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Bread Merger

  • Writer: The Econosaurus
    The Econosaurus
  • Sep 7
  • 1 min read

Thanks to Jen Stimson for posting this on the Edexcel group - it's an article about a potential merger between Hovis and Kingsmill. This article is well suited for short class discussion as it's quite short and hints at lots of concepts but doesn't quite explain them, giving your students the opportunity to make the links themselves. Possible questions:

  1. Why might a consumer choose one bread brand over another?

  2. The article says both businesses are "loss making". Why doesn't that fit in with our assumptions? How might we explain this?

  3. Why might the union, Unite, be concerned?

  4. Why would the CMA, the competition watchdog, need to approve the merger?

  5. The article talks about the impact of speciality bread and changing diets. How might we show these impacts on a diagram? Could we use any other diagrams?

  6. Why might the combined business be better placed to "create new products'?

  7. How might the combined business be able to make significant costs synergies and efficiencies?

  8. Do you think the merger will increase economic welfare?

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