Question Structure

Question 1

Potential Question:
“Explain the ethical issues facing the organisation”

Answer 1

Suggested approach
 Provide a brief description of ethics.
 Identify a range of issues from the scenario.
 Describe these issues ethical language such as transparency, effect, fairness, legality, integrity or objectivity.
 Evaluate the extent of these issues by consider the implications or providing a balanced assessment.
 Provide advice on further action that should be taken.

Alternative questions
Other questions may focus specifically on sustainability or ethical procurement.
Questions may also be more subtle without a heading ‘ethical issues’ or a specific requirement. This will demand students react to ethical issues whenever they feel appropriate rather than wait to be asked.

Question 2

Potential Question:
“Explain the change management issues that the organisation is likely to face”

Answer 2

Suggested approach
 Discuss the type of change by categorising the change as tuning, planned, adaptation or forced or alternatively discuss the pace, manner and scope of the change.
 Identify the barriers to change and briefly explain each barrier with specific reference to the issues identified in the scenario. You should aim to discuss both cultural barriers and personnel barriers.
 Briefly describe the driving forces for the change.
 Explain how to unfreeze the current situation by giving examples of how to break down barriers and promote the driving forces.
 Explain the practical considerations that need to be addressed in order to successfully make the move to the new system.
 Explain how to refreeze and reinforce the new system.

Question 3

“Critically assess the content of the business plan and recommend improvements”

Answer 3

Suggested approach
 Briefly describe the objectives of a business plan.
 Use a separate sub-heading for each section of the draft business plan that has been prepared.
 Discuss good and bad points from the content of each section.
 Recommend additional information that could be provided in each section and briefly explain why this information would be useful.
 Recommend additional sections that should be included in the business plan and briefly explain why this section should be included.

Question 4

“Using the data in the exhibit, and the other information provided, analyse the performance of the organisation, identifying any further information required.”

Answer 4

 Review the scenario to identify the key issues to discuss.
 Data can relate to quantitative data (numbers) but also be qualitative data such as posts on a social media account.
 Identify appropriate calculations or select the relevant qualitative data to support your analysis.
 Consider the timing of the data. If you are asked to compare a 12 month budget with 6 months of actual data then you need to be comfortable flexing the numbers to be able to compare like with like.
 Produce your calculations and present them in a table.
 Provide a written interpretation of the results. Remember that the majority of the marks available are for this section of your answer.
 You should try to use the other information provided to explain the cause/reason behind the numbers that you have calculated.
 Express an opinion on the organisation’s performance and discuss the effect/implications of the results.
 Recommend additional information that could be provided and briefly explain why this information would be useful.

Question 5

“Discuss the appropriateness of the organisation’s current structure”

Answer 5

Suggested approach
 Provide a brief definition of organisational structure.
 Identify and explain the current structure (e.g. divisional or functional) and briefly discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
 Discuss which of Mintzberg’s building blocks are most prominent.
 Identify whether they have a tall or flat structure and briefly discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
 Identify whether decisions are centralised or decentralised and briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
 Identify whether operations are mechanistic or organic and briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
 Provide a conclusion on the suitability of the organisational structure.

Alternative questions
You may be asked to suggest an alternative structure. If this is required then you should describe the new structure and discuss its advantages.

Question 6

“Explain the factors to be considered when developing a suitable marketing strategy”

Answer 6

Suggested approach
 Briefly describe the market research the organisation may need to perform.
 Briefly identify the target market or market segment chosen.
 The bulk of your answer should focus on the marketing mix.
 Discuss the main features and quality of the product.
 Discuss the issues to consider with regard to price (e.g. costs, customers, competition, and corporate objectives) and describe a suitable pricing strategy that should be adopted.
 Discuss the organisation’s place in the supply chain (i.e. do they sell directly or indirectly to consumers?).
 Discuss practical methods of promotion that could be used.
 For a service organisation, briefly discuss people, processes and physical evidence.

Alternative questions
Some questions may ask you to discuss a specific area of marketing such as pricing or market segmentation.

Question 7

“Explain the types of market research that the organisation could carry out”

Answer 7

Suggested approach
 Provide a brief definition of market research.
 Discuss the information which the organisation would like to gather from their research using the 4P’s model as a framework.
 Provide a brief definition of desk research and
 Suggest practical examples of desk research for this organisation.
 Provide a brief definition of field research and
 Suggest practical examples of field research for this organisation, explaining, where necessary, the questions that would be asked e.g. in a questionnaire

Question 8

“Using relevant strategic models, explain how the organisation has expanded”

Answer 8

Suggested approach
 Set up sub-headings using the main sections of Ansoff’s matrix.
 Identify the organisation’s expansion strategies from the scenario.
 Discuss each expansion under the appropriate Ansoff heading, explaining whether the strategy involved new products and also whether it involved new markets.
 Consider whether the expansion strategies have included examples of external development or overseas expansion.
 If so, then Lynch’s expansion matrix may also be mentioned if the requirement has requested that you use more than one model.

Question 9

“Explain the competitive positioning of the organisation”

Answer 9

Suggested approach
 Perform and comment on any data analysis necessary to support your answer (i.e. market share, average selling price).
 Discuss the organisation’s price in comparison to their competitors.
 Discuss the perceived quality of the organisation’s products. Or alternatively discuss whether they have tried to differentiate and how they have tried to achieve this.
 Discuss their market share (if known) and whether they are targeting the mass market or just focusing on a niche area.
 Finally, conclude on their competitive position using either Porter’s Generic Strategies or the price vs perceived quality trade-off.

Question 10

“Prepare a SWOT analysis for the organisation, highlighting the key issues”

Answer 10

Suggested approach
 Set up sub-headings for each of the four sections of the SWOT.
 Identify relevant issues from the scenario. You should ideally aim for a mixture (although not necessarily a completely balanced mix) of issues for each section of the SWOT analysis.
 Prioritise your issues so that you are discussing the biggest issues first in your analysis. Lesser issues will only be discussed if there is enough time available.
 For each issue you should ensure that you have explained the reason that this is a strength or a weakness etc.
 Conclude on the key issues and justify why you believe these are the key issues for this organisation

Question 11

“For each product, explain and justify its position within the BCG matrix”

Answer 11

Suggested approach
 Identify the products from the scenario and set up a sub-heading for each one.
 Where necessary, provide numerical analysis to determine the market growth and market share of each product in a separate table.
 Discuss the market growth and relative market share that each product has and categorise each of these as high or low.
 State the position of each product in the BCG matrix. You should expect the products to appear in a range of BCG categories.
 Briefly comment on the implications of their position in the BCG matrix (e.g. “investment may be needed” or “consider divestment”).
 Conclude on the overall balance of the portfolio.

Question 12

“Analyse the organisation’s value chain, explaining the key value drivers”

Answer 12

Suggested approach
 Briefly describe the purpose of Porter’s Value Chain analysis.
 Read the requirement carefully to identify whether the examiner has asked for you to draw the value chain diagram or not.
 Identify the generic strategy that the organisation has adopted to achieve its competitive advantage (i.e. cost leader/differentiator).
 Identify the activities from the scenario for each section.
 If you have been asked to draw the value chain then you should provide a brief description of the activity within the diagram, with a high-level summary afterwards.
 For each primary activity you should make it clear how that activity has helped the organisation to achieve its competitive advantage, commenting on any linkages/consistency between the activities.
 For each secondary activity you should make it clear how that activity has supported the primary activities.

Question 13

“Prepare a Porter’s Five Forces analysis for this industry”

Answer 13

Suggested approach
 Create a separate sub-heading for each of the five forces.
 Identify relevant issues from the scenario, ideally aiming for at least one issue for each heading.
 For each issue you should explain how this issue increases or decreases the threat from this force within this industry.
 Remember that your answer should be industry focused rather than talking specifically about the organisation.
 Finish with a conclusion, providing an opinion on which of the forces poses the biggest threat within this industry.

Question 14

“Using Porter’s diamond, explain the competitive advantage of this country in this industry”

Answer 14

Suggested approach
 Create a separate sub-heading for each area of Porter’s Diamond.
 Identify relevant issues from the scenario, ideally aiming for at least one issue for each heading.
 For each issue you should explain how this issue has helped organisations from this country to compete on a global basis.
 Finish with a conclusion, providing an opinion on which of the issues from your analysis has assisted organisations the most.

Alternative questions
You may be asked to comment on the actions that the national government could take to create more favourable conditions

Question 15

“Prepare a PESTEL analysis for the industry”

Answer 15

Suggested approach
 Create a separate sub-heading for each PESTEL heading.
 Identify relevant issues from the scenario, ideally aiming for at least one issue for each heading.
 For each issue you should explain how this issue helps or hinders this industry.
 Finish with a conclusion, providing an opinion on which of the issues from your analysis has the biggest impact on the organisation.

Alternative questions
Some questions in recent exams have just asked for specific sections of the PESTEL analysis (e.g. just Political, Economic and Legal).
Other questions may simply just ask for an external/environmental analysis. PESTEL analysis should be used for these questions.

Question 16

“Explain power-interest using Mendelow’s matrix for the following stakeholders…”

Answer 16

Suggested approach
 Create a separate sub-heading for each stakeholder analysed.
 Identify and explain the level of interest for each stakeholder. Your explanation should make it clear what they would be interested in.
 Identify and explain the level of power for each stakeholder. Your explanation should make it clear how they could exercise power.
 According to their position in Mendelow’s matrix, what response should the organisation adopt?
 You should include practical advice about how this response could be executed (e.g. how should we keep a stakeholder satisfied?)

Alternative questions
Beware that not all questions require Mendelow’s matrix to be used.

Some stakeholder questions may specifically focus on stakeholders’ interest, or potential conflicts of interest.

In these questions comments about the power of the stakeholder and potential responses may not be relevant.

Question 17

“Critically evaluate the organisation’s mission statement”

Answer 17

Suggested approach
 Provide a brief description of the purpose of a mission statement.
 Discuss whether the current mission statement clearly explains the purpose of this organisation.
 Is the strategy of the organisation clearly defined?
 Does the mission statement mention any policies adopted?
 Is there any indication of the organisation’s values?
 Are there any examples of meaningless words or phrases (e.g. ‘best’) that have been used?
 Provide a conclusion on the usefulness of the mission statement.

Alternative questions
Other questions may alternatively ask you to write a mission statement for an organisation.
You should use the same criteria (purpose, strategy, policies and values) to construct your answer.