THIS year has been, as appeared inevitable from a long way out, something of a political and economic rollercoaster ride.

In the world of business journalism, you are often asked whether the number of good news stories is increasing. It is not surprising to hear this question, with the issue of whether good or bad news stories are in the ascendancy being viewed, understandably, in a similar way to the needle on a barometer.

The fact of the matter is that, even in the depths of the 2008/09 downturn, there were plenty of good news stories from within the Scottish business community.

Often, these success stories were all the more impressive because the achievements were made against the odds, with the economy in dire shape.

And, even in the better times, there are bad news stories.

Unfortunately, for example, announcements of job losses by companies seem ever more like permanent features of the business landscape. There appears to be ever-less relief these days from such bad news even when the economy is supposedly faring a bit better.

In this regard, the question of whether the management consultants are just having too much of an impact often comes to mind.

When they are called into companies, it frequently seems that they are unlikely to resist the opportunity to advise taking out, say, a certain further percentage of the workforce. It is easy to make such a suggestion if you are not particularly familiar with the operations of a business and its requirements.

Such approaches, of top-down management seeking to squeeze efficiencies out of businesses, sadly often appear to figure more prominently than moves by companies to invest for future growth.

The highlight of the year, in terms of the good news stories, was Scottish engineering entrepreneur Jim McColl's rescue of the Ferguson shipbuilding yard at Port Glasgow.

When Ferguson, the last commercial shipbuilder on the Clyde, fell into administration, it was easy to fear the worst.

The Dunnet family, after buying the shipyard in 1995, invested very significant amounts of time and money over a period of nearly two decades, enjoying good times as well as bad in terms of the performance of the business.

In the end, the challenge proved too great.

In the immediate aftermath of the yard's fall into administration in mid-August, it was difficult to imagine a rescue deal. The administrators moved swiftly to make 70 of the yard's remaining 77 staff redundant.

However, the following week, The Herald revealed that Mr McColl had tabled a bid to rescue the collapsed Clyde shipbuilder and aimed to return the yard to its former glory by creating hundreds of jobs.

The engineering tycoon, who saved about 550 jobs at Weir Pumps in Glasgow in 2007 by buying that business from Weir Group, pledged to invest "many millions" of pounds in the yard at Port Glasgow if his offer was accepted by ¬administrators.

The administrators, Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of accountancy firm KPMG, worked swiftly to agree the sale of the shipyard to Mr McColl's Clyde Blowers Capital. Alex Salmond, then First Minister, had emphasised that a rescue of the Ferguson yard was a priority for the Scottish Government.

All appears to be going very well so far, with the skilled and enthusiastic workforce re-hired, and Mr McColl appears excited about what he can achieve with the Ferguson business as he proceeds with his plans for major investment.

Within weeks of Clyde Blowers Capital being named preferred bidder for the Ferguson yard, it won a £12.3 million order from the Scottish Government for Scotland's third hybrid diesel-electric ferry, which will be part of the fleet operated by Caledonian MacBrayne.

Mr McColl has had a very good look at the yard, and at ways of transforming how things are done to give Ferguson the best chance of attracting future orders from home and abroad.

The yard certainly appears in good hands.

In a year of ups and downs, the Ferguson deal was certainly a high.

In contrast, 2014 has been another very tough year for many of those working for Royal Bank of Scotland.

Many companies, as mentioned previously, continue to trim their workforces on a regular basis with some apparent belief that this will improve their fortunes.

However, more than six years after the onset of the 2008/09 recession, large-scale job losses at the banks show little sign of ending.

We have already had tens of thousands of job cuts from RBS and from Bank of Scotland owner Lloyds Banking Group.

RBS's chief executive, Ross McEwan, has made no secret of his strategy of investing in new technology and reducing staff numbers significantly further. His cost-saving targets signal the number of posts to be taken out as part of this strategy is big.

The state-controlled RBS has not had its troubles to seek as it has attempted to get itself to a position which would enable the UK Government to start selling down the taxpayer's stake in the bank.

And Mr McEwan, while he will be remunerated well, does not have his challenges to find. However, it is nevertheless disappointing to see a workforce which has gone through so many difficult years faced with the prospect of continuing large-scale job cuts.

It remains to be seen what impact this programme will have on customer service.

Lloyds Banking Group has fared better than RBS in recent times, with the UK Government having sold down some of the taxpayer's stake in the Bank of Scotland owner already and planning further significant disposals of shares in the near term.

Sadly, that has not stopped Lloyds, led by Antonio Horta-Osorio, unveiling plans for thousands more job cuts and abandoning its commitment to keep open the last bank in town.