A2 Business Studies

Saturday, 25 February 2012

Kraft and Cadburys

The Kraft Foods hostile bid for Cadbury received extensive coverage in the media and many of the issues and well covered in this series of short news clips which help tell the story of the deal. Plenty in here for students, including issues around takeover pricing, strategic rationale, the impact of the deal on shareholders and other stakeholders.

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/takeover-insights-kraft-cadbury-the-story-in-video-clips

This is a simply wonderful video that was produced by the bid defence team at Cadbury to record the process of Kraft’s hostile bid for Cadbury between August 2009 and January 2010. Although ultimately their efforts were unsuccessful, it shows just how much effort is put into mounting a bid defence. Some great clips and interviews too with the people involved at the end. Highly recommended.

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/takeover-insights-kraft-cadbury-behind-the-scenes-of-the-bid-defence

This 10 minute interview in Autumn 2010 by Bloomberg with Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld provides some useful perspectives on the strategic rationale behind the Kraft takeover of Cadbury. Obviously presented with a US business audience in mind, but still hugely useful for A2 business students (particularly AQA BUSS4) none the less…

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/kraft-cadbury-justifying-the-deal

Would a GM and Peugeot merger make sense?

Talks of a strategic alliance between PSA Peugeot Citroen and General Motors (GM) fit neatly with two key trends that are emerging in the global motor industry.

The first trend is the changing nature of carmakers' relentless search for economies of scale.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17120631

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Ethical trade - the first decade

Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGHQV19mCP8&feature=related

Ethical trading initiative:
a ground-breaking alliance of companies, trade unions and voluntary organisations. We work in partnership to improve the working lives of people across the globe who make or grow consumer goods - everything from tea to T-shirts, from flowers to footballs.
http://www.ethicaltrade.org/

Panorama - supermarkets - what price cheap food?

The Big Four supermarkets are expanding at an unprecedented rate. It's being dubbed the new "space race", with Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrison's fighting for dominance on high streets and shopping malls across the UK. But how can they keep on expanding, and slashing our food prices, when we're in the middle of a global downturn?

In a Panorama Special, reporter Paul Kenyon looks behind the cellophane wrappers and the "Buy-one-get-one-frees" to examine the true cost of our cheap food. He visits the mega-farms coming our way from the United States, with cows being kept indoors and milked on giant "dairy-go-rounds", and pigs housed in "sty-scrapers". He also takes a look at space-age greenhouses where fruit grows without soil.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyh2f

Taking Liberties: the story behind the UK high streets

The Story Behind M&S, Debenhams, Next. The struggle for a decent life for garment workers in India goes far deeper than the problem of poverty wages, a new report by Labour Behind the Label and War on Want reveals.

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/