Not the Nine O'clock News

A TV series broadcast by the BBC between 1979 - 82 starring Rowan Atkinson, Gryff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stevenson. It was an alternative and humorous review of current issues and news, hence the title as it was the complete opposite of the BBC's evening news programme The Nine O'Clock News.

See Interesting Links: British Humour: Not the nine 0'clock news- New Job

In the 1970's there were various new pieces of legislation relating to employment. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976 were two important pieces of legislation designed to encourage the employment and equal treatment of women and people from ethnic minority groups. This sketch is based on these two Acts and, of course, taken to the extreme when the owner of the company is looking to recruit a new man..... woman.

Other examples of surreal British humour are Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969 - 74) with John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman.

More recent comedy series include 'The Office' with Ricky Gervais, first broadcast in 2001 and later recreated in other European countries and the USA (with Steve Carrell). Based in an office in Slough, the vain and pompous General Manager, David Brent (Gervais) and his co-workers reflect real life work situations.....

Glaxosmithkline introduces tiered price scheme for vaccines

This week GSK announced it was introducing a tiered price scheme for the vaccine Rotarix, a vaccine that prevents a disease that causes diarrhea and kills around half a million children a year. The vaccine will be made available in developing countries for 1.50 GBP instead of the 30 GBP it currently costs in developed countries. This reflects the growing trend towards social responsibility on a global scale.

See Interesting links - Glaxosmithkline - introduce tiered price scheme for vaccine

Keith Wandell current President and CEO of Harley Davidson

In an interview with Mike Gousha in June 2010, Keith Wandell President and CEO of Harley Davidson talks about the future of HD in the state of Wisconsin and what he sees as the priorities to manage the internal costs of the company amongst other issues.

See Interesting links - Keith Wandell President CEO HD talks to Mike Gousha (10:39 mins)

Following our discussions on Monday about CEO pay, see Interesting links - Keith Wandell Pay Package for 2009. He was appointed on 1st May 2009 and during his first 8 months his pay package was $6.4 million, despite reporting a 4th quarter loss of $218.7 m, the first in 16 years.

Corporate survival - Harley Davidson

Charlie Rose interviews Chairman of Harley Davidson Jeff Bleustein (2002) about the history of the company. A company that started over 100 years ago, it has had to change it's corporate strategy over the years to survive, and especially in the last 20 years. Watch this video to learn how the company sought to attract younger and new riders.

Business strategy

Next week we will be discussing business strategy in some well known international companies such as Nike and Geox.

Listen to the Founder and Chairman of Geox, Mario Moretti Polegato talk to Markus Karlsson at France24 about their business strategy for 2011.

Mario Moretti Polegato is Italian, he speaks English slowly and with grammatical errors however he is able to clearly communicate his message.

Getting things done: Direct orders or a softer approach?

This week (9th May) we'll be looking at how direct orders can demotivate people while a softer approach will lead to more positive results.

These two short video sketches from classic British comedians, 'The Two Ronnies' with Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett and 'Blackadder' with Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson help to illustrate the point.

See interesting links:

British Humour: Blackadder - Hugh Laurie is all man

British Humour: Two Ronnies - Your nuts, my Lord.

Where does all the money come from?

Here's an interesting animated video by Paul Grignon answering the question, "Where does all the money come from?". It's called Money as Debt and there are 5 parts, each between 7 - 10 minutes long. Just click on the arrow to the side of the screen to move from one part to another.

See Interesting Links: Top documentary films - Money as debt