Start-up case study - Petmeds
An excellent case study in The Sunday Times today tells the story of how Ricky Thomas set up Petmeds after spotting an opportunity from a change in legislation…
read more...»Start-ups and small businesses abandon their traditional offices
An interesting article in the Times is really useful for the “location” topic in the new AS Business Studies specifications…
read more...»How much would you pay for a fish & chip shop?
If I offered you the chance to buy a profitable fish & chip shop, how much would you pay?
read more...»Start-ups & the importance of business planning
Thanks to Tim Mason for the “heads-up” on a superb new resource. A new five-week series in the Sunday Times enterprise section looks like it will be essential reading for Business teachers and students. The series kicks off with an article showcasing the role of business planning and market research in a series of start-ups…
read more...»Starting a business - have your cake and eat it
The startups guides to setting up a part-time business are a rich source of material for teachers and students. The latest in the series guides us through the potentially sticky challenge of starting a cake-making business…
read more...»Business Planning - teaching resources
With the new emphasis in the AS Business specifications on business planning, here are a series of links to resources that should prove helpful to teachers and students…
read more...»Marketing mix - the online retailers have never had it so good
An interesting article in the Sunday Times highlights the strong sales growth being achieved by online retailers who have got their business model right…
read more...»Cash is king for small businesses in the downturn
An interesting piece in The Telegraph suggests that small businesses are looking to maximise their cash balances as a key part of surviving the economic downturn…
read more...»First mover advantage could prove fruitful
A delightful case study about a business start-up set up by two professional financiers who wanted to experience the challenges of setting up a small business…
read more...»SMEs should stand up to the large business bullies
Small businesses are being bullied by their much larger competitors when it comes to making late payments for amounts due…
read more...»Dragons Den Returns for Series 6
Monday 21 July 2008, 9 p.m. on BBC1 marks the return of Dragons Den for what is bound to be a popular 6th series. Lots of material for business teachers and students, including this cool online game which allows students to answer tough questions from the Dragons…
read more...»Ideas for a business start-up: Guy Collection
Rachel Bridge’s excellent series of articles on how entrepreneurs come up with their start-up business ideas has another excellent case study this week…
read more...»Meet the agony aunt service for small businesses that is ideal for AS business students
Q. I am a self-employed designer and my business is getting very busy. Are there any rules to help me decide when to take on my first employee? The answer is…
read more...»Forget consultants - small businesses should focus on DIY strategy
I can recommend Mike Southon’s writing on entrepreneurship in the FT and his piece this week has some interesting things to say about small business approach to strategy…
read more...»A good example of a small business that just couldn’t break-even
A useful news piece buried deep in the Guardian today makes an excellent case study for the new AS Business specifications…
read more...»Conference Report - Superjam (2) - the Video
Fraser Doherty’s superb video on the Superjam story so far can be downloaded here…
read more...»Conference Report - Superjam (1)
Fraser Doherty’s fantastic session at the Business Teacher Conference last Friday has certainly got people talking excitedly about using the Superjam business with students. Fraser’s superb video is on the way to tutor2u towers as we speak and we’ll make it available as a download as soon as the file is web-ready. In the meantime, here is a download link for Fraser’s PowerPoint presentation…
read more...»Working from home - the cost effective location for a start-up
Reading through the sections on “location” in the growing batch of new textbooks for AQA AS Business Unit, you might be forgiven for thinking that there are only really two locations for a new business - retailing on the high street, or hiring a unit in an industrial park. What the textbooks largely ignore is the choice of an entrepreneur’s home as the starting location for a new business. I have come across a great website that focuses on home businesses - it would make a great support resource for the new AS units on starting a business…
read more...»Who should a start-up employ? Simple - the kids
Child labour. That’s the answer to some (not all) employment challenges facing a small business. A mailing campaign to put into envelopes? Need help with the photocopying or filing? Fancy a cup of tea brought up to the back-bedroom office. Then it makes sense to ask the kids to get involved, and grab a significant tax break at the same time…
read more...»Starting Your own Business - David Lester
There are dozens of guides to business start-ups out there, some excellent, many awful. However, I can recommend this new entrant to the market for advice to budding entrepreneurs.
read more...»Startups - finding a winning idea
I have been researching the sources of successful start-up business ideas for our forthcoming workshops for AQA AS Business Unit 1. A really interesting exercise, though I’m left unconvinced that the standard textbook answer tells the whole story.
read more...»Start-ups and the confidence factor
An intriguing comment from the CEO of Microsoft in the UK about what is stopping start-ups from getting off the ground in the UK.
read more...»Add flexible space to flexible working as a success factor for a start-up
I’ve been doing some background research on the location issues facing start-ups, as well as considering some of the location issues facing our business. Then I came across a rather unfortunate piece of writing in one of the new AS Business textbooks that brought the issue home to me.
read more...»Should start-up’s be put off by an economic downturn?
Catching up on some background reading this week, I came across an excellent piece by Rachel Bridge in The Sunday Times. Rachel is a good friend of tutor2u and her writing on enterprise and entrepreneurshp is full of useful insights for us. A couple of weeks ago, Rachel wrote a really interesting piece on the dilemma facing business start-ups right now in the UK. Should they be put off by difficult economic conditions?
read more...»The business of farm-produced ice cream
I came across a fantastic article on the costs and revenues of setting up an ice-cream business.
read more...»Farm diversification is still small business
I was a little surprised to learn that there are only 60,000 farms in the UK that sustain a full-time farmer, and that less than a quarter of these have diversified into other business areas that don’t involve the letting of buildings.
read more...»Startups find success with a green ethic
Rachel Bridge writes some superb pieces in her enterprise column for The Sunday Times. I really liked Rachel’s piece a couple of weekends ago which took a look at how a selection of successful startups embraced environmentally-friendly and ethical trading at the core of their activities.
read more...»Fudges finds its niche
Here is a great example of a food manufacturing business that has reinvented itself to successfully exploit a niche for luxury food products. The video link would make a great lesson starter resource and there is lots of business studies content that can be drawn out through discussion and further research.
read more...»Late payment is strangling the cash flow of small businesses
We had a good day for customer cheques and BACS payment today. However, a new report from Barclays suggests that we are lucky. Small businesses are being submerged under the increasing burden amounts owed by trade debtors.
read more...»
