CIPS Exam Report for Learner Community:

Qualification:
Unit:
Exam series:

Professional diploma in procurement and supply

PD2 - Corporate and business stratergy
May2016

Each element of a question carries equal weighting unless otherwise stated.

Question 1

Mark

Explain FIVE characteristics of strategic decisions in organisations

25 marks

Learning outcome addressed 1.1

Command word explanation: Explain give reasons for or account for something
Examples of good content/good approaches in answers:
Strategic decisions arise from the evaluation of strategic options and must reflect reasons for their choosing,
so this is important for candidates to embed in their choice of five characteristics and in the main most
candidates did justify, but to varying degrees, which was then reflected in the marks awarded.
A good point to note is to pay an equal attention to each point being made in that way you will score a
consistent mark across each point mentioned as required by the question. Inferred from this question is that,
five marks were available per characteristic given and candidates should respond accordingly.
Examples of content for merit/distinction grade answers: Here we saw candidates including very credible
examples associated with each characteristic given. Giving a good account of strategic decisions and the role
they play in the strategic management process.
Examples of poorer content/ poorer approaches in answers: Poor answers consisted of candidates putting in
too little justification on the points they were making. Very poor answers consisted of candidates completely
misunderstanding the question and providing a discussion of strategy development and different models
which we often refer to as theory dump.
Concluding comment: Overall this question was undertaken well by candidates as you would expect from a
clear question that is fundamental to the syllabus. In addition to the above, a further point worth noting here
from the observations of the overall marking process was that weaker candidates outlined the requirements
for objectives or described analytical tools, rather than homing in on the actual question.

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Question 2 Learning Outcome 2

Mark

Evaluate, for an organisation of your choice, a range of strategic options to

achieve growth.

25 marks

Learning outcome addressed: 2.4

Command word explanation: Evaluate calculate or judge the value of something
Examples of good content/good approaches in answers: Candidates who structured their response to this
question did so by revolving their responses around:
DIRECTION: in which markets and with which products to complete e.g. through Ansoffs growth-vector
matrix;
BASIS: how the organisation may seek to achieve competitive advantage e.g. through developing competitive
advantage, reference Porters Generic Strategies;
METHOD: how to achieve the desired outcome e.g. organic or inorganic approaches to development,
including mergers, acquisitions, alliances and joint ventures.
Taking this sort approach led to logical and progressive building of a good response to this question. This then
was further reinforced by candidates who went on to discuss the methodology for evaluating strategy, which
was pivotal to ensuring the command word was met. The SFA Method or other such similar approaches were
acceptable here candidates who then went on to discuss that these methods are used to avoid strategic
mistakes and mismatches scored better than those who missed this important point. This led on to: can the
strategy option be implemented? Will it work in practice? ( here examples given by candidates demonstrated
this or otherwise) Can the required resources and capabilities be obtained and integrated?
It was essential to reference to an organisation or organisational setting i.e. retail for example otherwise the
answer does not meet the question as set.
Examples of content for merit/distinction grade answers: Candidates whose answers moved into this
category did so by incorporating excellent and credible examples to both illustrate as well as justify the points
they were making in relation to growth. Good logical structure to responses that balanced theory with
application.
Examples of poorer content/ poorer approaches in answers: Poor structure to responses theory dumping
with little or no application. Poor unrelated examples linked to points being made. No offering up an
organisation or organisational setting and so giving too generic a response. Discussing rather than evaluating
and giving procurement or tactical responses rather than demonstrating strategic understanding/implications.
Concluding comment: In general, this question was understood by most candidates, it was a minority of
candidates who failed to recognise the organisational context established by this question. Again, too many

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candidates were too operational in their responses -it is very important in this exam to think strategically and
reinforce answers with strategic underpinnings and not to get overly tactical in responses.

Question 3 Learning Outcome 3

Mark

Evaluate the strategic resources that are required to support the successful
implementation of corporate strategy

25 marks

Learning outcome addressed 3.2

Command word explanation: Evaluate calculate or judge the value of something
Examples of good content/good approaches in answers: Candidates who started their response with a look
at resources and capabilities within an organisation and went on to state in their own words that resources
will be a vital part of shaping strategy as well as being vital in implementing it tended to put together more
credible and logical responses that flowed well and made for good reading. Further those candidates who
performed well with this answer did so by recognising that the context of the question is in the area of
implementation and so when they talked about implantation plans and the basic implementation process
(Lynch) of choice, objectives, specific plans, financing; budgeting and monitoring or other writers such as
Grant they demonstrated a good understanding of the implementation process. Another observation here
was that good candidates recognised the need to evaluate and not simply to explain, they did this by
recognising and elaborating on the assessment of the difficulties in marshalling resources to support the
implementation of the strategy. A good structure of resources that met the demands of this question were:
PEOPLE;
FINANCE;
INFORMATION;
TECHNOLOGY.
Other credible examples also secured good marks where they were well evaluated in the context of their
impact to the success of the implementation process overall.
Examples of content for merit/distinction grade answers: In addition to the above, candidates who
summarised within their answer resource planning and control pushed their marks into these boundaries.
Examples of poorer content/ poorer approaches in answers: Poor evaluation of the resources discussed;
over use of bulleted lists citing far too many resources (sometimes questionable as being a legitimate
resource such as Structure).

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Concluding comment: This was in the main well answered by many candidates demonstrating that they had a
good understanding of the need for effective resources to be in place to secure success in the implementation
of strategy.

Question 4 Learning Outcome 4

Mark

Explain how an organisation can successfully implement its intended supply

chain strategies and manage the resultant change to ensure that the strategies
are realised

25 marks

Learning outcome addressed 4.2

Command word explanation: Explain give reasons for or account for something
Examples of good content/good approaches in answers: Candidates who commenced their response by
giving an overview of the concepts on intended; realised; deliberate and emergent strategies demonstrated a
good structure and approach to answering this question and gave themselves a launch pad to build up a good
answer overall.
Here saying the following was sufficient:
AN INTENDED STRATEGY: is the strategy that an organisation attempts to execute. Intended strategies are
generally described in detail within an organisations strategic plan.
A REALISED STRATEGY: is the strategy that an organisation actually follows. Realised strategies are a product
of an organisations intended strategy i.e. what the organisation planned to do.
A DELIBERATE STRATEGY: is, the parts of the intended strategy that the organisation continues to pursue over
time.
AN EMERGENT STRATEGY: is what the organisation did in reaction to unexpected opportunities and
challenges.
Approaching the answer in this way also gave those candidates a good opportunity to link in the change
management aspects (this being a very important part of this question) because change affects the strategies
of almost all organisations, understanding the concepts of intended and emergent strategies as well as
realised strategies is pivotal for managers devising strategies in supply chains which was yet another
important context anchor in this question.

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Discussion around the organisations environment is important here also and those candidates who gave good
responses recognised this.
Candidates who did well evidenced a good understanding of the implementation and change management
issues.
Examples of content for merit/distinction grade answers: Candidates achieving merit and distinction marks,
did so by putting a logical response together with each point being made, tying into the next point they made.
As such, they worked through each aspect to this question really well and balanced their answers favourably
between the aspect of implementing their intended supply chain strategies with the effective management of
the resultant changes that will emerge.
Examples of poorer content/ poorer approaches in answers: Imbalanced responses with more on the
implementation process and too little on the resultant change management issues. Some candidates
mentioned Lewins models without applying them. Some applied them but did not reference the models.
Other candidates simply took an issue of change in their organisation and described how it took place without
any academic underpinning. Another observation was that weaker answers ignored implementation and
described the whole process.
Concluding comment: Of all the questions this one provided the greatest lack of consistency in the answers.

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