IB Business Management

This Guardian piece asserts that US grocery retailer, Kroger - the country's second largest grocery brand -  is acting unethically, and probably also breaking consumer law by continuing to list sales prices on shelves, only to charge the regular price to customers at the checkout. Research by the paper, in association with its media partners found evidence of this in 14 of 26 stores reviewed. 

Evidence such is this being widely known is likely to damage the company's brand image.  

Japanese car manufacturer, Nissan, is struggling: an annual loss of 670 billion yen ($4.5bn; £3.4bn) has seen the company announce that it's going to close seven factories and cut 11,000 jobs. That would make 20,000 job losses in the past year, equivalent to around 15% of the workforce. 

You might think about what has caused this - increased competition, not least from Chinese EVs, and Trump's tariffs may also have played a role. However, the reality is that Nissan sales worldwide are down. The interesting issue will be in seeing where it chooses to close, given its Washington, Tyne and Wear plant. 

Starbucks is struggling to retain its position as a market leader, with sales falling and the brand losing its lustre. As a result, the coffee shop giant's chief executive Brian Niccol is proposing a move away from automation in favour of employing more labour. It will involve greater expense but will it also improve the customer experience? 

It's part of a wider strategy to revamp the firm, altering the look of its stores, the menu, staff uniform and the policy in relation to people gaining access to its stores even if they've not buying anything. The initial impressions are that this has had a limited effect in its biggest market, the US. 

The dangers of online retailing and the problems that can be caused by cyber criminals are highlighted in this article which looks at the disruption to Marks and Spencer's online site. 

Whilst online sales represent a new revenue stream, there are also costs and risks entailed in online retail and taking the site down is likely to see the brand lose some of its lustre, and potentially, some of its profits too. 

This is a nice case study for Business Management students wanting an example of a business organization that has successful grown: Pret a Manger. 

The sandwich chain now has 274 branches across London, and the article wonders how it has managed this and whether or not it can get any bigger. There are lots of interesting insights into its success that touch upon the major areas of the syllabus, notably human resources, finance, marketing and operations management. 

There are plenty of things for students to get their teeth into: organisational culture, market positioning, overseas expansion, the changing ownership of the chain and so on. It's a delight.

Is this a watershed moment in the electric car sector, with Chinese firm BYD announcing that its 2024 revenues reached $107bn, $10bn more than Tesla.

It's even launched a new model, Qin L, which is nearly half the price of the Tesla Model 3, and designed to appeal to Chinese consumers on a limited budget. 

Has the Tesla bubble burst? Certainly this BBC article thinks that the company is in a bit of trouble, not all of it ostensibly of Elon Musk's making. Of course, his political affiliation and choice of friends might have damaged the brand and galvanised opposition to him, but the company's difficulties run deeper than this. 

The company hasn't really innovated in the market for electric vehicles, and the diversification into the niche Cybertruck and autonomous vehicles, or so-called robo-taxis hasn't worked so far either. Factor in increased competition, not least from Chinese manufacturers, and it's in any increasingly competitive market, and its share price is being called into question on that basis.

Interesting news that the John Lewis Partnership has moved back into profit, with annual profit rising " by 73% to £97m." However, for a third successive year it is not paying out a staff bonus, but is reinvesting in the business and in boosting staff pay.

It's worth giving thought to this. Is this approach going to be better or worse than paying a bonus for staff morale? Will staff appreciate the transparency of the board, or would they have appreciated the fringe benefit more? And what will be the impact on productivity? 

And one last reflection, when John Lewis appointed Dame Sharon White as their Chair, they appointed someone with no experience of the retail sector to a lucrative position. Can anyone tell me how someone with no experience of retail could have a high marginal revenue product and justify an executive salary in the sector?

One of the worst rebrands of recent times is being reversed, with investment firm abrdn reclaiming its vowels to become aberdeen, even though it doesn't appear to believe in it being capitalized, despite being a proper noun. 

And the share price has recovered on the announcement that pre-tax profits exceeded £250m. An end to irritable vowel syndrome.

I'm actually going to put this here - even though there's lots of economic content - because to me the major issue here is the implications of this sort of decision for BP's brand image. 

As a number of commentators have noted, the science hasn't changed and long-term the green economy and the green transition are inevitable, and this sort of decision rather marks BP out as a company that cares only for profit and has no real commitment to corporate social responsibility. I presume that they are banking on all other oil companies will adopt the same policy.  

Starbucks is continuing to look to reform itself in the hope of restoring its fortunes - both by axing over 1,000 jobs, reducing its costs and simplifying its menus too. There has been a particularly pronounced fall in US sales recently and as a result the company is looking to for ways to bolster its flagging brand image. The latter is justified as a way of improving efficiency and refocusing on its USP as a "coffee company". Previously, Starbucks had almost always sought to encourage personalization of beverages but this marks a new marketing strategy. 

Two things to note about the decision of JLR to invest $80m in expanding its capacity to meet bespoke paint orders. In the first place, its a move toward mass customization, and the customer choosing a unique design for their cars.

Secondly, it's also an attempt to move up the value chain and make the brand more exclusive, and to alter the price point of the cars.

Lastly, the director of special vehicle operations has commented that "Range Rover clients are increasingly choosing to tailor their vehicles with more exclusive bespoke and elevated palette paints", which is a nice bit of marketing. What he's effectively saying is that the company are increasingly having to tolerate the crass colour choices of the super-rich. 

And here is the corresponding BBC clip looking at so-called Shein village in Guangzhou, and the impact of fast fashion on the workers employed there. 

Another series of allegations of greenwashing, with a number of companies being accused of making misleading claims by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and Greenpeace's investigative journalism unit, Unearthed. 

Virgin Atlantic, Renault and bottled water brand, Aqua Pura, are among those that have continued to publish misleading claims despite being censured by the ASA. 

An interesting example of diversification, and a very modern example of both outsourcing and the notion that many major 'manufacturers' (e.g. Apple, Nike) no longer make anything at all.

Foxconn the maker of the iPhone are diversifying into manufacturing electric vehicles for Japanese brand Mitsubishi. The cars are going to be for the Australasian market. 

This BBC article amplifies the earlier 'scoop' about the effects of the cyber attack on Marks and Spencer's online retail arm, with some anecdotal evidence looking at how its affected individuals and it's a little bit more detailed in looking at the risks to the company, not least in terms of the mechanics of how to recover from such an attack.

The other thing to note is the potential effect on the company with online sales accounting for around one third of the company's sales. 

I'm going to put this on the Business Management board because I don't want tot endlessly put articles on the International Trade section of my ScoopIt! boards.

Reshoring is a potential result of President Trump's recent tariffs, with the EU worried about the possibility that a number of big pharmaceutical companies will head back to the US if tariffs are imposed on the sector. 

The danger of mixing business and politics has been laid bare by the latest figures from Tesla, which have seen like-for-like sales fall by 13% in the first three months of 2025. Some of this can be attributed to increased competition from China, but the bulk of this is the result of Elon Musk's prominent role in the Trump administration and the associated consumer backlash. 

As a result, the brand has suffered not least because the target customer is environmentally-friendly and this isn't something you'd associate with a Trump administration. 

Musk, however, has always struck me as someone who expects the rest of the world to be eternally grateful to him; so his reaction would be interesting, part disregard for the 'little man' and yet I suspect it will also have damaged his ego.  

This is an excellent resource for Business Management students wanting to see how the pendulum swings in business, with BP having seemingly renounced fossil fuels and now apparently pivoting back to oil in the wake of the Trump Presidency. It's a fascinating look how businesses adapt to the external environment. You might think about how we might use Business Management tools to analyse this. 

I could put this in the Microeconomics section of my board but I won't because it shows a supermarket trying to uphold corporate social responsibility, in reducing food waste, and potentially donating to charity too. It's something that all supermarket chains already do, but as the article notes this would represent the first time that a supermarket would be looking to give food direct-to-customer

I'm tempted just to leave this here - if only because I hope that those of you reading my board are aware of my opinion on Elon Musk. However, it seems that whereas once he was seen as an asset for the Tesla brand, he's now a liability. Pity. 

The Guardian looks at how the Tesla brand image has rapidly changed; whereas once it was revered, it's now just as likely to be loathed to the extent that it's now being described as a symbol of hate.

It seems that Elon Musk's political elevation hasn't necessarily had a great effect on one of his businesses - Tesla. Indeed, in Europe ,Tesla sales have halved and a number of consumers are unhappy with his association with the right-wing AfD and his role in the Trump government. So, will it continue to damage Tesla's sales? Only time will tell. 

It seems as though the discounters have seen off Asda's attempt to price match, with the more established chain abandoning a pledge to match the prices of Aldi and Lidl in favour of their own price cuts campaign. 

It highlights the importance of Price as a marketing tool in this ever more competitive sector, and the growing market share of the discounters. I also wonder whether Asda also feels that their price match campaign also damaged their brand, aligning them too closely with the discounters. Either way, the supermarket is the only big player in the sector to have seen sales, and market share, falling.

The ethical trade body, Fairtrade, believes that it could be more prominent in domestic markets, supplementing its role in protecting workers overseas. It's clearly in its interests to do so, but it might be that changing consumer tastes, and the rise of the ethical consumer make them more relevant.