Business Students Know the Answer - but What’s the Question?

I’m much taken with Lord Sutch’s blog over on Give It A Go - “What’s The Question”. A simple idea, so rich in delivery opportunities…

You can read the blog entry here. I suspect we may have a go at the exercise and discuss it further at TBBLE 2012. Certainly very relevant as an activity to get business students thinking - perfect for bellwork / starters too

A couple of examples to illustrate the idea. The students might enter the room and the board/screen reads…

The answer is: Tesco. But what is the question?

give them a little time to come up with some creative/acceptable answers.

Who is the UK’s biggest supermarket retailer?
Whose strapline is “Every Little Helps”?
The recently retired CEO of this business is Sir Terry Leahy
Which business runs a loyalty scheme called “Clubcard”?

or…

The answer is: “Inventories.” But what is the question?

What would you exclude from the current ratio to calculate the acid-test ratio?
Work-in progress and raw materials are examples of what?
Which current asset might be kept in a warehouse?
What David Cameron might need to do to win the next General Election (hat tip to Lord Sutch for that suggestion)

We’d love to hear from you if you try this in the classroom. It would be great to gather some examples of answers that you set and the creative responses of your students.