Business class

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Recommended FT articles and tasks picked by our panel of teacher advisers to help improve exam and interview success, with suggestions on questions for class activities and discussion. You can find additional Pearson/Edexcel resources for Business A level here (PDF here) and for GCSE (PDF here) under the “case study” tab.

• Organisational design: Margherita Della Valle, the woman trying to turn Vodafone around

• Video: International trade. The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK

• External influences: Hitachi UK rail plant suffers multimillion-pound writedown

• Operations: Nissan to lead £2bn electric-car investment in Sunderland plant

• Corporate culture: Elon Musk tells Rishi Sunak AI will render all jobs obsolete

• Assessing financial performance: Fashion retailer Asos predicts sales dip in 2024 as losses balloon

• Change and entrepreneurship: The dangers of succeeding a star CEO

• Demand: The return of the rice crisis

• Video: case study: Inside F1 Academy

• Change: John Lewis warns of 2-year delay to turnaround plan

• Introduction to business: When will the UK reach peak Aldi and Lidl?

• Video: the environment - Inside London’s ‘zero waste’ restaurant

• Case study: UK car industry - Jaguar Land Rover pledges £15bn investment in electric vehicles

• International business: BrewDog to expand in China after Budweiser tie-up

• The market: Electric vehicles defy price war after Ford and Tesla discounts

• The market: YouTube Shorts takes on TikTok in battle for younger users

• Business growth: Hotel Chocolat to open 50 new stores as it enjoys best Christmas shop sales

• Location assessment: Apple hires workers in India as it looks to open first flagship stores

• Global marketing: Mars convinces emerging market consumers to eat more chocolate

• International business: How cricket-crazy Pakistan became a major football factory

• Video: Research and development — Sniff technology: detecting everything from drugs to diseases

• Video: Strategy — The strategic moves that transformed AC Milan’s fortunes

• Video: Marketing and new technology — Breaking into the livestream shopping market

• Shareholders vs stakeholders: Patagonia founder hands company to trust to tackle climate crisis

• Video: Meeting customer needs — Can e-bikes transform our cities?

• Quantitative skills: Real Madrid strikes €360mn events deal for revamped stadium

• People: P&O Ferries sacks 800 sailors and halts crossings for days

• Business growth: Brompton to fold up London base as capital’s rental costs surge

• Business growth: Amazon and Nike evaluate separate bids to buy Peloton

• Marketing: The great Japanese toaster problem

• Marketing: Nappy manufacturers shift focus in China from infants to elderly

• Operations: Glass bottle shortage leaves US distillers high and dry

• Workforce planning: Halfords urges UK government to train mechanics for shift to electric

• Retrenchment / rationalisation: Mobiles were a ‘ball and chain’ for Dixons Carphone

• Strategy and marketing: Ikea warns stock shortages likely to last another year

• Strategy and implementation: Cinemas bank on Bond to put regular movie outings back in the diary

• External influences: England eases Covid travel curbs and simplifies traffic light system

• International business: M&S reviews future of French stores amid Brexit delivery delays

• Human Resources: Marriott warns of ‘fight for talent’ as hotels struggle to find staff

• Revision: Pret A Manger vs Greggs: who will win the battle for lunch?

• Business growth: Made.com set for £1bn London float

• Business growth: AT&T nears deal to create $150bn streaming giant with Discovery

• Demand and supply: UK pubs caught on the hop after drinkers roll through the barrels

• Operations: VW warns of big production hit as chip shortage worsens

• Global marketing: How the KitKat went global

• Corporate strategy: John Lewis warns of further store closures

• Finance and leadership: FC Barcelona’s presidential hopefuls vow to restore finances — and keep Messi

• Demand and supply: Cruise operators see brighter horizon as vaccines spur bookings

• Approaches to staffing: Uber loses landmark UK battle as Supreme Court rules drivers are workers

• International trade: Brexit woes: small UK distillers struggle to ship gin and whisky to EU

• Finance: London venues turn to crowdfunding for survival

• Sources of finance: Football transfers hit by ‘double whammy’ of Covid and Brexit

• Political/economics influences: Online sprees help Britain’s shops defy the doomsayers

• Business growth: LVMH names new team to run Tiffany

• Stakeholders: HSBC targeted by shareholders over fossil fuel financing

• Human resources: Just Eat offers hourly wages in UK gig economy shake-up

• Legal structures: Aston Martin board meets over emergency fundraising

• Demand and supply: PlayStation 5 launch in UK descends into chaos

• Stakeholders: Supermarkets face calls to waive right to business rates relief

• Dynamic markets: Bookshops fight back as pandemic sends consumers online

• Demand and mass marketing: The post-Covid consumer: is back-to-basics shopping here to stay?

• Strategy and competitiveness: John Lewis triples cost-cutting target

• Strategy / external environment: Cineworld set to shut all UK and US screens

• Technological change: Is it game over for the console?

• Synoptic: Can London’s high-end restaurants survive the pandemic?

• Distribution channels: Microsoft closes shop windows

• Marketing and branding: New calls for American football team Redskins to rename

• Competitiveness: Bentley to cut quarter of workforce as UK car sector job losses hit 5,000

• Change/sources of finance: Pret brings in consultants to advise on business overhaul

• Strategy and Product design: Russian brothers behind ‘Gardenscapes’ emerge as lockdown winners

• HR strategies: Amazon faces scrutiny as operations return to normal

• Operations/markets: Recipe box sales surge under lockdown

• Organisational design: The retail boss devising a strategy to survive lockdown

• Markets: Lockdowns lower personal grooming standards, says Unilever

• Marketing: Apple prices new iPhone version at $399 for pandemic era

• Cash flow: EasyJet boosts cash after fresh pressure from Sir Stelios

• Markets, operations: How coronavirus is affecting pasta’s complex supply chain

• Enterprise: Alternative meat industry moves beyond the burger

• Risk/uncertainty, Positioning: UK’s first 5G service

• Market segmentation, ecommerce: Gucci turns to call centres

• Market segmentation, assessing innovation: Dublin’s first alcohol-free bar

• What is a business: Bonmarché to be acquired

• Managing change: Companies cannot ignore older workers

• Marketing: Luxury watchmakers unnerved

• Operational decisions: Fast Retailing

• Analysing the external environment: Serving Africa’s online consumers

• Understanding markets and customers: UK consumers hold off spending 

• Understanding markets and customers: Diesel’s demise

• Competitive environment: Honda’s investors back UK closure

• Political and legal: Competition watchdog seeks new powers

• Marketing: Amazon restructures in India

• Political and legal: Hotel booking site clamp down

• Social and technological change: Rise of the stay-at-homes

• Different business forms: Levi Strauss launches IPO

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