SBL*** P3 December 2014 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

Lengthy ... Fingers crossed

Found it okay, couldn't complete left 10 marks un attempted and attempted 15 marks okayish other than that exam was fair.

Q1 was too long , it made doing the rest of the paper very tough. Nothing like the mock exams I've done. :-(

Paper was easy but lengthy although i completed 100% but wrote not much for all question just relevant. Q 3 and Q5 were very easy

Question one was very long. Did not manage to read though all questions in reading time, which left for poor answers at the end. Only managed to write minimal amount for last question.

Indeed Q1 was easy but too long, there were so many points to write down on part a ( part b not attempted). No time enough to properly spend on other two questions. I did only part b question 2 and part a question 4. Half hour more I needed :-(

Very lengthy paper. I hope the marker understand what have been written. Attempted q1,2 &4.

Yeah, I agree with the above. Q1 was long and not entirely sure I was barking up the right tree. I used BCG matrix. I answered Q1, Q3 and Q4. I was really strict on time and answered all parts of all questions. Not sure if I wrote what they were after though. Liked the regression. Wasn't a massive fan of the value chain. Felt like I wasn't giving enough detail. P2 tomorrow... Oh joy -_-

Q1 - quite long here's what I did: Part A I) applied SWOT, BCG matrix and ashridge model Ii) used JSW's SAF criteria, gearing of the airport seemed extremely high Part B Defined bowmans strategy clock and talked about hybrid criteria, was struggling for time so I didn't get to apply it to the scenario, but I drew the clock lol. Q2 Part A quite easy involved straight forward evaluation of what they were doing good and bad and recommended improvements. I talked about Process Redesign Methodology Part B Talked about harmons process matrix and applied 3 types of issues to it, I think I did: Service contract - automate Refunds - outsource Technical support - improve Q3 So bloody hard!! Probably because I only had 30 minutes left. Defined the triple constraint but found it very hard to apply to the scenario. The BPP syllabus didn't have anything for effective risk management to my knowledge. So I just said all risks have to be disclosed and either accepted, avoided, mitigated or transferred Overall I think I failed!!

Well, Baljit... My paper sounds identical to yours pretty much, but on Q3 I was all out of time so I just wrote down what practices in good risk management they had, and for B I just drew a triangle and wrote a couple of sentences to say that you can't have the best of everything (time, scope, cost)... Fail!

Too time pressured. Didn't have time to do the 15 mark question on the Swim lane diagram! Also, the 5 mark question on the regression was just impossible. Q1 (b) on price and differentiation was impossible too. Too much too write for 10 marks but not enough points in the scenario. The scenario for question one was just too lengthy! The swim lane diagram story didn't make much sense and there were too many marks for the process advice! Too bad ! I'm not happy! The paper was fair overall however the Q1 (b) put me off. There were 40 marks for Q1 (a) too much too write for a very big scenario. Too time pressured, the examiner needs to consider this when writing his questions. Not everyone has a computer to type answers like he does!

I don't think q2 (b) required a discussion of Harmon but rather just a discussion of whether the process should be outsourced or not! It wasn't so much about Harmon but rather an in shoring vs off shoring issue Using calculations here was the key

@Baljit i wrote exactly the same stuff except Q2 part b, a bit different. Q3 you did right it was about mitigation and other things. i wrote P1 Tara and effective risk management plus a contingency plan, Part b of Q3 wrote only 3 lines, BAM, there goes my paper! Times up honey

Why would you not talk about harmons matrix? The question said would you continue to outsource or bring in house, that is pretty much what the model does.

Kate did you mention harmons process matrix for q2?

can anyone remember what they put down for q1 i got cashcow for the road, question mark for the warehouses, and dog for the trains. and what roce did you calculate? i started to panic and im sure i came out with something stupid like 2.2% i also mentioned they were relying on suppliers for short term finance. they mentioned invoice paying in the first bit so i used that in the evaluation of godiva but not sure i was just writing anything down!! i skipped the pricing. with question two did you recommend outsourcing or in house? i attempted a of q4 ran out of time. doubt ive done enough to pass, thought it was an ok paper but q1 was so lengthy i wasted a lot of time reading over and over and over.

road was star and yes it was 2.2%

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :(

ive deffo failed i think ive made a right mess of everything. its horrible that all studying comes dowwn to a three hour exam.

this is what I did... Q1) Group is synergy manager used SWOT, first company is cash cow, last one question mark. second acq.(vertical integration) was successful due to synergies used - turnover of business. here I didn't identify bcg type. last acq.was not, no exp.managment in different transport, cuture clash. however due to innovations and green tech.and overall market growth (attractive market) could be pushed to become a star. especially if fuel prices rise this would become alternative transport. I was so nervous and sloppy that I will not gain all 4 prof.marks for sure. b) Godiva - horisontal integration acceptability: all fin.KPIs lower than sector (except CR which is in line) accept.or not, depends on family's desires (family owned comp majority) feasibility: enough RE to acqure but i sufficent manag.expertise in-house, could be problems with culture clash... suitability: questionable, diff.industry type, no exper.managers, but synergies could be exploited in using land and warehouses (which become expensive) and good geo.position. But overall, acq.is risky. Q4 a) inbound, operations(old machinery) and outbond act. are weaknesses...poor location and expensive transport. marketing - the most valuable activity... post sale - valuable trend - dry and moist changing positions, change in customers taste... Q2... oh God help me :-) a) wrote without head and tail everything that came to my mind, such as make identification process more flexible and convenient (avoid 35% calls being terminated imm.) by using name, date of bitrh or similar. Train staff to have better accent... b) Harmon's matrix contracrs - depend on complexity (automate or improve) sourc of revenue so strat.important for sure refunds - in house- try to retain customers by offering sth.else, reingeener process, technical - outsource to expert comp. also consider costs (in house is 2,5 times more expensive) but goid corporate image in tines of high unemployment... God help me, I hope it will make 50... What do you think...advise me please Good luck to all!

very very lengthy paper which made it hard for me to read properly the scenario and give answers relevant to scenario overall paper became disaster at the end. i think i will fail :-(

Sublime you won't have failed, stay positive I did p2 last June and thought I definitely failed but some how passed!! Chin up

marija1507 sounds like you did really well, I think you'll pass easily

I got cash cow for the road company. High market share, low market growth. I did the other two the other way round though. Dog for warehouse and question mark for trains. I thought warehouse was a dog because it had low market growth and low market share and thought the trains were a question market because they had high market growth but not very good market share. I said they could either try to improve performance and to get more market share and aim for cash cow or divest. Said it was unlikely it would improve as it has been declining steadily (even though a bit better after the acquisition). I only used BCG in part a of Q1 and I didn't discuss the strategy clock in the hybrid bit. I did explain the two strategies though and also said porter warned against being stuck in the muddled. I'm not sure how much it matters. In all the past exam paper solutions it always says you'll get credit if justified response. Try and stay positive. I have P2 tomorrow and not holding out much hope so I actually NEED this to not be a fail.

road can' t be a star since the market is not growing but being rather stable (or very slow growing...) plus bih mkt share and profitability makes it a cash cow trail is small in share but market is growing the fastes...this makes it question mark. either push share to become star or be a dog and exit

i didnt think to split the processes i said best to outsource them as in house expensive, i also mentioned that it was offshoring which is slightly different to outsourcing guess nothing i can do now except try and pass p1. joys of exams!!

well as per my calculation it was a star as the growth rate was more than the industry, with ROCE and Profitability also being more than the industry plus high market share

i said cash cow coz there was no need to invest it was already performing well and had a strong market presense. all answers are ok if you can justify them i suppose....

I did questions 1, 2 and 4. Too little time to do too much. Used mainly the Ashridge model for 1. For the airport my gearing was high, and ROCE was lower than avg., current ratio was par and acid test was low. The effective cost of land was almost 25% cheaper per hectare than that for warehousing so I looked at possibly purchasing for land acquisition and using in the successful storage co. Q2 ended up jumbled for me. I accidentally gave suggestions for the call center as if it was internal... oops. :-( . Otherwise I used Hammond and suggested automation, online customer self services and training of staff. Q3 only part a. Major issue was transport in and out. Strength in marketing and strategy in after sales services with brand promo. Ran out of time for part b. :-(

I also used Harmon's process strategy on question 2 part b