Michael Porter identified four determinants of national competitive advantage, one of which is Factor conditions.

A company has the following 4 factor conditions. According to Porter, which will give the company a sustainable competetive advantage? 

Based on the Tuckman model of team development, identify the stage when team relationships should start to harmonise and the team agrees on normal work patterns and the best way to tackle the work ahead of them. Job roles and relationships within the team are also agreed.

An insurance group is contemplating a proposal to outsource its customer call centre. The centre is currently managed as an internal function. Before taking a strategic decision, the group directors are assessing not only the long term operating costs but all the transaction costs associated with a change to an external provider.

In the context of this proposal, what are the transaction costs that would need to be considered by the directors?

Select ALL that apply.

Which of the following options contains the four criteria of a unique resource identified by Barney (1991) ?

Which of the following is NOT designed to deal with risk and uncertainty when planning for time?

Which of the following best describes the purpose of Michael Porter's Five Forces model?

Which THREE of the following are determinants of national competitive advantage outlined in Porter's Diamond?

Objectives generally possess characteristics which set them apart from mission statements. Which THREE of the following apply?

An experienced IT project manager provides the following advice about planning a new project:

"The project should start with a Requirements Analysis which should take 10 days.  When this is finished Detailed Design (10 days) and Interface studies (15 days) can start at the same time. As soon as they are both complete Prototyping can start (30 days).

Prototyping is the predecessor of both Implementation (10 days) and Data Conversion (20 days).

Go-Live is the final activity (5 days) and follows when Implementation and Data Conversion are both complete."

Using critical path analysis which statements are correct.

Select ALL that apply.

The Finance Director in an organisation has suffered from some criticism in her management approach, in particular her poor communication methods. For example, using finance jargon in her emails and sending messages out of normal office working hours.

This has lead to some of the members of staff being demotivated.

Which of the following possible recommendations would improve the communication situation present in this organisaion?

Select ALL that apply.

Project management software packages may offer the automatic recalculation of a task duration if the resources allocated to the task are changed by the project manager.  The software considers the amount of work already defined and recalculates the duration of the task based on the changed resources.

Consider the following Task which has two Technical Authors assigned full-time for the entire 30 day duration of the task.

If a third Technical Author is now allocated full-time to the Documentation task, the planned duration of the task could be recalculated as    days.

X is a Project Manager who works in a matrix organisational structure with an authoritarian leadership style. Team members are seconded on a part-time basis to teams led by X, who will then contribute to their individual performance appraisals at the end of each year.

X requires all team members to follow exactly what he tells them without question because he has the authority to provide negative feedback in their performance appraisals. According to the French and Raven model, select the type of power that X is using in these circumstances.

What is the main use of the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument?

A pharmaceutical organisation, whilst developing a drug for the remedy of a cold, discovered by carrying out research tests that the drug made people feel drowsy.

It decided to market this product as a night time cold remedy.

Which of the following best describes this organisation's approach to strategy?

Meredith Belbin carried out some notable research which concluded that successful teams need a good balance of complementary roles and personalities. His work concluded with the definition of nine distinctive roles that people adopt when working together in a team.

Applying this research, place the correct designated Belbin role label against the relevant personal characteristics.

Which of the following initiatives and schemes should be undertaken as a formal project?

Select ALL that apply.

Every project has constraints. When running a project it is critical that the constraints are known.

What are the primary constraints in a project?

Harvey Maylor defined four stages in the life cycle of a project. This became known as the 4D model.

Match the correct stage to each activity.

PRINCE2 clearly defines a set of roles for every active participant on a project. What is the role described below?

This is the person ultimately responsible for the business success of the entire project. They must ensure the project gives value for money and balance the demands of business user and supplier.

This person is also the ultimate decision-maker in the project. For this reason they are appointed before the project starts. As the person is directly responsible for the project business case, it is expected that in most instances they are appointed from the customer side of the organisation.

Various methods of communication are available, including face to face, by telephone or online.

Which THREE of the following interactions are best conducted face to face?

According to Porter, there are THREE generic strategies through which an organisation can generate superior competitive performance. These are:

The difference between the latest event time and the earliest event time in a project network analysis is referred to as:

F Company is an international fast food company and is committed to the rational model for strategy.

A senior team has carried out a comprehensive study of the environment in which it currently operates, its resources, distinctive competences and a corporate appraisal. The mission and objectives have been set in accord with stakeholder directives, which are based on twin objectives to grow profits by 5% year on year and become one of the top 100 global brands.

The team has generated a short-list of different strategic initiatives which it believes may deliver the primary objectives required by the stakeholders. Each initiative has been examined separately on its merits in terms of feasibility, suitablity and acceptablity. As many factors as possible have been taken into account such as market analysis, economic growth and competitors.

In terms of the rational model, select the actions that the company has now carried out:

X Company's Board of Directors uses its expertise to develop future strategies. The Board defines objectives that need to be achieved and then, through formal proactive planning and careful analysis, it selects the most appropriate means to achieve them.

Which method of strategy formulation is the Board using?

What event occurs between the second and third stages of Gido and Clement's Project Life Cycle?

Which of the following are classed as part of the move stage of Lewin's model of change?

Select ALL that apply.

A fundamental concept of the successful use of a Balanced Scorecard is:

According to Belbin, winning teams display which THREE of the following characteristics?

AW is a newly appointed manager of the accounts department in organisation S.  Her appointment has been well received by members of the department who recognise AW as a skilled and well qualified accountant.

However, AW has been frustrated by progress in departmental team meetings which tend to be unruly, unproductive and disorganised.  AW recognises a need to improve the effectiveness of the meetings.

Which THREE actions should AW take in order to have more effective meetings?

During the early part of the twenty first century, B enjoyed considerable success by providing a large selection of popular movies to rent on DVD, from convenient high street retail stores. Unfortunately, B was slow to adapt to the switch from "bricks" (i.e. stores) to "clicks" (i.e. internet-based services) and  was rapidly overtaken by D and other internet-based movie services.

This is an example of a firm that enjoyed considerable success in the past, responds too slowly to changes in the external environment and perseveres for too long with the strategy that once served it very well.

Which of the following best defines this practice?

The role of the project sponsor involves which THREE of the following?