A-Level Business · Y12 + Y13 · Real UK Cases
One A4 per case · 2026 edition
5 UK Business
Cases.
Five real UK 2025–2026 business stories, each in a single A4 brief. A mix of strategic restructuring, competitive pressure, operational success, organisational change and ethical crisis. Each case includes key facts, two sample exam questions, a class discussion question, and the common pitfall to avoid. For AQA 7132, Edexcel 9BS0 and OCR H431.
Case 1 · Page 2
Boohoo Group
Strategy · brand-portfolio demerger
Case 2 · Page 3
Aldi vs Tesco
Marketing · price competition + positioning
Case 3 · Page 4
Greggs
Operations · vertical integration as moat
Case 4 · Page 5
UK 4-Day Week Pilot
HRM · motivation, productivity, organisational change
Case 5 · Page 6
Thames Water
External · debt crisis, regulation, ethics
For each case
Brief · facts · 2 Qs · discussion · pitfall
Pick one, print one, deploy in your next lesson
How to use these briefs
Each case is a self-contained one-pager. Pick a case that fits your scheme of work this week — read the context, run the discussion question as a 5-minute opener, then set one of the sample questions as a homework or exam-practice piece. Facts are pitched at the level of well-known public information — for any quantitative claim you'd ask a student to use in an answer, cross-check against your awarding body's preferred sources or recent annual reports.
The Business School · 5 UK Business Cases · 2026
01 / 06
Case 1 · Boohoo Group · Strategy
Brand-portfolio demerger · Theme 3 / Strategic decisions
Boohoo Group — splitting the brand portfolio.
Boohoo Group is a UK fast-fashion holding company whose portfolio includes Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing (PLT), Karen Millen, Debenhams, Oasis, Burton and Coast. After several years of pressure on revenue, margin and share price, the group has publicly considered a strategic restructuring — including a potential demerger that would allow individual brands to operate (or be sold or floated) independently. The case sits at the intersection of brand strategy, corporate structure and shareholder accountability.
5 key facts
1Boohoo Group is a multi-brand fast-fashion plc headquartered in Manchester, listed on the London AIM market.
2The group's brands span different consumer segments (PLT = 18–24 TikTok-led; Karen Millen = professional 30–45; Debenhams = department-store legacy).
3The group has reported significant losses in recent years amid weakening demand and rising returns rates.
4A demerger would allow each brand to raise capital, be acquired or be wound down independently, instead of being held by a group with conflicting brand strategies.
5Demergers are slow and expensive: corporate-law work, separate IT systems, supplier renegotiations, dual listings — typically takes 12–24 months and costs tens of millions.
2 sample exam questions
Question 1 · 12 marks · Analyse
Analyse two reasons why a multi-brand fashion group such as Boohoo might choose to demerge its portfolio rather than continue as a single corporate entity.
Question 2 · 16/20 marks · Evaluate
Evaluate the likely impact of a brand-portfolio demerger on shareholder value at a UK fast-fashion plc facing multi-year losses.
Spec link
Edexcel Theme 3 business decisions & strategy · AQA 7132 strategic methods · OCR H431 strategic decisions
Discussion · 5 min
"Is Boohoo demerging to unlock value — or to make its component parts easier to sell off?"
Common pitfall to avoid
Students often treat demerger as a simple "split and improve" move. Level 4 answers acknowledge the execution cost — separating IT, supply chains, finance and HR functions across brands is the kind of work that destroys the value the demerger was supposed to release if mishandled. Always quantify the trade-off.
The Business School · Case 1 · Boohoo
02 / 06
Case 2 · Aldi vs Tesco · Marketing
Price competition + brand positioning · Theme 1 / Marketing
Aldi vs Tesco — the UK price war.
Aldi has steadily grown UK market share for over a decade, primarily on a cost-leadership and limited-SKU model. Tesco, the dominant UK grocery brand, has responded with the explicit "Aldi Price Match" campaign, in which Tesco prices selected items at the same level as Aldi. The case is a textbook example of Porter's generic strategies, price elasticity, and the limits of premium positioning during a cost-of-living squeeze.
5 key facts
1Aldi prices are typically around 15–20% lower than Tesco on directly comparable items, per repeated Which? consumer reports.
2Aldi operates a limited SKU range (~1,500 items vs Tesco's ~30,000+), enabling supplier scale and store efficiency.
3Tesco's "Aldi Price Match" is a branded in-store promotional programme — a defensive response to slow Aldi's UK market-share growth.
4Aldi's UK market share has risen consistently over the past decade as cost-of-living pressure has shifted middle-income shoppers toward discounters.
5Tesco's strategy of matching some items only is a compromise — it protects price perception without surrendering full Tesco-premium pricing on non-matched lines.
2 sample exam questions
Question 1 · 12 marks · Analyse
Analyse two ways Aldi maintains lower prices than larger UK supermarket competitors.
Question 2 · 16/20 marks · To what extent
To what extent has Tesco's "Aldi Price Match" strategy been an effective response to discounter competition in the UK grocery market?
Spec link
Edexcel Theme 1 Marketing mix & strategy · AQA 7132 Marketing · OCR H431 Competitive strategy
Discussion · 5 min
"Can Tesco compete on price without damaging the brand premium it has built on quality, service and store experience?"
Common pitfall to avoid
Students often describe Aldi's "low price" without explaining how Aldi sustains the gap. The Level 4 answer always links low price to the operating model: limited SKUs → bigger orders per item → supplier discounts; smaller stores → lower rent → fewer staff per square metre; no loyalty scheme → no marketing overhead. Price is the output; the model is the cause.
The Business School · Case 2 · Aldi vs Tesco
03 / 06
Case 3 · Greggs · Operations
Vertical integration as a competitive moat · Theme 2 / Operations
Greggs — vertical integration as competitive advantage.
Greggs is the dominant UK bakery-led food retailer, with a national store estate, an own-bakery supply chain and a steadily expanded product range (now including evening trading, digital ordering and meal-deal pricing). Unusually for UK food retail, Greggs owns its production sites and key parts of its supply chain — a vertically integrated model that has provided resilience during periods of supply-chain disruption that hit outsourced competitors hard. The case is a strong example of operational strategy as a moat.
5 key facts
1Greggs is vertically integrated: it owns and operates production bakeries and runs its own distribution to retail stores across the UK.
2The vertical model gives Greggs supply-chain resilience — when third-party suppliers face shortages (e.g. ingredient inflation, transport disruption), Greggs has fewer single points of failure.
3Greggs has expanded its store estate consistently over the past decade — including in motorway services, retail parks and railway stations — broadening its addressable market beyond traditional high streets.
4Operational consistency enables predictable unit economics across stores: the same products at the same cost across the estate make per-store profitability easier to model.
5Greggs has extended into evening trading and digital ordering, using its existing operational base to capture more of each customer's day.
2 sample exam questions
Question 1 · 12 marks · Analyse
Analyse two benefits of vertical integration for a UK food retailer such as Greggs.
Question 2 · 16/20 marks · Evaluate
Evaluate the importance of operational control to Greggs' competitive position in the UK food retail market.
Spec link
Edexcel Theme 2 Operations · AQA 7132 Operations management · OCR H431 Operational decisions
Discussion · 5 min
"If Greggs outsourced production to focus on retail, would it become more or less competitive over five years?"
Common pitfall to avoid
Students often treat vertical integration as automatically positive. The Level 4 angle: it ties up capital that could be used elsewhere, increases fixed-cost exposure if demand falls, and slows the firm's ability to switch suppliers if a better source emerges. Greggs has made it work — but it is a strategic bet, not a default best practice.
The Business School · Case 3 · Greggs
04 / 06
Case 4 · UK 4-Day Week Pilot · HRM
Motivation, productivity, organisational change · Theme 1.4 / 2.4
UK 4-Day Week — motivator or hygiene factor?
The UK 4 Day Week pilot programme (run by the 4 Day Week Foundation across 2022–2023) involved 61 UK firms trialling a four-day working week with no reduction in pay. Reported outcomes were broadly positive on retention, burnout and employee wellbeing — but mixed on productivity per worker, and the experience varied significantly by sector and firm size. The case is a strong test of motivation theory in practice, plus the harder question of how a firm absorbs the lost fifth-day output.
5 key facts
1The pilot was facilitated by the 4 Day Week Foundation, with research support and outcome reporting across 61 UK firms.
2Reported outcomes include improved retention, reduced burnout and mixed productivity impact — workers achieve more per hour, but not always enough to fully compensate the lost day.
3Outcomes varied by sector: knowledge-work firms generally absorbed the change more easily than firms with fixed customer-facing hours.
4Some pilot firms continued the 4-day model after the trial; others reverted, often because demand patterns or client expectations required full-week coverage.
5Critics argue smaller-margin firms cannot absorb the 20% time reduction without offsetting productivity gains they cannot guarantee in advance.
2 sample exam questions
Question 1 · 12 marks · Analyse
Analyse two motivational benefits a 4-day working week could provide to UK firms.
Question 2 · 16/20 marks · Evaluate
Evaluate whether a UK SME should adopt a 4-day working week for its full-time workforce.
Spec link
Edexcel Theme 1.4 + 2.4 People & HR · AQA 7132 HRM · OCR H431 Human resources
Discussion · 5 min
"Is the 4-day week a hygiene factor (eliminating dissatisfaction) or a motivator (creating satisfaction) — and why does that distinction change the strategy?"
Common pitfall to avoid
Students often default to "workers happier = good policy". Level 4 evaluation always asks: where does the lost fifth-day output go? Either workers do five days' work in four (productivity gain), the firm hires more workers (margin pressure), or the firm serves fewer customers (revenue impact). Without addressing this, the answer skips the hardest part of the trade-off.
The Business School · Case 4 · UK 4-Day Week
05 / 06
Case 5 · Thames Water · External + Ethics
Debt crisis, regulation, infrastructure ethics · Theme 4
Thames Water — debt, regulation, and ethics.
Thames Water is the largest of the UK's privatised water utilities, supplying around 16 million customers across London and the Thames Valley. Following years of underinvestment in infrastructure, large dividend payments to shareholders, and rising borrowing costs, the firm has faced a sustained financial distress crisis, with debts well over £14 billion. The case raises questions across external environment, business ethics, regulatory failure and the limits of privatisation.
5 key facts
1Thames Water serves approximately 16 million UK customers as the country's largest water and wastewater utility.
2Reported debts well over £14 billion — among the highest in the UK utilities sector.
3The UK water industry was privatised in 1989 — the current ownership and capital structure traces back to that policy decision.
4Ofwat (Water Services Regulation Authority) oversees the sector and has launched multiple investigations into pollution incidents, dividend payments, and capital adequacy at Thames Water.
5The government has faced repeated calls for nationalisation or use of the Special Administration Regime for water utilities deemed essential to public welfare.
2 sample exam questions
Question 1 · 12 marks · Analyse
Analyse two external factors that have contributed to Thames Water's financial distress.
Question 2 · 16/20 marks · Evaluate
Evaluate whether the UK government should intervene to stabilise Thames Water rather than allow market mechanisms to resolve the situation.
Spec link
Edexcel Theme 4 Global & external · AQA 7132 External environment · OCR H431 External influences
Discussion · 5 min
"Should essential services like water be privately owned at all — and if yes, what regulatory architecture would prevent another Thames Water?"
Common pitfall to avoid
Students often frame this as "private bad, public good" or vice versa. Level 4 answers separate the ownership question from the regulatory question. Many countries operate functional private water utilities under tighter regulation; the Thames Water failure is as much a failure of regulatory enforcement as it is a critique of privatisation itself.
The Business School · Case 5 · Thames Water
06 / 06