Happiness is a warm gun?

Glocks Secret Path to Profits
Gaston Glock, an Austrian manufacturer of shovels and knives, has made a fortune selling handguns in America. Starting in the early 1980s, Glock, a self-taught firearm designer, produced a new innovative pistol for the Austrian military.

Watch this Business week video - how many product features can you identify?

Glock's marketing strategy to enter the world's richest gun market - the USA was simple: persuade American police they needed a lightweight gun with more ammunition than traditional revolvers...then use the success of selling to law enforcement to promote his guns to private gun buyers.

Today the company claims 65% of the American law-enforcement market, an amazing success for a privately owned manufacturer based in tiny a tiny town in Austria.

Ethics? Well Glock's success has come at a price - he was the victim of an unsuccessful asssasination attempt in 1999, and the company is currently under investigation by the IRS (US tax authorities) for tax avoidance

The recession's unexpected winners

Read this article that covers some businesses that are doing well in the current economic crisis.

Level 1: Knowledge
1) Define the term deflation. According to the article, what is the main problem with deflation?

Level 2: Application
2) Explain the term ‘price elasticity of demand’ using a product indentified in this article ..

Level 3: Analysis
3) Analyse the impact of the external business environment on the business strategy for ‘John Lewis’

Level 4: Evaluation
4) Define the term ‘recession’ Recommend a recession management strategy for an LCD TV screen producer. Hint – this may be useful

Stuck? Click here for some ideas!


Note Level 1 – Level 4 are questions based on IB standards where

Level 1: Knowledge
Level 2: Application
Level 3: Analysis
Level 4: Evaluation

Words in bold (define, explain…) have a specific meaning in the IB Diploma Program (DP). The meanings are in Glossary of Command Terms Section of the IBO DP Business and Management Guide available at the OCC and from my website

Inside a frozen pizza factory

Watch this BBC video and answer the following questions:
1) Define the terms:
a) Labour intensive Business
b) Capital Intensive Business

2) How many pizzas are made by this business each week?

3) What kind of production process is used in this video?

4) Watch carefully, and write down a title for EACH stage of the production process (I counted 10 stages!!)