Pass the CIMA Strategic E3 Questions and answers with ExamsMirror

F is an entrepreneur who runs a chain of health food shops in Country M. There are no other similar health food shops operating in Country M and the chain has rapidly grown over the last three years. F wishes to continue to grow his chain of shops but is aware that he lacks the funds to enable him to grow at the pace which the market is demanding. He is also concerned that continued rapid growth will result in him losing control over the strong brand reputation and identity that he has built up for the chain of shops. 

Which of the following would be the most feasible strategy for F to adopt to continue to grow his business?

McKinsey saw culture as seven interconnected elements and described these in the '7S' model. Which of the following is NOT a 'hard' factor within the '7S' model?

SDC is a medium sized IT systems development company. SDC employs highly qualified and experienced systems development experts. It invests heavily in staff training and development and as a result, staff are highly motivated and staff turnover is low. SDC has a strong culture of team work and innovation, which the senior managers believe is the basis of SDC's success. The senior managers, who are also the founders of SDC, are highly experienced and have a strong vision for the business.

Which THREE of the following factors would be the main focus of a resource audit for SDC? (Choose three.)

Organizations require resources to undertake a strategy and these can include physical, human, financial and intangible resources. However, alone they will not ensure Organizational success. For that, resources must be combined together to create competences.

The competences which form the basis of competitive advantage are things that an Organization is able to do and are very difficult for competitors to copy.

Which of the following describes this?

BBB discharges small quantities of non-harmful material into the atmosphere as a by-product of its manufacturing process. BBB has been criticised by an environmental journalist who called BBB a polluter.

BBB wishes to influence opinion in its favour and has identified a number of strategic responses to achieve this objective.

Which of the following strategic responses should BBB implement?

Which THREE of the following frameworks are used solely to evaluate the external environment of an Organization?

Porter suggests that competitive advantage can be attained by organising value-adding activities in support of the generic strategies which he identified.

Place the appropriate generic strategy against each of the value-adding activities.

The Boston Consulting Group developed a matrix to assist managers in identifying the cash flow requirements of different businesses.  The matrix suggests a number of appropriate strategies. Select ALL the strategies that apply to the Boston Consulting Group's matrix.

ABC is an independent training provider in Country F. It provides training in business related subjects to a wide range of corporate customers. All of its tutors must possess a nationally accredited training qualification before being allowed to teach and all of its courses follow nationally accredited programmes which are externally monitored. This is considered to be a critical aspect of its business reputation.

ABC has one major competitor, XYZ, within Country F. XYZ offers similar courses to ABC but its tutors do not have to have an accredited training qualification and its courses do not follow the national accredited programmes. The style and content of courses varies significantly between XYZ's centers.

There are a number of universities which offer nationally accredited courses within Country F. ABC does not consider these as competitors because typically they attract students wishing to undertake degree courses. The average university pass rate for nationally accredited programmes is currently higher than ABC's.

Which of the following types of benchmarking would be most useful for ABC?

LLL is a travel company which has experienced rapid organic growth. It has three divisions and each division is led by a Divisional Director. Each Divisional Director is responsible for their own divisions' investment in Information Technology (IT). However, as LLL has grown, so has its information requirements.

Recently, LLL appointed an IT Manager. She discovered that within LLL's divisions, there are very different standards for IT, resulting in different hardware and software used in the three divisions. Also, the divisions do not use common software packages which causes difficulties in transferring information within LLL. LLL does not have a central IT department. 

Which of the following activities would be the primary focus of an Information Systems (IS) Strategy  for LLL?