Losers - or How to Get Business Students to think and Write Strategically

I called one of my pupil’s a LOSER today, but in a good way! I find some of my Business Studies pupils fail to write strategically in their exam writing..

I ask them to consider the LOSER acronym in their essays:

• Long-term – consider the LR and SR impacts of changes to the business or the way it operates – too many pupils think one-dimensionally and score low marks

• Objectives – always consider what the business wants to achieve both now and in the future

• Stakeholders – all stakeholders must be considered but part of evaluation is considering which stakeholders are more important and which are affected most

• External Environment – whatever strategic direction the business is heading, an awareness (and reaction to) the changing SLEEPT framework will be crucial

• Resources – there is no point suggesting an unrealistic solution to business problems or scenarios. I recently had a pupil suggest a (case study/financially struggling) firm should increase their product range, increase the brand awareness through expensive promotion, increase the distribution and ... wait for it… reduce prices even though demand would be unlikely to increase by much. Is this really a good strategic solution?