Teaching S3 Business Management using homemade tomato ketchup!

In a previous life before I became a teacher, I used to work as a commis chef in various restaurants. I was actually going to train to be a chef before I decided to head off to University to do my Business degree. However, every now and again I still think I have the knack and so it was on Sunday afternoon, that with the sun shining, I opened the windows to let in the first fresh air of spring and set about making my own tomato ketchup courtesy of one of Jamie Oliver's recipes. This followed on from a successful attempt at making chilli-pepper chutney the previous week.

I headed off to Tescos and came back with the following:

• 1 large red onion
• 1/2 bulb of fennel
• 1 stick of celery
• Ginger
• 1/2 fresh red chilli
• Fresh basil
• 1kg of red tomatoes
• Red wine vinegar

I already had the olive oil, garlic, salt, cloves, black pepper and brown sugar that was needed to complete the masterpiece. 3 hours of cooking later and the picture at the top is what I had to show for my efforts. Approximately 350ml of homemade tomato ketchup!

And why do I tell you this.....

Today with my S3 Business Management, I was discussing different methods of production - Job, Batch and Flow. My attempt at homemade tomato ketchup was an obvious example of job production. The raw materials were good quality but expensive, I had to do all the tasks myself which took time and effort but the final product met with my exact requirements. Unfortunately, I don't have my receipt handy but the tomatoes themselves were £2.24. I imagine, everything included (minus my labour costs), the tomato ketchup probably cost me close to £4 to make. Products created by job production are expensive due to the labour intensive, unique aspects of them.

We discussed how much I would need to sell this individual bottle at to make a profit. £5, £6, £7 was shouted out. When asked who would pay that, no one offered and it was pointed out that a bottle of 350g Heinz Tomato Ketchup costs £1 to buy in Tesco.

So, if I decided to use the wonder of the internet and start selling my homemade tomato ketchup or chilli-pepper chutney online, how would I get my costs down to a level which would enable me to sell it at a reasonable price and start to make a profit. My brilliant S3 Business Management class immediately identified the need to make it in enough quantity to be able to buy my raw materials in bulk and thus bring the cost of them down by negotiating a discount with the suppliers.

Top Trivia from Heinz Ketchup website

Did you know that we use enough tomatoes to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool – EVERY day – to make enough tomato ketchup for all our fans?

So we started to look at Batch production - making batches of tomato ketchup using batches of red tomatoes or yellow tomatoes, chilli-pepper chutney using red chillis, green chillis, orange chillis etc.

We then looked at how we could manufacture the tomato ketchup using Flow production with everyone having a specific job, utilising technology to do much of the work e.g. blenders, and how this would enable us to drive down the costs of each individual jar of chilli-pepper chutney or tomato ketchup until we could make a decent profit.

We then used this to discuss the disadvantages of each of these methods - the obvious cost element of the Job Production but also the high initial costs of the machinery for Flow Production and the monotonous jobs of both Batch and Flow Production.

And that is how my Sunday afternoon making home made tomato-ketchup impacted on my S3 Business Management lesson the next day.

S2 Business Management Dragon's Den Final

Congratulations to Anita Kaur, Eve McGlynn and Ellis Macaulay a.k.a. The Pet People who represented my class at this years S2 Business Management Dragon's Den Final. Despite an excellent presentation for their product, Communikanine, which received rave reviews from the four Dragon's, the team were pipped into first place by Chandles, who had the excellent idea of chocolate candles which, when lit, would coat a cake with melting chocolate.

Communikanine Presentation

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The Dragon's Den project is one of the highlights of the S2 Business Management course at St Ninian's High School. Starting in November, the pupils work in groups to come up with a product or service idea which they then have to market research, cost and promote. As well as this, they also have to look at any competition, consider what sources of finance to use and decide on the type of business organisation they want to be and why e.g. partnership, private limited company etc.

This year, we invited four "Dragons" from the local business community who had to make the final decision on who triumphed. They were all very impressed with the level of effort and commitment the three finalists had put into the project.

Congratulations to all pupils involved in the project and here is to an even more successful Dragon's Den in 2010-2011.

Who is right and who is wrong in the BA strike?

As the first strike by British Airways cabin crew comes to an end with a second planned from 27 March, relations between British Airways and Unite, the trade union representing the cabin crew, show no sign of improving.

At the centre of the dispute is BA's decision to reduce the number of cabin crew on long haul flights from 15 to 14 and a 2 year pay freeze from 2010. New contracts have also been proposed for new people joining and newly promoted staff which would see them paid significantly less than current staff. Unite have put forward their own proposals but BA have rejected them as the £63m savings through pay cuts and part time working would not save as much money as the union claim.

BA claim they need to restructure to permanently reduce costs. The company made losses of £342 million in the nine months leading up to the end of December 2009 and say the will make 4,900 redundancies globally by the end of the year. In recent years, BA have lost many air travellers to low-cost airline, many of whom are business travellers, BA's core customers. This could be fatal to BA in the future. Coupled with an economic slowdown, BA would be unable to continue in its current structure and cost levels unless the profitable business passengers come back and pay the prices they were before. BA are experimenting with not serving food on some flights and charging for second bags.

Some staff have decided to break the strike, with one saying 'he and other colleagues were thinking about the long term effects the strike would have on the company".

And therein lies the issue. Some reports have claimed that British Airways staff are paid nearly double that of rival airlines. With British Airways making losses and facing a troubling future, should staff accept that sacrifices have to be made in the current climate? Or should British Airways accept that it's staff are highly professional, experienced cabin crew and pay them accordingly? And what of the role of the Union? Is industrial action and the knock on effect of the strikes to the general public? Is this the best way to conduct negotiations in the current economic situation?

It's a tough situation and very difficult to see how a satisfactory outcome can be decided upon.

Glasgow 2014 Games logo unveiled

The Glasgow 2014 Games logo was revealed on Monday at a cost of £95,000. Glasgow design agency Marque came up with the brand after a worldwide search, beating 66 entries, and the logo is based on three principles of sport - time, data and measurement. Any companies sponsoring the games will be offered the logo for use. For the first time, the Commonwealth Games Federation approved the use of an alternative Gaelic form of the design.

Do you like the Glasgow 2014 Games logo?polls

Business in Sport - Football in the Red debate

Following the news that Real Madrid have topped the league table of the world's richest clubs for a fifth successive season, the BBC are holding a Football in the Red debate tonight on BBC Radio 5 Live. It will look at the financial problems affecting football clubs. It will start at 8pm and finishes at 9.30pm. Should be an interesting debate.

Real Madrid top football rich list

Business in sport

One area of business which intrigues me is that of business in sport, particularly football. I listened to a podcast recently in which a financial expert said that if football clubs were run as normal businesses, most would have collapsed. With Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers etc. creaking under huge debt burdens and Portsmouth last week becoming the first Premiership team to go into administration, the full impact of the current economic climate is there for all sports fans to see.

If you are a student of Business Management, knowing about business in sport can be a great help. Much of the terminology is the same and being able to put something into a context you understand can make things so much easier to learn.

The BBC have a page called Business in Sport and I have attached a link to the menu bar on the right under Interesting Websites. I don't expect you to read every single business article on the internet or newspaper, but it would greatly help your own learning if you have a look at any stories on this page which interest you. You never know when the information you pick up may come in handy!