Oxford School EBIT Department

The long term value of keeping your customers!

Fascinating video on the long term value of keeping a customer! Great as a starter for those doing 'Developing Customer Relations' on BTEC or any Customer Service related work! Enjoy!

Year 10 Student Survey

Help us in the Business & Economics Department find out how we can help you do the very best you can by answering questions in our survey...

To do this you will need to click 'Comments' below and fill in the Comment box (you don't have to re-type the questions!)

Please note that you DON'T need to give your real name or email address (even though it asks for this information - website glitch!!)

1. What year group are you in? (This survey is for Y10 only...we will do the same survey with Y11, 12 and 13 in the next few weeks)
2. Are you doing BTEC or GCSE?
3. Do you know your target grade?
4. Do you know how well you are currently doing?
5. How does your Teacher let you know how you are doing in Business?
6. Name 3 things that help you to learn in Business?
7. Name 3 things that do not help you to learn in Business?
8. What could you do to help yourself do better in Business?
9. What can we do here in Business to help you get higher grades?
10. Do you feel safe / comfortable working in the EBIT Department?
11. Do you spend extra time (lunch or after school clubs) in EBIT?

Thank-you for taking time out to take part in our survey! We will take your answers seriously and work to always improve how we do things here in Business!

Michael O'Leary on Ryanair's Future Plans - Toilet Tax? Gambling? Mobile Zones?

Fascinating Business approach demonstrated by Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary...

Dyson launches new product

James Dyson is at it again - launching a desktop fan at a price that is almost ten times the average price of a standard blade-based fan…

A terrific amount of business studies material in here for students at all levels, including:

- The impact of the Dyson design process (the product is four years from concept to launch)
- A unique selling point: bladeless technology + smoother and more powerful airflow
- The importance of retail distribution
- Pricing: skimming pricing strategy to maximise profits from the early-adopters
- Manufactured overseas rather than in the UK - to keep down unit costs

Thanks to Tutor2u.com once again!

Misleading Advertising / Advertising Standards

Three very interesting and thought provoking articles and videos about advertising standards and misleading advertising...

First, a TV advert which asserted that Actimel yoghurt supported children's natural defences against disease has been banned by the advertising watchdog.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8305918.stm

Second, a poster showing a nervous man alongside the slogan "Take Courage my friend" has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for suggesting the beer could boost confidence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8002599.stm

Finally and maybe the most controversial, very misleading cigarette advertising...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8297308.stm

Online Fashion Retailing Challenge

The retail fashion market is big business in the UK - yet only 6% of sales are made by customers online (a much lower percentage than other consumer product markets such as electronics, music, games and books).  Here is an article that could be used to support an interesting student challenge.

Most students will be more than familiar with the process of high street fashion shopping.  So the two questions for them are:

(1) What is it about the physical process of shopping for clothes that makes it so preferable to buying online, and

(2) What could an e-tailer of fashion do using a web site to encourage a higher proportion of sales online.

A group or homework exercise might identify a variety of methods / approached to enhancing the online fashion experience.

You could then compare the student responses with the information in this excellent article, which reports the results of some market research by online retail consultants:

Thanks again to Jim Riley at tutor2u.com!

Research & Development at Thorpe Park

Morning Folks!

Please find available below, a really useful powerpoint file that helps you collect genuine Thorpe Park information in relation to the Research and Development Business Function...

Download Research & Development - TP

Level 3 Students may also want to take a look at the following theory and case study...

http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory--research-development--276.php

http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-study--new-technology-development-primary-sector--65-363-3.php

 

X-Factor & Strictly fuel takeaway pizza success...

Lots of business studies nuggets squeezed into this story in the Times:

- Growth of online sales
- Impact of TV advertising
- Market shares: Papa Johns has 138 outlets, compared with Dominos 600
- Market research: their pizza tastes better than Pizza Hut (allegedly)
- Organic growth strategy through the opening of new outlets
- Inferior goods and joint demand (econ)

Thanks to www.tutor2u.com once again... 

Superjam - Entrepreneur Profile

"I was selling jam door to door at the age of 14"

Business advice from SuperJam founder and young entrepreneur Fraser Doherty on his early entrepreneurial life, why being naive may have proved useful in business and how a senior buyer at Waitrose gave him his big break. Check out the Video Interview below...

http://www.smarta.com/inspiration/interview-videos/interviews/Fraser-Doherty--SuperJam

http://www.superjam.co.uk/

The 'Coolest' brands...

According to http://www.coolbrandsdigital.com/ the following are the top 20 coolest brands in the UK...

1) I-Phone 2) Aston Martin 3) Apple 4) I-Pod 5) Nintendo 6) Youtube 7) Blackberry 8) Google 9) Bang & Olufsen 10) Playstation 11) X-Box 12) Tate Modern 13) Dom Perignon 14) Virgin Atlantic 15) Ferrari 16) Sony 17) Mini 18) Vivienne Westwood 19) Rolex 20) BBC i-player