BizResearch

E-reader Ownership Doubles in Six Months

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

Highlights from report

The share of adults in the United States who own an e-book reader doubled to 12% in May, 2011 from 6% in November 2010. E-readers, such as a Kindle or Nook, are portable devices designed to allow readers to download and read books and periodicals. This is the first time since the Pew Internet Project began measuring e-reader use in April 2009 that ownership of this device has reached double digits among U.S. adults.

Tablet computers—portable devices similar to e-readers but designed for more interactive web functions—have not seen the same level of growth in recent months. In May 2011, 8% of adults report owning a tablet computer such as an iPad, Samsung Galaxy or Motorola Xoom. This is roughly the same percentage of adults who reported owning this kind of device in January 2011 (7%), and represents just a 3 percentage-point increase in ownership since November 2010. Prior to that, tablet ownership had been climbing relatively quickly.

Both e-book reader and tablet computer adoption levels among U.S. adults are still well below that of other tech devices that have been on the market longer. Cell phones are far and away the most popular digital device among U.S. adults today, followed by desktop and laptop computers, DVRs, and MP3 players.

This report is based on the findings of a survey on Americans' use of the Internet. The results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April and May, 2011, among a sample of 2,277 adults, age 18 and older.

Click here to read the full report

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Emerging Forms of Entrepreneurship

This report examines the availability of quantitative and qualitative information, including their appearance in public and policy discussion, of five emerging forms of entrepreneurship (one-person enterprises, part-time entrepreneurs, parallel entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneurs and business transfers/successions) across Europe. This mapping exercise was done to provide an overview of how much these types of business activity are dealt with at national level

Selected findings

Generally, one-person enterprises are part of the public measures and policy debates in almost all Member States. Policy initiatives aim to promote entrepreneurship by offering entrepreneurial consulting, with some Member States targeting specific groups, for example women or young persons. Policy initiatives also include entrepreneurial education and training, the reduction of administrative burdens or the improvement of framework conditions for doing business.

The notion of part-time entrepreneurs is often associated with one-person entrepreneurs. The part-time entrepreneurial business models are generally considered a temporary and intermediate stage from being employed to becoming an enterprise with employees. It is not very regulated in many countries with regard to tax and social security

Serial entrepreneurship and business transfers/successions are often interconnected. The focus point of public debates is transfer of family businesses from one generation to the next and the related concern is that many companies and jobs are lost in the transition. Initiatives have been taken to inform and advise about business transfers in due time. Many countries also focus on inheritance tax and costs in addition to reducing the duration of administrative procedures in conjunction with business transfers.

The full report can be downloaded from the Eurofound website

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Global Private Banking Wealth Management Survey 2011

The status quo in the private banking and wealth management industry is changing as the focus shifts to client service and value delivery, according to our 2011 Global Private Banking and Wealth Management survey -Anticipating a New Age in Wealth Management.

Those who can master change will be in a position to lead the industry and we believe that clear industry leaders and losers will emerge by the middle of this decade. Some highlights:

Today’s client is cautious, smart, less loyal and expects excellent service and clear value. Regulation has become the not-so-invisible hand, increasing the cost of operations. Greater operational efficiency and effectiveness are required, not just to compete but to survive. Standing still is no longer an option and institutions must now quickly adapt or face being left behind.

PwC's 2011 biennial report, surveyed a record 275 institutions from 67 countries, finding that wealth management continues to be a lucrative business with untapped potential for significant growth if institutions can be agile in adapting to meet changing demands

 To read the report go to the PWC website.

The New Digital Economy: How it Will Transform Business

Source: Oxford Economics

Extract from executive summary

International leaders face an era of unprecedented change. The recession and financial crisis that ended in 2009 caused a seismic shift that has reshaped the global business landscape. The world economy is now characterized by sluggish growth in the West, a shift in power to the East, and value-driven customers and rising risks everywhere. At the same time, the downturn has hastened the adoption of key technologies—mobility, cloud computing, business intelligence and social media—that are transforming businesses and sparking a new wave of wealth creation, particularly in the emerging world.

Economic growth and technology are inextricably linked. Current economic conditions are fostering investment in technology as emerging markets ramp up their demand for technology to fuel growth, and advanced markets seek new ways to cut costs and drive innovation. This becomes a virtuous circle as digital technologies drive consumer income and demand, education and training, and efficient use of capital and resources—leading to increased economic growth, particularly in emerging markets. Executives must be aware of the new challenges facing their firms as market momentum accelerates. Rising middle classes in places like China and India offer extraordinary potential for companies that understand their needs. Emerging markets are also spawning rivals that are unencumbered by legacy systems and corporate bureaucracy—with their sights set on advanced economies.

This global survey of 363 business executives was conducted in December 2010. Of the respondents, 19% hailed from the US, 20% from the UK, 15% from India, 14% from Japan, and 8% each from China, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The survey represented a broad range of industries, including financial services (26%); manufacturing (19%); technology, information, communication and entertainment (18%); retailing and consumer products (15%); and life sciences and healthcare (11%).

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: MinimalistPhotography101.com

Review of Waste Policy in England 2011

Source: DEFRA

As part of the Government’s commitment to ensure that we are on the path towards a ‘zero waste’ economy, we have reviewed all aspects of waste policy and delivery in England. The Review’s findings were published in June 2011, alongside a series of actions for the future. These include commitments to:

Work with business on a range of measures to prevent waste occurring wherever possible, ahead of developing a full Waste Prevention Programme by December 2013;

Explore the potential for new voluntary responsibility deals to drive waste prevention and recycling, including in the hospitality sector and with the waste management industry and for direct mail, textiles, and construction waste;

Launch a grant funding scheme for innovative reward and recognition schemes which could incentivise people to do the right thing;

Encourage councils to sign new Recycling and Waste Services Commitments, setting out the principles they will follow in delivering waste services to households and businesses.

Provide technical support to councils and businesses who want to see recycling-on-the-go schemes grow,

Consult on the case for increased recovery targets for packaging waste, in time for  a final decision in the 2012 Budget;

Consult on introducing a restriction on the landfilling of wood waste and review the case for introducing landfill restrictions on other materials, including textiles and biodegradable waste;

Scrap unfair bin fines and taxes while bringing in powers to deal with repeat fly-tipping offenders and genuine nuisance neighbours

Key Facts

In 2009, 47.9 million tonnes of waste were generated by businesses. The industrial sector accounted for 24.1Mt and the commercial sector 23.8Mt.

Estimates show that 52% of C&I waste was recycled or re-used and 24 per cent was sent to landfill.

Small enterprises, with between 0 and 49 employees, produced 16.6 million tonnes of C&I waste in 2009, or 35 per cent of total C&I waste.

The UK exports approximately 15 million tonnes of waste for recycling per year

Businesses in England recycled & re-used 52% of their waste in 2009, up from 42% in 2002/03

Packaging recycling rates have doubled since 1997 to 62% in 2009, but the UK is only recycling 24% of its plastic packaging and 41% of its aluminium packaging.

Click here to read the full report

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World Report on Disability

Source: World Health Organization

The first ever World report on disability, produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank, suggests that more than a billion people in the world today experience disability.  People with disabilities have generally poorer health, lower education achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is largely due to the lack of services available to them and the many obstacles they face in their everyday lives. The report provides the best available evidence about what works to overcome barriers to health care, rehabilitation, education, employment, and support services, and to create the environments which will enable people with disabilities to flourish. The report ends with a concrete set of recommended actions for governments and their partners.

The first ever WHO/World Bank World report on disability reviews evidence about the situation of people with disabilities around the world. Following chapters on understanding disability and measuring disability, the report contains topic-specific chapters on health; rehabilitation; assistance and support; enabling environments; education; and employment. Within each chapter, there is a discussion of the barriers confronted, and case studies showing how countries have succeeded in addressing these by promoting good practice. In its final chapter, the report offers nine concrete recommendations for policy and practice which if put in place could lead to real improvements in the lives of people with disability.

Click here to read the full report

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Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011

Source: World Economic Forum

Sweden and Singapore continue to top the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, Transformations 2.0, confirming the leadership of the Nordic countries and the Asian Tiger economies in adopting and implementing ICT advances for increased growth and development. Finland jumps to third place, while Switzerland and the United States are steady in fourth and fifth place respectively.

With a record coverage of 138 economies worldwide, the report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) featured in the report examines how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively on three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key societal actors (individuals, businesses and governments) to use and benefit from ICT and their actual usage of available ICT.

Under the theme Transformations 2.0, this 10th anniversary edition explores the coming transformations powered by ICT, with a focus on the impact they will have on individuals, businesses and governments over the next few years. Since the beginning of the report, the sheer amount of information generated by today’s digital society has increased at an astounding rate. In order to measure impact of ICT and this new data revolution, a new data sharing platform is also launched on the occasion of the report’s 10th anniversary to provide users with a set of tools to explore the impact of information and data technology on a range of socio-economic areas.

Click here to read the full report

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Global Top 10 Energy Companies Report

Source: Datamonitor

Extract from executive summary

The global energy industry had shown strong growth in recent years until it fell into a steep decline in 2009. Recovery is expected in 2010, with strong growth over the period spanning 2009–14.

The performance of the industry is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 13.2% for the five-year period 2009–14, which is expected to drive the industry to a value of $11,250.4 billion by the end of 2014. Comparatively, the European and Asia Pacific industries will grow with CAGRs of 11% and 13.5% respectively, over the same period, to reach respective values of $2,047.9 billion and $2,602.5 billion in 2014.

Industry definition: The energy industry consists of oil, gas, coal, and consumable fuels, and the energy equipment and services industries. The energy equipment and services industry values reflect revenues generated from the provision of equipment and services to the oil and gas industry, including contract drilling.

The oil, gas, and consumable fuel industry consists of oil, gas, coal, and related consumable fuels. Industry values reflect revenues generated from exploration, production, refining, marketing, storage, and transportation of oil and gas, and also from the coal and consumable fuels market. The coal and consumable fuels market is defined as revenues generated by the sale of coal for industry and power generation, but excludes the sale of metallurgical coal.

For the purposes of this report, the global market consists of North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Research highlights

• The global energy industry generated total revenues of $6,050 billion in 2009, representing a CARC of -0.1% for the period spanning 2005–09.
• The performance of the industry is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 13.2% for the five-year period 2009–14, which is expected to drive the industry to a value of $11,250.4 billion by the end of 2014.

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

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Tech-savvy doctoral students increasingly look to open web technologies

  

"The UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the British Library have released a report, according to which young researchers are increasingly using free web technology to help with their research. However they are not active in creating content, says the report.

The British Library/ JISC generation Y, 'Researchers of Tomorrow' report shows that passive use of these open web technologies is more common than active use. Researchers are reading wikis and blogs without adding to them; they make passive use of Internet forums for research, and few blog themselves. It was found that while 29 percent made passive use of Internet discussion forums, only 13 percent were active on them.

The UK's largest survey of the information seeking behaviours of doctoral students born between 1982-1994, commonly dubbed generation Y, shows a 'modest increase' in the students' use of web technology over the past year. Compared with a sample of older students, more of the generation Y sample had used at least one kind of open web or Web 2.0 technology with only 8 percent saying they had used none at all.

The study includes a survey of doctoral students of any age to provide background to the generation Y research. The first report took place at the end of June 2009 with the assistance of over 70 universities and covering all subject disciplines. It was repeated in 2010 and will be launched for the third and final time in mid 2011."

Source: JISC - Researchers of Tomorrow

Picture: FlickR ; Creative Commons: MinimalistPhotography101 (Steve Johnson)

Volume 13 Risk and Rules: The Role of Control in Financial Decision Making

Source:  Barclays Wealth

Despite their net-worth, a third (33%) of wealthy individuals in the UK wish they had more self-control over their financial behaviour, says the latest report in the Barclays Wealth Insights series. Interestingly, of all global respondents, a need for increased financial discipline is likely to be felt most by those at the wealthiest end of the scale (£10m+), where 45% of respondents wish they had more self-control. This is despite the report showing that those who want self-control are less likely to be satisfied with their financial situation.

Researched by Ledbury Research and written in conjunction with Barclays Wealth, the report is based on a survey of 400 high net worth individuals in the UK and more than 2,000 across the globe, and provides an in-depth examination of wealthy investors from a behavioural finance perspective. It considers the different financial personality traits that exist amongst wealthy investors and the different self-imposed rules and strategies that they put in place to deal with these traits. It shows that "emotional" trading can cost investors nearly 20% in returns over a ten-year period*, and the report shows that those who employ high strategy usage have on average 12% more wealth than those who do not use rules.

When compared to respondents across the globe, those in the UK actually have a lower desire for financial discipline than most. Globally, 41% of high-net worth individuals wish they had more self control over financial behaviour, with the figure rising as high as 86% in Taiwan and 70% in Hong Kong.

The full report can be downloaded from the Barclays Wealth website

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The State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2011

Source: World Bank

Extract from press release

The World Bank’s annual review of the global carbon market shows that 2010 was a watershed year as the market ended five years of robust growth with a slight decline compared to 2009.  The State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2011, shows that the total value of the global carbon market was estimated to be US$142 billion last year.

The report’s authors noted that several reasons help to explain the decline, including the continuing lack of clarity about the market after 2012 and the loss of political momentum on setting up new cap-and-trade schemes in several developed economies. Some buyers from industrialized countries, which in previous years had reached or surpassed targets, consequently made fewer purchases in 2010.  As well, lingering effects of the recession in several industrialized countries led to lower greenhouse gas emissions, easing emissions reduction compliance obligations

Furthermore, the primary Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) market, which accounts for the bulk of project-based transactions, fell by double digits for a variety of reasons, including lower demand for credits and competition from more predictable assets (Assigned Amount Units and secondary CERs). The CDM market is now at its lowest level since the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005, having dropped by 46% to an estimated US$1.5 billion in new project-based transactions.  Similarly, other carbon markets also declined or stayed at their plateau. Nevertheless, cumulatively, primary offset transactions have reached almost US$30 billion since 2005 and are expected to have catalyzed much larger resources, mostly from the private sector. 

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: World Bank Philippines

Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession 2010

Source: American Economic Review (2011)  Vol. 101(3)

CSWEP is a subcommittee of the American Economics Association charged with addressing the status of women in the economics profession. It publishes a three-times-a-year newsletter, organizes sessions at the annual meetings of the AEA and the regional economics associations, runs mentoring workshops, and publishes an annual report on the status of women in the economics profession.

The 2010 CSWEP surveys were sent to 121 economics departments with doctoral programs and 151 non-PhD departments. Most of schools represented in the non-PhD survey came from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2000 edition) “Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberals Arts” list, as fewer than ten are schools with economics departments offering an undergraduate and master’s-only economics degree.

Selected findings from the surveys

The fraction of first-year PhD students, ABDs, and newly completed PhDs in all PhD granting departments who are women is about one-third. The ABD fraction increased slightly between 2009 and 2010 to a new high. Assuming about five years to complete a doctorate in economics, this suggests that on average the pipeline is not very leaky, at least through completion of the doctorate.

However, the fraction of first-year PhD and ABD students and the fraction of new PhDs who are women at top 20 PhD granting departments are at least 5 percentage points lower than the corresponding figure for all PhD granting departments.

The female shares of untenured assistant professors and tenured associate professors are essentially constant between 2009 and 2010 at close to 28% and 22%, respectively. The female share of tenured full professors up-ticked to 10.7%, a new all-time high for this survey for the second year in a row.

In terms of non–tenure track faculty, results show that this category is disproportionately female in 2010. Among all PhD granting economics departments in the United States, the female share of non–tenure track faculty is approximately double that for the female share of all tenured/tenure track faculty (33.0 versus 17.5%).

See find this article online current staff, students and faculty should use Article Finder which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases within Portal.

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2011 European Attractiveness Survey

Source: Ernst & Young

Extract from Executive Summary

The world has a growing number of important spheres of economic influence. The European Union's share of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows (26%, first place) now equals its share of world GDP. Its recovery, however, remains mixed and tentative.

In 2010, emerging markets collectively reaped more than half of global inward FDI for the first time, although their performance was mixed: while the value of FDI into Brazil grew 16.3% on the back of commodities and consumption, capital inward investment in India fell 31.5%,2 slowed by strong internal competition for investments projects. Growth of FDI in China was sustained because investors there are benefiting from stable returns on investment (ROI).

When considering where to invest in 2010, companies view transport and logistics infrastructure (63%), telecommunications infrastructure (62%) and stability and transparency of the political, legal and regulatory environment (62%) as the most critical factors.

The UK and France remain FDI leaders in Europe, but they are losing market share to countries such as Germany and a host of smaller more cost-competitive countries, for example, Poland, Hungary and the Baltics.

Click here to read the full report

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Video Gaming 2011

Extract from Executive Summary

In 2010, the UK video games industry was worth £4.65bn — a 2.8% rise on the previous year. The market has seen consistent growth over the last few years, with the exception of 2009, when market value fell by 5.7%. This was principally down to a lack of new products and the economic crisis, which caused consumers to reign in their spending on unnecessary items, such as video games.

The range of consoles on the market at present has become somewhat stagnant in recent years and, as a result, the three main console manufacturers — Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft — have reacted by releasing extensions of their consoles that incorporate motion-sensitive technology, e.g. the Xbox Kinect. This new type of technology has proved extremely popular with consumers, although, a new generation of consoles will be needed in the next few years in order for market value to continue to improve.

Since their release in 2007, smartphones have increased in popularity and provided a boost to market value. The hugely successful iPhone and Android phone ranges have been the main reasons behind the accelerated uptake of mobile phone gaming. Thousands of games are now available to download for free, while others can be bought to download at the relatively cheap price of 59 pence (p) or more. Although this price is a fraction of the price of dedicated console games, the volume of mobile phone games sold is much larger.

The UK is one of the largest consumers and producers of video games in the world. It sits alongside the US, Japan and other European countries, as one of the highest spenders on video games. The UK is the leading force in terms of video games development in Europe, and is home to 48 of the world’s top 100 development studios according to games developer, develop100.com.

This report is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from Key Note Online which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr:  Michael Mistretta