BTEC First in Business - New 2012 Specification CPD Course
A diary date here for all colleagues teaching the new BTEC First in Business specification - Friday 15 June 2012. tutor2u is running a special CPD course at the amazing Drayton Manor Theme Park focused on the new requirements for the 2012 specification (for first teaching from September 2012). We’ll look at the new methods of assessment and provide guidance on resourcing and organising the other new units too. We’ll also have some guest speakers from Drayton Manor - a great case study to use for BTEC First.
Places are strictly limited. Please complete this provisional booking form to grab some places before they all go…
Facebook vs the world at night!
Lots of great posts on the upcoming Facebook IPO lately, including Jim’s post on what Facebook might do with the cash that it raises. But these graphics show what is really missing from the Facebook empire, and if they can crack that then $100 billion will probably look cheap!
read more...»Takeovers - the search for cost synergies
Students researching the topic of takeovers and mergers will come across several unfamiliar terms. One of the most important for them to understand is “synergy” and we’ll write in more detail in subsequent blog entries about what these are. However, here is a useful piece of research which indicates the potential and significance of the most common kind of synergy - “cost synergies”.
read more...»A light-hearted look at induction training
I’m always on the look out for neat little video clips I can use to bring ideas and concepts to life. I’ve just seen the latest McDonald’s TV ad for the first time and it looks a great way of getting across the concept of induction training.
read more...»Happiness in the workplace still proving elusive
60 years ago we worked 30% longer and took half as many holidays. For most, pay was poor. Discrimination in the workplace was widespread, and permitted by law. Work was often hard, and for working class men it was often dangerous too. So it’s a sobering thought to think that several decades later, measures of anxiety in the workplace have risen, to the point that stress has replaced back pain as the most common cause of long-term sick leave, according to The Guardian. What’s going wrong?
read more...»Which is better? Aldi or Lidl? Compare and contrast these (and others) using ‘Store Wars’
I’ve only just stumbled on this excellent resource which pits Aldi against Lidl - and takes a snapshot of the differences in customers’ opinions. In this example, Lidl won 60/40. This is a fun few minutes suitable for a starter activity, with over twenty other examples to choose from.
read more...»The story of a failed takeover - Fred Goodwin, RBS & ABN-Amro
The catastrophic takeover by RBS (as part of a consortium with Banco Santander and Fortis) of Dutch banking group ABN-Amro has become a defining case study of how to mess up a deal. Just about everything that can go wrong with a takeover did go wrong.
read more...»Private equity buyouts - Sunday Times supplement
Private Equity hasn’t really featured very strongly in the Business Studies syllabus before, but may come more to the fore this year in the study of mergers and takeovers. A supplement in yesterday’s Sunday Times which examines ‘private equity backed firms with the fastest growing profits’ is worth getting hold of, as it gives some help on the role of private equity in the M&A market.
read more...»HOD Opportunity - Business Studies & Economics at City of London Freemen’s (Surrey)
Superb HOD opportunities like this don;t come around very often. Good luck to everyone who applies for this role to join the lovely team at COLF.
read more...»Takeovers in the UK - the long-term trend
I’ve been delving into the datasets on the ONS site to pick up some evidence about the scale of takeovers and mergers involving UK businesses. Having worked in M&A during the 1990’s and early 2000’s, I remember the various short-term peaks and troughs of activity that the takeover market seemed to go through. However, I wanted to get a better sense of longer-term trends. Here’s what I found.
read more...»Buying-in to the Facebook culture
Want to buy shares in Facebook? The desire to buy-in to a business which has had such a revolutionary effect on communications will surely be huge. It almost feels like the emotional decision that football fans make when they buy shares in their beloved club. But the canny investor will analyse what they are investing in: is this a business decision in which they can examine the ratios and then the founder’s or directors’ mission statement, in order to assess their chances of gaining a suitable return on their investment?
read more...»Glenstrata - Glencore proposes merger with Xstrata
Yesterday morning’s business news has been dominated by the proposed merger of Glencore and Xstrata. Glencore’s 34% holding of Xstrata shares had made a third party approach for Xstrata very difficult if not impossible.
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…
read more...»Mini’s PR backfires badly in central Europe
No doubt it seemed a jolly good idea at the time. Someone in Sassenbach, the advertising agency that handles the BMW Mini account spotted an oppportunity; the German meteorology institute offers ‘Adopt a Vortex’, the chance to name, or ‘sponsor’, weather systems and encourages people to follow the path of the weather on meteorological websites. So they decided to name a weather system ‘Cooper’, and according to the BBC report they thought that naming the front after the open-air vehicle was a “wind- and weather-proof idea”.
read more...»Cadbury’s Law - Should UK Firms be Protected from Takeover?
Back in 2010, the effect of the Kraft takeover of Cadbury’s brought business into the realms of politics as the unhappiness felt by some stakeholders spilled directly into the UK’s General Election.
One proposed response from the Labour Party was the so-called Cadbury’s Law, whereby new legislation would attempt to protect UK firms from takeover by foreign companies. Was this a good idea?
read more...»Top Totty Beer - Warning the image may demean women (or not as the case may be.
A small Staffordshire brewery may have a boost to its sales of one of its beers after a Labour MP Kate Green called for, and got a ban on sales of Slater’s Top Totty.
read more...»The Biz Quiz - 2 February 2012
Another 10 questions on the business news here…quite easy this week; your quizmaster expects you to get at least 7 out of ten 
Launch The Biz Quiz - 2 February 2012
PEST - IAG and BMI acquisition
International Airlines Group or BA and Iberia are trying to acquire BMI from Lufthansa.
A move which would allow IAG would gain c. 56 additional take-off and landing slots at Heathrow. Lufthansa had bought up most of BMI’s shares in 2008 but has failed to prevent the group losing money.
The 7p Valentines Day Card
With just a couple of weeks until Valentine’s Day, many shops are going into overdrive with the displays of flowers, hearts, chocolates etc… It’s a lucrative time of year to charge top prices for certain products that might have a very inelastic PED (depending on how late you leave it to purchase!) and many firms see this as a good opportunity for business - I know plenty of Young Enterprise teams in schools all over the country who see it this way as well.
read more...»Mastering the art of merger integration
As the BUSS4 research topic reaches the students it is useful to be able to steer them towards something to get the process started. Finding something they can do alongside other work should help to motivate them as they feel their way into the topic.
read more...»BUSS2 Revision Workshops 2012 - Programme Outline
The detailed programme for our AQA BUSS2 revision workshops in March & April 2012 is now available. Details below. Bookings for these workshops can be made here. We’re visiting Portsmouth, Hull, London (Fulham), Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and then finishing off with a visit to the Olympic area at London Stratford City.
read more...»Integration, integration, integration
HP is an example of a firm which is struggling to integrate acquisitions, and the perils of diversification.
BUSS4 Revision Workshops 2012 - Programme Outline
The session-by-session programme for our AQA BUSS4 revision workshops in March & April 2012 is now available. Details below. Bookings for these workshops can be made here. We’re visiting Portsmouth, Hull, London (Fulham), Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and then finishing off with a visit to the Olympic area at London Stratford City.
read more...»Business Case Studies: Alex Polizzi: the Fixer
This is a great program to illustrate numerous business issues. The program last night looked at a bridal shop that was experiencing problems due to poor management, the program looked at the range of issues that the business had to deal with referring to finance and human resource issues etc. Alex Polizzi: the Fixer on BBC 2 is worth watching and using as a source of business case study material in the classroom to bring various business concepts to life. The series continues on BBC 2 Tuesday 8pm. As its on before 9 it is suitable for lower school classes. Well worth a look. It is currently on BBC iPlayer.
BUSS4 research - some initial ideas
The brief for the BUSS4 research task makes the point that “You are strongly recommended to compare and contrast a number of different takeovers and mergers.” There is a huge amount of news reporting on this topic; in addition to the Guardian hub reported by Miss C Wilkin’s blog below, both FT.com and Reuters have link pages which will take you to myriad of reports about Mergers and Acquisitions - more information that your students could ever need, and which they will need some help to negotiate.
It is early days at the moment to get the students too far into the bullet points, but if they want to get going on some of the issues that might be involved, here is my initial list of some key news stories that could give a start point:
read more...»BUSS4 2012 - Mergers and Takeovers on the Business Studies Blog
As you might imagine, there is already a substantial amount of relevant content on the Business Studies Blog which will be helpful for colleagues and students researching Mergers and Takeovers for BUSS4. We’ll be adding substantially to this over the coming days and weeks. Here are a couple of suggestions for the best way to find useful resources on the blog.
read more...»The Guardian on Takeovers and Mergers
The Guardian website is a great source of information for students. In light of the AQA BUSS4 pre-release study theme of Mergers and Takeovers, I have started doing some research in the Guardian for my students to help with some case study material as a stimulus to get them started on this research theme. Below are some links to useful recent news articles.
read more...»AQA A2 Business (BUSS4) Research Theme 2012
The Section A research theme for 2012 has now been released. The topic is Mergers and Takeovers. Our team is now working flat out to provide support for colleagues and students taking on the research theme ahead of the BUSS4 exam on Thursday 21 June 2012.
Details of the research bullets are provided further below.
In common with previous research themes, we have created a dedicated channel on the Business Studies Blog which we’ll use to post advice, including useful research links, exam technique guidance and other resources which will help save you time. The link to the BUSS4 channel for 2012 is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/C634
The BUSS4 channel also has an RSS feed for anyone who wants to get first news of new blog entries. The RSS link is: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/rss_2.0/C634
Our detailed BUSS4 Research Toolkit is now used by over 1,000 AQA centres in the UK and overseas. This can now be pre-ordered from here or by downloading this printable order form.
As in 2011, we are running a series of one-day CPD briefing days for colleagues wanting further support on how to handle the Section A Research Theme. Details of these courses here
Finally, and certainly not least, our BUSS4 Student Rvision Workshops are scheduled to run in March & April 2012. These were hugely popular last year and all the signs are that they will be even busier in 2012. You’ll need to move fast to book some places for the workshops - all the details you need are here.
read more...»How to turn threats into an opportunity at Ryanair
Michael O’Leary, quoted in Management Today, describes the situation facing Ryanair towards the end of last year. He highlighted the threats from the EU recession and higher oil prices, but typically O’Leary found the opportunities more compelling: the “unfolding failure of the package tour operator model, significant competitor fare increases and capacity cuts, created enormous growth opportunities for Ryanair, as large and smaller airports across Europe compete aggressively to win Ryanair’s growth” he said.
read more...»Starbucks growth - three out of four ain’t bad.
I think the song goes something like that….Starbucks has been very popular in this blog lately with a number of posts across different topics. It seems to be all good news at the moment as they pursue a number of different strategies for achieving growth. And I used this video clip to get my students to identify three out of the four main ways of growing a business.
read more...»
