Holiday giant ventures into the luxury segment

Now that there are just two dominant mainstream package tour operators in the UK, the search for profitable growth is taking businesses like Thomas Cook into more specialist segments.  It has just bought one of the most exclusive luxury operators as part of a renewed acquisition strategy.

Startups find success with a green ethic

Rachel Bridge writes some superb pieces in her enterprise column for The Sunday Times.  I really liked Rachel’s piece a couple of weekends ago which took a look at how a selection of successful startups embraced environmentally-friendly and ethical trading at the core of their activities.

Fudges finds its niche

Here is a great example of a food manufacturing business that has reinvented itself to successfully exploit a niche for luxury food products. The video link would make a great lesson starter resource and there is lots of business studies content that can be drawn out through discussion and further research.

Bebo has been boughto

Bebo, the social networking website beloved of UK school students, has been bought by AOL

End of an era for supermarket retailing

This week marks a landmark for the UK grocery retailing market.  Sir Ken Morrison (pictured above opening a new Morrisons store) is retiring as chairman of the business founded by his father after over 55 years in the industry.

British Airways warning is a wonderful strategy case for students

An amazing headline in the Independent this morning.  “BA fears oil price rise may destroy its profit margins”.  The piece that follows makes for really useful reading for A2 business strategy students.

Pest controller sees profits tumble

Two contrasting stories in the news today highlight how the value of a business can fluctuate widely.

Starbucks Closes 7,100 US Outlets

...for a few hours, to train all the staff.  An amazing decision taken by the new boss of Starbucks in the US to kick-start his recovery strategy for the poorly-performing coffee chain.