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F292 Practice Papers

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Reply 20
Section A practice:

http://ge.tt/6m0hG5H?c

A selection of past paper questions for Section A. :smile:
Reply 21
Does anyone have the F292 paper from January 2012?
Reply 22
Original post by SkrillaGB
Good luck, obviously I can't promise anything but thats pretty much how I've been taught and how I have assumed OCR's marking scheme to be. Make sure you know your knowledge as well though as it's absolutely vital due to the massive course content for the F292 unit compared to F291 theres a lot more to cover. Most of my revision is purely going through the whole of the topic's content.


How long should we spend on each essay question?

Also, do you know all the key facts and figures on TSL (which is why you're not revising the actual case study)?
Reply 23
This is what I'm planning, feel free to disagree anyone.

20 minutes: Section A and start of B questions
60 minutes: For the 3 16 markers
30 minutes: For the 20 marker

10 minutes: Planning, reviewing and reading questions through.

My textbook said 25 minutes on the 20 mark question but I'd personally prefer 30m.
Reply 24
Original post by al0
How long should we spend on each essay question?

Also, do you know all the key facts and figures on TSL (which is why you're not revising the actual case study)?


20 minutes each :smile: for the 16s then 30 on the 20.
Reply 25
hey guys im having trouble with this question: Assess the extent to which TSL demonstrates a customer orientation [16marks] I wouldn't know what to talk about for 16marks? any ideas?
Under Accounting & Finance we have the possible essay topic:
Discuss the benefits and costs (financial and other) associated with TSL's investment in this new production line.

Now i was wondering, because theres so much to talk about relating to people in organisations (additional staff needed, more managers needed, increased training costs, tailoring recruitment and selection process to require highly skilled workers or provide training for them)

Would you get absolutely no marks due to not sticking to Accounting and Finance specifically? Throughout my possible essay plans i've struggled to not include other areas such as marketing, people, accounting or operations management.

Obviously there are a few issues with this question relating to strictly accounting and finance such as;
Training Costs
Hiring more staff (cost)
increased demand for raw materials (cost)
higher fixed costs and variable costs
discussing investment appraisal for new production line

However the question i'm asking is, would it be absolutely useless to bring issues relating to People in Organisations to this Accounting question? This also goes for whether or not to bring marketing or operations management into the question too.
Reply 27
Original post by has87
hey guys im having trouble with this question: Assess the extent to which TSL demonstrates a customer orientation [16marks] I wouldn't know what to talk about for 16marks? any ideas?


If I was honest I don't think it would be 16 marks
Reply 28
Shall we practise some questions that are likely to come up tomorrow ?
Original post by Joey952
Shall we practise some questions that are likely to come up tomorrow ?


I think that would be beneficial to share our knowledge considering the exam's tomorrow
I've made some possible essay points on paper but i could always type some up here
Reply 30
Original post by seanaffleck
I think that would be beneficial to share our knowledge considering the exam's tomorrow
I've made some possible essay points on paper but i could always type some up here


If you could send them to me or post them here, I'd be really grateful
Here's my take on 'Evaluate the importance of Market Segmentation to TSL in order to attract a younger market'

Geographically

Demographically

Psychographically

Behaviourally



Introduction
The importance of market segmentation is vital to TSL in order to attract a younger market to boost profit margins.

Main Body
Geographically, TSL currently exports to over 60 different countries (line 88) which means there will be different needs within different places; such as culture or flavour preferences. The benefit to TSL of exporting to Japan is that their confectionary meets strict Japanese guidelines (line 89-91) and taking advantage of this will give TSL an edge over competitors. If TSL increases focus on Japanese exports then they will gain a higher reputation amongst the Japanese which is beneficial for a competetive environment.

Focusing market segmentation on demographics such as age is exactly what TSL should be trying to do, especially to attract younger customers as Matthew insists (line 6). They are willing to pay a the same price for small tins as they would for large tins. If we consider Japanese exports then we realise bigger tins don't put the younger generation off as they are normally given as gifts to their grandparents. It would suggest that TSL may be able to introduce smaller sized tins to Japan to increase sales even further due to even younger children buying them.

Identifying customers lifestyles is key for TSL's target market. This includes customers associated with the fitness lifestyle as TSL imports energy sweets which are a big seller (line 84-87). The benefit of this is that TSL don't have to manufacture these sweets and they can be sold straight on to produce high turnover, (12% in TSL's case).

Izak suggests younger people are more likely to buy on impulse (line 74) which suggests TSL should be focusing on bright colours for packaging and making them stand out amongst other sweets. In Japan they are actually a 'low cost status symbol' (line 92-93) and are 'given as gifts' which means TSL should be taking advantage of this. The only drawback of this is that TSL may suffer a decrease in quality/reputation amongst it's current customer base who may see bright coloured packaging as un traditional.

Conclusion
Even though TSL may suffer a decrease in reputation amongst the older current customer base, I think it would be beneficial for TSL to invest in more brightly coloured packaging etc. to attract a younger market who would be buying on impulse and still be charged the same ammount for a large tin, allowing TSL to work on higher profit margins which they desperatley require.
Also wondering what you guys may think of this as a model answer, constructive criticism would be appreciated.
Looking at it, there is obviously more depth included than I would in the real exam, this model answer was produced with no time constraints so wouldn't be as effective in exam conditions
Here's my take on 'Assess ways in which TSL's marketing mix may need to change in order to attract a younger market' 12:36

Product

Price

Place

Promotion



Introduction
Attracting a younger market is crucial if TSL is achieve higher sales figures.

Main Body
Market research should be taken up by TSL to determine what products the younger generation currently buys. Izak suggests that younger people people are much likely to buy a smaller 50g tin which is to be bought on impulse (line77). The benefits of this is that TSL can charge the same ammount for the smaller 50g tins as the 200g tins according to Izak (line 89). However this is only achieveable is TSL is to go ahead with the new costly production line. I would suggest TSL does invest in the new production line to produce 50g tins for the younger generation.

Price pretty much got mentioned in the first paragraph

The use of promotion is appropriate if TSL want to attract the younger market. This market segment currently buys on impulse as Izak suggests (line 77) which means TSL should invest in more attractive packaging such as bright colours and maybe including activities on the tins such as crosswords etc. considering they are a travel item. This may damage the current market of TSL's customers however due to them not liking the change from traditonal travel sweets to 'kids sweets' and may look for alternative options. This long term effect would be detrimental to TSL's reputation amongst the older generation and would require market research in order to find out whether this new change will affect them.

The younger market generally buy sweets in corner shops and supermarkets, not chemists as TSL currently provides for (line 16). This means they will have to expand their channels of distribution and stock local news agents and corner shops etc. in order to reach the younger audience. This may lead to a higher risk for TSL and would not be recommended unless the market research which Izak posesses is deadly accurate.

Conclusion
Even though TSL will need to change up their marketing mix in order to provide for the younger generation, I don't think this will have the worst effect on the current generations buying habits. It's beneficial for TSL to aim in selling to the younger generation due to the vast opportunity it provides for TSL's current financial situation because of being able to charge the same price for smaller tins as larger tins.
Reply 34
Original post by seanaffleck

tailoring recruitment and selection process to require highly skilled workers or provide training for them)


? Line 113-114 "I want to see the staff having an easier time on the production line. The new one will be much simpler to use and less dangerous" Matthew said. Seems to me like they want less skilled workers moving towards along the lines of Taylor's thinking breaking down the task to make it easier and repetitive.
Here's my take on 'Evaluate the usefulness to TSL of investment appraisal techniques on whether or not to invest in the second production line' 13:00

Payback

Accounting Rate of Return

Net Present Value??



Introduction
Using investment appraisal techniques is crucial for TSL if they are to gain a better understanding of their financial situation in whether or not to invest in the second production line

Main Body
Using payback as an investment appraisal technique we can see that TSL want to achieve at least 3 years using this calculation (line 40). Due to this being quiet an intermediate figure (not too high not too low), it would suggest that TSL isn't focused on liquidity or profit as a major objective of this production line. The main objective of having a short payback period is so that TSL can achieve liquidity rather than profitability. I would suggest TSL looks at a higher payback period, maybe of around 4 - 5 years which would allow greater room for profitability which TSL so desperatley needs to increae (Table 1)

The accounting rate of return is very important to TSL in seeing the overall life of this second production line. It will show TSL how much profit they will be making after the investment has payed for itself, in Hamza's case, 3 years. However this is also supported by a required ARR figure of at least 12% (line 40-41). This is a low ARR figure, I would suggest TSL increases this to around 30% - 40% in order to achieve a higher return on the production line. This will increase profitability for TSL's current detrimental profit margins.

Not really sure whether to include NPV or not.. :/

Conclusion
Overall, I would suggest that TSL looks to increase it's profitability rather than liquidity. TSL is currently in a bad financial situation regarding profit margins and it would greatly benefit them to look for a longer payback period and a higher ARR which would enable higher profit margins to work with.
Original post by ATCAdam
? Line 113-114 "I want to see the staff having an easier time on the production line. The new one will be much simpler to use and less dangerous" Matthew said. Seems to me like they want less skilled workers moving towards along the lines of Taylor's thinking breaking down the task to make it easier and repetitive.


You're right that does seem more likely. I guess I was thinking along the terms of TSL introducing more quality initiatives as Penny suggests (line 59). Workers would probably require more training than standard to achieve high quality consistently.
Reply 37
Original post by has87
hey guys im having trouble with this question: Assess the extent to which TSL demonstrates a customer orientation [16marks] I wouldn't know what to talk about for 16marks? any ideas?


What I wrote about:

TSL pushing through without having done enough market research into the likely level of demand to justify the new production line. "TSL’s Production Manager, Penny Bagley, agrees with Matthew that growth is only possible with the introduction of a new, additional production line." Line 50-49

As there is no justification for why they are appealing to a younger market, is it growing? is there demand for TSLs goods? It suggests they may have not researched whether this is a good market to develop into. As the UK is a top heavy population with an increasing elderly population would following a market penetration strategy be much more effective?

Izak only thinks the smaller tins will be a good idea, they are suggesting building an entirely new production line on an assumption. Which Hamza noted.

It seems to me they are demonstrating a production orientation focusing on their own internal needs/wants rather than the customers.



However.


TSL have a wide product range which demonstrates they seek to meet a wide range of customers needs. They have also done market research into the idea of charging the same price for their smaller tins


TSL can afford to be production focused less and less as time goes on because although the Travel Sweet market is a niche for the moment, it is increasingly being attacked by larger firms using price as a weapon. Therefore TSL will need to differentiate its products and meet the customer's needs/wants better if it hopes to gain or retain sales in this market.

Concluding

Ultimately TSL demonstrate a mainly customer orientation, having products in the market already to cater to different market subsets. The most important factor is how TSL can ensure customers needs/wants can be met in the face of an increasingly competitive market. To do this they will have to adopt a more customer orientated approach before making the large investment into a production line, which if not backed up by demand will result in spare capacity and diminished profit margins. Meeting customer needs better than competitors will enable TSL to maintain or ever drive up their market share leading to higher profit margins.
Here's my take on 'Assess how the increase in labour turnover and absenteeism rates may affect TSL' 13.27

Absenteeism

Labour turnover

Whether to include labour productivity growth as well???



Introduction
I think the increase in labour turnover and absenteeism is not specifically related to people wanting to leave and people just deciding to take days off, there are specific reason which should be considered.

Main Body
Absenteeism is a result of workers missing days of work and calling in sick or what not. This could be the result of them not feeling they've had enough training to do the jobs at work as one anonymous worker suggests in Appendix 2, (not sure what to do when machinery breaks down). This is bad for TSL's productivity rates resulting in downtime and this worker may be affected by self esteem issues (Maslow) at work because of it. I would suggest that training is taken into effect immediatley so that all workers can fix machinery when it breaks down on them. This would reduce rates of absenteeism as workers will feel like they are using their full potential on the production line (self actualisation, Maslow) and not be in fear when machinery breaks down. However there is obvious cost issues related with this and with no HR manager, this would prove difficult.

Labour turnover is also increasing as the years progress, this may not be necessarily a bad thing for TSL in terms of new ideas being brought into the business but it does bring concern as to why they are leaving. It would suggest that from one workers anonymous comment about working at TSL for 14 years but still having to refer any change to a manager (appendix 2), workers aren't trusted to make their own decisions even after a high reputation in the company. This is detrimental for worker's self esteem issues (Maslow) and I would suggest that managers take a more laisezz faire approach towards how staff are treated. This would enable workers to feel more confident in their decision making abilities for TSL and feel part of the overall workforce. It's also benficial to TSL because the only person who knows how to make this anonymous workers job better it the worker themself.

Conclusion
Overall, I would recommend TSL not to worry too highly about these satisfactory performance indicators and instead focus on listening to the workers themselves such as from Appendix 2 and take appropriate action relating to the desires of the work force. This could be achieved by introducing more of the workers requirements such as allowing them to make changes by themselves or training them to be able to complete their jobs properly and feel a part of the team.
Reply 39
Original post by seanaffleck
You're right that does seem more likely. I guess I was thinking along the terms of TSL introducing more quality initiatives as Penny suggests (line 59). Workers would probably require more training than standard to achieve high quality consistently.


Yeah that's a good point, using the increasing labour turnover to get quality trained staff in. I'm thinking it's quite a specific skillset testing the quality of sweets unless there are many other sweet producers in the area it will be difficult to get those kind skills in. You'd still need to invest in initial training and you'd also still have that initial drop in productivity and quality. But yeah recruiting people who have a good understanding of quality initiatives will save money in the long term and could help to change the corporate culture of TSL to a more quality focused TQM style.

Your essays are looking good man just don't forget to the define the terms in your introduction. :smile: e.g. Investment appraisal techniques are ways for a firm to asses the likely return on any investments they make. Using investment appraisal techniques is crucial for TSL if they are to gain a better understanding of their financial situation in whether or not to invest in the second production line.

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