Any organisation that can create a barrier to entry which prevents new competitors entering the market can, in theory, keep prices high. Economies of scale (think Airbus or Boeing), branding (think Apple) and distribution channels (think Coke) are all excellent examples of barriers to entry but one of the toughest barriers to break through are [...]

You’ve all used a computer and the “qwerty” style keyboards which are named after the first row of the letters of the top row of the keyboard are things that we currently take for granted. The interesting thing though is that 20 years ago they weren’t very common and my feeling is that in 20 [...]

It never ceases to amaze me. You’re at an airport, you check-in and then wave goodbye to your luggage. When you arrive at your destination you expect your luggage to arrive on the luggage carousel at the same time you. I met an old friend last week who was telling me about a situation he [...]

Michael Porter is arguably the world’s most famous management theorist. His theories such as the 5 forces model and Value Chain Analysis are key parts of the syllabus for several ACCA and CIMA papers. His generic strategy approach of “differentiation” and “cost leadership” has been around for a number of years and whilst there is [...]

I guess we’ve all done it at some time or another. We’ve woken up one morning and due to too much work (or too much drink…) you look in the mirror and think “oh dear” (or some similar but slightly stronger words). Well step forward Mr Ed Moyse and Mr Ross Harper who when they [...]

Here’s an interesting question – if you were asked whether you wanted more paid holiday or not, what would you say? The standard amount of paid holiday in most European countries is 4 weeks. Over in Switzerland though there was a national referendum recently which amongst other things asked people to vote on increasing the [...]

We get a weekly report on the phrases that people are searching for when they visit our website. As well as the search terms that would be expected on our site such as “ACCA courses” or “CIMA courses” there are also some more unusual ones. One recent such unusual search term was “How do I [...]

Companies often offer incentives to encourage people to sign up for their products or services. BOGOF is a term that’s well known in marketing circles. It stands for “Buy One Get One Free” and as the phrase implies it is a sales promotion encouraging people to buy a product or service. If they pay for [...]

What have the Olympics, The European Football Championships and the American presidential elections got in common? Well, if you’re WPP, the world’s largest advertising and marketing group then they are all hopefully going to make it a bumper year for profits. The WPP Group make a fascinating case study. On Thursday they released their results [...]

Passing professional exams is a tough exercise. You’ll only pass them if you work hard and put in the hours of studying that are required. Occasionally people will no doubt try to cheat and maybe try to grab a quick glance over at the person next to them to see what they are writing. The [...]