Epic fail: how to do really badly
This is a light hearted one, aimed particularly at those of you preparing for exams. It’s got nothing to do with exams really, just reflections on Disney’s mega flop “John Carter” in The Economist, which is said to have made a loss of over £200m and cost the boss his job.
Are there any common patterns behind famous marketing failures?
A slice of the action
The Guardian on Friday featured an independent report on the sandwich market served as a “Get up and go” supplement to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the humble sandwich and the start of British Sandwich Week. It would make useful stimulus material for a low-budget research activity for a BUSS1 start-up.
read more...»Revision Presentation - the Startup Cash Flow Forecast
Every startup should consider the likely future cash flows of the enterprise in the first few weeks and months of trading. This revision presentation takes students through the basics of the cash flow forecast.
read more...»Same product - different prices: Greggs sausage roll costs more in Hammersmith than Hull
The Daily Mail reports that a 66p sausage roll in Hull sells for 85p in Hammersmith – that’s almost 30% more. That finding won’t surprise you perhaps, although the size of some price differences is quite a shock.
read more...»Wedge Welly join us for EntrepreneurLIVE! 2012
We’re delighted to announce the team from Wedge Welly, one of the most successful investments on Dragon’s Den, will be joining us for each of the three days at EntrepreneurLIVE! 2012.
read more...»Enterprise, Location and Culture - Inside the new Google Campus in London
Google Campus, a building designed to offer technology start-ups desk space and mentoring in east London, was opened to much fanfare by UK chancellor George Osborne. But is the government right to look to the tech sector for economic growth? In this excellent FT video Daniel Garrahan reports from inside Google Campus. Some good teaching points here, including:
- The role of government support for technology startups
- Non-financial benefits of a suitable location for startup entrepreneurs and their employees
- Use of a location to bring together entrepreneurs and venture capitalists
- The cost savings for startups of locating in a venue like Google Campus
EntrepreneurLIVE! 2012 - Dates Announced
The dates and venues for EntrepreneurLIVE! 2012 have just been announced. We’ve moved this popular event to an earlier date to better fit with the teaching of a wide range of business courses and out of the cluttered Global Enterprise Week. So for 2012 we visit London on 1 October 2012, Birmingham on 2 October 2012 and finally Manchester on 3 October 2012.
We’re busy recruiting a fantastic team of successful and inspirational entrepreneurs who will guide business students through the highs and lows of setting up and running a business. We’ve got some pretty special people lined up and we’ll announce the names here on the Business Studies Blog as soon as their diary commitments are finalised.
The event will follow a similar format to the one which has proved so popular with teachers and students in the last two years. Students will get the opportunity to hear from a superb selection of entrepreneurs who will tell their story, provide insights highly relevant to every business studies course and then, most importantly, take questions from our student audience. We’ll also be running the highly popular Enterprise Pitch Challenge where student teams pitch their solution to a business challenge, competing to win some attractive cash prizes!
You can read a couple of excellent reports from students who attended Entrepreneur LIVE! 2011 here: from Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls and here from Stoke Sixth Form College who brought students to Manchester (Salford Quays)
Provisional bookings for EntrepreneurLIVE! 2012 can now be made using this online form:
Retailing booms: in railway stations
The recession has brought the troubled High Street onto the front pages of the business news over the last few years. There’s the very bleakest news stories: Shop vacancies rise to highest level in four years as retail sales plummet or Up to 40% of high street shops ‘could close over next five years’. Just last week Game came up in a blog. Another story without a happy ending.
But its not all doom and gloom, and there are fantastic retail opportunities for firms to cash in on. It might be something experimental like ‘pop up shops’ or another growing trend: railway retailing.
Practice your skills as a retailer: entrepreneurs experiment with ‘pop up’ shops
The problems on the high street, and our changing shopping habits have been much discussed recently. But “bricks and mortar” retailing isn’t dead yet. Combine landlords with vacant shop sites (often in desirable locations), entrepreneurs (perhaps active online, but not used to face-to-face contact with customers) and an appetite for experimentation - and you get the phenomenon of the ‘pop up shop’.
read more...»Start-ups - the Wooden Smartphone?
If smartphones have become mass-market, then is there now a gap in the market for a niche phone - perhaps one made from bamboo? This excellent video examines the innovative idea of Kieron-Scott Woodhouse, a final year Product & Design student at the Middlesex University in London. He’s just turned 24 and is already running his own company. This is his debut design - the world’s first smartphone made from wood….
read more...»Lesson video : Franchising for beginners
A wonderful topical video clip here from the BBC which introduces pupils to the pros and cons of setting up a Franchise. Four minutes long, the video is perfect as a lesson starter for just about every business course that requires students to develop their understanding of business startups.
read more...»MU folding electric plug
“When I’m walking down the street I see everyday objects and ask myself why that object exists. If I can find any possibility for improvement, I start to design it.” Min-Kyu Choi.
The newly launched folding MU plug uses less materials, less space yet meets current UK regulations for electric equipment, and will appeal to users of tablets, smartphones and ipods, which require a slim USB adapter.
It is a great case study for consideration of all aspects of entrepreneurship - risk taking, design, development, finance, marketing production and profits.
read more...»Spotting a Business Opportunity - Eastenders and Coronation Street
Whilst watching Eastenders last night, this belting activity just popped into my head. I think its perfect for the first unit of most GCSE courses but could also be used for BUSS1. A while away I know but I thought I would blog it before I forget.
read more...»Tesco takes it ‘easy’, controlling costs in its US operations
You may already know about Tesco’s overseas expansion strategy, and its Fresh & Easy venture in the States. The US expansion is taking place in challenging economic conditions and according to The Guardian, the business is ‘mothballing’ a second wave of Fresh & Easy stores, suggesting that the supermarket group’s loss-making US start-up has hit another bump in the road.
read more...»Dragons Den - the board game
How many Business teachers and students received this as a Christmas present?
Certainly one student in my family did, and having tested it out the other evening, we found it quick to get into, good fun and quite competitive. Players take the role of Dragons, with a pile of cash to invest and several hundred cards with (rather brief) outlines of business ideas being pitched for investment. All the business ideas are, apparently, genuine; some you will recognise as having become big successes, some you may remember from the TV programme, some are very obscure. You have the chance to bet on the outcome of each, and the winner is simply the Dragon with the most money left at the end. After a couple of rounds we got into some wild all-or-nothing investments - some of which actually paid off!
My next investment plan is to buy this for the classroom; it only needs half an hour or so to play it, and will be worth having for those lessons which need some light relief!
Buy the Dragons Den board game from Amazon
Strategies to revive the High Street: Mary Portas reports
The woes of the UK High Street had begun long before the Credit Crunch and recession. It seems that a combination of factors (think PEST analysis) have combined to create the difficulties that are squeezing this traditional sector of business activity. Nobody has the answers to saving the High Street, but Mary “Queen of Shops” Portas has given it a go.
Why not try this exercise for yourself?
Firstly, use a form a marketing analysis like PEST or the Porters’ 5 Forces model to identify where the problems lie. Secondly, make 3 recommendations to either firms or governments as to how they might resist the decline (there’s some background here to help). Then read on…
read more...»Characteristics of an entrepreneur - Fil Adams-Mercer
Born into poverty; can’t spell for toffee; no qualifications. So why is this serial entrepreneur a multi-millionaire?
read more...»Straight-talking answers to business questions - the examiners might hate some of this!
I just love the regular series in the Telegraph in which business questions are answered by John Timpson, the Chairman of retail group Timpson. Here is yet another superb selection of three problems solved!
read more...»Cut price cup cake deal goes wrong…...
This is classic business studies news article, packed full with learning for students!
‘Need a Cake’ is a small business in Reading owned by Rachel Brown, who has been in the baking business for 25 years and simply loves making and decorating cakes. Her website says “I can never remember a time, even as a child, when I did not enjoy creating innovative cakes.” The business employs eight people, and normal production is around 100 cakes a month. Mrs Brown thought she would like to try expanding a little, and decided to offer online vouchers for a discount deal in order to drum up some new customers - with disastrous results.
read more...»How we made our millions: Michelle Mone and Richard Reed under the spotlight
I enjoyed watching this programme last night in which Peter Jones investigated Michelle Mone, founder of Ultimo, and Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent in order to find out ‘How we made our millions’. The programme looked at their very different characters as Peter discussed with them their childhoods, studied their business models, asked staff what they are like to work for, and considered what it was that drove them to be entrepreneurs.
read more...»Lets Teach Kids to be Entrepreneurs
A huge hat-tip to Debbie Gordon for spotting and recommending this 20 minute TED talk from Cameron Herold. The subject is simple - how do we teach children to be entrepreneurs? Show it to your students and see what their response is.
read more...»The Breakfast Enterprise Challenge - EntrepreneursLIVE! 2011
Entries are now being accepted for the student enterprise competition being run at EntrepreneursLIVE! 2011 (London 14 Nov | Birmingham 15 Nov | Manchester 16 Nov). This year we’re delighted to partner with Moma Foods to set a breakfast food challenge! Details below and best wishes to all the student teams who enter for the three events. Last year we had some great pitches for the fast food challenge - we’re sure that 2011 will be just as good…
read more...»Meet Zoe Jackson from Living The Dream
There is a nice feature on Zoe Jackson on Smarta.com today which provides a quick introduction to one of our entrepreneur speakers at EntrepreneursLIVE! 2011. Zoe is fast turning into one of the UK’s most energetic and inspiring entrepreneurs for young people, a point not lost on Sir Richard Branson who has chosen Zoe as one of his three young business people to spearhead his new Control Shift campaign.
read more...»The Bottom Line on Startups and Mistakes
This is 30 minutes of business studies gold dust. Evan Davis brings together three superb speakers for this edition of The Bottom Line to discuss the nature of startups in the UK and also the related topic of innovation and adaptability. Some terrific insights here for all A* students and I would highly recommend that you download the podcast for your own enjoyment too.
read more...»How PepsiCo are trying to control diseconomies of scale
Big firms often face huge organisational difficulties that can slow them down and cause costs and problems to spiral. So I was drawn to a BBC article the big businesses learning how to think small which appeared soon after Steve Jobs’ death. His insistence on “no committees” and talking to everyone at least once a week was, he said, enough to keep Apple focused, efficient and successful.
I don’t know if that’s true, but for big corporations, with their vast resources and bewildering bureaucracy, operating with the attitude of a technology start-up is a distant dream (but with exciting possibilities). Poor communication, low levels of motivation and a shortage of innovative ideas are classic diseconomies of scale that are typical of larger organisations.
read more...»EntrepreneursLIVE! 2011 - Speaker Line-Up
[updated 17 October 2011]
News of the confirmed speakers for our popular EntrepreneursLIVE! 2011 events taking place in London (14 Nov), Birmingham (15 Nov) and Manchester (16 Nov). We will update this blog entry with the final confirmed speakers once they have cleared their diaries for the day!
Don’t forget that students attending EntrepreneursLIVE! 2011 can also enter the Breakfast Enterprise Challenge on the day. Details here
read more...»Revision Quiz - Startups and Understanding the Market
This revision quiz looks at how startups need to gain an understanding of their target market. Ideal for exam units which cover the startup phase.
Launch Startups and Understanding the Market
Revision Quiz - Locating the Startup Business
What factors should a startup business consider when choosing its business location? This question is addressed in this 10-question revision quiz on business location:
Launch revision quiz on Locating the Startup Business
Problem for Pupil - PEST Solution
Entrepreneurs are risk takers, they spot gaps in a market where customers’ needs are left unfulfilled. They have to balance cash flow management against overstocking, anticipate the likely responses of intelligent rivals and the capricious behaviour of external regulators or governments.
read more...»Management By Committee? Not At Apple
Since Steve Jobs died last week much has been written and said about his autocratic leadership style and how he built (and rebuilt) the company he co-founded, Apple, into the global brand it is today. Richard Branson wrote an excellent piece on Jobs’ leadership style and enterpreneurial spirit in which he stated that his approach to leadership differed markedly from that of Jobs. The YouTube clip below is of an interview with Jobs in which he stated that there were no committees at all within Apple.
A stroke of genius, motivating and empowering senior staff? Or because Jobs needed to maintain control over the company and oversee everything in the weekly meeting where all aspects of the company’s operations were discussed?
