Place the correct label against each of the descriptors for the main principles of the UK Corporate Governance Code.
EEE is an international airline.
Indicate which of the following activities are 'primary' or 'support' in accordance with Porter's Value Chain.
CCC is a small business which manufactures and sells bicycles. Its most popular product is the standard road bike, brand named the 'Easy Rider'. CCC offers customers a limited degree of choice in terms of product specification for the Easy Rider bicycle. CCC manufactures and sells 1,000 Easy Rider bicycles each year. The average retail price of an Easy Rider bicycle is $500.
As a result of the recent rise in popularity of cycling in its home country, last year CCC launched a new bicycle, brand named the 'Pro Rider'. This bicycle is aimed at the more serious cyclists who take part in competitions and road races. CCC offers Pro Rider customers a wide choice of specifications and accessories and uses the highest quality of materials in its manufacturing process. A Pro Rider bicycle retails for an average price of $6,000. In its first year, CCC sold 150 Pro Rider bicycles.
CCC's business is generated mainly from word of mouth recommendations, repeat business and from customer visits to its small chain of shops. It aims to increase its market share for both brands within the next 5 years. Competition is high, with a number of large national bicycle manufacturers in the market.
Which TWO of the following are critical success factors (CSF's) for CCC?
The concept of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting expands traditional accountancy reporting systems to consider social and environmental performance, rather than simply financial performance.
Which THREE of the following does the TBL concept suggest should be measured in order to encourage greater business social responsibility?
CCC is a local authority based in Country M. A local authority (LA) is a public sector Organization which has administrative responsibilities within a geographical area and is responsible for the provision of a range of public services within its area including schools, leisure, policing and housing.
The majority of CCC's income comes from central Government funding. In the last four years, the global economic downturn has resulted in the central Government of Country M having to drastically cut its funding to all LAs. Six months ago, CCC appointed a new Chief Executive who, since his arrival, has attempted to make a number of changes to the Organizational culture and structure of CCC. He has stated that these changes are essential if CCC is to continue to operate effectively within the current economic environment. The Government of Country M has recently announced that all LA's must reduce their overall expenditure from current levels by 15% within the next year.
Which of the following types of change is CCC experiencing?
NNN is a logistics firm that contracts with online retailers (clients) to deliver parcels containing customers' purchases, to customers' home addresses. NNN holds inventory of the most frequently ordered products at its warehouses.
According to industry research, most clients require the contractors to deliver the customers their purchases soon after they place their order. They are not concerned with the environmental impact of the logistics process. They require very competitive delivery prices from their contractors.
Customer research reveals that households dislike being asked to stay at home for an entire day because logistics firms are unwilling to commit themselves to a precise delivery time. This problem has led to a small number of cases of customers arriving at the warehouses of logistics firms demanding to take their purchases away with them. Most households do not consider the environmental policies or performance of the firms they buy from.
The logistics industry is very competitive and NNN wants to protect its existing contracts and to win more. It needs to focus its resources on the 'things that must go right' in order for it to succeed.
Which THREE of the following are Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for NNN?
The future can be viewed as consisting of a large number of alternatives. Forecasting techniques have been designed to assist decision-making and planning.
Which TWO of the following statements are correct regarding the use of trend analysis as a forecasting tool?
Using Earl's 'Three levels of IT strategy' framework, which one of the following activities would occur as part of an Information Systems (IS) strategy?
TTT is a software design company which has grown successfully over the last 8 years. It has been highly innovative and often collaborates with a number of external partners to produce high quality, innovative software for a wide range of customers.
TTT's owner, K, has been a driving force behind its success. He spends a great deal of time analysing what is happening in the marketplace and trying to predict what customers need from TTT, through a network of industry contacts. He has a strong vision for TTT and communicates this, with conviction, to his staff in regular face to face meetings. He recognises and rewards his staff when new developments are undertaken and completed successfully and believes that if staff feel appreciated, then they will be more motivated to succeed.
Which THREE of the following skills for a leader in a change adept Organization does K demonstrate?
WXY has been criticised by an activist shareholder for a lack of clarity in its formulation and implementation of strategy.
The activist shareholder states that WXY is confused as to the different levels of strategy and it has pointed to examples of inappropriate levels of management being held responsible for strategies that they do not control
WXY has decided to use the categories, Corporate, Business and Functional to clarify its strategic processes.
Which of the following are Corporate strategies?
Select ALL that apply.
Which THREE of the following frameworks are used solely to evaluate the external environment of an Organization?
'Change-adept' Organizations are those that manage change successfully. Moss-Kanter identified skills required by Organizational leaders which are necessary to lead 'change-adept' Organizations.
Your Organization is undergoing significant change and the appointment of a new CEO is imminent. You have been asked to recommend the key skills for assessing the shortlist of CEO candidates against.
Which of the following statements are suitable for use as the selection criteria for the new CEO, consistent with the ideas expressed by Moss-Kanter?
Select ALL that apply.
M is a car manufacturer in Country C. Every day, at 09.00, members of M's staff practice meditation and Tai Chi for 30 minutes, before their normal workday commences.
M's staff are paid during this time and M considers the practice to be a benefit both to staff and the company. Staff operate with high levels of efficiency and absenteeism levels are low.
The auditors of M have recommended that M stop these sessions, stating that they consider them to be a waste of time and a drain on resources.
Which of the following aspects of M's culture would the auditors recommendation impact on?
You have applied for a job with a large accountancy practice and have been requested to attend for an interview. You have also been informed that you will be required to give a ten minute presentation on Corporate Political Activity (CPA).
Which are valid statements with respect to Corporate Political Activity?
Select ALL that apply.
Which THREE of the following issues relate to the Corporate Strategy of an organization? (Choose three.)
Which of the following is NOT a common barrier to group-based collaboration within Organizations?
An insurer, JJJ, uses its Internet capabilities to promote and sell car and home insurance products. Although JJJ is supported by an 'in-house' call centre located in its home country, it has decided to outsource this activity to an overseas call centre.
There are a number of benefits to the company by undertaking this strategy, including that it can charge more competitive premiums to its customers and also increase its profits. However this change will mean that 75 call centre staff in the home country will be made redundant.
You have been appointed as the Change Leader and have been asked to prepare a report that includes details on how this change can be communicated.
Which THREE of the following statements are valid regarding JJJ's proposed changes and the related staff communications?
RRR is an insurance company which maintains an extensive database of its customer transactions over the last 10 years. RRR is developing a new product and has carried out a SWOT analysis.
Within which of the following aspects of the SWOT analysis would RRR include its customer database?
Which THREE of the following statements are valid when considering setting and developing objectives for Not For Profit Organisations (NFPOs)?
H is a small 18-hole golf club owned by sisters F and R It offers a bar. a small shop that sells basic equipment and a professional golfer providing golf lessons to members for an additional fee.
Membership numbers have fallen, putting significant pressure on cash flow Last year the sisters had to each invest $20,000 to prevent the golf club from going out of business. The key priority for them in the short term is to increase H's membership numbers.
Which TWO of the following strategies would be feasible for H?
LMN is a fast food manufacturer that makes 'Ready-meals'.
Place the appropriate stage of the Value Chain against each of the activities below:
University researchers want the government of Country Y to invest in the creation of a database of information about the lives of people who have lived in the country during the past 300 years.
Population information is based on official registers of data about individual people. This data will include the person's name, the dates they were born, the names of their parents, the names of partners if they decide to marry, the names and dates of birth of their children and, finally, the person's date of death and cause of death. In the past this information was recorded on paper by hand, but today there are an increasing number of computerised databases that record this information. This will include data about the 58 million people alive in Country Y at the moment.
Additional data may come from government questionnaires that are circulated once every 10 years and completed by every household in Country Y all on the same day of that year.
The system is intended to help the researchers analyse demographic change but it will also be useful to people who want to identify who their ancestors were and the links between families.
What THREE obstacles will the University researchers face in developing and implementing this system?
EFG is a private hospital. It specialises in state-of-the-art laser surgery, an area which has developed rapidly in the last 10 years. Most of the staff of EFG are used to change, as developments in technology, new surgical techniques and customer demands have changed rapidly during this time. However, in the last three years the economic recession has had a significant impact upon EFG, with the numbers of private customers reducing and its profits falling sharply.
The Board of Directors has recently announced that it is to restructure the Organization and rationalise some of the services it offers. A small number of staff will be made redundant and those remaining will have to take on extra responsibilities with no extra pay. Also, the current generous overtime payments are to be drastically cut. Many staff have expressed concern at the impact that these changes will have on them.
The Board of Directors has clearly communicated the economic reasons for change to the staff through several meetings and are operating an open door policy, whereby staff can discuss the changes with their line managers at any time.
Which of the following, according to Kotter and Schlesinger, is the MOST likely reason for resistance among EFG's staff?
In respect of mission statements, place the word "characteristic" or "purpose" against the relevant activity.
Which TWO of the following are advantages to an organization of using non-financial performance measures, rather than financial performance measures? (Choose two.)
DD is a medium size company and has decided to appoint a data mining company to collate information from a wide variety of sources and analyse the data into more meaningful information.
The Board of DD believes that by using a data mining company to undertake this work, it will add value to its business and help it to remain competitive.
Which of the following statements does NOT apply to data mining?
EF manufactures and sells cars in Country X. Which of the following would improve its profitability?
As a qualified Management Accountant you have been asked by a non-financial manager to explain the CEO's recent comments, featured in the CEO's regular update to investors and analysts.
The CEO's update suggested the company, an established property development business, was about to pursue an exciting strategy. The strategy is to focus on conglomerate diversification, to be achieved through a number of pre-identified acquisitions, with the aim of significantly increasing shareholder value.
Which of the following statements is consistent with the concept of conglomerate diversification?
AB is a global car manufacturer. Management has agreed to spend $20 million on researching a new type of engine that uses liquid hydrogen to power the car. It believes it is important for AB to take a first step in developing this radical and uncertain new technology.
The $20 million will finance the research only and the program will last two years. Providing the research is successful, after two years it would cost a further $40 million to develop a car to sell. This development would take a further three years. Management is concerned that the international car market may not be willing to buy hydrogen powered cars for at least six years from now.
Which of the following options would NOT be available to AB after two years?
TTT recently appointed a new Chief Executive, R, to lead it through a period of major change. R immediately set up a change management team which consisted of several senior managers and directors from across the organization. Together, they formulated an overall goal for change and then spent several weeks presenting the need for change to all of the staff through a series of staff meetings. At these meetings R involved staff and built their ideas into the final change strategy.
R also set a series of interim goals to encourage ongoing performance throughout the change process. When the organization reached these goals, R widely publicized these achievements to help motivate staff.
However, after six months, TTT had failed to reach most of the interim goals that had been set. Most of the members of the change management team had not maintained a significant interest in the change process and many of the staff felt that there had been a lack of communication and reward following the initial few weeks of the change process.
Kotter suggested that there were eight steps required to successfully lead change.
Which TWO of the following did R fail to achieve? (Choose two.)
BCD manufactures a well known breakfast cereal, the 'Weetyflake'. As a result of a steady slow down in the market growth of this product in its home country in the last five years, BCD is considering a number of possible strategic directions.
Select the label which best describes each of the strategic directions being considered by BCD.
Organizations have a variety of stakeholders, each with differing interests and requirements. This can lead to stakeholder conflict. This can be further complicated when individuals are members of more than one stakeholder group and when members of one group do not share the same principal interest.
Company FF has decided that it needs to undertake a stakeholder analysis in order to manage its stakeholders more effectively.
Which of the following statements are valid when undertaking stakeholder analysis?
Select ALL that apply.
BB Laundry Company is a community-led franchise initiative, enabling its customers to make use of state-of-the-art washing machines for its customers' domestic laundry needs. Services include self-serve or fully serviced washing and ironing services, provided by on-site volunteer staff.
Its laundry sites are powered with solar or wind power and its washing machines use water-conserving technology Non-toxic soaps and detergents are available, as well as bio-degradable clothes hangers, mend and repair services, combined with community cafes.
Which of the following would be beneficial to BB Laundry Company for external reporting of its key performance outcomes?
BBB has often encountered difficulties when it has introduced strategies which involve Organizational change. BBB is about to enter a period of much change and has decided to appoint one or more change agents to help to manage this. Select ALL of the statements that apply in respect of a change agent.
Company GGG wants to gain competitive advantage and has decided to use data mining.
Which of the following would NOT result from data mining?
'Big data' refers to datasets whose size is outside the ability of typical database software tools to capture, store, manage and analyze.
Which of the following statements is NOT a valid statement with regard to 'big data'?
HHH intends to introduce a Balanced Scorecard to assist with its strategic policy formation and achievement of strategic plans. Which TWO of the following stakeholders are addressed by a Balanced Scorecard perspective?
When FarmCot Foods was founded five years ago, it was a small shop set up by a family of dairy farmers in a disused farm shed, selling their own produce to the local community. The family had decided, at that point in time, to diversify their dairy farming activities into also selling their own milk, cheese and ice cream products. The aim was to increase their revenues, as dairy farming in their home country had been in decline for a number of years.
Since then, the shop has been very successful and has expanded rapidly over the last three years, due largely to a strong growth in tourism in its home country and a shift in consumer demand for locally sourced fresh farm products. FarmCot Foods is now located in a large purpose-built building on the site of the original farm shed and also operates a very popular café, a children's play area and sells a much wider range of products and gifts, which are all sourced from local suppliers.
Which of the following best describes FarmCot Foods approach to strategy development in the last five years?
Which of the following is a 'hard' factor according to McKinsey's '7-S' model?
Y designs and manufactures smartwatches. In order to stay ahead of the market, Y sometimes releases new smartwatches when they are only 90% ready, to a limited number of customers. At this point, Y obtains useful feedback about the smartwatch which it uses to develop later versions of the model.
Which of the following behaviours is Y demonstrating?
Z is a medium-sized UK based accounting practice. Z operates a graduate training scheme. The trainees are given an induction and then placed on a three-year training programme designed to help develop professional skills and experience.
The training programme has been in existence for many years. However, there is no clear consensus amongst the partners of Z about what the trainees should be able to do on completion of the programme and therefore what the training programme should emphasize. This lack of clarity is affecting the morale and commitment of the trainees and significant numbers are failing the programme or leaving to join a rival firm.
Z's HR Department recognizes the need for committed and well motivated accountants to meet the increased expectations of clients and the competition from rival firms. The HR Department has identified changes to the training programme that can be implemented gradually through a series of initiatives.
Which TWO of the following statements regarding the change required in Z are correct? (Choose two.)
RRR is a large insurance company specialising in home and property insurance. It uses a highly sophisticated information system which it uses to process its insurance claims efficiently and effectively. It also holds a vast database of customer information and records. RRR's staff are very highly trained and considered to be the leading specialists in the industry.
Which category of intellectual capital is NOT present in the description of RRR above?
