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...»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.
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...»Integration, integration, integration
HP is an example of a firm which is struggling to integrate acquisitions, and the perils of diversification.
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...»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...»Four ways to make your BUSS3 exam answers stand out
Every student sitting BUSS3 gets to answer the same four questions based on the same case study. Everyone gets the same time allocation. When the examiner starts marking scripts many answers will be similar; relatively few will stand out in terms of the quality of analysis and evaluation. So how can you make yours one of the stand-out scripts?
read more...»Maximise your Marks in BUSS3
BUSS3 is a tough exam and a significant step up in challenge for many A Level Business students compared with the BUSS1 & BUSS2 exams at AS level. To do well at BUSS3 you need to combine good subject knowledge and understanding with excellent exam technique. Here is some guidance which you might find helpful.
read more...»External influences: the threat that is China
Most A2 Business students have their sights firmly set on BUSS3 this week, which is very much as it should be. However, next week their attention will turn to the wider world of BUSS4. In planning for that, it looks as if the three-part series of reports about China that Newsnight will be running this week would be very useful, and worth recording or at least picking up on i-player.
read more...»Business Revision Workshops - Latest Availability
We are often asked how many places are left on our popular revisions workshops. So we’ve created a widget which shows you the latest seat availability! The details for the next series of revision workshops is shown below. It is updated each time our office processed a new or amended booking, so it provides an up-to-date overview of the remaining places.
read more...»AQA A2 Business (BUSS3) Revision Guide
Our BUSS3 revision guide has now been printed and we’ve sent a copy to all the thousands of students who attended the BUSS3 revision workshops in November and December 2011 as well as all those who pre-ordered. We have around 300 copies left, so please order soon if you would like one. Here is the link:
http://www.tutor2u.net/acatalog/AQA-Business-Studies-New-Spec.html
read more...»Tesco’s Big Price Drop - on the Stock Market, or, Porter and Ansoff in action
Such is the importance of Tesco’s and their dominance of the retail market that the effect of a 2.3% drop in their like-for-like sales knocked almost 16% off their share price yesterday. Perhaps not so much a reflection of the figures themselves - although they compare poorly with Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s both of whom managed to increase their sales over the same period - as the admission by the new CEO Philip Clarke that Tesco’s got their strategy wrong, both in the short and the long term.
read more...»AQA BUSS1 Pierre’s Personalised T-Shirts - Observations & Suggested Answers
Many thanks to colleagues who faxed over yesterday’s paper. Here are a few thoughts on potential approaches & answers for the January 2012 BUSS1 paper.
Don’t forget that this paper was a last-minute replacement paper (note the BUSS1R code on the front cover) after AQA withdrew the original paper. Was it a rush job? Not sure. If asked to rush a BUSS1 paper out, you’d probably want to keep it pretty simple and focus on the basics (market research, profit, breakeven and cash flow etc).!
I’m pleased that we nailed breakeven at the BUSS1 workshop and encouraged students to expect a lot more use of the results of calculations in other questions too. That change in the BUSS1 paper approach is now well established and some centres may need to refocus their SOW to spend more time practising profit and breakeven calculations from a variety of angles. The AQA examiners are now encouraging students to access good application (which leads to good analysis) through the use of calculations - an encouraging development, but one students will need more support on, I suspect.
The overall balance of the paper? Perhaps over-weighted towards breakeven and profit calculations, with a further emphasis on cash flow/sources of finance. But isn’t that what setting up a simple trading business like personalised t-shirts is all about? Many candidates might have been confused by question 2(c) which seemed to suggest more complicated calculations than were actually required.
Anyway, here are a few suggestions on possible responses to each question in the paper:
read more...»AQA AS Business (BUSS1) Opportunities for Evaluation
In the list below I have highlighted a series of topic areas in BUSS1 which provide good opportunities for students to build effective evaluation into their answers. Students should remember that, in all cases, the evaluation must be made in the context of the case study business, not simply generic.
read more...»AQA AS Business (BUSS1) - Key Topic Revision Checklist
Here is a key topic revision checklist which students preparing for BUSS1 might find helpful to check they have covered the key topics before the exam:
AQA AS Business (BUSS1) - Resources Overview & Links
tutor2u is the UK’s leading publisher of resources for AQA AS Business (BUSS1). There are now thousands of free resources available on the tutor2u website suitable for AQA BUSS1 and we publish a full programme of teaching materials, revision days and CPD training. This blog page is the master listing for our BUSS1 provision, with key links to materials of interest to AQA GCE Business centres. Please bookmark this URL - new resources will be added to this page as they are made available
read more...»Revision Presentation - Critical Path Analysis
This new revision presentation provides an overview of CPA - critical path analysis. CPA is a technique widely used in management of complex projects and is also associated with lean production.
read more...»Mini whiteboards lead to more motivating Critical Path Analysis
CPA is probably my favourite topic to teach. I love it. This idea is not a magic bullet, but is a way to make it slightly easier. Who came up with this idea? One of my students….
read more...»BUSS1 Key Revision Terms Quiz
Here is a fifteen question revision quiz covering some key terms for the BUSS1 exam. For each question type in the correct answer - each question shows the number of letters required in the correct term! Good luck!
read more...»BUSS3 Quiz on Human Resource Strategies
Here is a ten question revision multiple choice quiz on some key terms in BUSS3 Human Resource Strategies created using Zondle
read more...»Investment in People - Google and Human Capital
Here is a link to a recent article on Google’s approach to investment in people. Written from a Google perspective inevitably there are none of the criticisms that others have made of human resource management in the Googleplexes around the world.
However, the article is useful in explaining the huge emphasis that Google places on being transparent with their workforce and in giving employees freedom, autonomy and purposes in their jobs. I am sure A2 students will be able to draw some useful insights from reading through it.
read more...»BUSS3 Quiz on Financial Strategies and Accounts
Here is a ten question “type the answer” quiz covering ten key concepts in BUSS3 financial strategies and accounts created using Zondle.
read more...»Business Cafe - Christmas 2011
The Christmas 2011 edition of Business Cafe - our digital learning resource for all Level 2 and Level 3 business courses, is now available to subscribing schools and colleges. Details of the new articles and case studies in this edition are summarised below.
read more...»Online marketing at children
The British Heart Foundation have been campaigning recently about the actions of junk food companies marketing at children online.
read more...»Functional recipes (strategies) for success at McDonalds UK
Love them or loathe them, it’s hard to deny that McDonalds has really got its act together in the UK and is thriving in a tough environment for consumer spending. This excellent article from the Independent features an interview with Jill McDonald (no relation to the original founder!) describes some of the key functional strategies that the business has adopted which are credited with improved business performance.
Lots for business students (and their teachers) to get their teeth into here. Among the key strategies adopted are:
- Redesign and renovation of location interiors, with renewed focus on families (marketing & ops)
- Wider menu choice, including some healthier options (marketing & ops)
- Free WIFI (marketing)
- High level of training, including extended apprentice programmes
- Increased proportion of locations which are franchises (up from 40% in 2006 to 65% now)
Well worth a read.
AQA AS Business (BUSS1) Revision Guide
I’m pleased to announce the publication of a new tutor2u revision guide for AQA BUSS1. This 20 page booklet guides students through all the key BUSS1 topics and also showcases ways in which an A* BUSS1 answer can be built on good analysis and evaluation. The BUSS1 Revision Guide is being provided free of charge to all students who are attending the BUSS1 revision workshops in Portsmouth, Hull, London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle & Leeds. For students who are not able to attend the workshops, the Revision Guide can now be purchased for £5 per copy (including P&P) from our online store.
Some illustrations from the new BUSS1 Revision Guide are provided below:
read more...»International operations decisions - Adidas trainers for $1?
This makes an ideal example for students considering the challenges of international location in operations management for which they must consider global
markets, cost reduction and avoidance of trade barriers. Here is my plan for the case study and questions which could be set on it:
Could Adidas make a profit from selling branded trainers for $1? Certainly not in any of their developed markets – but since 2008 they have been working on a market development (Ansoff!) strategy which would give them access to the vast market in rural India with a social enterprise venture at a price that local people can afford. The goal of the project, the firm says, is not to maximise profits but to “tackle social issues” by creating jobs.
read more...»OCR AS Business Studies Unit F292 - Suits You Ltd (SYL)
The pre-released case study for OCR AS Business Unit F292 (Business Functions) is Suits You Ltd (SYL) - amusingly based on the story of King & Allen with which many colleagues will be familiar if they have attended our BTNC and/or EntrepreneursLIVE earlier this week!
Tom White, our popular OCR Author, blogger and presenter has now completed the tutor2u toolkit for this case study. It contain comprehensive analysis of the pre-released case study together with advice on how students can maximise their marks in the exam by making full use of the case study materials. This is a must-have resource for any students wanting to raise their level in January 2012.
The OCR F292 Toolkit for Suits You Ltd (SYL) can be ordered here.
A sample from the previous toolkit for F292 can be downloaded here.
The F292 toolkit is just one of three resources we have for F292 students and teachers. We also recommend that centres use:
The F292 Course Companion (Author: Tom White), and
The F292 Rapid Revision Q&A Guide (Author Richard Young)
AQA BUSS2 & BUSS4 Revision Workshops Spring 2012
The dates for our AQA BUSS2 and BUSS4 revision workshops in Spring 2012 are listed below. please note that we are now offering a post-Easter date at London Stratford City (Vue Cinema in the new Olympic Westfield Centre) on 23 April 2012. On that day we are also offering catchup BUSS1 and BUSS3 workshops.
read more...»BUSS3 Revision Workshops 2011 - Here We Go!
Please note - new venue for Newcastle - now the Metro Centre
We’re all ready to go with the AQA BUSS3 revision workshops. The exam-style case study and workshop activities are complete and we’re now busy preparing each session to ensure that students get the most out of the day. Our focus is simple - exam technique in BUSS3. We want to help students perform as well as possible and to support your existing teaching. Our aim is to help students upgrade their exam responses in BUSS3 to get as high up the mark scheme levels as possible.
read more...»
