IB Business Management HLTopic 8 — Pre-Released Statement 2025Paper 1Core idea~11 min read
Getting Started With the Statement
The 2025 statement introduces Myt PLC, a multinational drinks company with a health problem and a shopping habit. Even if you are sitting a later session, this case is worth working through — it is the best full-length practice you can get, and the skills transfer exactly.
📚 What you need to know
Myt PLC is a multinational maker of non-alcoholic drinks, with factories on six continents.
It started with a single root beer and now sells over 30 different drinks.
In 2023 it bought Lotssa Coffee (over 4,000 coffee shops in 35 countries) and Honest Water, a bottled water maker.
Some of its drinks are high in sugar and caffeine, and even the diet versions attract criticism over sweeteners.
It plans greener factories, lower sugar and caffeine, and better CSR.
It is considering the healthy snacks market and computer-generated avatars in advertising.
Myt PLC at a glance
The company is easiest to hold in your head as one core business with two purchases bolted on and one more move being considered.
Note the difference in colour. The two green boxes were bought; the amber one would have to be built, which is a completely different kind of risk.
The five things the statement is really telling you
1. Myt has grown two different ways
Going from one root beer to more than thirty drinks is internal or organic growth — the company did it with its own resources. Buying Lotssa Coffee and Honest Water is external growth. Both appear in the same case, which makes a comparison question very likely.
2. The core product has a health problem
Sugar and caffeine are linked to obesity and diabetes, and governments are taxing high-sugar drinks. The obvious fix — sweeteners — brings its own criticism. Myt is caught between two unhappy groups of customers.
3. Marketing is digital and getting more so
Myt already uses social media influencers. It is now considering computer-generated avatars in adverts. That is a shift from paying people to paying for technology, and it comes with a cost and a credibility question.
4. Sustainability is a stated plan, not an achievement
Modernising factories to make them greener is announced, not done. That gap between promise and delivery is where pressure groups live — and “pressure group” is on the terminology list for a reason.
5. Diversification is still going
Coffee shops and bottled water were the first steps. Healthy snacks would take Myt out of drinks altogether and into food.
Read the statement asking one question: what problem is this company trying to solve? For Myt it is that its most profitable products are the ones society increasingly disapproves of. Every strategy in the case is an attempt to escape that.
How to use your five hours
🧩 A sensible plan for the preparation time
Hour 1 — vocabulary. Learn every listed term to a two-clause definition. Cheapest marks available.
Hour 2 — themes. Write the five or six big ideas and one Myt example under each.
Hour 3 — the toolkit. Fill in SWOT, STEEPLE, Ansoff and BCG for Myt on one page each.
Hour 4 — industry. Learn a handful of market sizes and the two or three trends that matter.
Hour 5 — practice. Plan, do not write, six or seven 10-mark answers.
What not to do. Do not write out full model essays. The complete case study appears only on exam day and will contain figures, characters and events you have never seen. A memorised essay will fit the question badly and read worse.
Worked examples
WORKED EXAMPLE
Define the term multinational company. [2]
Clause 1
A multinational company is a business that operates in more than one country.
Clause 2
It usually has its headquarters in one country and factories, offices or stores in others.
2 / 2Myt has factories on six continents, but do not add that here — define questions need no application.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Explain one reason why Myt PLC’s acquisition of Lotssa Coffee could be described as diversification. [2]
Step 1: the business point
Diversification means moving into a new product in a new market, which spreads risk across more than one industry. [1]Step 2: apply it
Running over 4,000 coffee shops is a retail service business, completely different from manufacturing bottled and canned drinks, with different supply chains and different customers. [1]2 / 2“Manufacturing versus retail” is the sharp version of this point. Say it that way.
💡 Exam tip
Memorise the four boxes from the diagram. They are the backbone of every answer.
Keep the dates. “Acquired in 2023” is a case detail and earns application credit.
Use the numbers you have: 30+ drinks, 4,000 shops, 35 countries, six continents.
Notice what is planned versus done. Green factories and healthy snacks are intentions, not facts.
Myt is a PLC. Shareholders want returns, which constrains how much it can spend on CSR.
Practise both statements. The skills are identical; only the company changes.
⚠ Common mix-up
Multinational is not the same as global. Operating in several countries is enough.
Lotssa Coffee is a chain, not a brand of drink. It is shops, not bottles.
Honest Water is a manufacturer of bottled water, not a water utility.
Healthy snacks has not happened. Do not write about it as if Myt already sells them.
Avatars are not influencers. One is a computer-made character; the other is a real person.
Reducing sugar is not the same as going sugar-free. Myt is reformulating, not removing.
Up next: The Vocabulary to Revise — every term from the 2025 list, with a two-clause definition and a Myt example.
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