(b) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a balanced scorecard to better assess the overall
performance of Lawson Engineering? (8 marks)
(b) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a balanced scorecard to better assess the overall
performance of Lawson Engineering? (8 marks)
4 Chris Jones is Managing Director of Supaserve, a medium-sized supermarket chain faced with intense competition
from larger competitors in their core food and drink markets. They are also finding it hard to respond to these
competitors moving into the sale of clothing and household goods. Supaserve has a reputation for friendly customer
care and is looking at the feasibility of introducing an online shopping service, from which customers can order goods
from the comfort of their home and have them delivered, for a small charge, to their home.
Chris recognises that the move to develop an online shopping service will require significant investment in new
technology and support systems. He hopes a significant proportion of existing and most importantly, new customers,
will be attracted to the new service.
Required:
(a) What bases for segmenting this new market would you recommend and what criteria will help determine
whether this segment is sufficiently attractive to commit to the necessary investment? (10 marks)
(b) Assess the likely strategic impact of the new customer delivery system on Supaserve’s activities and its ability
to differentiate itself from its competitors. (10 marks)
4 Graham Smith is Operations Director of Catering Food Services (CFS) a £1·5 billion UK based distributor of foods to
professional catering organisations. It has 30 trading units spread across the country from which it can supply a
complete range of fresh, chilled and frozen food products. Its customers range from major fast food chains, catering
services for the armed forces down to individual restaurants and cafes. Wholesale food distribution is very much a
price driven service, in which it is very difficult to differentiate CFS’s service from its competitors.
Graham is very aware of the Government’s growing interest in promoting good corporate environmental practices and
encouraging companies to achieve the international quality standard for environmentally responsible operations. CFS
operates a fleet of 1,000 lorries and each lorry produces the equivalent of its own weight in pollutants over the course
of a year without the installation of expensive pollution control systems. Graham is also aware that his larger
customers are looking to their distributors to become more environmentally responsible and the ‘greening’ of their
supply chain is becoming a real issue. Unfortunately his concern with developing a company-wide environmental
management strategy is not shared by his fellow managers responsible for the key distribution functions including
purchasing, logistics, warehousing and transportation. They argued that time spent on corporate responsibility issues
was time wasted and simply added to costs.
Graham has decided to propose the appointment of a project manager to develop and implement a company
environmental strategy including the achievement of the international quality standard. The person appointed must
have the necessary project management skills to see the project through to successful conclusion.
You have been appointed project manager for CFS’s ‘environmentally aware’ project.
Required:
(a) What are the key project management skills that are necessary in achieving company-wide commitment in
CFS to achieve the desired environmental strategy? (15 marks)
(b) Using the information provided in the case scenario, strategically evaluate the performance of the company
up to 2004, indicating any areas of particular concern. (20 marks)
(b) How could pursuing a corporate environmental strategy both add to CFS’s competitive advantage and be
socially responsible? (5 marks)
(b) Explain how the non-payment of contributions and the change in the pension benefits should be treated in
the financial statements of Savage for the year ended 31 October 2005. (4 marks)
Matthew Black is well aware that the achievement of the growth targets for the 2005 to 2007 period will depend on
successful implementation of the strategy, affecting all parts of the company’s activities.
(c) Explain the key issues affecting implementation and the changes necessary to achieve Universal’s ambitious
growth strategy. (15 marks)
(d) What criteria would you use to assess whether Universal is an ‘excellent’ company? (5 marks)
3 The directors of Panel, a public limited company, are reviewing the procedures for the calculation of the deferred tax
provision for their company. They are quite surprised at the impact on the provision caused by changes in accounting
standards such as IFRS1 ‘First time adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards’ and IFRS2 ‘Share-based
Payment’. Panel is adopting International Financial Reporting Standards for the first time as at 31 October 2005 and
the directors are unsure how the deferred tax provision will be calculated in its financial statements ended on that
date including the opening provision at 1 November 2003.
Required:
(a) (i) Explain how changes in accounting standards are likely to have an impact on the provision for deferred
taxation under IAS12 ‘Income Taxes’. (5 marks)
(ii) Describe the basis for the calculation of the provision for deferred taxation on first time adoption of IFRS
including the provision in the opening IFRS balance sheet. (4 marks)