, and games - the report discusses market size, sub-segments, geographic segmentation, drivers, inhibitors, and major players.

Highlights

Business Insights anticipates that the global mobile entertainment industry will grow at a CAGR of 18.8% to reach $54bn by 2014 from a mere $19bn in 2008. The growth will be driven by smartphones, high speed mobile broadband networks, apps and emerging markets.

In 2009, the world’s largest market for the mobile entertainment industry was Asia Pacific, with more than half of global revenues (57%) generated in the region. It was followed by Western Europe at 21% and North America at 13%.

Features and benefits

• Access detailed analysis and revenue forecasts for the mobile entertainment industry by segment and region.
• Analyze key drivers and inhibitors to mobile entertainment industry growth.
• Identify and profile the leading players in the mobile entertainment arena.
• Analyze consumer trends and value chains that will shape the future of the mobile entertainment industry.
• Identify the business opportunities and challenges in the mobile entertainment industry.

This report is available to Current London Business School students, faculty and staff from Datamonitor 360 which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases within Portal.

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: RafeB

Academic Reputation Survey

Thomson Reuters launches Academic Reputation Survey for 2011

 Research analytics and decision support citation data services provider Thomson Reuters, US, has announced that it has launched its Academic Reputation Survey for 2011. The survey, which will remain open until May 20, 2011, claims to be the largest of its kind ever undertaken by the company.

 Survey respondents are asked which institutions they consider the best in terms of research, teaching and by other factors such as geographical region. The assessments gathered through the survey will be combined with other key variables to form a comprehensive profile for each institution.

 The survey forms part of Thomson Reuters Global Institutional Profiles Project, an initiative that will create data-driven profiles of globally significant research institutions. It also will help inform the Times Higher Education's influential World University Rankings and represents the largest single reputation survey used in the rankings to date.

 Thomson Reuters Global Institutional Profiles Project combines reputational feedback, scholarly outputs, citation patterns, funding levels, and faculty characteristics across disciplines in one comprehensive database. The dataset can be packaged and analysed to different specifications, giving organisations custom information for evaluating and benchmarking their performance and supporting efforts to secure research funding.

Source: http://thomsonreuters.com/content/press_room/science/academic_reputation_survey_2011

 

Happiness Economics: A New Road to Measuring and Comparing Happiness

Foundations & Trends in Microeconomics: Vol. 6(1) pp 1-97

Authors: Bernard M. S. Van Praag; Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell

Abstract
This paper deals with the concept of happiness in economics. Of late there has come into life a branch of happiness economics and it is this field that will be our concern. Actually, not only economists are interested in quantifications of happiness but also researchers in other disciplines. Notably there are several psychologists who investigate happiness as well. We mention Schimmack et al. (2002), Kahneman et al. (1999, 2006), Kahneman and Krueger (2006), Clark et al. (2008) and Lucas and Schimmack (2009). There are also some interconnections between happiness economists and psychologists as in the citations just mentioned. In this paper we will focus on happiness economics, although we will sometimes refer to work in other disciplines as well. Happiness economics is up to now an empirically oriented field. There is no attention for philosophical contemplations on happiness, the sense of life, etc. as we find in philosophy and religious studies (see, e.g., Feldman (2010), Nussbaum and Sen (1993), Haybron (2010) and Bok (2010) for a philosophical approach). We shall not touch on these issues in this tract.

Foundations and Trends can be found on the A-Z list of library databases in the library area of the Portal. It is available to available to current staff, students and faculty of the London Business School.

Motor 150 Report

Source: BDO

Motor retail is the shop floor of the UK automotive industry, which has become an established and interdependent network of businesses with a combined annual turnover of £52 billion and a total workforce of 820,000. Within this workforce, around 640,000 are employed in the post-production businesses of motor retail, supply and servicing.

In this light, the Motor 150 Report – revealing the aggregated performance of a study group comprising the top 150** companies in the UK motor retail sector – is an important business barometer. As such, this report, which covers performance in the latest audited accounts and looks forward into the current and future accounting periods, does not specify or comment upon the individual performance of companies, except where it is relevant to explain a variance from the market norm or to highlight a fresh sector trend.

Our aim in producing the Motor 150 Report is to provide a considered insight into recent economic events and sector activity, the current and future dynamics of motor retailing, and to offer our professional views and advice for the future.

Click here to read the full report

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Islamic Finance

Source: TheCityUK

The launch of TheCityUK’s new report on Islamic Finance provides a landmark for promotion of the industry internationally as the UK maintains its position as the leading Western provider of Islamic financial services.

The report estimates that the global market for Islamic financial services rose by 10% to reach $1,041bn by end-2009, taking global assets above the $1,000bn threshold for the first time: a respectable outcome in the context of the difficult economic environment.

TheCityUK estimates that the global market for Islamic finance grew at a similar rate in 2010, with the potential to continue growth at this rate over a number of years. This is dependent however on major markets in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and Kuwait not being affected by the spread of political upheaval in the region.

The sukuk market recovered strongly in 2010 with record issuance of $50bn. While there have been defaults, the impact on the broader market has not been as extensive as was feared a year ago. Quality issuers of sukuk continue to attract demand from investors.

Revenues of banks picked up in 2010, following downward pressure on revenue and profitability in two previous years. Fewer launches mean that growth in Islamic funds industry has slowed in the recent years with global assets totalling $52bn in 760 funds. 

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Steve & Jemma Copley

Making the grade 2011: a study of the top 10 issues facing higher education institutions

Source: Deloitte

Investments in tertiary education have been linked to economic benefits in countries around the globe. Yet, in recent years, spending on higher education has come under increasing pressure. Tighter national budgets have reduced sector funding, weak market conditions have diminished endowment value and economic hardship has resulted in lower enrolment levels. At the same time, educational institutions must meet a host of costly demands to stay competitive – from self-service administration options and technology upgrades, to newer infrastructure and enhanced faculty recruitment programs.

Amidst shrinking resources and rising demands, it is becoming clear that higher education institutions can no longer maintain the status quo. To achieve their mandates and serve their constituencies, they must transform the way they do business.

To help, Deloitte education practitioners around the world collaborated to create Making the grade 2011: A study of the top 10 issues facing higher education institutions. In this report, educational institutions will find essential strategies they must consider as they seek to address their challenges, as well as some fresh thinking on key institutional drivers. Beyond simply helping colleges and universities survive current economic hardship, these strategies can help institutions reinvent themselves to meet evolving educational needs.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Adam Franco