A1: The Strategy Process Part 1 (Untimed)

Even though she had no experience, Zanele still decided to start a childcare business due to identifying the industry to have potential for significant future growth. She has invested a large amount of her life savings into the business and it has proven to be a relatively stable market, with few innovations occurring each year.

Zanele would like to consider her approach to creating an initial business strategy and is willing to invest her spare time and small experience of strategic development into her new business.

For Zanele’s situation, which strategic planning model would likely be most suitable?

Concerning objectives, what THREE statements do NOT apply from the options below?

Onyx Connect is an organisation that manufactures high-quality touchscreens for smartphones and electronic tablets. All of the major smartphone manufacturers are customers of Onyx Connect and the company is well respected as an innovative market leader.

The board of Onyx Connect have decided that the strategy of the company for the next five years will be to focus on the quality of their products, continuous innovation and the development of their talented workforce. All of these factors have been highlighted as key competencies of the firm.

What approach to strategic planning is Onyx Connect most likely adopting?

Strategic management accounting includes which of the following characteristics?

Choose ALL that apply.

The work of (Johnson et al, 2017) claims that insights can be generated by viewing strategies through different perspectives referred to as “strategy lenses”.

Which of the following statements in regard to “strategy as an experience” is/are TRUE?

Select ALL that apply:

Iveco South Africa Company is a large listed organisation that has been manufacturing trucks, trailers and Lorries for over 50 years. The industry that Iveco South Africa Company operates in is relatively stable but several long-term challenges need to be addressed.

The organisation’s shareholders are mostly pension funds and institutional investors who prefer stable and steady returns over a long period of time.

The board is currently drafting the firm’s 5-10 year strategy. To deal with a change in customer tastes, the board have proposed raising and investing a significant portion of capital to develop a new model of truck that will be 100% powered by electricity. This project will require new finance to be raised over ten years but the investment is attractive and looks to deliver the type of sustainable returns that the firm’s shareholders desire.

What method of strategic planning would be most suitable for Iveco South Africa Company in this circumstance?

Choose the least likely explanation of a drawback when using the rational planning process for strategic formulation:

A strategy is best described as: 

Strategic decision making does not involve:

The board of Baic Group South Africa is putting together their 3-year strategic plan. The organisation owns a residential property portfolio consisting of large city apartments. This means that the firm earns a stable income each month by collecting the rent from these apartments.

The firm has no intention of purchasing any new properties or selling any existing properties for at least 10 years and instead wants to enjoy the stable cash flows they have had in previous years.

The board plan to increase rent by 2% per year in line with inflation, this is the most significant part of the strategic plan of Baic Group South Africa.

What would be the most appropriate method of strategy development for Baic Group South Africa?

All of the following are influential to organisational structure and design, EXCEPT:

O’Bryan’s Maseru Auto Parts outsourced a function not too long ago and later realised that they lost market share to their competitors. Their outsourcing plan was a failure as they found that costs decreased but overall profitability fell as their sales revenue slumped.

Which ONE of the following activities did the company most likely outsource?

“In not-for-profit organisations, strategic planning is less important than it is in profit-seeking organisations” 

Is the statement above TRUE or FALSE?

Which of the following options best defines the problem of management being limited by time, uncertainty and the complexity of decisions that need to be made in the process of strategic planning?

Johnson, Scholes and Whittington summarised strategy development into three separate processes: strategic analysis, strategic choice, and strategic implementation.

Which of the following statements in regard to the Johnson, Scholes and Whittington model of strategic development is/are TRUE?

Select ALL that apply:

Deluxe Creation Studios is a newly formed organisation that manufactures innovative virtual reality games. The company has 25 staff and is 100% owned by Gary Peters, a very experienced computer programmer who has had senior leadership roles in several successful technology organisations.

The company has grown very quickly and operates in a new industry that is high-growth, highly profitable and fast-changing. The games that Deluxe Creation Studios manufacture can quickly become hugely popular but can also become unpopular in the space of a few months depending on consumer tastes and the external environment.

Which of the following methods of strategy development is most likely to be appropriate for Deluxe Creation Studios?

Select ALL statements that are TRUE about the Freewheeling Opportunism approach: 

 South African Government inspectors have provided a Wits university with the following criticisms:

A – The quality of education has been given one of the lowest ratings nationally.

B – No accurate head-count of students can be provided for course attendances.

C – Annual expenditure has exceeded income.

How would each of the government’s criticisms be categorised?

Match each criticism to its appropriate level of strategy.

Consider the options listed below. Choose the THREE features that are associated with the emergent approach to strategy development, as opposed to the formal planning approach:

The strategic, tactical and operational levels are where management control takes place at. Imagine you work at MacDonald’s and the company is reviewing its control systems and you are required to advise the project team on the appropriate level at which each of the following aspects of control should be set:

Drag and drop each control aspect below to its appropriate level within the hierarchy:

What is the term used to describe when a system as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts?

Thatohatsi Pharm care Holdings Limited is a large pharmaceutical company. In 20X1, the firm began a large investment in developing a drug to treat a rare blood disease.

After extensive testing, it was found that the drug did not cure the rare blood disease to a significant extent but it did however significantly improve the strength and repair of bones and ligaments and was found to be effective in treating common sports injuries.

The board of Thatohatsi has marketed the new drug as a remedy for common sporting injuries and it is currently being distributed to sports physicians worldwide.

Which of the following methods of strategy development has most likely been adopted by Thatohatsi Pharm care Holdings Limited?

SICO Technology Ltd is a leading manufacturer of microphones and other audio equipment. The board of SICO Technology Ltd are currently planning the firm’s five-year strategic plan.

At the most recent annual general meeting (AGM) shareholders noted that they want to see a 3.5% increase in the net profit before tax figure year to year over the next five years. They also want to see cash income grow by 20% over the next five years.

The board is developing a five-year strategy to ensure that these demands from shareholders are met.

What approach is the board of SICO Technology Ltd adopting when drafting this five-year strategy?

Select ALL options below that would NOT count as a reason for using an objective:

There are three levels of strategy that can exist in an organisation.

Decisions at the level of a geographical division within a large complex group would be categorised into which ONE of the following levels?