*** ACCA P3 March 2017 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

@Mark,

i spoke abt both reconstruction and evolution but anyone of these two options will depend on what type of change is effected (by the govt of course as they are the major shareholder). if the senior mgt team is to be changed, then it will be an evolutionary change which will impact its culture. i also spoke abt reconstruction, which is quick, but does not impact exco’s culture nor need sacking the mgt team. this will need the hiring of a senior team member having experience in the private education sector (marketing).
oufff, so lot to say in so little time…i am planning on making a formal request to acca to send me the paper at home to complete cuz my 3 hrs got lost in planning and analysis – thats what the paper is – business ANALYSIS…my god how will the new p3 case study be in Sept 18 (around 13 pages case study)…

Overall I thought paper was hard. Definitely seen easier papers for P3.

Realise I made few studie mistake on the contextual features in Q1. Missed out boundaryless organisation question at end sonnées to hope scraped enough for Pass.

For Q1 differentiation i I said online/distance learning model for low cost. Differentiation I said focus on premium product (high quality) with star performers, location, printing materials, buillding etc for focused differentiation or cost I said same as stated but focus on one training area e.g banking and financial sector training

The figures were off putting for Q1 as many have said – I really just looked at GP margin and net profit margin compared to industry average of 30%. I made the point under possible threats could be that poor financial performance continues could damage image of company since it is still public owned 51% share so accounts will be available for press etc the see. I said plenty retained profits so even if loss making for few years no imminent financial threat.

I think for much of P3 there is no right or wrong as such / providing you answer sensibly and make valid points you should get some sort of credit. I hope so for my sake. GLA!

In Q # 1,
I did not relate Contextual model and H & B matrix with scenario but I explain concept of these models so still, can I gain marks on these parts ?

I think this sesion was a bit easier than Sep 16 :

Q 1 a) strength

Mentioned: reputation (incl. trainers , materials) , location due to safety to the students, dissatisfied students from other collegues

weaknesses
cash balance drastically fallen along with gross profit over 2013-2016 , target for didvidends has not been met (from $ 10 to $ /share) along with the pay rise below inflation rate , old building with energy ineffiency

opportunity
e-learning, lobbying legislation for more robust rules for the accrediation of the traning providers to kick out from the market the rivals

threat
new rivals with low cost base due to almost illegal cheep subcontractors , bank with the intention to buy ExCO building , tutors potentially leaving to the competitors

b) time : not much time due to deteriated financial performance & rivals activisation along with the new green energy legislation proposal

capability : the senior mngt was not capable to implement changes as they failed to bring someone who can

readiness: the trainers enjoyed the long stable employment and are even resistant to the idea to bring more female into IT , so not ready

c) it seems that I am wrong
wrote about acquisition ( not suitable for Exco due to lack of resources for initial investments )

JV is not available to due to other colleagues weak reputation

franchising seems to work

d) no frills would not work as they have pretty expensive tutors

differentiator – ExCO would be ok due to the services provided and consequently price should be higher

focussed differentiator – my teacher told me that it is available for companies like hotels between 3 stras and 5 stars, so not for ExCo.

Sorry for lentghy write up on Q 1 . If anybody wants answers to Q2, Q3 I might do it.

focussed differentiator – it is not for ExCO

Dear Mark I thought it was reconstruction..because exco was already in financial difficulties and they need bigbang change/quick change but of minor nature.

@kelkar said:

b) time : not much time due to deteriated financial performance & rivals activisation along with the new green energy legislation proposal

With regards to Time: I had that they had some time available as they still were profitable and had reasonable cash reserves. The legislation proposal said that afterwards that it was in the consultancy stage but also there was a large activism group lobbying against it, so surely that will take a fair amount time if that change will be brought. The new competitors had negative feedback about poor product so I feel that they had time overall.

I agree with the rest and is why I went for Evolution too. Anyway, hopefully will get some method marks throughout the exam. Good luck all.

@faizanhussainansari said:
i applied 6i s in question 4a, is it appropriate?

I applied few of 6Is in this question too just to write about something, I am not sure if its right though

1. Question
a) SWOT
i. Strengths – good reputation, good tutors, good location
ii. Weaknesses – high real estate tax, low energy efficiency
iii. Opportunities – legislation, that energy efficiency will be improved
iv. Threats – elearning platforms, competitors, key employees would leave company
b) Contextual features
. Time – not lot of time – competitors
i. Capability – management not capable due to no experience in private field
ii. Readiness – management & staff ready for changes
c). Nature and scope of change
. I worte scope – transformation as it transforms all layers of organisation
i. Nature – big bang – as change needs to happen fast
Altogether it is – Revolution
d). Strategic clock
i. Low price, low service – no because they have good reputation, tutors and location
ii. Low price, high service – right way, in order to maintain students and stay competitive, hard strategy to apply
iii. High price, high service, no because students not able to pay high fees

2. question. Not written

3. question. About DHS – social house provider for low income families
a). Harmons process strategy
i. Legal service – outsource as they are high complexity and low strategic importance
ii. Training- automate (videos), high strategic importance, not complicated
b). Software package
i) Commercial solution advantages
1. Update
2. Time
3. Bugs
4. Cost
ii). Commercial package risks
1. Scalability
2. Individualisation
3. Data security

4. question. About red neal
a) . Supply chain management
i). Incoming – Wrote about additional quality checks for manufacturing of watches (not sure)
ii) Outgoing – wrote that branded goods can go straight to customers from their own warehouses, not going through central warehouse
b). Boundary less organisations- didn’t know term, but written about independence of location

Very tough, the scenario for Q1 was not so easy to follow and for SWOT analysis, you have to read many times again the scenario in order to correctly allocate the SWOT attributes.
For Q2 and Q4, again both scenarios were very time consuming to correctly understand and lot of work to do in order to gain some points.

I have failed in Dec’16 with 45pcts, but it can not compare with Mar’17 which it was a disaster for me.

@teslims said:
P3 was very very tough for me, and I really hope I can make a pass out of it. I may have to take tuition if I need to resit it. The exam made it look like I didn’t prepare well when in fact I put in my best.

@Teslim that’s exactly how I feel …

This is about the Q2.
Is any one have idea whether the full capacity of the factory was given? As I messed up with this question due to time pressure.. I put a note in option 1 assuming BBS will be undertaking the special contract in each month that would utilise the available spare capacity.. So there will be no spare capacity available for fired bricks. In that case labour cost will turn relevant..

@arfan54 said:
This is about the Q2.
Is any one have idea whether the full capacity of the factory was given? As I messed up with this question due to time pressure.. I put a note in option 1 assuming BBS will be undertaking the special contract in each month that would utilise the available spare capacity.. So there will be no spare capacity available for fired bricks. In that case labour cost will turn relevant..

I worked out the full capacity by dividing the number of un-fired bricks currently made per month (800,000) by the number of un-fired bricks they make in an hour (70) to get 11,429 hours and added the spare capacity (2,400) to this to get 13,829 hours. Being such an ugly number I’m not sure it’s correct but at least I gave it a go!