Revision Presentation - Business Legislation
This comprehensive study presentation guides students through the relationship between business and legislation (the “L” in PESTEL” analysis). It outlines the main purposes of legislation in the business environment, including consumer protection, environmental laws, competition policy and health & safety. It also provides some recent case studies of firms and industries affected by changes in legislation.
read more...»Revision Presentation - Business and the Environment
This study presentation outlines the role that environmental issues are now playing in business strategy. It looks at the main aspects of environmental legislation also at the role of CSR (corporate social responsibility), with a particular focus on sustainability
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...»Vestas – has the wind gone out of their sales.
Last Wednesday, Vestas the leading supplier of wind turbines posted a substantial operating loss of €166m on its operations. This has led to the resignation of the Chief Financial Officer Henrik Norremark, and the Chairman Bent Carlsen and two other main board directors. Norremark was about to be promoted to Chief Operating Officer, in control of the firm’s manufacturing operations.
read more...»Making Profit from Waste
This is a truly remarkable 10 minute video which is perfect for showing to business students as a way of illustrating how entrepreneurial flair (and a large dose of technological innovation) can result in a profitable product which is genuinely good for society. A big hat tip to Geoff for recommending it.
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
A2 Business: Six key global trends that are shaping business strategy
Students who can point to some overriding trends which help shape strategic direction and choices are much more likely to write interesting, persuasive and evaluative essays. This new report by consultants Ernst & Young is a pinch of gold dust for such students, as it examines in a reasonably accessible way six broad, long-term developments which shape business around the globe.
read more...»CSR - Evidence of Failure to “Walk the Talk” when it comes to Carbon?
Some great research evidence in this topical article in the Guardian - particularly for students wanting an example or two of firms that have translated concern for environmental protection into hard-nosed objectives.
read more...»Economic environment: Oil and Petrol Prices
An earlier blog in this short economic environment series looked at inflation - the general tendency of the price level to drift upwards through time. A large part of recent inflationary pressure has come from higher energy costs. There’s also been discussion of the economic importance of confidence which is also influenced by the (highly visible) price of petrol. In fact, the price of oil (and petrol ... and energy in general) is one of the most significant issues firms face from the economic environment.
read more...»CSR - Evidence on the Greenhouse Gases of the top 300 European Firms
A brand new report which is packed full of data on carbon emissions has been published which will make for good reading in some boardrooms but uncomfortable reading in others…
read more...»Japanese earthquake – business aftershocks
As Japan struggles to get to grips with the scale of the human tragedy and the long term damage to its infrastructure, you may be thinking through some of the more immediate impacts on business.
read more...»CSR - All Change at BP: New Era, New Responsibilities
The first few months of 2011 are providing us with some excellent resources to research CSR and this recent speech by Bob Dudley (the new CEO of BP) is a great example in point. The problems experienced by BP as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are well documented and, frankly, the rights and wrongs of who did what are less relevant to business students than the impact of Deepwater Horizon on the strategy and culture of a huge multinational like BP…
read more...»CSR - Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan
Unilever, one of the world’s biggest consumer multinationals, took a major change in strategic direction in November 2010 with the launch of its Sustainable Living Plan. The change was certainly of similar significance to M&S’s Plan A and the Co-op Group’s “Join the Revolution” which we’ve featured already here on the Business Studies blog. Here are some supporting resources which colleagues and students may find helpful if they decide to use Unilever during their research process:
read more...»CSR - Greenwashing & Carbon: Consumers Just “Don’t Believe It”!
There are lots of businesses out there making some pretty impressive claims about the green credentials of their products and services. But how effective are these claims as part of the promotional mix? Is it just a case of greenwashing that most customers see through? A new report from the CBI provides some insights into what consumers think - and it raises some important issues for business. Its a cracking survey to provide some data nuggetts for students preparing for AQA BUSS4 too…
read more...»CSR - Awesome Research Data on the Issue of Corporate Trust
I think this has to be the best dataset I’ve come across so far for colleagues and students researching the key issues in corporate social responsibility. The Edelman Trust Barometer has been going for over ten years, and the latest 2011 report provides some gold-standard data evidence for the A* AQA BUSS4 student essay…
read more...»CSR - How Transparent are the World’s Oil Companies?
The impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster continues to be felt for all stakeholders concerned. So it is no surprise that NGOs continue to focus on the CSR & ethical activities and policies of the world’s oil companies. A blog hat tip to Fiona Lerigo from Northampton College for spotting this terrific piece in the Guardian last week which reports on a new research into what the world’s oil companies do about corruption.
CSR - McDonalds and the Case for the Defence
I’m indebted to Ian Pryer for sending through some suggested links to video resources which help us strike a balance when using McDonalds as part of teaching corporate social responsibility.
read more...»CSR - Green Growth Case Studies from UK Businesses
Students researching the benefits and costs of firms which are undertaking corporate social responsibility activities will be on the look out for tangible, credible evidence of results. This series of brief case studies from the Carbon Trust is a veritable gold mine for effective research and should enable students to include evidence which examiners find credible and relevant…
read more...»CSR - The Mega Dairy, Economies of Scale and Cornflakes
This is a terrific, topical case study that you can use with students to examine a range of important business studies topics - not the least economies of scale, CSR and market structure.
read more...»CSR - the Essential Economist Podcast
This podcast is a couple of years old, but frankly it is so good that I think it ought to be essential listening to every colleague and student preparing students for exams which feature CSR…
read more...»CSR - Costing the Earth & Reporting Sustainability
Should firms report the social costs of their activities in their financial reporting? This Costing the Earth film, with Stephen Fry and Al Murray, explains the thoughts behind the need to embed sustainability into a firm’s DNA. It has been produced by The Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability project which brings organisations together to develop practical tools to enable environmental and social performance to be better connected with strategy and financial performance, and thereby embedded into day-to-day operations and decision making. Cracking lesson material for AQA BUSS4 this summer!
read more...»CSR at the Movies - Thank You for Smoking
A film here which is certainly not a documentary, but still takes a hard dig at the world of business lobbying in the USA. Thank You for Smoking is a satirical comedy which follows the machinations of Big Tobacco’s chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son.
read more...»CSR - Cooperative Group invites you to join a revolution
A major news announcement from the Co-operative Group in the UK provides a wealth of research materials for students looking at the issues of corporate social responsibility. great for teaching CSR too!
read more...»CSR at the Movies - Manufactured Landscapes
The impact of rapid economic growth in emerging markets such as China and Bangladesh is examined here in the acclaimed film Manufactured Landscapes…
read more...»CSR at the Movies - The End of the Line
A haunting soundtrack and some gripping and often gruesome imagery make this another strong contender for a powerful lesson stimulus on CSR. The End of The Line is the film version of a book by journalist Charles Clover about overfishing. Clover, an environment editor of the Daily Telegraph (London), describes how modern fishing is destroying ocean ecosystems. He concludes that current worldwide fish consumption is unsustainable.
read more...»Introducing a new kind of business organisation - the benefit corporation
A huge, dramatic swoosh of a hat tip to Jill Mcaloon at St Mary’s College Wallasey for sending the Business Studies blog a terrific audio link which is just perfect for AQA BUSS4 and any other teacher/student wanting to know a little more about business organisation and social enterprise.
read more...»CSR - What is “Creating Shared Value”?
In recent blog entries we mentioned an important new contribution to the literature on business strategy and CSR (Porter & Kramer’s Creating Shared Value). The essence of CSV is that businesses need to go beyond CSR and focus on building business models that fully embrace the link between economic value (aka profit) and social value (what business activities add to or detract from society). Nestle SA, the world’s largest food producer, has taken on the concept of CSV and embedded it into the group’s business strategy. These two videos help explain the concept in more detail:
read more...»CSR - Avoiding the child labour hotspots
Several prominent businesses have been caught out when investigations have highlighted the exploitation of child labour in their supply chains. Primark and Apple are great examples that are likely to popular research examples for students preparing for AQA BUSS4 in June 2011. So the latest Child Labour Index will probably be required reading for businesses keen to avoid the reputational damage that can arise from being seen to profit from extremely low pay. As this Guardian article explains, the worst-offending countries include many of the emerging markets which have provided the source of low-cost supply for many multinational brands. India performs particularly badly. A good quote in the article from risk management specialists Maplecroft who produce the index makes an important point: [my emphases in bold]
“These large emerging economies are essential to the strategic interests of multinational business. Not only is child labour wrong but the existence of child labour within a company’s value chain can have significant impacts on reputation and profits and it is critical that companies undertake stringent monitoring of all suppliers.”
Cutting costs - with a lick of paint?
A half-term hat tip to Ian Pryer for spotting this neat story about low-cost airline about Easyjet. Easyjet’s use of a new hi-tech paint, which is claimed to reduce flight drag and therefore reduce fuel consumption is an excellent one for both AQA BUSS2 and BUSS4 students.
For BUSS2 students, an interesting example of the lengths low cost airlines will go to to reduce costs in order to make more profit or be more price competitive. This is a topic that they will no doubt have been recently looking at.
For BUSS4 students, there is a clear CSR angle here with Easyjet’s belief that this may lead to lower carbon emissions. Or are they simply reducing costs? Perhaps it’s an example of how firms can actually do both. One for students to discuss.
Here’s an article describes the innovation and here’s the Easyjet press release which gives the news a clear corporate spin!
CSR - Branson, Paphitis and Meaden Turn into Eco Warriors
If Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden, Richard Branson, Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King, outgoing M&S CEO Stuart Rose and Pepsico’s CEO Indra Nooyi are prepared to appear in a video like this, then you know that the issue of CSR (and specifically sustainability) has truly risen to the top of the hierarchy of corporate objectives!
The new ‘Eco warriors or business leaders’ video is all part of Prince Charles’ Accounting for Sustainability initiative, which is ‘bringing organisations together to develop practical tools to enable environmental and social performance to be better connected with strategy and financial performance, and thereby embedded into day-to-day operations and decision making’.
Ok - so the video is a bit cheesy. But it’s a perfect stimulus video to show students as an introduction for their AQA BUSS4 research project too...
read more...»
