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BMW and a business location activity
I was reading today that BMW i8 engines are to be built in Birmingham. Why would the German-based car maker want to produce engines in the UK? What’s brought them here?
I often find this is a great induction session for students who are new to Business Studies, or those progressing from AS to A2 and are looking to apply their knowledge and understanding.
You might like to read through the article above and pick out the reasons that the author identifies as BMW’s main motivations.
I sometimes show a FlowingData clip tracking the growth of Walmart across America and ask the same sort of question: what factors could account for the pattern of growth as the retailer spreads across the states?
Another question to ponder is the general merits of the UK as a business location. What might draw businesses here and why? That’s a more open, less specific question than the BMW example.
Perhaps a local focus might be more relevant or interesting to you. Because I live in Norwich, I like navigating through the Invest in Norfolk site promoted by Norfolk County Council. Does your local council provide a similarly compelling list of reasons for firms to invest in your neighbourhood? Other East of England locations like Cambridge get plenty of coverage in the national press with their ‘Silicon Fen’ tag line.
Business Location: Entrepreneurs Get Creative with Where to Locate their Businesses [5 May 2013]
BUSS2 revision and exam technique - Competitiveness [19 Jan 2013]
Revision Presentation - Locating a New Business [31 Dec 2012]
Revision Quiz - Business Location [1 Dec 2012]
Growth and Complexity Go Together - So Keep it Simple! [16 Aug 2012]
Measuring the competitiveness of a business [18 May 2012]
What do we mean by “competitiveness”? [18 May 2012]
Revision Presentation - Marketing and Competitiveness [17 May 2012]
Predictions of a dramatic change in the way goods are produced - and how it may change business [25 Apr 2012]
Competitiveness and organisational structure - a great example of delayering [20 Apr 2012]
Costs, Cashflow and Closure - the Last French Beret Maker [14 Apr 2012]
Strategy & Technological Change - Whatever Happened to BlackBerry? [14 Apr 2012]
Revision Presentation - Exchange Rates and Business [6 Apr 2012]
When we went on tour - Football and Competitiveness [23 Mar 2012]
Retrenchment: Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain? [19 Mar 2012]
Practice your skills as a retailer: entrepreneurs experiment with ‘pop up’ shops [8 Mar 2012]
Leadership and Strategy - All Change at the Top for Blackberry [23 Jan 2012]
Revision Presentation - Business Location [2 Jan 2012]
Revision Quiz - Marketing: Competition [1 Nov 2011]
Location Location Location [28 Oct 2011]
Greggs, Sausage Rolls and the Ansoff Matrix [20 Oct 2011]
Revision Quiz - Locating the Startup Business [12 Oct 2011]
Lesson activity - the Dyson Debate [29 Sep 2011]
Jaguar Land Rover Essay [20 Sep 2011]
Using Chucklevision to Teach Business [8 May 2011]
Nokia CEO - Standing on a Burning Platform [9 Feb 2011]
Q&A - What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring? [29 Dec 2010]
Q&A - What are the main issues in operating a multi-site business? [29 Dec 2010]
Q&A - Explain what is meant by industrial inertia [29 Dec 2010]
Q&A - How important is location in determining business success? [29 Dec 2010]
Britain’s changing High Street - Poundland, nail bars and empty shops [8 Dec 2010]
How to start a toy shop [12 Oct 2010]
Recession Strategy - Manufacturing Emerges Leaner and Fitter [25 Aug 2010]
Video case study - New Balance quality in a successful UK factory [28 Jan 2010]
Small businesses in the middle of the crunch - insights for students [22 Apr 2009]
Video case study - flexible storage is a boom business [8 Feb 2009]
A Devastating Blow for the Irish Economy [8 Jan 2009]
Video case study - Tourist town reinvents its economy [11 Nov 2008]
Here’s a useful short video about a start-up business [23 Sep 2008]
Not enough customers to break the daily grind at Beanscene [14 Aug 2008]
Start-ups and small businesses abandon their traditional offices [13 Aug 2008]
How much would you pay for a fish & chip shop? [9 Aug 2008]
Working from home - the cost effective location for a start-up [21 Jun 2008]
Add flexible space to flexible working as a success factor for a start-up [20 May 2008]
The Apprentice 2008 (Week 1) - In Cod We Trust [27 Mar 2008]
Fudges finds its niche [14 Mar 2008]
Which business location is this? A simple starter activity [8 Mar 2008]
Can you guess - what is Britain’s fastest-growing sport? [4 Mar 2008]
Are supermarkets morphing into community centres? [4 Mar 2008]
The Social Network that Friends Forgot [27 Feb 2008]
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Business Studies Revision / Exam Coaching Workshops Coming Up:
GCSE Business (AQA Unit 2 & Edexcel Unit 3)
Thursday 24 April 2014 - Birmingham
Friday 25 April 2014 - London (Stratford City)
AQA AS & A2 Business (BUSS1 & BUSS3)
Monday 20 January 2014 - London (Stratford City)
Tuesday 21 January 2014 - London (Fulham Broadway)
Wednesday 22 January 2014 - Bristol (Cribbs Causeway)
Thursday 23 January 2014 - Birmingham (Star City)
Friday 24 January 2014 - Manchester (Salford Quays)
AQA AS & A2 Business (BUSS2 & BUSS4)
Tuesday 25 March 2014 - London (Stratford City)
Wednesday 26 March 2014 - London (Fulham Broadway)
Thursday 27 March 2014 - Bristol (Cribbs Causeway)
Friday 28 March 2014 - Birmingham (Star City)
Tuesday 1 April 2014 - Newcastle (Metro Centre)
Wednesday 2 April 2014 - Leeds (The Light)
Thursday 3 April 2014 - Manchester (Salford Quays)
Post-Easter (BUSS1/BUSS2 Combined & BUSS4)
Monday 28 April 2014 - London (Stratford City)
Tuesday 29 April 2014 - London (Fulham Broadway)
Wednesday 30 April 2014 - Bristol (Cribbs Causeway)
Thursday 1 May 2014 - Birmingham (Star City)
Friday 2 May 2014 - Manchester (Salford Quays)
Try some of these superb starter activities for Business Studies:
- Anagram Countdown
- Beat the Teacher
- Bellwork
- Budget Basket
- Memory Challenge
- Loop Cards
- I'm the Question
- Catchphrase - Say What You See!
- Consider All Possibilities (C.A.P)
- i-Teach
- Teacher Talkabout
- Perfect Recall
- Pass the Buck
- What would you have invented?
- These are a few of my favourite things
- Set Your Students the 15 Word Challenge
- Topic Tennis
- What Why Depends - Developing Thinking Skills
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