Mazda make light of formal tie up with Fiat
In the 1980s and 1990s, Ford embarked on a series of takeovers Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover, all of which were sold off to meet the firm’s liabilities. It also had built up a substantial stake in the Japanese Mazda company, holding almost 1/3 of the share capital, making a successful bid by rival multinational car makers less likely.
Today’s business news included an announcement that Mazda was forming an alliance with Alfa Romeo develop a new two-seater rear-wheel-drive sports car.
read more...»Rising to the top of the milk
Two cooperative firms Milk Link (Moo milk, Gervik, Caradog cheese) and Arla Foods (brands include Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor) are to merge.
read more...»6 Essential M&A Cases: Tata Group buys Jaguar Land Rover
The Tata acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover is a superb example to include in research notes on takeovers and mergers. At the time (early 2008), Tata’s investment in JLR seemed to be poorly timed and there were many critics who questioned the strategic logic of the move as well as its timing. Shortly after the takeover, demand in the global market for luxury cars collapsed as a result of the financial crisis and Tata was forced to refinance to support its investment.
Several years later, however, the takeover appears to be a compelling example of a successful acquisition which is generating substantial shareholder value for Tata as well as continued support from JLR’s many stakeholder groups in the UK.
read more...»Measuring the competitiveness of a business
We’ve seen that competitiveness is about advantages that enable a business to outperform its competitors. But, can competitiveness be measured and, if so, how?
read more...»What do we mean by “competitiveness”?
Some questions for you…
• Why are Apple and Samsung performing so much better in the market place for smartphones and tablet computers than Nokia and Sony?
• Why do retailers like John Lewis Partnership and Dominos UK continue to grow and prosper when other retailers like Comet, Game Group and Clinton Cards struggle to survive?
• Why are so many people now buying from online brands such as Amazon rather than shopping on their local high streets?
• Thinking about the restaurants, cafes and other eateries near you, why so some seem to thrive whereas others are always empty and often close down?
The answer lies in the concept of competitiveness. So what does this term mean?
read more...»Revision Presentation - Marketing and Competitiveness
In this revision presentation we look at the key topic of competitiveness, in the specific context of marketing and market structure. We consider what is meant by the concept of “competitiveness” and what determines whether a business has a competitive advantage over others in the market or industry. The nature of competition in a market is also covered, including the key models of competition such as Porter’s Five Forces.
read more...»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?
Takeovers and Mergers - A Casino Gamble?
Hot on the heels of the Vue takeover of Apollo Cinema Group, here is another significant takeover in the UK leisure sector. This one will certainly attract the attention of the competition regulators. Two of the UK’s largest operators of casinos are being brought together as Rank buys Gala Coral’s casino business for £205m.
read more...»Takeovers and Mergers - Vue on the Growth Trail!
News of a £20m takeover here which will be particularly relevant to colleagues and students who joined us recently for the BUSS4 revision workshops at cinemas around the UK…
read more...»Shareholder conflict: the story so far – and its relevance to evaluation
Two themes wrapped up together here.
Firstly, you will be sure to have noticed references to a ‘Shareholder Spring’ in which normally quiet and docile shareholders have been increasingly resistant to executives’ claims for ever higher rewards. There’s a link to a very handy summary below.
Secondly, this serves as a reminder of one of the several ways in which you can boost the evaluative component of your answers.
BUSS4 - Mergers & Acquisitions - one that went wrong. BMW and Rover
When BMW met Rover
For the BUSS4 exam this June, it is useful to understand why a merger may fail to work and a retrospective look at BMW’s acquisition of Rover back in 1994 provides a good illustration of several possible pitfalls.
Takeovers and Mergers - the failed takeover behind Clinton Cards’ Collapse
The collapse of Clinton Cards has been widely predicted for some time as its new CEO (recruited from Starbucks UK) attempted to achieve a turnaround and restructuring in recent months. Clinton’s administration is one of the biggest UK retail failures wince Woolworths and much of the press analysis will focus on the competitive pressures that the retail chain faced from online operators like Moonpig and Funky Pigeon, as well as the effect of weak consumer confidence and spending.
Eagle-eyed A2 students, however, will also spot that a strategic mistake back in 2004 is at the root of many of Clinton Cards problems. The mistake - buying Birthdays Group in 2004.
read more...»Vodafone and Cable and Wireless Worldwide
Cable and Wireless Worldwide has 20,500km of fibre-optic cables in the UK, owning this would mean that Vodafone doesn’t have develop a network from scratch, estimated at £5bn. Vodafone like other mobile operators needs additional capacity to cope with the increased use of smartphones - downloads of music, video, photos etc.
read more...»Flaws in Tesco’s strategy
BUSS4 students can accumulate some useful evidence about changes in business strategy by examining the reasons for Tesco’s fall in UK profits, and their strategy to reverse the trend. There is an opportunity to do some ‘compare and contrast’ with the strategies of other businesses which are struggling to turnaround disappointing business results such as Nokia and others that have such as BA and Starbucks.
read more...»A detailed look inside Apple’s Foxconn factory
A fascinating and detailed look here at working conditions at Apple’s main supplier in China. This 15 minute video raises a lot of issues which students can develop; particularly useful for any discussion around CSR, but also excellent for operations and HRM. In the video, ABC News Nightline goes behind the scenes of the FoxConn factory - the operation which makes iPads and iPhones.
read more...»Vodafone takes over Cable and Wireless Worldwide
Last week the share price of Cable and Wireless Worldwide C&WW, slumped, after the Indian conglomerate Tata withdrew its bid for the company.
read more...»6 Essential M&A Cases: BA & Iberia Merge to Form IAG
This M&A briefing note provides an overview of the merger of British Airways and Iberia which led to the formation of a new firm - International Airlines Group (“IAG”)
read more...»It’s all going wrong for Nokia - big losses in Q1 (2012)
Nokia has just announced some very poor financial results for the first three months of 2012, raising concerns that Stephen Elop’s turnaround strategy for the once market-leading mobile phone producer may be running into further trouble.
read more...»Competitiveness and organisational structure - a great example of delayering
Students familiar with the concept of delayering will know that the benefits of successfully reducing the number of layers in the management hierarchy are not just limited to lower costs. Of course, there can be significant cost savings from delayering, particularly if the roles concerned are highly-paid. However, the strategic rationale for delayering is also usually linked with the need to improve the effectiveness of decision-making and making the business more responsive to customer needs.
There is a great example of delayering which was in the news yesterday (19 April 2012) concerning a decision by insurance firm Aviva to remove an entire layer from their organisational structure.
read more...»Easy ride for Audi?
Cross border acquisitions allow a firm to reach new markets, or to add to their portfolios of brands. This morning’s business stories included Audi’s announcement that it has taken over the Italian Ducati Compnay.
read more...»Strategy - How Nokia was overtaken by Apple and Samsung
I like this short article from Channel 4 News which examines how Nokia’s competitive position has been severely weakened by the success of firms like Apple and Nokia.
read more...»Takeovers and Mergers - Cost Synergies in Action at BMI
This is desperately bad news for the employees and local community involved, but it serves as a good example for students to understand the nature of cost synergies in a takeover or merger. This local newspaper report covers the announcement of hundreds of job losses at the headquarters of BMI, which has recently been acquired by British Airways from Lufthansa.
read more...»Leadership - meet the new boss of Starbucks UK
Just catching up on some research on Starbucks and I came across this nice short interview with Kris Engskov who has recently taken over as Managing Director of Starbucks UK…
read more...»How will General Motors respond to the problem of over-capacity?
General Motors (whose main brand in the UK is Vauxhall) survived the global financial crisis thanks to the support of the US government. This is probably good news, but it adds to the problems of other car makers. In Europe there are simply too many, producing more vehicles than the market can absorb without heavy discounting, which hurts the manufacturers.
read more...»Takeovers and Mergers: Facebook & Instagram in News Clips
The Facebook takeover of Instagram for $1bn has generated a huge amount of media interest. The takeover is a great topical example for A2 business students looking at takeovers, and these video clips provide all they could possibly need in terms of looking at the motives for the deal and also the potential revenue synergies for Facebook.
read more...»Sony - Hirai’s Turnaround Strategy - in Video Clips
At our A2 Business revision workshops in March we predicted that Sony would quickly become an essential research case study for students in 2012 and perhaps beyond, as we anticipated the strategic review being carried out by Hirai Kazou as he took over as CEO of Sony from Sir Howard Stringer. Events over recent days have supported that view. Sony’s plight - and proposed turnaround strategy - is packed full with fantastic business strategy materials. Perfect for comparing and contrasting with the likes of Apple, Samsung, Google & HTC.
Hirai’s announcement has been well covered in all the business media, particularly the online business television channels. Here is a selection of clips which help explain the strategy and also provide some examples of experts analysing and evaluating the likely success of the turnaround:
Update: BBC news, May 2012: Sony shares tumble to 31-year low amid record losses
read more...»Instagram - the business with no revenues, worth $1bn
Simply stunning. There’s no other way to describe the takeover by Facebook of Instagram…for a cool $1bn. This takeover has really made the technology market sit up and notice.
read more...»Organisational culture, strategy and performance in fewer than 1000 words
Tuning into the news last week I was not surprised to see the Met Police once again under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17636776). Described as suffering from ‘institutional racism’ by the MacPherson Report in 1999 it appears not a lot has changed at the Met police in the almost 20 years since the racially motivated murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence. So what exactly is going on?
read more...»Revision Presentation - Business & the Technological Environment
This new revision presentation focuses on the “T” in PESTEL - technology. The role of technological change as an opportunity or threat is examined as are the drivers of innovation and the process of diffusion.
read more...»ResearchBuster: Acquisitions
Our ResearchBuster blog posts are designed to help students identify and integrate examples of business strategy for their synoptic essays and exams. This ResearchBuster look at some of the most significant examples of takeovers / acquisitions in recent years…
(updated 8 April 2012 with 9 new entries)
read more...»
