Some Guides to OUR NEW DATABASE - MINTEL!

Mintel in one of a few new databases this year for business students. It's a fantastic market research tool and it used very widely by many universities and companies. Firstly. Use this link to access Mintel from the library subject guide and then come back here and have a look at the training guides poster below.

We have put together a 2015/2016 student starter pack, which you can access below:

Mintel Student Starter Pack

The pack contains info on how Mintel can help students with their projects, how to use the Mintel site and also a little bit of info on who we are.

Please feel free to share this with your students.

We have also recently put together a handy 5 step guide for students showing them how Mintel can be used to create a business plan.

5 Steps to Perfecting Your Business Plan

Wealth Drugs Scandals & VW Scandal.

Things are getting very busy with Welcome month so quite a short round-up this month, so a very quick round-up. A detailed Financial Times report on Wealth and several links on the VW scandal. Firstly a podcast and then analysis on the impact on the European Car Industry. Finally a piece looking at Martin Shkreli who has become the face of the mark-ups of vital drugs by big pharma.  Looking forward to meeting many new students in the coming weeks.

How to identify risks and business opportunities in markets across Latin America

How to identify risks and business opportunities in markets across Latin America

An interactive tutorial from The Economist Intelligence Unit

Please join us on Tuesday, September 29th, 2015, at 4-5pm British Summer Time (11am-12pm Eastern Daylight Time), when Fiona Mackie, Regional Editor for Latin America, will guide you through the capabilities of our key subscription products and the outlook for Latin America. The session will explore how the region is struggling to emerge from a period of sub-par growth, amid sluggish activity in Mexico, recession in Brazil and Venezuela, and a deceleration in some previously very dynamic Andean economies. Risk, but also opportunities, will abound as recovery starts to gather pace. Please visit our registration page to join this discussion. We look forward to greeting you online. Kind regards, Robert Ward Editorial Director

Register Now

Early weekly Round-up, Brazil, China & Lessons from the Wolrd of Sport.

Economic news continues to be alarming. The Financial Time have put together a special section or you to follow all the news about the Chinese Slow Down as China itself sees a caught case disputing Moody's rating of 61 Chinese companies drag on. Economic Turmoil also afflicts Brazil which is in its worst Recession since the Great Depression of the 1920s and has seen its debt downgraded to Junk by Standard and Poor. In better banking news, Global banks have made substantial progress towards achieving standards needed to comply with the new liquidity rules coming in in 2019. Finally, with the Rugby World Cup kicking off tomorrow, here is a great blog piece about what Business people can really learn from the world of Sport.

The Business Show at Olympia - Are you a budding entrepreneur?

The Business Show, Olympia 3 - 4 December 2015 City Business Library always exhibits at the Business Show at Olympia and we will be there again in December 2015; we look forward to seeing you there! We will be at stand 114 so come and visit us there, where you will see our new look logo and branding and find updates on our business information resources, programme of events and room hire. City Business Library is Your Place in the City to talk business. The Business Show is Europe's largest event for Startups and SMEs, welcoming 25,000 to Olympia, London on 3rd and 4th December, giving business owners access to all the inspiration, advice and solutions they need to grow their business. If your business sells to other businesses then the The Business Show is a great avenue to sell your product or service. As Europe's largest event for Startups and SMEs, the sheer number of business owners that come through the doors over the two days is unrivalled, making this a unique opportunity to gather hundreds of leads, build brand awareness and increase your client base. The organisers have agreed to offer our readers an exclusive discount if they exhibit at the event this year. For full details on the exclusive discount and everything that's included in the exhibitors package, telephone Reg Chard on 0117 930 4927 or email reg.chard@prysmgroup.co.uk. Come and say hello to the City Business Library team at stand 114. We look forward to seeing you there!

Bloomberg Aptitude test 25th September

The Bloomberg Aptitude Test will be running on Friday the 25th of September in the Sheppard Library in room S112.  The exam will begin promptly at 1.00pm.

The BAT is a 2-hour multiple-choice exam designed to assess aptitude for business and finance. Scores are entered anonymously into the BAT database where over 20,000 top firms can search for internship and full-time candidates.

This is an amazing opportunity for both students and staff to take the BAT, uncover their strengths across a range of finance, business, career and personal competencies and gain insight into their suitability for careers in business and finance.

After taking the test, students can enter their scores  into the BAT Talent Search, a tool used by employers to identify candidates for entry-level roles in business. Employers can view student profiles and may elect to contact students with testing profiles complementary to their available career opportunities.

If you would like to register for the BAT, please click on this link for the Bloomberg Institute registration web page.

Living Wage, Executive pay the NIkkei, Queen Elizabeth & Apple

First up what will the impact of Osborne's living wage? Nobody's quite sure but here is a good summary of the issues and possibilities. Are you sympathetic to retailers complaining they must raise prices or do you think they should have been paying a living wage years ago? On the flipside, is continuing outrage about exceutive pay actually a sign of progress rather than an indication that nothing is really changing?

Apple made big if slightly derivative announcements for future products this week and this video analyses whether that will be enough to dispel doubts about its momentum. This is a fascinating blog from Harvard Business Review about whether a drawback of selling on amazon and other platforms is they themselves become your competitor.

This week saw two historical events; the Nikkei's biggest surge in seven years, and Queen Elizabeth II becoming Britain's longest reigning monarch. This rather nice video from the FT looks at the City under her reign. Two special reports from the Financial Times, one on Modern Energy which should interest all you oil & gas students and one on watches and jewellery. Finally a lovely short piece reflecting on classmates on an MBA and what the experience of taking an MBA can be like.

Refugees, Economic Slowdown, Aga and A NEW LIBRARY DATABASE.

Starting the the extremely serious and not totally business related news. The Refugee crisis in Europe is huge and extremely serious and here are some suggestions of how you can help if you were so inclined. To contextualise this crisis, here is the Financial Times' analysis of the numbers of refugees and migrants who are seeking security and a new home as they flee the terror and death in their countries of origin.

Turning to the Global slowdown, Mario Draghi has indicated he is ready to increase quantitative easing to try and protect the Euro Zone while US trade continues to contract which adds to the fear sparked by China's economic situation. Turning to some optimistic news East Africa has the potential to emerge as a rival trade hub with the economies of Ethiopia, DRC, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana all showing potential to develop according to Barclays. And this is your frequent remind that Google is not wholly benign as it faces the music for abusing its dominant marketing position in India. In lighter news, this piece about an accountant who became a car-valet to the super rich is a fascinating read as it this video on whether the quintessential British Aga oven brand can thrive abroad.

Finally Time to highlight one of TWO new databases for the new academic year. First up Mintel which is premier market research database and a great source of both analysis and statistical data. Check it out! Also check out its sister site Mintel Trends.