AQA BUSS 4 - Corporate Culture Discussion

OMG YES.
Section B you will get a tiny case study you dont even need to use. The rest is purely research based (while answering the question lol)

Any idea how to stucture this research?

Reply 1021

nadster

12

Original post by iggyDash

examples of organic growth and external growth. anyone have any usefull links or notes on this please?

Here's one on organic growth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/19/poundland-discount-retail-retail?
For external growth, you need to be aware of mergers and takeovers. This is not something I've done a lot of research on, sorry.

Reply 1022

catherine1995

Original post by linabina94

Help - will the strategy of retrenchment inevitably fail if managers aren't able to overcome internal resistance to change?

I thought BA, Royal Mail, Nokia could be used but I don't know enough details about their retrenchments to write effective arguments

Posted from TSR Mobile

First of all nothing is inevitable, that's what we've always been taught to mention in the evaluation.

Nokia were very much a victim of their own success and their culture became very risk adverse. Culture is often embedded deeply into a business so although they're trying to change (Stephen Elop reportedly plans to cut 30,000) jobs it will be hard. However, because he is cutting so many jobs it means he's getting rid of employees who may be resisting change and therefore he will be left with less resistance? .... This obviously has to be developed, just a couple of ideas.

If I think of anything else I'll post it

Reply 1023

nadster

12

Original post by jakethecake2008

does anyone have any examples for the external environment question? For example a firm taking advantage of the low base interest rate?

That's a tough one, I will do some research on that now and let you know if I find anything useful.

Reply 1024

akash11

9

I really need help with section b research could some pplease give me their research

Reply 1025

nadster

12

Original post by jakethecake2008

does anyone have any examples for the external environment question? For example a firm taking advantage of the low base interest rate?

I was looking for firms that have taken advantage of the 0.5% rate of interest by taking out a big loan, but couldn't find much. Instead I've found this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-defies-european-car-sales-downturn-8664207.html
It suggests that firms operating within the motor industry are benefiting from the low interest rate in the UK. This is because it is cheaper for people to take out loans. There is therefore more of an incentive to spend rather than save etc etc
Is this the kind of thing you were looking for? If so, I will try to find more examples

Reply 1026

jayward_2013

Original post by When you see it...

Correct (assuming unit 3 and 4 are both out of 100).

Wrong. You need 180 UMS across both A2 units.

You need 180 UMS at A2 level and 320 overall.... (well 180 UMS at A2 and 80% overall anyways...)

:biggrin:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1027

Superunknown17

17

Original post by AClown'sPocket

I'd disagree entirely with your Goldman Sachs example. I found the culture to be strong and positive, 'A meritocracy built on collaboration, teamwork and integrity in order to deliver value to our clients.' And seeing revenues rise by 18% to US$34.163 billion in an environment where RoE has fallen to around 15% from 25% pre-2008 is not 'self destructive' in my opinion. But I may be wrong.

Ah my apologies, not Goldman Sachs, I meant Lehman Brothers! Really worrying that I can't remember my examples at this stage!

Reply 1028

Superunknown17

17

Original post by nadster

I was looking for firms that have taken advantage of the 0.5% rate of interest by taking out a big loan, but couldn't find much. Instead I've found this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-defies-european-car-sales-downturn-8664207.html
It suggests that firms operating within the motor industry are benefiting from the low interest rate in the UK. This is because it is cheaper for people to take out loans. There is therefore more of an incentive to spend rather than save etc etc
Is this the kind of thing you were looking for? If so, I will try to find more examples

Couldn't you say that the lowering of the corporation tax from 28% to 24% this year would benefit businesses?

Reply 1029

catherine1995

Does anybody have a good definition for CSR? Or any good case studies.

I know John Lewis care a lot about CSR, is there any businesses that don't?

Reply 1030

iggyDash

2

Original post by nadster

Here's one on organic growth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/19/poundland-discount-retail-retail?
For external growth, you need to be aware of mergers and takeovers. This is not something I've done a lot of research on, sorry.

thank you !

do we need to contrast mergers and takeovers?

Reply 1031

nadster

12

Original post by Superunknown17

Couldn't you say that the lowering of the corporation tax from 28% to 24% this year would benefit businesses?

Oh definitely... I was just trying to find a real world example of how the base rate has benefited businesses.
Not entirely sure what examples to use to support the lowering of corporation tax though, do you have any ideas?

Reply 1032

nadster

12

Original post by iggyDash

thank you !

do we need to contrast mergers and takeovers?

As I say, I don't know much about mergers and takeovers other than their definitions so I'm planning to stay away from this question if it comes up. If you are able to compare and contrast examples though, I'm sure you'll score high application marks.

Reply 1033

nadster

12

Original post by catherine1995

Does anybody have a good definition for CSR? Or any good case studies.

I know John Lewis care a lot about CSR, is there any businesses that don't?

I don't think you'll find many businesses announcing that they don't care about CSR, but you could use Nestle, Primark and Apple as examples of businesses that act unethically suggesting that CSR may not be a priority to them...

Reply 1034

Moj

What is everyone doing for last minute revision? I find it really hard to revise for BUSS4 because you don't know the questions that will come up and it's kind of a 'you know it or you don't' situation :P....

Reply 1035

catherine1995

Original post by nadster

I don't think you'll find many businesses announcing that they don't care about CSR, but you could use Nestle, Primark and Apple as examples of businesses that act unethically suggesting that CSR may not be a priority to them...

ahaa that's very true! Thankyouu!

Reply 1036

LukeKnights

Anyone shed any light on Michael O'Leary's leadership style? I know what he's like etc. But not so much how he leads his business internally etc.

Reply 1037

BARCEMO

6

Do you think that an innovative culture can be relied on to guarantee the future success of a business?

DEF CULTURE / HANDY

i was thinking Apple-> steve jobs -> ipad/iphones
and as a counter argument, being too innovative may cause problems in the long run --> sony and too much in their product portfolio

and perhaps other cultures like Ikea and Southwest airlines having employee-centric culture

but im stuck on the rest of my plan

Reply 1038

nadster

12

Original post by iggyDash

thank you !

do we need to contrast mergers and takeovers?

Just did a quick search, found some mergers and takeover examples:
1998: Merger of Daimler Benz and Chrysler
1999: Merger of Exxon and Mobile
2000: Merger of Glaxo Wellcome with SmithKline Beecham
2000: Buyer: Vodafone Target: Mannesmann
2000: Buyer: Unilever Target: Ben & Jerry’s
2000: Buyer: Unilever Target: Slim-Fast Foods
2001: Buyer: E.on Target: Powergen
2002: Buyer: eBay Target: PayPal
2002: Buyer: Hewlett Packard Target: Compaq
2003: Buyer: Pearson Target: Edexcel
2004: Buyer; WM Morrison Target - Safeway
2004: Buyer: Santander Target: Abbey National
2004: Buyer: Lenovo Target: IBM PC Business
2004: Merger of Carlton and Granada to form ITV plc
2005: Buyer: eBay Target: Skype
2005: Buyer: News Corporation Target: MySpace
2005: Buyer: ITV plc Target; Friends Reunited
2005: Buyer; Adidas Target - Reebok
2005: Buyer Telefonica Target: O2
2005: Buyer: Cadbury’s plc Target: Green & Black’s
2006: Buyer: Disney Target: Pixar
2006: Buyer: Dubai Ports World Target: P&O
2006: Merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel
2006: Buyer: Google Target: YouTube
2006: Buyer: L’Oreal Target: Body Shop
2006: Buyer: Virgin Active Target: Holmes Place
2006: Buyer: Heinz Target: HP Foods
2007: Buyer: BSkyB Target: Amstrad
2007: Merger of MyTravel and Thomas CooK
2007: Buyer: Easyjet Target: GB Airways
Lol can't be bothered copying out the rest

Reply 1039

ryanj18

Guys how do we structure this? Is it four paragraphs and one organisation per paragraph? So how many should we write in total?

AQA BUSS 4 - Corporate Culture Discussion

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