AQA A3 Business BUSS3 Online Revision Clinic - 12 June 2012
The tutor2u Business Studies team will be available on Tuesday 12 June 2012 to provide personalised revision support for students taking the AQA BUSS3 exam on 14 June. Our free online revision clinic will start at 9 p.m. and last for an hour. Students who wish to add their questions during the clinic need to login using their FB, Twitter or OpenID account.
read more...»Revision Workshop Dates for AQA BUSS1 and BUSS3 in Winter 2012
The proposed dates and venues for our highly popular one-day revision workshops for AQA A Level Business Studies - BUSS1 and BUSS3 are now available. They are as follows:
Monday 26/11/12 Portsmouth Bus (BUSS1, BUSS3) - Vue Cinema Gunwharf Quays
Tuesday 27/11/12 Fulham (BUSS1, BUSS3) Vue Cinema Fulham Broadway
Friday 30/11/12 Stratford (BUSS1, BUSS3) Vue Cinema Westfield Stratford City
Monday 3/12/12 Bristol Bus (BUSS1, BUSS3) Vue Cinema Cribbs Causeway
Tuesday 4/12/12 Birmingham Bus (BUSS1, BUSS3) Vue Cinema Star City
Wednesday 5/12/12 Manchester Bus (BUSS1, BUSS3) Vue Cinema Lowry Salford Quays
Monday 10/12 Newcastle Bus (BUSS1, BUSS3) Odeon Cinema, Metro Centre
Tuesday 11/12 Leeds Bus (BUSS1, BUSS3) Vue Cinema The Light
We’ve kept the student price for each workshop at £20 (+VAT) for the seventh year running. Teacher places remain free, although please note that individual teachers may not attend on their own; the free teacher place arrangement is designed to support colleagues bringing student groups.
The booking form is now available here:
https://tutor2u.wufoo.com/forms/aqa-buss1-buss3-revision-workshops-winter-2012/
Important notice: Please only make provisional bookings if you genuinely intend, and have school/college permission, to bring students to the revision workshops. Schools and colleges that persistently cancel their provisional bookings close to the workshop dates will only be permitted to make confirmed bookings if there are spaces available.
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...»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...»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...»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...»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...»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.
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...»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...»On your Marks for X-Factor advert
Marks and Spencer released results today showing a fall in both profits and sales, citing the “challenging economic environment”.
read more...»Developing Exam Skills - BUSS3
One of the key areas of BUSS3 is the final question, one which many, many students struggle to get to grips with. The key to this question is getting students to build logical arguments from the data within the case study. In my opinion, the sooner the students start analysing data and using it to build arguments, the better.
With this in mind, I did this activity with my Year 12’s to develop this skill and it worked really, really well….
read more...»How flat should the organisational structure be?
An autumnal hat tip to Jill McAloon for recommending this superb edition of The Bottom Line (first broadcast on 3 Nov 2011) which spends the last 10 minutes considering the value of businesses having flat organisational structures.
read more...»Profits dive and put pressure on liquidity - the Distress Monitor
This is a fantastic resource for colleagues who want to encourage their AS/A2 students to get to grips with some real-life business data and issues.
The Baker Tilly SME Distress Monitor is the resource. I liken it to one of those life support machines you see bleeping away on Casualty or Holby City. Except that the monitor is wired up to hundreds of living, breathing medium-sized businesses in the UK.
The monitor covers the financial performance of businesses with annual turnover of between £5m-£25m.
So how is the financial health of this crucial sector? Print this one-page report out for students and ask them to analyse the data, picking out the key features.
You ought to be given some fairly substantial points from the students who read the page carefully. There will be plenty of scope for follow-up questions and discussion.
For example:
- A high proportion (25%) of businesses suffered a drop of more than a half in their profit before tax
- Significant reduction in firm profitability has implications for their finance (retained profit as the most important source of finance)
- One in every four UK SMEs has a current ratio below 1 which indicates insufficient resources to meet their immediate debt repayment
...but, the number of administrations has not risen significantly.
Jaguar Land Rover Essay
Yesterday with my A2 class I made use of the following article and accompanying clips from the BBC website highlighting Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to build a new production plant in Wolverhampton.
read more...»Waitrose Strategy Essay
This afternoon I made use of Jim and Tom’s recent blogs relating to Waitrose to have a fascinating strategy discussion with my A2 students.
read more...»AQA A2 Business (BUSS3) - Exam Topic Tracker
There have been four BUSS3 papers for the new specification, so it is possible to start building a profile of the topics in BUSS3 which have been examined so far, and in what way. Here is the latest version of our BUSS3 topic tracker. Please note, this is not intended to encourage or condone question or topic spotting which is nearly always a recipe for exam failure. Remember that the questions in BUSS3 invite a variety of potential responses and are designed to reward students who make relevant connections between the functional areas/topics and the achievement of corporate objectives. We have allocated the exam questions to the most relevant section of the BUSS3 spec - but note that other aspects of the spec can be used as part of an effective answer.
Download the tutor2u AQA BUSS3 Topic Tracker (pdf)
The business benefits of Olympic sponsorship
I am taking my A2 students to visit the Olympics site next week, and have just come across an excellent article published by the FT a week ago. Sponsorship of the event is huge, with the International Olympic Committee’s revenue from sponsorship running at around £1bn. What are the corporate and marketing objectives for those sponsors, and how do they ensure that their strategies will mean that it meets those objectives?
Sponsorship deals are arranged in tiers, from the IOC’s worldwide Olympic Partners who contribute around $100,000 each to tier one domestic sponsors of London 2012 who pay £50m on average,and Official Supporters (such as Cadbury’s and Thomas Cook), Official Suppliers (Holiday Inn, Glaxo). In the FT ‘Olympic sponsors seek podium for brands’ examines the objectives of those major Olympic Partners such as Visa and domestic sponsors such as Lloyds TSB, as well as considering why it may not suit some organisations, the danger of ‘ambush marketing’ crowding out the official sponsors, and whether it is as effective as providing backing for the World Cup. There is plenty here for students to analyse as part of their A2 Marketing course.
Tesco pulls out of Japan
Even the might of Tesco cannot overcome the cultural differences between the UK market and the Japanese market for groceries. They moved into the Japanese market in 2003, as part of their objective of global growth, but have now decided that they cannot grow big enough there to generate the economies of scale that they need to make the business profitable - and with the change of focus in their objectives away from growth and towards greater profitability, this no longer fits with their strategy.
The reasons for the difficulty of gaining the growth that they need seem to be due to big differences in the way that people do their grocery shopping in Japan. Gavin Rothwell, research manager at groceries analyst IGD, is quoted as saying “The retail market is fragmented and there are many strong regional players, often family-owned. Convenience stores dominate, particularly in the city centres, and a culture of ‘immediacy’ supports large numbers of vending machines/kiosks.”. Tescos are not the only major western retailer to have failed to break these habits, as Carrefour and Boots have also tried to break into the market but pulled out, and Wal-Mart are reportedly struggling. So this story emphasises the risks that businesses take when they try to use the market development sector of Ansoff’s matrix to sell a well-established product into a new and unfamiliar market - and suggests that some markets are more impervious to globalisation than others,
Taking Italian to the Chinese - Pizza Express Expansion Strategy
With the success of Pizza Hut, Dominos and Papa Johns, it seems that consumers in China have an appetite for Italian fast food. But is there enough demand to make the market opportunity sufficiently attractive for a more mid-market brand such as Pizza Express? This superb article in the Telegraph features an interview with Justin Kennedy, the owner of the Pizza Express franchise in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
An opportunity for Kenndy to open the first Pizza Express in Shanghai arose five years ago when a suitable retail location became available. But growth since then has been slow - just one more outlet opened. Is now the time that that the rate of organic growth can be accelerated as the rising incomes of a Chinese middle class make the Pizza Express product more affordable? The growth objective seems to be pretty modest - up to about 10 restaurants in the next few years.
Lots of interesting material in the article. The trading format has essentially been imported directly from the UK - there seems to be little reflection of local tastes and preferences.
Growing the brand in China also seems to have its fair share of headaches - not the least finding suitable trading locations and also recruiting staff with suitable skills and experience.
New to AQA AS/A2 Business Studies - the CPD Course for 2011/12
Thursday 22 September - Central London
New to AQA AS/A2 Business Studies is a resource-packed CPD course which will provide a huge boost for colleagues and departments wanting to deliver the UK’s most popular A Level Business Studies specification.
read more...»Tesco adapts to the South Korean market
We all know about the success and dominance of Tesco in the UK where it has a market share of around 30%. Globally it is one of the biggest retailers in the world and it now has stores in 14 countries. This clip is a great example of how Tesco have adapted to the South Korean market where it is the market’s number two, with fewer stores than the number one company.
read more...»AQA BUSS1 & BUSS3 Revision Workshops Winter 2011
The confirmed dates and venues for our popular AQA BUSS1 and BUSS3 revision workshops are provided below. These dates broadly mirror the same timing for the sell-out workshops last year, with the additions of Portsmouth (Gunwharf Quays) & Hull (Princess Quay) as new locations. Please make your provisional bookings as soon as possible - Portsmouth is already close to being fully booked!
read more...»Strategy explained - Insights into Amazon
A quite brilliant deck of analytical slides here from Fabernovel which explain the business strategy of Amazon.com. Lots of detail, of course, but within this presentation is a gold mine of strategic insights into all aspects of Amazon. It would be interesting to simply give the link to your Year 13 students and ask them to highlight five key points or pieces of evidence that they can use to illustrate how a firm can be so successful online.
read more...»CSR - Can better social responsibility boost the UK economy by £17bn?
I’m not entirely convinced by the calculation (or rather, estimate) used to come up with the headline statistic in this otherwise useful article on CSR.
read more...»Stop Press - Business Nightmares on TV
I have just seen details of a new series starting on BBC tonight, in which “Evan Davis uncovers the scarcely believable stories of how some of the world’s most successful businesses have made monumental mistakes.”
In the first episode, titled Doomed Designs, they are looking at “changing the formula of one of the world’s favourite soft drinks (Coke), launching a detergent so powerful that tests showed it shredded consumers’ clothes (Persil), and pricing a certain car model too low (Mini)” - some more background on these three stories here. Contributors to the programme include Sir James Dyson and Sir Richard Branson - if you miss it tonight (BBC2 at 8pm) it will be on again overnight on Thursday - times shown in the link here. The second episode next week is to be called Marketing Mess-ups.
Sounds like essential progamming for A2 students in particular - perhaps as a good break from revision? And of course that other business nightmare, The Apprentice, starts again on Tuesday at 9 on BBC1.
If you can spare the time between past papers, there was another good programme last night, Lord Sugar Tackles Football. The BBC blurb about it says “Lord Sugar, one of the country’s leading entrepreneurs and a football fan, investigates the business side of the beautiful game. Despite generating billions in TV and other income, the professional English game is struggling to make ends meet. Most Premier League clubs are in the red, and debt stands at 3.3 billion pounds. Lord Sugar interviews bosses, owners, agents and players and asks what has gone wrong, who is to blame and what can be done. In typically forthright fashion, he delivers his verdict and his own business blueprint designed to help the game he has followed since childhood.” I heard him being interviewed about it yesterday morning and it did sound worth setting the recorder for - repeated on BBC2 at 23.30 on Tuesday 10th.
AQA A2 Business (BUSS3) - Specification Resource Map
We’ve added hundreds of resources to the Business Studies blog suitable for AQA BUSS3 (Strategies for Success) and there will be many more added over the next few weeks and months. So, what is the best way of quickly spotting a blog resource that you can use as part of your scheme of work?
To make things a little easier to find, we’ve produced “specification resource map” which maps the AQA BUSS3 spec against relevant tagged content on the Business Studies blog. This is provided using a hyper-linked pdf file which is automatically updated every time we add a new resource. All you need to keep is the pdf resource map and click on a relevant link.
