BUSS4 Research Theme - Merger and Takeover Egg Heads
I often find that one of the key challenges with the research theme is finding ways to engage the students with the material in lessons and keeping them motivated and interested in the theme until the Summer.
With this in mind, I will be blogging about some strategies that I have successfully used in the past to engage the students and applying them to the new theme, Mergers and Takeovers.
read more...»Takeovers - the search for cost synergies
Students researching the topic of takeovers and mergers will come across several unfamiliar terms. One of the most important for them to understand is “synergy” and we’ll write in more detail in subsequent blog entries about what these are. However, here is a useful piece of research which indicates the potential and significance of the most common kind of synergy - “cost synergies”.
read more...»Private equity buyouts - Sunday Times supplement
Private Equity hasn’t really featured very strongly in the Business Studies syllabus before, but may come more to the fore this year in the study of mergers and takeovers. A supplement in yesterday’s Sunday Times which examines ‘private equity backed firms with the fastest growing profits’ is worth getting hold of, as it gives some help on the role of private equity in the M&A market.
read more...»Takeovers in the UK - the long-term trend
I’ve been delving into the datasets on the ONS site to pick up some evidence about the scale of takeovers and mergers involving UK businesses. Having worked in M&A during the 1990’s and early 2000’s, I remember the various short-term peaks and troughs of activity that the takeover market seemed to go through. However, I wanted to get a better sense of longer-term trends. Here’s what I found.
read more...»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...»Cadbury’s Law - Should UK Firms be Protected from Takeover?
Back in 2010, the effect of the Kraft takeover of Cadbury’s brought business into the realms of politics as the unhappiness felt by some stakeholders spilled directly into the UK’s General Election.
One proposed response from the Labour Party was the so-called Cadbury’s Law, whereby new legislation would attempt to protect UK firms from takeover by foreign companies. Was this a good idea?
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...»AQA A2 Business (BUSS4) Research Theme 2012
The Section A research theme for 2012 has now been released. The topic is Mergers and Takeovers. Our team is now working flat out to provide support for colleagues and students taking on the research theme ahead of the BUSS4 exam on Thursday 21 June 2012.
Details of the research bullets are provided further below.
In common with previous research themes, we have created a dedicated channel on the Business Studies Blog which we’ll use to post advice, including useful research links, exam technique guidance and other resources which will help save you time. The link to the BUSS4 channel for 2012 is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/C634
The BUSS4 channel also has an RSS feed for anyone who wants to get first news of new blog entries. The RSS link is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/rss_2.0/C634
Our detailed BUSS4 Research Toolkit is now used by over 1,000 AQA centres in the UK and overseas. This can now be pre-ordered from here or by downloading this printable order form.
As in 2011, we are running a series of one-day CPD briefing days for colleagues wanting further support on how to handle the Section A Research Theme. Details of these courses here
Finally, and certainly not least, our BUSS4 Student Rvision Workshops are scheduled to run in March & April 2012. These were hugely popular last year and all the signs are that they will be even busier in 2012. You’ll need to move fast to book some places for the workshops - all the details you need are here.
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...»CSR - Growing public support for responsible capitalism
This is a useful new survey, particularly for students who need to include some topical research evidence for exam questions on CSR.
read more...»Great product, bad management?
At first glance, Olympus is a market leader in the endoscope market, miniature cameras used in micro surgery and engineering inspections.
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...»Olympus Epic Fail
The scale of the failings in corporate governance at Olympus is breathtaking. The company has misled, shareholders, banks, auditors, stock markets, Japan’s government, and staff about the true state of its finances over a 20 year period. It is Corporate Social Irresponsibility on the grandest of scales.
read more...»Corporate Irresponsibility at Olympus
Recent problems at Japan’s Olympus Corporation highlight the importance of corporate culture, ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and management responsibility to shareholders and other stakeholders.
Batten down the hatches - strategies for the next downturn
Is it really 18 months since many of us were pouring over research sources for the 2010 AQA BUSS4 research task on strategies for handling an economic downturn? Well dust those notes off folks cos here we go again with a second looming UK recession. But this time, will UK industry be ready?
read more...»Effective evaluation tips for A2 ... I shall be adding the “halo effect”
The most important skill that candidates need to show off in their AS/A2 exams is an ability to effectively evaluate. Evaluation statements put candidates in the top mark band on most of the bigger questions.
For this reason, I’m always on the lookout for ways in which the quality of evaluation in student responses can be improved. When I was reading at the weekend I came across a new term (for me, anyway) that I thought would be worth adding to my list of tips – a so-called ‘halo effect’.
read more...»CSR - 40 Years of Upsetting Big Business
Greenpeace has just released this promotional video which reflects on their 40 years of campaigning against the activities of big businesses who damage the environment. We’ve seen many examples of these campaigns over the years, but how do CEOs respond when they find out that they have been targeted by Greenpeace? The 1 minute video speculates on their reactions.
Caution: the video contains strong language: you will need to judge whether it is suitable for your students…
read more...»Fresh Examples of Creating Shared Value
Ok, so last year’s AQA A2 Level Business Studies CSR research theme is done and dusted and the BUSS4 results are out. But maybe you are a student who didn’t get the grade you needed and are going to have another stab in January. And let’s bear in mind that in any case CSR is a core part of the ‘external environment’ and specifically the social aspect and will therefore be of relevance in Section B essays of the future. With that in mind, here is an article I spotted via Michael Porter’s twitter feed that is well worth reading.
read more...»CSR - the importance of getting all employees on board
For any students looking for some last minute CSR material, here is a really thought-provoking entry in the Guardian Sustainable Business Section about the importance of engaging employees so that their actions follow through on a firm’s commitments in terms of operating in a more sustainable fashion. It’s certainly got me wondering whether I turned off the heaters in my classroom as I left on an unseasonably chilly afternoon on Friday.
read more...»CSR - £20m extra annual profit for M&S from Plan A
What a timely update! M&S has just announced an update on the progress of Plan A - its sustainability strategy. Lots of details about the extent of progress against the many targets and objectives set by M&S. However, the headline news is that the overall financial benefit of Plan A has increased to £70 million per year; up from the £50m profit effect which many students will have seen ex CEO Sir Stuart Rose mention in this video clip.
Where has this profit improvement arisen? Well, more efficient use of energy in shops and distribution centres saved the most money in 2010-11, netting M&S an £13.5 million cost saving, followed by packaging reductions, which saved £11 million.
Plan A is the strategy which M&S intends will enable it to achieve its stated aim of becoming “the world’s most sustainable major retailer by 2015”. You can watch a really useful video with M&S’s new CEO Marc Bolland describing the next stages in Plan A here
BUSS4 CSR Research Bullet 6
These notes address the sixth and last research bullet on CSR.
read more...»BUSS4 CSR Research Bullet 5
How useful is social reporting for stakeholders in CSR? These notes provide some ideas for students revising research bullet 5:
read more...»BUSS4 CSR Research Bullet 4
What factors determine the extent to which a business is socially responsible? Here are some outline thoughts to support research bullet 4
read more...»BUSS4 CSR Research Bullet 3
Outline revision notes for research bullet 3 are provided below. Students should add in their own research evidence and arguments to this list over the weekend ahead of the BUSS4 exam
read more...»BUSS4 CSR Research Bullet 2
Here are some outline notes which should held focus students who are gathering there research notes together for the second research bullet on CSR for BUSS4:
read more...»BUSS4 CSR Research Bullet 1
Here are some outline notes for BUSS4 CSR research bullet 1 which may assist students completing their final revision for the Section A essays
read more...»CSR & Strategy - Why the Cooperative Group changed to survive
A brilliant article here from the excellent UK team at Ernst & Young which features an interview with Peter Marks, the CEO of The Co-operative Group. Perfect for last minute revision for AQA BUSS4 students…
read more...»
