New blog from WBS MBA students

Our MBA students have started a new blog. It is described as "a blog for MBA applicants who want to get an insight view into to the exciting life and hard work of Westminster Business School MBA students. The content of the blog is provided in full by our MBA students."
View it here: blog.business.westminster.ac.uk/mba/
We have also added it to our blog list, in the right hand menu bar of this blog.

World Cup fever and the sound of Vuvuzelas

The World Cup is now in full swing in South Africa. We have heard a lot about (and from) the Vuvuzelas but apart from making the drone of the Vuvuzela (in)famous what impact will the World Cup have on South Africa both commerically and socially?

Tourism is set to increase after the slow growth witnessed in previous years. Global Market Information Database (GMID) has a report on Travel and Tourism in South Africa which looks at the impact of the World Cup and its future sustainability. From GMID you can also get statistical and demographic information on the country as well as consumer lifestyle reports. Find the South Africa country page by locating it from the 'geographies' tab.

The government have invested heavily in public transport infrastructure, which fans are being urged to use amidst stories of grid-locked roads. GMID has a consumer report related to transport which gives details about South Africa's transport infrastructure and spending in previous years.

EIU Viewswire is a good source of the latest political and economic news and analysis. From the first page of the database choose South Africa from the left-hand country/region drop-down menu. Click on "1click report" from the South Africa page to get a full report including a ten year economic outlook.

The database Emerging Markets gives details of South Africa's consumer price index, top companies, top industries and the latest analysis/research. From the first page of the database click on South Africa in the right hand menu, then click on the home tab to get to the country outlook homepage.

Find the databases GMID, EIU Viewswire and Emerging Markets all on InfoLinX. When you have read all that sit back and enjoy the tournament!!

Photo credit: AfricanGoals2010 http://www.flickr.com/photos/50989081@N07/ CC BY-NC 2.0

Economists Online

Keep up to date with new economic research using a subject repository for economics.

EconomistsOnline was created by the NEEO (Network of European Economists Online) and funded by the European Commission.

It provides open access to high-quality, multi-lingual economic research. Search for bibliographic references, find full-text documents, browse scholar lists and download primary data sets.

Blog news

Our blog has now past its four-month anniversary and we have just added a new feature. In the right hand menu you will see a section called 'pages'. Here we have added a new page called 'Business Resources FAQs', from where you can get answers to frequently asked questions relating to business resources, such as "where can I get company SWOT analyses?". We will be adding to this page with new questions soon. If you have any questions you would like to see answered on the FAQs do let us know in the comments box below.

The picture featured is a Wordle representation of our blog as it stands four months on.

OECD Factbook app

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fr3d/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The OECD Factbook provides a global overview of major economic, social and environmental indicators and it is now available as an iPhone app. The information is categorised into twelve different themes such as population and migration, economic globalisation, and macroeconomic trends. The app is free to download and a version for Blackberry and other smartphones will be available soon. Read more here.

Free Webinar from Verdict

Verdict are hosting a free webinar on "The Future of Convenience Retailing in Europe". The webinar takes place on Thursday 3rd June 14.00 GMT. Further information and sign-up can be found here.