Business - Top 5 Business Films

I always find that a good way to get student to really understand some of the business concepts in practice is to show clips from films – these help the students to relate the theory that they have learnt to practice in the film. Also, some of the films I have identified below are related to businesses/products that they will identify with and use on a daily basis.

I have included the trailers for each below and also what the film is about and topics it can be used for.

1. The Social Network (trailer)

This is an amazing film and a great teaching aid – for both AS start up enterprise and also A2 Unit 4 growth, ethics & the student’s research of real businesses.

Lets face it, many of our students will be ‘addicted’ to facebook and will know a little about the owner- but not how it started and the ideas of how it began.

Its also excellent to demonstrate the rapid growth of the company.

2. Rogue Trader (trailer)

Again this is an excellent film to use when studying Unit 3 window dressing, income statements – or finance in general. It’s also an great example for ethics when looking at Unit 4. 

Based on a true story, Nick Leeson, is an employee of Barings Bank who after a successful spell working for the firm's office in Indonesia is sent to Singapore as General Manager of the Trading Floor on the SIMEX exchange.

The movie follows Leeson's rise as he soon becomes one of Barings' key traders. However, everything isn't as it appears —Nick is hiding huge losses as he gambles away Baring's money with little more than the bat of an eyelid from the powers-that-be back in London.

3. Wall Street (1987 original) (trailer)

This is a great one! The original is the best, and this film from the 1980’s is based on a young and impatient stockbroker who is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing.

This could be used well for finance in Unit 2 & 3, as well as looking at the human resource and ethical side of how greedy he was to succeed!

4. Pirates of Silicon Valley (trailer)

Even though a new film is currently being made about Steve Jobs, this film documents the impact on the development of the personal computer of the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft.

It spans the time period of the early 1970s to 1997, when Steve Jobs and Bill Gates develop a partnership after Jobs returns to Apple Computer. Fantastic for looking at technology in Units 2 & 3 and also for leadership & culture studied in unit 4.

5. Glengarry Glen Ross (trailer)

The film depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen and how they become desperate when the corporate office sends a trainer to "motivate" them by announcing that, in one week, all except the top two salesmen will be fired.

Good for looking at motivation, human resources and ethics, again for units 2, 3 & 4.

Donna Jestin

Secondary Maths - Visualising the Mean

I was working recently with Mr Davaasuren. He had written some teaching material about averages and we were looking together at what he had done. We discussed some of the issues involved in helping students to understand about mode, median, mean and range.

The next morning we met again and he asked if I would like to see the model he had made the night before. You can see it in the photograph

It consists of six transparent vertical tubes with a scale next to each one. The tubes are all connected via a further horizontal tube at the bottom. 

The tubes can be filled with coloured water and there is a stopper to go in the top of each one. Mr Davaasuren carved the stoppers from erasers.

This is how it works. Suppose you have the six numbers, say 16, 18, 12, 7, 16 and 9.

First fill the tubes to the level of the lowest number, in this case 7. Since they are all connected they will all fill to the same level.

Put a stopper in the fourth tube. The level of this will stay at 7. Add liquid to bring the rest up to 9. Stopper the sixth tube. Continue in this way until the levels in each tube are the six numbers in order and there is a stopper in each tube.

First we can demonstrate the range. It is simply the difference between the highest and lowest levels.

Next the mode. There are two tubes at the same level, so that is the mode.

Next the median. Find the highest and the lowest (18 and 7) and “discard” those. That leaves 16, 12, 9 and 16. Now discard the highest and lowest of those (one of the 16s and 9). That leaves the 12 and a 16. The median is halfway between the two. We can find this by removing the stoppers from those two tubes. The levels will even up so that they are both on 14.

Finally the mean. Remove all the stoppers and the liquid in every tube will adjust to the same level – 13 – and this is the mean.

Isn’t that brilliant? Range, mode, median and mean all demonstrated at the same time. Along the way it shows why the mode might not be a good choice of average and the fact that the median for an even set of numbers if the mean of the two middle numbers.

You could also use it to discuss what happens if you change the scales. Suppose, for example, you add 10 to every number on each scale. How does that affect the range, mode, median and mean? What if you add a different number? What happens if you multiply every number by 2? Or some other number?

Mr Davaasuren intends to make a video of his Mean Machine in action and put it on a website so that teachers will be able to show it in their classrooms. Unfortunately the website is in Mongolian and unless you have a working knowledge of that language you will have difficulty using it. On the other hand, if you have some plastic tubing laying around in your garage you might be able to make your own Mean Machine.

Students often find it hard to understand why the mean is defined in the way it is. I think this visualisation of evening out the different levels is a superb way to visualise it. It made me wonder if there are other tricky mathematical topics which could be explained easily if we just had the right visual aid. Any suggestions anybody?

Chris Pearce

Business News Quiz 23/01/13

1.       Which retailer has just gone into administration making it the latest casualty on the High Street and putting about 4,350 jobs at risk?

Game ( )             Oasis ( )                HMV ( )             Comet( )

2.       UK consumer prices inflation held steady at what figure in December, official figures have shown?

3.5% ( )            2.7% ( )                  3% ( )               2.5% ( )

3.       The UK economy contracted by how much in the last three months of 2012, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)?

1.5% ( )              0.2% ( )                0.3% ( )              3% ( )

4.       Which companies shares hit an 11-month low in New York last week after a report of a cut in orders for their latest phone?

Apple ( )        Nokia ( )       HTC ( )      Microsoft ( )

5.       Which car manufacturer is to cut 800 jobs at its Swindon plant, blaming weak demand in European markets?

BMW ( )             Vauxhall ( )        Ford ( )              Honda ( )

6.       Investigations are under way to try to find out how beef-burgers on sale in UK and Irish Republic supermarkets became contaminated with?  

Horsemeat ( )         Dog Meat ( )              Cat Meat ( )            Fish( )

7.        Facebook has announced a major addition to its social network - a smart search engine it has called…?

Table search ( )      Graph search ( )         Google search ( )       Facebook search ( )             

8.       The construction industry in the UK will not recover its pre-recession peak level of output until when, says a study by an industry lobby group?

2016 ( )        2014 ( )            2020 ( )       2022 ( )

9.       Shares in chocolatier Thornton’s have fallen 7% and fashion chain French Connection 11% after both reported disappointing sales figures. In addition, Dixons has fallen a further ?% on fears the electrical retailer may cut its profit outlook on Thursday?

10.5% ( )         7%  ( )        3.5%  ( )         5%  ( )

10.   UK mobile users will be able to send and receive money by sharing only their phone number by what year, the Payments Council has said?

2014 ( )         2016( )          2017( )          2015 ( )

Answers –

1 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21021073

2-  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21025585

3 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20987571

4 –  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21022111

5 –  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20987708

6 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21038521

7 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21032506

8 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21039522

9 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21043359

10 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21032503