The Death of Newspapers - to be replaced by Nichepapers?

There is a perfect storm brewing in the newspaper industry around the globe. Dramatic falls in advertising revenues coupled with a rapid migration of readership from paid-for newsprint to free-to-read digital is destroying the business model of many regional and national newspapers. Here is a thought-provoking piece which considered what the successful newspaper of the future is likely to be. I like the concept of a nichepaper - where readers are prepared to pay for the value added from specialist and passionate journalists and other writers.

East Coast Rail Line is Nationalised

The government is taking the East Coast rail line that runs from London to Edinburgh and which has been operated by National Express into public ownership. National Express has struggled with falling revenues and higher costs that have contributed to rising losses on the line. In a press release, National Express said that higher hedged fuel costs added £11 million of cost in the first half of 2009, while increased pension costs cost the business a further £3 million.

Q&A - How can a business handle a loss?

A loss arises when total costs are more than total revenues in a period.

Video case study - Sony suffers a $1billion loss

A super short video from the BBC explains the economic and competitive background to the recent announcment of a $1billion loss by Sony.  Excellent stimulus material for AS & A2 students.

A tale of two retailers with contrasting fortunes in the slump

Two pieces of contrasting news from well-known retailers provide a telling insight into the effects of the economic slump…

Will the Crunch deflate the Football Bubble?

An interesting article in the Independent today takes a close look at the how the business of top-flight football in England is being affected by the economic downturn.  Player wages continue to grow faster than revenues.  Operating losses are increasing.  Can the football industry continue to defy the crunch?

Business cutbacks and job losses

The British economy is in falling into a recession and this brings about a fall in the demand for labour and a rise in unemployment.

In many of the examples I have shown below, the root cause of the labour shedding is a decline in demand in a related industry – for example a cement factory that is finally shutting down because of the severity of the slump in new house-building. Or the employees at a local newspaper in Guernsey in the Channel Island affected by the steep drop in demand for traditional forms of media advertising. Markets are inter-related and there are few businesses in the UK at the present time that can describe themselves as ‘recession proof’.

Start-up case study - Petmeds

An excellent case study in The Sunday Times today tells the story of how Ricky Thomas set up Petmeds after spotting an opportunity from a change in legislation…

Wrapit’s persistent losses seal the wedding service fate

We reported on the financial problems facing Wrapit in a recent blog article and, unfortunately, the business has now been closed and put in the hands of the receivers…

Business Strategy - BA plans merger with Iberia

We’ve used British Airways as a rich case study in our A2 Business Strategy workshops for a couple of years.  It looks like there will be plenty of scope to revisit the business in future workshops following today’s announcement…