They’re Here! Our new Business Influence Card Game
They are here - tutor2u’s new Business Influence Cards!
This is a new teaching resource which can be used again and again in the business classroom.
read more...»Playing The Ethical Business Game
The better business game from BT is a useful resource for helping students to think about some of the ethical issues involved in running a business, and balancing the responsibilities of a business with the need to make money.
Mapping The TV Market
The new Edexcel specifications introduce Market Mapping as a GCSE topic, and it is a great way of getting students to put forward their own views and then justifying them. It’s also a useful way of helping students to recognise that there are no concrete answers in business, and that their market map may not be the same as other students.
Of course students need to be familiar with the market being mapped. That usually means food (e.g. the crisp market, chocolate market), mobile phones, or TV. So this example from the Channel 4 website, which maps the channels that are considered competitors of E4, may prove to be useful.
PuzzlePacks for the new GCSE Business Specifications
We’re hard at work putting the finishing touches to a new collection of PuzzlePacks for the new GCSE Business specifications…
read more...»Instore Takes a Pounding
Knowing what your customers want is key to the success of any business. This is particularly true for so called “pound” shops; their customers are focused on value and price.
The importance of this is perhaps reinforced by the tale of two retailers who operate within the value market. Poundland has gone from strength to strength, as shown in earlier blog articles, and is set to open at least 30 new stores over the next 12 months.
InStore, on the other hand decided that their customers should move upmarket - and replaced the familiar £-stretcher fascia with the less familiar InStore fascia.
A Mars A Day The Original Recipe Way
Six thousand complaints within a week has forced Masterfoods to do a U-turn on its decision to use ingredients which contain traces of animal enzymes.
Is this a business responding to the wishes consumers?
read more...»Deliberate Creativity
Deliberate Creativity is one of the topics on Edexcel’s new GCSE Business Specifications (Unit 1 Section 2) that many of us won’t have taught before. However, I think it’s one of the most exciting topics because it can be used to engage the students in thinking, which is why I intend to start the course by delivering that section.
Professor Dennis Sherwood believes that people can be taught to be creative by using the technique of deliberate creativity. The idea is quite simple - look at what you know, and think about how it could be changed.
TV quizzes are an excellent example of how this has led to the development of new quiz shows. When ITV launched “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” how did the BBC respond to it’s success?
read more...»GCSE Business - New Specification Course Companions
We’re hard at work on a new series of resources to support the new GCSE Business units.
read more...»Can Paid Staff Be Entrepreneurs?
Students often think of entrepreneurs as people who have set up their own successful business. Perhaps that’s because many of us use well-known entrepreneurs, who happen to run their own business as examples. This may be understandable, since it helps students to relate to what entrepreneurship is about, but is it accurate?
The new specifications are quite clear about the sort of skills and qualities that are usually found in entrepreneurs, and they don’t mention “business owner” as one of them.
This begs the question “can employed staff be entrepreneurs?”.
read more...»Sickness And Sun
EU legislation can be a difficult topic to deliver to a GCSE Business class, but it remains an important element of the new Edexcel specifications.
I recently came across this useful BBC article which got a great discussion going about The Working Time Directive.
read more...»Work For Free? Or Pie In The Sky?
How many students would go to work for free?
Well bosses of British Airways will be hoping that non-financial motivation exists, as they have asked staff to volunteer to work for free (or take unpaid leave) for up to a month, in an attempt to ensure that the firm can win the fight for survival.
This BBC article could be tied in with two topics on the new Edexcel Specifications:
read more...»Battle Of The Bunnies
There’s a battle going on in the chocolate rabbit world which could provide an interesting example of how businesses try to protect their products and ideas.
The products in question are shown in the picture below which is on the Guardian website.
Could consumers be confused?
read more...»A Razor Sharp Way To Add Value
Realistic data to illustrate how firms add value is not always easy to come across. After all many firms don’t want us to know how much mark-up they place on their products.
This data from the Daily Mail perhaps explains why manufacturers are so keen for us not to find out!
read more...»Thinking Outside The Smaller Box
It can be a challenge to think of examples for the topic of “Thinking in Opposites”, or “What if…?” once the obvious ones of Marmite, Muller and Yorkie have been used.
However, Kleenex’s decision to rebrand it’s “Kleenex For Men” to “Kleenex Mansize” was coupled with a decision to change the size of the box. What motivated this move?
Apprentice Stars Lack Entrepreneurial Spirit
Sir Alan Sugar may be about to choose his next apprentice - but he is unlikely to be impressed with the owners of the Bridge Cafe. It is the cafe used by the losing team to lick their wounds before doing battle in the board room, but according to…
read more...»The Life Of Big Brother
Whatever your views on Big Brother, whether you’re glued to it or can’t stand it, your students are likely to be talking about it.
That makes it a useful tool to get students talking about product life-cycles.
As Channel 4 release pictures of the inside of the house it’s clear that once again they are looking to prevent the show going into decline with a number of twists.
Do The Dragons Get It Right?
You don’t need me to tell you that Dragon’s Den is a great teaching resource for the new specifications. It covers risk, potential rewards, potential failure,aspects of finance, marketing and any number of other topics. Have you ever wondered where you can find out more about some of the products that have been featured?
read more...»Starter activity - A piece of cake (limited companies)
Here is a great activity to use when teaching Ltd’s.
Before the students enter the room, I put a £1 monopoly note on each students desk. This immediately makes them curious about what is to follow. I then introduce the basic concept of limited companies and I relate limited companies to a cake, that can be cut up into ‘slices’ or shares. I then bring out a cake and cut it up into a number of different ‘shares’. I keep 3 back for myself and I then invite the students to come up and ‘buy’ a share of my cake or ‘company’ for £1. I then start quizzing them as to who owns the cake, why I kept back 3 slices etc.
I then ask the students, ‘why would I want to sell you a piece of my company’ whilst holding all the £1 notes in the air.
Need I say more.
We then eat the cake…and remember…you have 3 slices!
Enjoy (the cake)
Starter activity - Talkabout
Quiz shows are always a massive source of inspiration when it comes to starters and plenaries. Here’s one I ‘devised’ which was based on a popular quiz show circa 1990 – 1993.
read more...»Exam Board resources
Exam board specific materials will be added to the relevant subject blog categories
Starter Activity - Thinking Skills Bingo
This is a really good starter activity that is equally at home as a plenary….
read more...»Starter activity - “Beat the Teacher”
Good one this for starter, plenary or main body. Very, very simple concept but highly effective…
read more...»Another top entrepreneur: JK Rowling
Can an author count as an entrepreneur? US business magazine Forbes has revealed that the creator of the Harry Potter sensation was making more than £5 every second over the past year. Part of this is a result of the sales of her books. But it’s clear that she has been hugely successful – or lucky – in the way that she has been able to turn the stories into such a successful product.
read more...»BTEC First versus GCSE Business
A recent tutor2u survey suggests that many business departments are looking at swtiching from GCSE Business to BTEC First in Business. Anecdotal evidence from AQA examiners in summer 2008 suggests that candidate numbers for GCSE are down too. So what are the arguments for and against offering BTEC First? Have your say in our Latte Magazine special feature..
read more...»Credit Crunch Sparks Tie Revivial
It appears that the much derided Tie is back.
Whether you are smartening up to avoid the credit crunch axe, or you are preparing for unplanned job interviews, it seems that sales are up, with Tie Rack and John Lewis reporting quarterly sales growth of 10% and 18% respectively. Source: Daily Telegraph
Do you enjoy wearing a tie - or is it a mere milestone around your neck?
In a recent unscientific classroom poll (sparked by the GCSE Spec A Kelloggs Case Study), it seemed that the divergence between teacher and student opinion was less than perhaps one would imagine.
Moreover, Ofsted reported last week that the introduction of uniform into schools had a “disproportionately positive impact” upon academic. Whether the tie is a great extrinsic motivator, or is perhaps a reflection of our internal locus of control remains open to debate.
Chelsea FC and Business Students - A Request for Help
tutor2u has been engaged by Chelsea FC to produce a new suite of learning resources and activities to support Business Studies, focusing initially on Level 2 (e.g. GCSE, BTEC First) courses. We’d appreciate your help in shaping the content and style of these resources by completing this brief survey form. Personalised Chelsea Home Shirts are on offer to two lucky survey respondents…
read more...»Blue is the colour - business is the game
I’ve just returned from Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC, who have engaged tutor2u to develop a new suite of learning resources based on the club for Level 2 business studies courses.
read more...»Kelloggs - AQA Case Study - Links to Useful Sites
Students preparing for the AQA GCSE Business A (3132) case study on Kelloggs are encouraged to undertake their own research on the business issues raised in the pre-release material.
In this blog entry, we are keeping a list of useful research material that you might like to share with your students. If you find a source that is useful but not yet listed, please contribute it via the comments section below.
read more...»
