SBL*** ACCA Paper SBL December 2019 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

It was very lengthy paper. Couldn't manage to attempt full. How was your side. Wish you all the best

Well, exam was ok, huge requirements, I got completely stuck on value chain requirement, and the final project question ,exam certainly wasn’t a walk in the park, but I think I did enough, I focused on quality over quantity, let’s wait and see

What was the requirement for the last project wuestion? I just frooze at that didnt know what to write ehat was that? And also what were they asking in 2a) key change drivers like i just wrote due to environmental they need to speed up as customers have a demand for environmentally sustainable products

It was a little rough but I didn’t find it that bad. Question 2a stumped me a bit. I found it interesting that for the PESTEL analysis they use “Technical” instead of “Technological”.

I'm so happy that it wasn't just me struggling with 2a. That was only one I literally didn't know what to write about. Left it to the end and wrote something with a hope it will gain some marks.

@chaliasif said: What was the requirement for the last project wuestion? I just frooze at that didnt know what to write ehat was that? And also what were they asking in 2a) key change drivers like i just wrote due to environmental they need to speed up as customers have a demand for environmentally sustainable products

Same, I was confused but then just tried to answer using common sense, and that was the answer I got

@ashlan said: It was a little rough but I didn’t find it that bad. Question 2a stumped me a bit. I found it interesting that for the PESTEL analysis they use “Technical” instead of “Technological”.

I had a bad start with that question, halfway into answering the question using some common sense, I decided to re-read the exhibits and saw a statement from Jeremih Jonah that said he was looking for ways for a integrated value chain, this piece of information completely changed the whole dynamic of the question and I tried to mould my answer into the JJ’s wish, but I still wasn’t able to come up with enough ways of making the Value chain integrated

I still have no idea what examiner wanted us to say for the requirement 4. To write an inspiring email for the project team? I also got stuck on the question on improving value chain activities (was it 1-b?). Everything looked perfect :) we're they overdoing with controls? Best of luck to you all!

@chaliasif said: What was the requirement for the last project wuestion? I just frooze at that didnt know what to write ehat was that? And also what were they asking in 2a) key change drivers like i just wrote due to environmental they need to speed up as customers have a demand for environmentally sustainable products

I was at a loss too, so I just made up some points about How the project for new car should stick to adhere to the principles that have made JJTech a succes, for eg, innovation, customer focus, employee management etc, is this what the question was asking?

All where i was suppose to write date, (Reports & Email) i erroneously wrote 3rd November,2019.Would i be penalize for that ?

Q2a I wrote the economy would have an impact on the electric car as well developed economy people have more disposable income so could afford the car. I also wrote the government would impact the electric car as if they imposed heavy taxes on petrol and diesel cars people would be more inclined to purchase an electric car. Don’t know if that is correct though, I left that question until the end

i have also recalled that i wroth the same date 3rd November on the front of the answer booklet. Wooooooo!!!!!! Noverber 3rd why ? What a consistent mistake I only hope i will not be penalize.

You did not have to make a recommendation on the country that was best for the production plant. It specifically said no recommendation required!

Q.1B I found hardest which was a shame coz it gave the most marks, I felt like I was clutching at straws. Q.4 was weird at first but was able to blabber about entrepreneurial leadership/open to ideas culture/flat structure which I think got some marks but still felt like I wasn't giving that much substance.

For Q2b I didint really write anyhing, was supposed to come back to it but run out of time. Q4 was quite weird, I just wrote about how communication, suggesting new ideas etc is important for the company- all in 'lifting spitits' tone... I used BCG and SAF in 1a, in Q3 i used Porter's Diamond. In value chain and Q4 I didnt really use any theory and the same in 2b- benefits. And I feel that was not good I could not apply any theory to more than half of the exam...

Yes, i cannot agree more. But in evaluating , which was the professional skill tested ,i think one has to take a position as to which country is more attractive in this case (without recommending) after considering the PESTEL factors given. To demonstrate evaluation skill, i took a position on the individual PESTEL factors and an overall position after taking a holistic view of my positions on the individual component. i only hope i took the right approach. I did not consider the Legal factor though, as i had to move on to the last question which pieces i just extracted and patched-up in one big paragraph due to time from the case background (Introduction) where a lot was said amount JJ the entrepreneur.

And how did you map the product in BCG matrix Q1a? I mapped the corded as a cash cow, unusually not needing investment as market was in decline and no point. I mapped the other two as question marks. As cordedless had ok market grown and decent relative market share. The robot was high growth with lower relative market share! not sure if that was correct! Exam was extremely lengthy

Free hovers for everyone and 50% in the exam

@jjacca said: Free hovers for everyone and 50% in the exam

Wow thanks! Not one of those horrible corded ones though?

@xanpech said: Wow thanks! Not one of those horrible corded ones though?

JJ for man of the year.

Not sure if Jeremih Jonah or Elon Musk

@jjacca said: And how did you map the product in BCG matrix Q1a? I mapped the corded as a cash cow, unusually not needing investment as market was in decline and no point. I mapped the other two as question marks. As cordedless had ok market grown and decent relative market share. The robot was high growth with lower relative market share! not sure if that was correct! Exam was extremely lengthy

You might be perfectly right. But i reffered to them as: Corded Vacuum Cleaner = Cash Cow Cordless Vacuum Cleaner = Star Robotic Cordless Vacuum Cleaner = Problem Child All based on the market share percentage compared to the largest competitor , market position ( Declining, medium growth and high growth) all in table 2 exhibit 1 and the note that followed table 2 exhibit 1. I also used the note that followed table 2 to highlight the two important external factors that may speed up the development of the electronic car ( Political- government policy to reduce C02 , and Social - life style of consumer) i only hope that was reasonable and that i had not commuted any duplication of reference by referring to the same evidence twice but for different requirement and purposes .

No comfort to anyone, but I did the same. I did answer all parts of the question as I allowed 40 minutes for reading/answer planning and then 2 minutes per mark for answering. Once my time was up I moved on leaving blank paper so I could come back to them at the end. Not saying I think I have passed though. It was a tricky exam. More BCS than models?

havent failed an acca exam up to this point but i failed this one, too much worrying about structure,gaining professoonal marks which led to a lot of incoherent rambling and bad time management, basically no experience of how much to communicate to a project manager which led to confusion how to apply the culture web,leadership theory and whatever else, couple of other questions followed the same pattern, reading people comments only question i feel good about ia bcg matrix and i used porters 5 forces to compliment the pestel one

@jjacca said: https://www.ft.com/content/f04e1fda-eb6d-11e9-a240-3b065ef5fc55

Haha you know what I did think of Sir James Dyson but didn't know about his car project!

@Lavinia69 said: No comfort to anyone, but I did the same. I did answer all parts of the question as I allowed 40 minutes for reading/answer planning and then 2 minutes per mark for answering. Once my time was up I moved on leaving blank paper so I could come back to them at the end. Not saying I think I have passed though. It was a tricky exam. More BCS than models?

I believe we are allowed to further develop past comments if they are relevant. Besides it would be rather impossible to NOT have to refer to governments plans for green cars given the fact its mentioned through out the Question Paper

I think question 1 was more than just putting the product in the BCG matrix it ask us to assess the product portfolio and recommend investment decision for the long term so we needed to mention government plans to wipe off emission. JJ interest to reduce pollution to recommend what course of action or what portfolio to invest in and that would be the robot from monies genereated by the cash cow which is the cordless robott. our assessment needed to support our investment justification eg cordless saves time etc. 1b if you look at the current value chain it is tailored to suit vacuum but remember car is different eg with marketing u cannot just sell a car by reading a brochure so that part of the value chain would need to be restructured to include physical presence in each market for test driving and even the outbound where they said 3 days any part of the world. remember u a are now transporting an electric car it cant get to nay where in the world in three days you need to have dealers in the different markets. question 2 was horrible well I mentioned government and the activist as key external drivers for the change question 3 I just used points from the email eg they allow you to fail and work on your failure which could contribute to better experience. Your opinion matters which means every one contribute to business success. as for question 4 we did not have to make a recommendation however compare the different factors in the model for the two countries and say which is fitting to the success of JJ better eg increase labor cost reduces profitability and would negatively impact jj intention of continued profitability %.etc

My 3rd attempt today I answered the questions only model I used was BCG Feeling a wee bit more positive but definitely didn't say enough I'm always afraid of waffling so I hold back And in my head I know it but u always forget to write it I never said anything about time and scope of change I just mentioned it might be difficult as people so used to diesel and petrol cars... scored very little but hopefully I've done enough

For Qu 1a...was BCG matrix only applicable as theory? I dnt know why but the information provided diverted my answer in analysing the external factors mentioned in exhibit 1 and how it would affect the investment decision. (PEST) Thanks.

Q1 For the BCG I put the cord vacuum as the cash cow, cordless as the star and robotic as the question mark - I spent way too long deciding which one was which Q2 I mainly focused on the fact that the cars were to be customised I.e. built to order to customer requirements, so they would have to work closely with less suppliers to get parts on time. Focused on lead times, integration and better information linking all parts of the supply chain. I found it hard to come up with points on this Q3 For the drivers for early adopting, I focused on government subsidies and charging points. Also talked about costs and teaching consumers of the benefits Q3 Anyone know if we just had to talk about the benefits of both countries? I used the point that JJ wanted the plant near future markets and supplies. One of the countries showed growth in car sales, access to supplies ie steal and low cost wage base to manufacture in. Other country had a higher cost base but better government incentives Q3 Benefits of using the battery for existing and new products - disrupt other industries, core competencies, economies of scale, tried and tested, quicker time to market Q4 I had no idea, I basically wrote about autonomy, team spirit, first to market, innovation, etc. I thought the question was worded difficult with nothing specific about project management actually in the case more just general management