Unit 4: CSR - Pepsico Performance with Purpose

Check out this excellent video that explains Pepsico’s strategy for CSR.  The video features Pepsico’s CEO Indra Nooyi,

Unit 4: CSR - keeping a CCTV eye on suppliers!

Another good resource for CSR here, but one which some students may not want to watch due to the gruesome nature of the topic.

The Guardian reports that leading supermarket chains are demanding that CCTV systems be fitted in the stunning and killing areas of all abattoirs that supply them with meat, as they move to reassure consumers that animals are not being cruelly treated. 

Morrisons, M&S, Waitrose, Co-op and Sainsbury’s have also promised that CCTV images will be independently monitored - as called for by the charity Animal Aid, which ran a campaign last year involving undercover filming of alleged brutality.

Its a good example of how retailers need to take great care with all aspects of their supply chain, and how pressure groups are becoming increasingly influential stakeholders in key retail sectors.

Unit 4: CSR - Greed is Good!!!!

Businesses exist to make money.  The pursuit of profit is a noble cause.  Gentlemen - greed is good.  It must be - Michael Douglas says so…

Michael Douglas won an Oscar playing a fictional character called Gordon Gekko - main antagonist of the 1987 film Wall Street who appeared again in the film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. 

The character of Gekko was said to be loosely based on a real-life Wall Street trader called Ivan Boesky.

Gekko’s “Greed is Good” speech in the film has come to be associated with one side of the corporate social responsibility debate. 

The full text of the Gekko speech is as follows:

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A” [source Wikipedia]

Unit 4: Corporate Strategy

Much debate in the UK currently about the media ownership interests of Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation.  And now you can add a new newspaper title to his portfolio - The Daily.  

What sets The Daily apart is that it is an iPad-only newspaper.  The Daily will cost 99 cents (60p) a week and will be sold exclusively via Apple’s iTunes store. The paper will initially only be available in the US. News Corp has hired about 100 journalists to work on it.But, will it work?

This BBC video takes a brief look at the new digital newspaper:

Unit 4: Ansoffs Matrix & Stella

Something big is brewing in the UK drinks market.  For the first time, a leading lager brand has decided to attempt a brand extension by entering the cider market…

Called Stella Artois Cidre, Stella is aiming to exploit the opportunity of capturing a share of the fast-growing UK cider market. The new product will be available from Friday 29 April 2011 (the same day as Prince William gets married to Kate Middleton) and will be promoted using a “multi-million pound promotional campaign”.

Cider sales in the UK have risen 46% to 840 million litres over the last five years, according to consumer research experts Mintel. The organisation also says pear and fruit ciders are attracting a new type of cider drinker, mainly women aged between 18 and 24.

Where does this new product launch sit in the Ansoff Matrix?  One for your students to attempt...and also perhaps consider whether Stella’s move is likely to prove successful.

Click here for the link: Stella Artois Cidre

Unit 4: Business Strategy: next steps for the budget airline industry.

It’s amazing to think how over just 15 years, Europe’s budget airlines have soared to account for a third of all air travel in the region. But their growth is slowing. Here are a few ideas and a link to an article which outlines some of the approaches the industry might take in the years ahead.


The Economist points out that it’s hard for the airlines to achieve rapid market growth in the near future as the opening of the market means that the low-cost carriers are left with few new places to explore. Market share is harder to grab too: national airlines such as British Airways and Lufthansa have tried to defend their business by offering stripped-down service and cheaper fares on more short-haul routes. “The low-cost carrier market used to be about fast growth and uncomplicated strategies,” says one consultancy. “Now it is about slow growth and complicated strategies.”

Take a minute to see if you can think how the “uncomplicated” strategy works.

The basic budget aviation model is to hold down maintenance costs by using just one kind of aircraft, bought in large numbers with bulk discounts. The next part is to charge for, or do away with, frills like meals and drinks. It helps if the aircraft fly back and forth along a single route, often between quiet, out-of-the-way airports, rather than using busy hubs which allows for faster turnarounds. Bookings take place online, with savings passed on to customers.

But slowing growth has forced the industry leader, Ryanair, to drop ultra-low fares on new routes and may move some flights to primary airports, which are attracting low-cost carriers to boost their own flagging growth. Ryanair has already moved into one in Barcelona. In future it will concentrate less on increasing traffic and more on extracting larger amounts of money from each passenger. EasyJet is also offering greater frequency on its routes and makes more use of primary airports such as London Gatwick and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It is also targeting cost-conscious business travellers. The firm recently smartened up cabin service too.

The European sky used to offer a stark choice between full-service and budget airlines. It is increasingly crowded with options of all shapes, sizes and costs. Take your pick, and hope your luggage arrives.

Unit 4a: Business Objectives - Homework

Below is the case study, with mark schemes........there is also some other questions which I don't require for homework but you might want to have a look at....

4a Topic 1 Business objectives

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