Glenstrata - Glencore proposes merger with Xstrata
Yesterday morning’s business news has been dominated by the proposed merger of Glencore and Xstrata. Glencore’s 34% holding of Xstrata shares had made a third party approach for Xstrata very difficult if not impossible.
read more...»ResearchBuster: Acquisitions
Our ResearchBuster blog posts are designed to help students identify and integrate examples of business strategy for their synoptic essays and exams. This ResearchBuster look at some of the most significant examples of takeovers / acquisitions in recent years…
read more...»Mini’s PR backfires badly in central Europe
No doubt it seemed a jolly good idea at the time. Someone in Sassenbach, the advertising agency that handles the BMW Mini account spotted an oppportunity; the German meteorology institute offers ‘Adopt a Vortex’, the chance to name, or ‘sponsor’, weather systems and encourages people to follow the path of the weather on meteorological websites. So they decided to name a weather system ‘Cooper’, and according to the BBC report they thought that naming the front after the open-air vehicle was a “wind- and weather-proof idea”.
read more...»Cadbury’s Law - Should UK Firms be Protected from Takeover?
Back in 2010, the effect of the Kraft takeover of Cadbury’s brought business into the realms of politics as the unhappiness felt by some stakeholders spilled directly into the UK’s General Election.
One proposed response from the Labour Party was the so-called Cadbury’s Law, whereby new legislation would attempt to protect UK firms from takeover by foreign companies. Was this a good idea?
read more...»Top Totty Beer - Warning the image may demean women (or not as the case may be.
A small Staffordshire brewery may have a boost to its sales of one of its beers after a Labour MP Kate Green called for, and got a ban on sales of Slater’s Top Totty.
The Biz Quiz - 2 February 2012
Another 10 questions on the business news here…quite easy this week; your quizmaster expects you to get at least 7 out of ten 
Launch The Biz Quiz - 2 February 2012
PEST - IAG and BMI acquisition
International Airlines Group or BA and Iberia are trying to acquire BMI from Lufthansa.
A move which would allow IAG would gain c. 56 additional take-off and landing slots at Heathrow. Lufthansa had bought up most of BMI’s shares in 2008 but has failed to prevent the group losing money.
The 7p Valentines Day Card
With just a couple of weeks until Valentine’s Day, many shops are going into overdrive with the displays of flowers, hearts, chocolates etc… It’s a lucrative time of year to charge top prices for certain products that might have a very inelastic PED (depending on how late you leave it to purchase!) and many firms see this as a good opportunity for business - I know plenty of Young Enterprise teams in schools all over the country who see it this way as well.
read more...»Mastering the art of merger integration
As the BUSS4 research topic reaches the students it is useful to be able to steer them towards something to get the process started. Finding something they can do alongside other work should help to motivate them as they feel their way into the topic.
read more...»BUSS2 Revision Workshops 2012 - Programme Outline
The detailed programme for our AQA BUSS2 revision workshops in March & April 2012 is now available. Details below. Bookings for these workshops can be made here. We’re visiting Portsmouth, Hull, London (Fulham), Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and then finishing off with a visit to the Olympic area at London Stratford City.
read more...»Integration, integration, integration
HP is an example of a firm which is struggling to integrate acquisitions, and the perils of diversification.
BUSS4 Revision Workshops 2012 - Programme Outline
The session-by-session programme for our AQA BUSS4 revision workshops in March & April 2012 is now available. Details below. Bookings for these workshops can be made here. We’re visiting Portsmouth, Hull, London (Fulham), Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and then finishing off with a visit to the Olympic area at London Stratford City.
read more...»Business Case Studies: Alex Polizzi: the Fixer
This is a great program to illustrate numerous business issues. The program last night looked at a bridal shop that was experiencing problems due to poor management, the program looked at the range of issues that the business had to deal with referring to finance and human resource issues etc. Alex Polizzi: the Fixer on BBC 2 is worth watching and using as a source of business case study material in the classroom to bring various business concepts to life. The series continues on BBC 2 Tuesday 8pm. As its on before 9 it is suitable for lower school classes. Well worth a look. It is currently on BBC iPlayer.
BUSS4 research - some initial ideas
The brief for the BUSS4 research task makes the point that “You are strongly recommended to compare and contrast a number of different takeovers and mergers.” There is a huge amount of news reporting on this topic; in addition to the Guardian hub reported by Miss C Wilkin’s blog below, both FT.com and Reuters have link pages which will take you to myriad of reports about Mergers and Acquisitions - more information that your students could ever need, and which they will need some help to negotiate.
It is early days at the moment to get the students too far into the bullet points, but if they want to get going on some of the issues that might be involved, here is my initial list of some key news stories that could give a start point:
read more...»BUSS4 2012 - Mergers and Takeovers on the Business Studies Blog
As you might imagine, there is already a substantial amount of relevant content on the Business Studies Blog which will be helpful for colleagues and students researching Mergers and Takeovers for BUSS4. We’ll be adding substantially to this over the coming days and weeks. Here are a couple of suggestions for the best way to find useful resources on the blog.
read more...»The Guardian on Takeovers and Mergers
The Guardian website is a great source of information for students. In light of the AQA BUSS4 pre-release study theme of Mergers and Takeovers, I have started doing some research in the Guardian for my students to help with some case study material as a stimulus to get them started on this research theme. Below are some links to useful recent news articles.
read more...»AQA A2 Business (BUSS4) Research Theme 2012
The Section A research theme for 2012 has now been released. The topic is Mergers and Takeovers. Our team is now working flat out to provide support for colleagues and students taking on the research theme ahead of the BUSS4 exam on Thursday 21 June 2012.
Details of the research bullets are provided further below.
In common with previous research themes, we have created a dedicated channel on the Business Studies Blog which we’ll use to post advice, including useful research links, exam technique guidance and other resources which will help save you time. The link to the BUSS4 channel for 2012 is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/C634
The BUSS4 channel also has an RSS feed for anyone who wants to get first news of new blog entries. The RSS link is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/rss_2.0/C634
Our detailed BUSS4 Research Toolkit is now used by over 1,000 AQA centres in the UK and overseas. This can now be pre-ordered from here or by downloading this printable order form.
As in 2011, we are running a series of one-day CPD briefing days for colleagues wanting further support on how to handle the Section A Research Theme. Details of these courses here
Finally, and certainly not least, our BUSS4 Student Rvision Workshops are scheduled to run in March & April 2012. These were hugely popular last year and all the signs are that they will be even busier in 2012. You’ll need to move fast to book some places for the workshops - all the details you need are here.
read more...»How to turn threats into an opportunity at Ryanair
Michael O’Leary, quoted in Management Today, describes the situation facing Ryanair towards the end of last year. He highlighted the threats from the EU recession and higher oil prices, but typically O’Leary found the opportunities more compelling: the “unfolding failure of the package tour operator model, significant competitor fare increases and capacity cuts, created enormous growth opportunities for Ryanair, as large and smaller airports across Europe compete aggressively to win Ryanair’s growth” he said.
read more...»Starbucks growth - three out of four ain’t bad.
I think the song goes something like that….Starbucks has been very popular in this blog lately with a number of posts across different topics. It seems to be all good news at the moment as they pursue a number of different strategies for achieving growth. And I used this video clip to get my students to identify three out of the four main ways of growing a business.
read more...»Water water everywhere….
What do you think of when you think of water?
Here’s a fun lesson to share with your AS Business class.
read more...»Success for the Daily Mail’s online strategy
Last year I started my A2 students on the topic of business strategy by looking at the UK newspaper market. Analysis of their position paints a pretty bleak picture, but the industry has a successful record of innovation, so it was interesting to compare their strategies for survival. A year later, and the success of one paper’s strategy is becoming apparent.
read more...»Technological change - the “consumerisation of technology”
This is a neat two-minute video from The Economist (in October 2011) which provides an ideal introduction to a key concept - the “consumerisation of technology”. Essentially this is about the integration of consumer tech products into the world of work. The main example provided is that of the smartphone, but you can apply the same concept to other hardware products such as tablets and also to software as a service (“SaaS”) such as cloud-based storage.
read more...»Strategic choice: What should Facebook do with cash from the IPO?
The business pages are buzzing about the impending flotation of Facebook, with some analysts speculating that the implied valuation of Facebook based on the flotation share price will be up to $100billion. It is thought that Facebook will seek to raise approximately $10billion of new share capital through the IPO. But, what should Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook Board do with the cash raised?
read more...»Leadership in a multinational business - what leadership style works best?
This is an interesting blog entry from Pekka Viljakainen, an entrepreneur from Finland who sold his IT consulting business to a multinational Tieto. Some useful insights here for students wanting to develop their understanding of how the challenge of leadership changes as a leader’s responsibilities become more complex and cross-border.
read more...»Leadership - Howard Schultz on the importance of leading an innovative culture
I’m a big fan of Starbucks as a case study for business students which provides some great examples of linkages between the different aspects of business strategy. In this clip from a recent business conference (London 2011), Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz discusses the importance of innovation in a competitive environment where businesses that stand still face defeat.
read more...»Leadership - what is the best leadership style? It depends on the “situation”!
A somewhat different and more formal feel to this video, but it makes an effective classroom resource nonetheless. It introduces an important concept relating to leadership - that of “situational leadership”.
read more...»Leadership - Tough decisions to turn Starbucks around
Here is a gem of an interview with Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. In this short (3 minute) clip he discusses the difficult decisions he had to make about the business when he returned as CEO, including closing stores and making staff redundant. One of the success stories of the 1990s, Starbucks had grown too big and lacked clear focus. Excellent material to generate discussion on leadership, management, motivation, marketing, strategy, retrenchment and more.
read more...»Leadership - 40 examples of leadership at the movies in just 120 seconds
This would make a great lesson starter to get the students focused on the topic of leadership. In fact, you might also use it at the start of studying a new course, or to refocus “Team Business” as they prepare for the final push towards exams! As Lord Sutch might say…“two minutes of business gold dust”
read more...»Leadership - what qualities does an effective leader and manager have?
What qualities does an effective business leader or manager have? How do these qualities differ? This five minute video provides some interesting and engaging perspectives from a selection of employees. Ok, so it’s a training video; but a high quality one and it is packed full of relevant business studies terminology too.
read more...»Schultz on Leadership, Love and the Competitive Advantage of Culture
We know that the BUSS4 is a big fan of the Apple and Steve Jobs - and with good reason. As our BUSS4 Topic Tracker indicates, a previous essay question (Jan 2010) used the example of Steve Jobs to ask students to evaluate how easy it is for a Chief Executive to change a struggling business into a more successful one.
Steve Jobs shares much in common with another well-known entrepreneur and CEO - Howard Schultz (Starbucks). Both men founded, left and then returned to lead a turnaround of their respective businesses. Both have taken on the challenge of taking a business idea through rapid growth and then also manage a global brand in a much more uncertain external environment.
Might Howard Schultz feature in a future AQA BUSS4 essay choice? Its certainly possible and this article from Ernst & Young ought to be essential reading for any A2 business student who wants to build their understanding of Schultz and his leadership style and business strategy for Starbucks.
read more...»
