Unit 3: Clash of Culture, Barbie shop closes in China

The Barbie ‘concept store’ in Shanghai has closed down after just two years. It serves to illustrate how hard it can be to transfer brands and business models internationally.

The business blog covered the opening of the store back in 2009, when Mattel, the manufacturer, was hoping to offset falling sales in traditional markets hit by the financial crisis. According to the BBC sales failed to meet expectations and the firm was forced to cut its targets within the first eight months of the store’s existence.

“Barbie in the US has a very long history, people grow up with the brand, their parents grow up with the brand, so brand recognition is very high. In China, though, nobody really knew what Barbie stood for,” said an analyst with China Market Research.

International firms have been using Shanghai as a test market for their expansion into China and Mattel is not the only retailer to have had difficulty in adjusting to the Shanghai marketplace. In February, electronics retailer Best Buy closed all of its brand name stores in Shanghai and will instead focus on its local group of stores.

“What it definitely says is that it is a challenging market… for foreign retailers, it is a very hard market to get correct. They either don’t change quickly enough or they are not patient enough to be successful here,” said China Market Research.

Unit 4: Ratio Analysis Presentation

Unit 4: Ratio Analysis

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Motivation at work - it's not all about money!!

A really good video interview here with Daniel Pink, the author of Drive. Students will certainly get a different view on the topic of motivation at work from watching and discussing this....


Pink goes big on non-financial methods of motivation, drawing on decades of scientific research to identify what makes us truly happy at work. Hint about the conclusion It’s not all about the money.

Unit 4: Accounts information

Click on the links below to access notes on the accounting information you will require for unit 4.

Profit and loss account

Balance sheets

Liquidity Ratios

Profitabilty Ratios

Gearing Ratio

Efficiency Ratios

Shareholder Ratios

The Politics bit of PEST analysis

When most students try to think in a PEST framework, they are usually pretty confident when it comes to the bit on social and technological trends. Economics is a bit more tricky (to begin with) but the really hard part seems to be politics. It shouldn’t be really – politics is going on all around us, often in the form of changes to the legal and regulatory environment. Sometimes it’s on an even bigger scale than that, especially on an international level.

Click here the Economist reports how business in Egypt has been rocked by turmoil in recent weeks which extends way beyond the tourism industry. Western companies that cultivated many of the links they had there have wasted their time and money. Multinational companies especially have long known that regional and national political differences and issues have a great importance.

Any unrest in the Middle East is likely to impact on oil prices – and from there, the impact on petrol prices are felt by all firms and households. Economic growth and the best market opportunities are not always to be had in the most politically stable places. BP who have bounced from the politics of Washington (after their Gulf of Mexico oil spill) are now bogged down in difficult negotiations with the politically fragile Russian government regarding exploration in the arctic.

Doing business in China is always a sensitive area for negotiation. In fact, operating in any emerging market involves huge risks and gambles regarding the political climate – and not just abroad. Many western governments are tightening up how their firms must behave when dealing in highly corrupt business environments, for instance when paying bribes to secure contracts is commonplace. Executives who adopt what they regard as “local” rules in Thailand or Indonesia can find themselves facing prison sentences back home.

How do companies cope? There are no simple rules. Countries that are lumped together as emerging markets have very different political regimes. Local politics add yet more complexity. Perhaps firms need to look more carefully at the whole issue and to be less impressed by the appearance of stability. The rapid collapse of Egypt’s government should be food for thought for companies that have bet big on China (with its appearance of order) rather than India (with its messy democracy).

IGCSE Business: ICT in Business

The number of self-service checkouts in supermarkets could double in the next year, despite concerns from customers and unions alike.


The machines are supposed to speed up the process, but a survey suggests almost half of consumers have been delayed while using them.

Click here to access a bbc video clip showing the issues they may face.

Harry's College Homework: The Use of ICT in Business

7 Billion people in the World. Are you Typical?