Category
In the News
Starbucks Pays the Rent - to Retain Staff in China
An interesting example here of financial methods of motivation - by Starbucks in China.
Is the Global Economy About to Crash in 2016?
Business students need to have an awareness of key changes in the economic environment. There have been lots of news stories in the early part of 2016 pointing to a possible significant...
Apple's Growth Strategy Under the Spotlight
Apple has just reported the largest quarterly profit ever achieved by a company. Tim Cook claims Apple has the "mother of all balance sheets". But, that's not what the market is concentrating on.
Russia's Pain is Big Mac's Gain: Income Elasticity in Action
Russia's economy is firmly in recession, with household disposable incomes in decline. Who wins from this? Businesses whose products benefit by representing good value for money.
The Not-So Strange Case of the Shrinking Ice-Creams
Is it time for the Magnum ice-cream to be renamed Mini, Meagre or Miniature?
Amazon Continues to Grow in the UK
On the face of it, more good news for the UK e-commerce sector as Amazon announces 2,500 more permanent jobs here.
Are Profit Warnings a Sign of Dark Times Ahead?
Stock market investors hate bad news - particularly when it is unexpected. So, could the increasing number of profit warnings be a predictor of a much tougher economic environment ahead?
The Continued Decline of Album Sales
This new chart from the excellent Statista media team suggests that music albums are firmly in the decline phase of their product life cycle. What is more interesting is that even digital versions...
E-Commerce Sales Growing for Plus-Size Retailer
N Brown, a British home shopping business aimed at plus-size and more mature customers' has announced that online orders now account for 66% if its total sales.
Clone Wars - Nespresso sues Espresso
A storm in a coffee cup is brewing as Nestle look to sue an Israeli coffee company for using a George Clooney lookalike in a TV advert.
Netflix Growth Strategy Explained
A really useful discussion here by the FT Business team on the growth strategy of Netflix.
Easy to Click; Hard to Collect
Four in 10 UK shoppers chose click-and-collect during the festive period, however, 36% of customers encountered problems with their click-and-collect orders.
Aldi Launches Online in the UK
We reported back in September 2015 about Aldi's plans to launch their first e-commerce venture in the UK. Now it has finally opened for business!
Cost Minimisation at Asda
You can only imagine what the atmosphere is like at Asda Headquarters in Leeds as the process of making hundreds of managers redundant begins.
Retrenchment for Walmart as Amazon Bites
There is a telling line in this BBC news report on Walmart's first ever mass store closure programme.
It's All Going Pear-Shaped for GoPro
If you are a GoPro shareholder, don't look down. The share price graph below looks terrible as GoPro struggles to grow in an increasingly competitive market.
Pricing Strategy - the Gender Rip-off
Ladies. You are being ripped off. Next time you're out shopping, make sure you buy the male version of any product where there is a choice offered based on gender-influenced packaging.
Chipotle Pays the Price for Poisoning Customers
If you want to significantly damage your market reputation then giving 500 of your customers food poisoning is a pretty foolproof method. Just ask Chipotle.
Improving the Profits from Pasties
The pasties are tasty, but their recent accounts have been less palatable.
The Business Cost of Terror
A good example here of the potentially significant business costs arising from sudden changes in the external environment.