TRICKY BUSINESS 2

PROGRAMME 4: DOHERTY'S JAM

ACTIVITIES

Guidance

These activities support a mix of individual, paired and group work. You may wish to revisit the 'before viewing' activities after watching the programme.

Before viewing

What is 'factory downtime' and what causes it?

Generate a list of the words and phrases that you associate with risk-taking behaviour. Review the list. Does it have more positive or negative words and phrases? (Risk takers' lists will generally have more positive than negative items.) Are you a risk taker or do you prefer to err on the side of caution?

Make a spidergram showing the characteristics that an entrepreneur needs to succeed. Think about skills, qualities, attitudes and behaviour. Could you be an entrepreneur?

How often do you eat jam and why? What flavour do you like best? What is your favourite make? If you were in charge of the company, how would you develop its range of jams?

After viewing

To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows XP/2000 and Windows Media Player 9, 10 or 11. Unfortunately, the clips are not supported on Macintosh computers.

The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end. We have therefore included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.

Working from home
Clip one: 01:56 – 03:14

• Opens with the narrator saying, 'Fraser Doherty is no ordinary 17-year-old.'
• Closes with Fraser saying, 'Well, at the moment the production is kind of the biggest obstacle I face, I would say, because I can't produce enough jam in this kitchen.'

Discuss why it suited Fraser to work from home when he started his business. Using the internet and other resources, find out what other types of business can be run from home, and the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. Draw a triangle or star. Label each of the points with a reason why you would or would not be prepared to work from home. Display, share and discuss your results.

Risky business
Clip two: 05:30 – 07:07

• Opens with the narrator saying, 'John's been through the books, seen the product and met the entrepreneur.'
• Closes with John Boyle saying, 'I'll be looking forward to it.'

Explain how Fraser wants to build his business and why John challenges his ideas. Working in pairs, discuss the advice that John gives Fraser and Fraser's responses. (Think about risks and potential rewards, what might happen if Fraser's business expands too quickly and the problems that he might have in meeting a supermarket's demanding requirements.) Decide whether Fraser should follow his instincts or do as John advises. Share the highlights of your discussion with the rest of the group and take a vote on whether John or Fraser is right.

Look at the diagram of the supply chain. Mark it to show what risks Fraser could face at each step in the chain and how they could affect his sales, finance and business reputation. Be creative and think of as many risks as you can (e.g. illness, mechanical breakdowns, computer failures, late payments, legal problems, natural disasters, and so on).

Download printable version of this activity [PDF, 28KB]

Review the outcomes and decide if John is right when he says that Fraser is embarking on a high-risk business strategy.

Innovation
Clip three: 09:55 – 11:08

• Opens with the narrator saying, 'With the Waitrose meeting weeks away, Fraser decides to do some research on rival products.'
• Closes with Fraser saying, 'Yes, very good, nice and gingery.'

Discuss the following questions:

• What is the unique selling point of the jam that Fraser proposes to develop?
• What is its target market?
• Do you think that it will sell well?
• How well will it sell if fashions and trends change?
• How important is it for Fraser to keep track of trends and changes in customer requirements?
• How can he do this?

Packaging
Clip four: 16:37 – 19:51

• Opens with the narrator saying, 'With the recipe side of things sorted, Fraser tackles the next issue Waitrose raised.'
• Closes with Fraser saying, 'It means I'm just one step closer to the whole thing working.'

Explain why packaging is important for product integrity, business identity and sales. (Think about health and safety, brand image, product differentiation and customer perceptions.) Discuss the following questions:

• Why did Fraser decide to use a professional design company to create the labels for SuperJam? Was this a good business decision?
• Why did Waitrose reject Fraser's first set of labels and accept the second set? Were they right to do so?
• Does the second set of labels help Fraser to differentiate his jams from those of his competitors? What brand image do they create?

Either:

• Design a T-shirt for Fraser to wear when promoting SuperJam

Or:

• Invent a new flavour to add to the SuperJam line and devise a label for the jar.