New Book in the library: Business Strategy

The hare and the tortoise : an informal guide to business strategy

Most business books are bland or dull, or both. This volume is neither. John Kay combines insightful analysis with wit and verve. In this book, we meet heroes as diverse as Sun Tzu, Jacques Derrida, and Jack Welch. We study businesses as diverse as Honda Motors, the grandes marques of Champagne, and Jenners department store in Princes Street, Edinburgh. We learn why size doesn't matter, why brakes are different from signals, how to value businesses, and why the author was wrong to tell students that Boeing's position in the civil aircraft market was unassailable.

In less than two hundred pages, John Kay provides a lively introduction to business strategy and a guide to many of the key issues in business today.

Y13: Culture & Change: The Nokia Story

This has to be one of the best newspaper articles for a Year 13 business student in many a long year…

A fascinating insight from the International Herald Tribune into the (claimed) prevailing corporate culture at Nokia which seems to have contributed to their loss of competitive advantage over Apple, RIM (Blackberry), Samsung and others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/technology/27nokia.html?_r=1

Nokia, it is said, were actively considering the development of a touch-screen smartphone five years ago - which might have killed off the iPhone in its tracks. But the prevailing culture of risk avoidance, conservatism, inertia, acted against the investment. How they must wish they had been bolder.

The article is packed full with core strategic terms and concepts. A great starting point would be for students to highlight the main themes and then explain why they are significant to Nokia.

The approach to take in ant essay would be ......

...this theme (e.g. conservative, risk-averse decision-making) is significant to Nokia BECAUSE...and THEREFORE…

I think Nokia should be right up there at the top of list of “firms to follow” for Year 13 students.

The appointment of a new CEO (Stephen Elop) provides the extra leadership/change management angle to the case study which examiners might be quite attracted too!

All Business students.....watch this clip...awesome!

Check out the clip below, it explains the reasoning why Capitalism (free market Economics) has failed.....excellent!



Questions

What is the authors main argument?
Do you agree?
Would you rather live in an economy that was controlled by governments?
If not, why not?

A2 Unit 3: Euro debate

Ireland did everything the EU asked of it. It slashed spending, it cut jobs, it cut public sector wages. Ireland was praised for its 'courage' in implementing austere fiscal policy which would reduce the deficit and 'improve confidence' in the economy.

Apparantely, some people are now surprised, that Ireland is now facing a shocking collapse in GDP. The Irish economy shrank by 1.2pc in the three months between April and June compared (an annual decline of 4.8%)

Has no one in the EU heard about Herbert Hoover and the initial response to the Great Depression?

Of course, being in the Euro makes it even more difficult because as well as fiscal retrenchment there is no possibility of exchange rate devaluation or loosening of monetary policy to help the economy.

So the EU response has been to

•precipitate a second recession
•Cause interest rates on Irish bonds to rise to a record 6.3%
•leave possibility of debt default.

The talk is of Ireland implementing further cuts or a partial debt default. But, there is depressingly little talk of the ECB implementing quantitative easing, which is what they need to do.

A2 Unit 3: Great clip on BRIC's

A2 Unit 3: Best Global brands 2010

The updated list has been published by Interbrand (the people who brought you the slogan “a Mars a day helps you work, rest and play”) and they describe it as the ‘definitive ranking of the world’s most valuable brands’.

There are several activities to think about before you actually start looking at the list.

Firstly, set yourself the quick challenge of trying to anticipate which brands you’ll see in the Top 10 or Top 20. Next, try to think who is on the way up and who has had a difficult year. The league table helpfully compares the ranking this year with last.

http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-2008/best-global-brands-2010.aspx

The last question is the most interesting. How would you compile a league table like this? What factors might you rake into account? Helpfully, here's how 'Interbrand' did it:-

http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-methodology/Overview.aspx

A2 Unit 3: Outsourcing & Offshoring...

An interesting and topical example of outsourcing here, which should get teachers and students into a lively discussion during lessons on operations…

Outsourcing as a strategy has been around for a long time, but it is not associated with the UK education system as closely as it is with, say, financial services and other customer-service operations.

This primary school is outsourcing the teaching / tutoring of maths support to a team of tutors in India.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7992178/School-outsources-teaching-to-India.html


Sounds like the service costs around £3-4k for the support provided, which is a good deal less costly than having a specialist maths tutor physically in the classroom. Is it a good idea? Might we see more of this as schools find their budgets tightening further? How does the school ensure that students are getting the right quality of tutoring?

Students often get confused with the difference between outsourcing and offshoring. The use of India-based tutors above is an example of both.

Outsourcing involves the use of a third party (supplier) to provide services rather than have people employed within the business/organisation to do them. So outsourcing can occur both in the UK (domestically) and overseas.

Offshoring involves the provision of services from a differerent country. That might be by a firm’s own employees, or by a supplier/contractor.

Year 11 Business Studies: Dragons Den Exercise (Part 1)

Part 1

You are about to watch a clip from ‘The Dragons Den’. Whilst you are watching the clip I want you to try and answer the following questions.

This is not a test, some of the questions will be open ended and based on your opinions.



What is the company name?

Give a brief synopsis of the business?

What was the valuation the directors placed on the company?

Do you think they have a 'unique selling point' (USP)?

What is the estimated market size? (ie number of potential customers)

What is their estimated market value?

How many customers do they have at present?

How many restaurants are on board and what % of London does this make?

What would they do with the money?

Would you invest?

Part 2

What was the turnover figure for the last financial year?

What are the turnover projections, expenses and net profit estimates for years 1 - 3?

Would you invest?

Would you invest now?

Now work in pairs: I want you to discuss what was good about this model, what was bad about the model and the reason why you as a pair decded to invest or not in the business?

Part 3

You are now going to split into 4 groups. I want you to discuss and come up with a potential business idea. Eventually you will present to myself, Mrs McCormack and Miss Meeajan. (The Dubai Dragons)

In the presentation, you will have a valuation of the company, an estmated sales projection and profit figure for 3 years.

This will be a competition. You will be presenting to the Dubai dragons, but your peers will also comment on the positives and negatives of your pitch.

NB During the pitch you will be expected to dress appropriately...you decide!

Mr Bentley