Fuel Prices - crude per barrel up by 40%

A big item in the news, at home, in fact everywhere it would seem at present. My own experience is of a significant increase in the cost of petrol, meaning my weekly fuel bill has gone up by some 22% over the last 12 months or so.

What's it all down to and will the situation change in the near future? A meeting this week in Saudi Arabia will look to try to find solutions to this problem, but this might be hard to find when there seems to be as many different theories as to the cause of the fuel price increase as there participants in the meeting.

Many observers internationally feel it is the surging demand in China that has lead to the price increase as this demand has outstripped supply. The Saudis themselves blame global speculators, those people who buy and sell oil on the world markets, for bidding up the price. The OPEC group of oil producers blame shortages in refining capacity, meaning that supply is restricted, whilst the UK's prime minister is blaming OPEC for not increasing supply, when he believes the ability to increase supply does exist.

A great case study for us then! What is interesting is that the Saudi's are very concerned by the oil price increase, despite the fact that billions of extra revenues is being earned. Political conflict with the West and a consumer move away from oil (already a talking point due to environmental concerns) towards alternative energy sources are possible outcomes of this situation.

Where will a solution come from? Will it come this week? Many commentators think not....

First AEA students this year

Good luck to Reema Khosla, Leon Beressi and Keane Yarish as they enter their final preparations for the BSP's first sitting of OCR's AEA Business paper. These students have all been producing excellent work on the A Level course and have been selected for this extension paper, which aims to stretch students above and beyond the syllabus taken by the rest of their cohort. The exam is three hours long and the students have to study an in-depth report on a real business (in previous years this has included Shell and GlaxoSmithKline) and answer two questions relating to elements within the report. The nature of the questions forces the students to think on a strategic basis, considering issues that affect the whole corporation and not just one of its functional areas.

Keep your fingers crossed on the 25th June!

Year 10 Business Enterprise Projects

This year's projects have gone extremely well. A large and diverse range of mini businesses were created this year, including T shirt printing, jewellery making, water games (!) and various foody stalls all being in the mix. Year 10 worked hard to conduct market and product research, identifying target markets and gaps along the way. Marketing mixes were tailor made for each of the businesses, with the most interesting differences coming from the groups' ideas for promoting their services. Balloon bursting, sandwich boards, electronic display boards, special offers and money off vouchers were all made available.

Perhaps the clearest indication of the success of the businesses was the enthusiasm of the consumers; the other pupils. Feedback was immediate and full of praise - so well done to the groups!

A record 1500€ had been lent out to the groups to fund their initial expenditure, this only being agreed after all groups had passed through the BSP's very own Dragon's Den. All this finance was paid back, costs were covered and still the groups managed to accumulate just under 1000€ profit, which will now be donated to a charity of their choosing.

Plans for next year include the building of 'Enterprise Sheds' to ease setting up of the businesses and the inclusion of a final presentation, so that students can reflect more readily on the process they have been through.