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

Was this paper similar to any of the specimens, or sep and dec ?

Did anyone else notice a discrepancy in number of stores?
It said 2 other European markets in one place but then said 8 European countries in another no?

Q1 i used pestel, 1 b only identified technological risk, i also used porters national diamond in Q2 and coso framework on q3 ,q4 used general knowledge, not enough time to attempt q5,

@johnramos said:
Was this paper similar to any of the specimens, or sep and dec ?

it asked about Integrated reporting which i also think was asked about in the last exam in December

So many questions but very little information. I managed to give everything a good shot and managed by time efficiently.
In general most of my answers were develop round framework and models that gave me ideas to develop my points. 1b was the one I found most difficult; didn’t use any model on this occasion just wrote something along why I think Smart wears might be strategically located in southland using the comparative data provided

@ellephoebe said:
Yes I think pestel or 5 forces would have been fine but you don’t have to do this explicitly

damn i should have used 5 forces for question 2
porters diamond just didn’t work

I used swot. Found 2 threats and a weakness

Why did we have to use porters or pestel for 1 a? The question said to analyse the company’s strategic position analysing it’s environment na? I thought SWOT was applicable for it. 1b I wrote 4 types of different risks and even wrote about risk map and Risk response.
2a) I used PESTEL. But there were only PEST available. EL there was nothing much info the question paper.
2b) I wrote like a general answer. I wrote about how would the company use the profits generated from Southland and other outlets of Noria as now that they’ve closed down the loss making outlets. Wrote about investing that extra funds for R&D, innovation etc. Wrote using it for market development and all of that stuff by doing R&D. Wrote about investing it for society development purposes for being an ethical organisation.
3) I wrote it as a general answer of internal control and weaknesses and the recommendation for it.
4) The question asked benefits of CDMS so I specifically stuck to that and wrote Various points on how you could increase the sales and also market your product by sending out messages to your existing customers which will in turn help you increase your revenue. Loyalty points, after reaching a certain limit customers can be given a gift voucher or some discount which will in turn induce the customer to buy and so increase in sales.
4b) General answer again about how the NPV was kinda calculated wrong. And just for the sake of it I added other project benefits which are observable, measurable must also be considered before accepting the project case.

@jdeally said:
Lots of marks going for the strategical and ethical implications of closing stores in Noria, and moving out of Centrum altogether, but yet only had a couple of points to make. What approach did other people have on this?

I found this challenging. Just mumbled a few things on what their justification is for the closure. Did they do a CVP analysis if any of the 35 stores still manage to break even? How bad would the lost revenue further dwindle their cash balances etc

question one I did PESTLE analysis as the question asked for analysis the environment in which the business is operating in.
question 2 the question asked to evaluate the strategic position so SowT was most relevant to this area

risk strategic, business and financial, also reputation risk was relevant

internal control weakness and recommendation

NPV analysis and evaluation of steady sales interest and cost of capital than what I come up with along with some sensitivity analysis

ethical issue related to the closure loss of employment and revenue income jobs etc throughout the supply chain channel and the reason not related to the sales but fail in strategy or strategic drift caused by the online market

integrated report

I scored 82percent last sitting.passing SBL needs a strategy itself. U don’t need to apply any framework to pass. Infact I have mastered the examiners comment and know knows where students makes mistakes and slip. If am to take this paper again I will score in the 90 nineties.if you use a framework you open yourself to some rest. The risk of using the wrong framework,the risk of incorrect application of the framework and the risk of spending time explaining the framework which is not required or trying to fix the framework to the requirements.if u don’t use the framework it makes your organisation of the answer difficult but you don’t get any extra marks. SBL is interesting if you know the trick.i became affiliate I’m December sitting only waiting to apply for my membership but my only challenge is how to complete my PER so am looking for anyone who has completed his PER so he send me. A. Sample as a guide to apply for. membership.when I see the questions I will be able to advice the best way to score high in this yours exams

Samee. I did the same