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| Lucia Dore Consultancy Newsletter |
This month a number of things have dominated the news, in particular the corruption purge in Saudi Arabia, the war in Yemen and the pending war between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia.
Also, at the time of writing, there is flooding in Jeddah, with about 11,000 missing in the Hijaz region. Here are some links:
https://twitter.com/ItentertainSa/status/932974302558916608
https://twitter.com/hashtag/JeddahRain?src=hash
I have also written about other things such as merger and acquisition globally, The Paradise Papers and how they might affect New Zealand, and the Dunedin Study and what it shows about aging.
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| Dunedin Study |
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One event I would like to mention is the internationally recognised Dunedin Study- the longest multi-disciplinary, longitudinal study in the world, which is carried out by Otago University.
It is known formally as the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit (DMHDRU).
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The study tracks the lives of about 1000 babies born in Dunedin between 1972 and 1973. Now in its 45th year, the study is ramping up, particularly as people are beginning to age. It’s findings are not just interesting, they are ground breaking.
Why do we age? Dunedin studies this and more
and
http://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/
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| Lebanon caught in the mangle again |
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I’ve been following the government changes in Saudi with much interest, having lived in the region and covered it as a journalist for 8.5 years. It is no surprise that there are changes in the Saudi ruling family; those changes are rumoured to have been happening for years.
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However, this time is different. The changes are swift and dramatic and several events have combined at the same time. While not directly linked, they could bring more instability to an already volatile region. For more go to: Lebanon: caught in the mangle again
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| Mergers and Acquisitions |
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For anyone interested in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), E&Y have produced a good round up. In the study it states that a near-record number of companies (56%) plan to acquire in the next 12 months, driven principally by China and the United States.
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Since I have followed the ups and downs of the M&A market for years, when I was head of a newswire service, Mergermarket, looking at M&A in the Middle East, the study was particularly interesting. Go to: More M&A expected
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| Why we need to teach more business skills in the J-school classroom |
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My eye was quickly drawn to this headline: “Why we need to teach more business skills in the J-school classroom.” Journalism and business in the same sentence and this was being endorsed.
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Studying economics was a huge help to me, especially because I specialised in financial journalism. I got a job easily, I was often paid more than others less specialised and I worked overseas- in the UK, in the Middle East and in Asia/Pacific.
I had to read, among other things, balance sheets, understand business concepts, write about telephony and knowledge management, and entrepreneurship. Studying economics and writing about it was certainly worth it. At least others now agree. For a discussion by MediaShift visit our Blog.
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| Investment Opportunities |
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LDC also has a number of exciting investment prospects- from investing in all sorts of projects in Sri Lanka to having your boat or ship made to order.
More details here.
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2016 
