Picture
Last year Coca Cola announced that it would drop the word "Classic" from "Coca-Cola Classic", thereby-as Bloomberg reported it-"writing the final chapter in one of the greatest marketing blunders in U.S. business history." That might be too harsh: New Coke was a tactical blunder but a strategic victory, and it offers us a few lessons about market research along the way.  

In the early 1980s, Coke (the drink) was steadily losing market share to Pepsi-Cola. One reason was that Diet Coke had cannibalized Coke sales, quickly rocketing past 7-Up to become the #3 soft drink in America. Another reason was that Pepsi had been positioning Pepsi-Cola for the youth market in the 1960s and was winning a greater share of new cola drinkers than Coke was. Finally, Pepsi-Cola was reported to taste better. 


 
A superb BBC programme on Steve Jobs. Tells you all about the entrepreneur and how he changed the world...
Another great BBC documentary but this time it's all about Facebook. Loads of interviews with Mark Zuckerberg (the founder) and talks about the business behind Facebook (how it makes so much £). Enjoy...
 
The "patent cliff" has begun. Dreaded by leading pharmaceutical companies of the West for years now, it could potentially make millions of dollars of profits for Indian companies.

It is a phrase used to describe the ongoing expiry of pharmaceutical patents on a range of blockbuster drugs. Between 2011 and 2012, many drugmakers will lose patent protection on their best selling products opening up the market to cheaper copy-cat drugs made in countries like India and China.

 
Welcome to the Business Studies blog! I want to encourage you to read more business news so I've decided to create this blog and post up relevant news articles with a question attached. All you have to do is read the story and answer the question in the comments section below. The Business Studies theory you learn in class is all around us in the real business world so hopefully this will help you remember the topics and begin to form opinions / evaluations which will help you in the exams!