BPP House 142-144 Uxbridge Road London W12 8AA United Kingdom T 0845 075 1100 (UK) T +44 (0)20 8740 2211 (Overseas) E Learningmedia@bpp.com bpp.com/learningmedia • Banks of questions on every syllabus area • Answers with detailed guidance on approaching questions • Three mock exams with full answers and guidance For exams up to June 2015 Contact us One of a suite of products supporting Paper P3 Business Analysis, for use independently or as part of a package, this Kit is targeted at ACCA’s exams up to June 2015 and contains: Practice & Revision Kit Paper P3 Business Analysis This Kit provides material specifically for the practice and revision stage of your studies for Paper P3 Business Analysis that has been comprehensively reviewed by the ACCA examining team This unique review ensures that the questions, solutions and guidance provide the best and most effective resource for practising and revising for the exam Business Analysis BPP Learning Media is dedicated to supporting aspiring business professionals with top-quality learning material as they study for demanding professional exams, often whilst working full time BPP Learning Media’s commitment to student success is shown by our record of quality, innovation and market leadership in paper-based and e-learning materials BPP Learning Media’s study materials are written by professionally qualified specialists who know from personal experience the importance of top-quality materials for exam success ACCA P3 ACCA approved content provider ACCA APPROVED CONTENT PROVIDER ACCA Approved Practice & Revision Kit Paper P3 Business Analysis Practice & Revision Kit for exams up to June 2015 Free access to our Exam Success site Look inside June 2014 £18.00 ACP3RK14.indd 1-3 04/06/2014 11:41 PAPER P3 BUSINESS ANALYSIS BPP Learning Media is an ACCA Approved Learning Partner – content for the ACCA qualification This means we work closely with ACCA to ensure our products fully prepare you for your ACCA exams In this Practice and Revision Kit which has been reviewed by the ACCA examination team we: Discuss the best strategies for revising and taking your ACCA exams Ensure you are well prepared for your exam Provide you with lots of great guidance on tackling questions Provide you with three mock exams Provide ACCA exam answers as well as our own for selected questions Our Passcard and i-pass products also support this paper FOR EXAMS TO JUNE 2015 P R A C T I C E & R E V I S I O N K I T First edition 2007 Eighth edition June 2014 ISBN 9781 4727 1109 (previous ISBN 9781 4453 6653 1) e-ISBN 9781 4727 1173 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Published by BPP Learning Media Ltd BPP House, Aldine Place London W12 8AA www.bpp.com/learningmedia Printed in the United Kingdom by All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of BPP Learning Media Ltd We are grateful to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants for permission to reproduce past examination questions The suggested solutions in the practice answer bank have been prepared by BPP Learning Media Ltd, except where otherwise stated Ricoh UK Limited Unit Wells Place Merstham RH1 3LG © BPP Learning Media Ltd 2014 Your learning materials, published by BPP Learning Media Ltd, are printed on paper obtained from traceable, sustainable sources ii Contents Page Finding questions Question index v Topic index vii Helping you with your revision viii Revising P3 Topics to revise ix Reading articles x Question practice x Passing the P3 exam xi Exam information xvi Useful websites xix Questions and answers Questions Answers 93 Exam practice Mock exam Questions 291 Plan of attack .299 Answers .300 Mock exam (Pilot paper) Questions 317 Plan of attack .327 Answers .328 Mock exam (December 2013) Questions 349 Plan of attack .361 Answers .362 ACCA exam answers June 2013 383 December 2013 393 Review form iii A note about copyright Dear Customer What does the little © mean and why does it matter? Your market-leading BPP books, course materials and e-learning materials not write and update themselves People write them: on their own behalf or as employees of an organisation that invests in this activity Copyright law protects their livelihoods It does so by creating rights over the use of the content Breach of copyright is a form of theft – as well as being a criminal offence in some jurisdictions, it is potentially a serious breach of professional ethics With current technology, things might seem a bit hazy but, basically, without the express permission of BPP Learning Media: Photocopying our materials is a breach of copyright Scanning, ripcasting or conversion of our digital materials into different file formats, uploading them to facebook or emailing them to your friends is a breach of copyright You can, of course, sell your books, in the form in which you have bought them – once you have finished with them (Is this fair to your fellow students? We update for a reason.) Please note the e-products are sold on a single user licence basis: we not supply ‘unlock’ codes to people who have bought them second-hand And what about outside the UK? BPP Learning Media strives to make our materials available at prices students can afford by local printing arrangements, pricing policies and partnerships which are clearly listed on our website A tiny minority ignore this and indulge in criminal activity by illegally photocopying our material or supporting organisations that If they act illegally and unethically in one area, can you really trust them? iv Question index The headings in this checklist/index indicate the main topics of questions, but questions are expected to cover several different topics Time Page number Ins Marks allocation Question Answer Mins Part A: The overall strategic perspective Nesta (6/13) 25 45 93 Airtite (3.5, 6/06, amended) 25 45 96 The Management Press (12/10) 25 45 100 Rock Bottom (6/09) 25 45 102 iCompute (12/11) 25 45 105 Jayne Cox Direct (6/12) 25 45 108 Frigate (12/10) 25 45 111 Alpha Software 25 45 10 114 25 45 12 118 10 Joe Swift Transport (6/10) 25 45 13 121 11 MMI (12/08) 25 45 15 124 12 Graffoff (12/12) 25 45 17 127 13 Country Car Club (6/08) 25 45 19 131 14 Ergo City (6/10, amended) 25 45 20 134 15 Cronin Auto Retail (6/11) 25 45 21 136 16 BeauCo 25 45 22 139 17 Finch Co 25 45 23 143 18 Chemical Transport (6/13) 25 45 24 146 19 Perfect Shopper (12/07) 25 45 25 149 20 Independent Living (12/09) 25 45 26 152 21 Accounting Education Consortium (6/08) 25 45 27 155 22 ISD (12/11) 25 45 28 159 23 Clothing Company (12/07) 25 45 30 161 24 Tillo Community Centre (6/12) 25 45 32 166 25 Lowlands Bank (12/09) 25 45 33 169 26 HomeDeliver (12/11) 25 45 34 172 27 OneEnergy plc (6/09) 25 45 35 176 28 ASW (6/10, amended) 25 45 37 178 29 Flexipipe (6/12) 25 45 39 182 30 Moor Farm (12/12) 25 45 40 184 31 Institute of Administrative Accountants (12/10) 25 45 41 187 32 Institute of Analytical Accountants (6/11) 25 45 42 189 33 Pharmacy Systems International (6/08) 25 45 44 192 34 World Engines (12/12) 25 45 45 196 35 AutoFone (6/08) 25 45 46 200 36 Academic Recycling Company (6/13) 25 45 48 204 Part B: Options and organisation 8-Hats (6/11) Part C: Strategic implementation Topic index v Part D: 50 mark questions 37 MidShire Health (6/13) 50 90 50 207 38 Polymat Tapes (3.5,12/03, amended) 50 90 53 212 39 The EA Group (12/12) 50 90 55 216 40 Shoal plc (12/10) 50 90 58 220 41 Bonar Paint (3.5, 6/07, amended) 50 90 60 225 42 Hammond Shoes (6/12) 50 90 62 231 43 GET (12/11) 50 90 65 236 44 EcoCar (6/11) 50 90 68 241 45 Oceania National Airlines (12/07) 50 90 70 247 46 ABCL (12/09) 50 90 73 256 47 Wetland Trust (6/10) 50 90 76 262 48 Institute of Information Systems Architects 50 90 80 268 49 The National Museum 50 90 83 273 50 GreenTech (6/09) 50 90 86 281 Mock exam Mock exam Mock exam (December 2013) vi Topic index Topic index Listed below are the key Paper P3 syllabus topics and the numbers of the questions in this Kit covering those topics If you need to concentrate your practice and revision on certain topics or if you want to attempt all available questions that refer to a particular subject, you will find this index useful Syllabus topic Question numbers Benchmarking 39 Business process change 17 Capabilities and competences 11, 14 Change management & the context of change 14, 33, 38, 39, 40, 46, 49 Corporate appraisal (SWOT) 41, 43, 45, 47, 50 Critical success factors 43 Culture 5, 7, 37, 38 Diamond model 10 e-business 3, 15 e-Marketing 15, 18, 22, 47 Environmental analysis 2, 43 Five forces 1, 35, 38, 41, 46, 47 Integrated reporting Investment appraisal 9, 12, 27, 34, 42, 46 Marketing mix 3, 21, 22 IT controls and continuity planning 16 Mission statements and organisational objectives 41, 42, 47 Organisation structure 4, 7, 9, 48 Outsourcing 13, 14, 44 People 36 PESTEL 41, 44, 47, 48, 49 Process-strategy matrix 5, 13, 18, 25, 48 Product Life Cycle 38 Product portfolio 40 Project management 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 31, 37 Software 27, 29, 32 Stakeholders 14, 30, 46, 47 Strategic capabilities 35 Strategic change 14, 33 Strategic options 10, 11, 12, 38, 41, 42, 43 Strategy development 11, 35, 49 Supply chain management 6, 19 Value chain 6, 19, 20 Topic index vii Helping you with your revision BPP Learning Media – Approved Learning Partner – content As ACCA’s Approved Learning Partner – content, BPP Learning Media gives you the opportunity to use exam team reviewed revision materials By incorporating the examination team’s comments and suggestions regarding syllabus coverage, the BPP Learning Media Practice and Revision Kit provides excellent, ACCA-approved support for your revision Tackling revision and the exam Using feedback obtained from the ACCA exam team review: We look at the dos and don’ts of revising for, and taking, ACCA exams We focus on Paper P3; we discuss revising the syllabus, what to (and what not to do) in the exam, how to approach different types of question and ways of obtaining easy marks Selecting questions We provide signposts to help you plan your revision A full question index A topic index listing all the questions that cover key topics, so that you can locate the questions that provide practice on these topics, and see the different ways in which they might be examined Making the most of question practice At BPP Learning Media we realise that you need more than just questions and model answers to get the most from your question practice Our Top tips included for certain questions provide essential advice on tackling questions, presenting answers and the key points that answers need to include We show you how you can pick up Easy marks on some questions, as we know that picking up all readily available marks often can make the difference between passing and failing We include marking guides to show you what the examining team rewards We include comments from the examining team to show you where students struggled or performed well in the actual exam We refer to the 2014 BPP Study Text (for exams up to June 2015) for detailed coverage of the topics covered in questions In a bank at the end of this Kit we include the official ACCA answers to the June and December 2013 papers Used in conjunction with our answers they provide an indication of all possible points that could be made, issues that could be covered and approaches to adopt Attempting mock exams There are three mock exams that provide practice at coping with the pressures of the exam day We strongly recommend that you attempt them under exam conditions Mock exams and reflect the question styles and syllabus coverage of the exam; Mock exam is the December 2013 paper viii Helping you with your revision Revising P3 Topics to revise Firstly we must emphasise that you will need a good knowledge of the whole syllabus Any part of the syllabus could be tested within compulsory Question Having to choose two out of three optional questions does not really represent much choice if there are areas of the syllabus you are keen to avoid There are certain topics that are stressed in the syllabus and therefore are core: Strategic position The need for and purpose of business analysis (rational model, levels of strategy, strategic lenses) The internal resources, capabilities and competences of an organisation (value chain and corporate appraisal) Setting critical success factors (CSF) and key performance indicators (KPI) Environmental issues affecting the strategic position of an organisation (PESTEL and Porter’s Diamond) Stakeholders, ethics culture and integrated reporting (stakeholder mapping, scope of corporate social responsibility and cultural web) Strategic choices Portfolio models; the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix, public sector, parenting matrix and Ashridge Portfolio display Approaches to achieving competitive advantage (strategy clock and generic options) Methods of development (Ansoff’s matrix, internal development, mergers, acquisitions) Criteria to assess strategic options (suitability, acceptability and feasibility) Strategic action Organisational set up (boundary-less organisations, hollow, modular and virtual) and strategic alliances (joint ventures, networks, franchising, licensing) and concepts of outsourcing, offshoring and shared services Organisational configurations (Mintzberg) Managing strategic change Organisational context of change (Balogun, Hope and Hailey) Different approaches to strategic development (emergent strategies) Business and process change Assess the stages of the business change lifecycle and the four view model The role of Harmon’s process strategy matrix Software solutions Information technology Analyse IT and application controls and evaluate controls for safeguarding IT assets Principles of e-business including upstream and downstream supply chain management Understand the characteristics of e-marketing using the 6I’s and the use of customer relationship management software (CRM) Revising P3 ix 398 ACCA examiner's answers: December 2013 ACCA examiner's answers: December 2013 399 400 ACCA examiner's answers: December 2013 ACCA examiner's answers: December 2013 401 402 ACCA examiner's answers: December 2013 Notes Notes Notes Notes Notes Notes Notes Notes Review Form – Paper P3 Business Analysis (06/14) Name: Address: How have you used this Kit? (Tick one box only) During the past six months you recall seeing/receiving any of the following? (Tick as many boxes as are relevant) Home study (book only) On a course: college Our advertisement in Student Accountant With 'correspondence' package Our advertisement in Pass Other Our advertisement in PQ Our brochure with a letter through the post Why did you decide to purchase this Kit? (Tick one box only) Our website www.bpp.com Which (if any) aspects of our advertising you find useful? (Tick as many boxes as are relevant) Have used the complementary Study text Have used other BPP products in the past Recommendation by friend/colleague Prices and publication dates of new editions Recommendation by a lecturer at college Information on product content Saw advertising Facility to order books off-the-page Other None of the above Which BPP products have you used? Text Passcards Kit i-Pass Home Study Package Your ratings, comments and suggestions would be appreciated on the following areas Very useful Useful Not useful Good Adequate Poor Yes No Passing P3 Questions Top tips etc in answers Content and structure of answers Mock exam answers Overall opinion of this Kit Excellent Do you intend to continue using BPP products? The BPP author of this edition can be e-mailed at: rossbeaumont@bpp.com Please return this form to: Pippa Riley, ACCA Range Manager, BPP Learning Media Ltd, FREEPOST, London, W12 8AA Review Form (continued) TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Please note any further comments and suggestions/errors below [...]... of relevance to your studies for Business Analysis www.accaglobal.com ACCA' s website The students’ section of the website is invaluable for detailed information about the qualification, past issues of Student Accountant (including technical articles) www .bpp. com Our website provides information about BPP products and services, with a link to ACCA' s website www.ft.com This website provides information... theories) Reading articles The examining team have stressed the importance of reading the technical articles published on the ACCA website that relate to P3 Some of the articles are written by the examining team It’s also useful to keep reading the business press during your revision period and not just narrowly focus on the syllabus Remember that this paper is about how organisations respond to real-world... A questions as you cannot avoid them, and the scenarios and requirements of Section A questions are more complex You should also leave yourself enough time to do the three mock exams x Revising P3 Passing the P3 exam Displaying the right qualities You are expected to display the following qualities Qualities required Fulfilling the higher level question requirements This means that when you are asked... notes you have to revise these topics, but you mustn’t spend all your revision time passively reading Question practice is vital; doing as many questions as you can in full will help develop your ability to analyse scenarios and produce relevant discussion and recommendations You should make sure you leave yourself enough time during your revision to practise 50 mark Section A questions as you cannot avoid... content Useful websites xix xx Useful websites Questions 1 2 THE OVERALL STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE Questions 1 to 8 cover the overall strategic perspective, the subject of Parts A, B and C of the BPP Study Text for Paper P3 1 Nesta (6/13) 45 marks NESTA is a large chain of fixed-price discount stores based in the country of Eyanke Its stores offer ambient goods (goods that require no cold storage and can be... deciding to proceed with its adoption (5 marks) (Total = 25 marks) Questions 11 OPTIONS AND ORGANISATION Questions 9 to 12 review options and organisation, as covered in Parts B and C of the BPP Study Text for Paper P3 9 8-Hats (06/11) 45 mins 8-Hats Promotions was formed twenty years ago by Barry Gorkov to plan, organise and run folk festivals in Arcadia It soon established itself as a major events organiser... that the examining team will be looking for you to make a number of clear points The best way to demonstrate what you’re doing is to put points into separate paragraphs with clear headers xiv Passing the P3 exam Discussion questions Remember that depth of discussion will be important Discussions will often consist of paragraphs containing 2-3 sentences Each paragraph should: Make a point Explain the... be favourable Evidence from theory or the scenario – again we stress that the majority of marks in most questions will be given for applying your knowledge to the scenario Gaining the easy marks As P3 is a Professional level paper, 4 or 5 professional level marks will be awarded in the compulsory question Some of these should be easy to obtain The examining team has stated that some marks may be... you are writing to management you should consider how much information you need to provide If you are trying to convince the reader that a decision is right, you should focus on the benefits Passing the P3 exam xv Exam information Format of the exam Section A: Section B: 1 compulsory case study Choice of 2 from 3 questions (25 marks each) Number of marks 50 50 100 Time: 3 hours plus 15 minutes reading... chunks of detail from the question that don't add any value Forcing irrelevancies into answers, for example irrelevant definitions or theories, or examples that don't relate to the scenario Passing the P3 exam xi Giving long lists or writing down all that's known about a broad subject area, and not caring whether it's relevant or not Focusing too narrowly on one area – for example only covering financial ... coverage, the BPP Learning Media Practice and Revision Kit provides excellent, ACCA- approved support for your revision Tackling revision and the exam Using feedback obtained from the ACCA exam team... prepare you for your ACCA exams In this Practice and Revision Kit which has been reviewed by the ACCA examination team we: Discuss the best strategies for revising and taking your ACCA exams Ensure... your revision BPP Learning Media – Approved Learning Partner – content As ACCA s Approved Learning Partner – content, BPP Learning Media gives you the opportunity to use exam team reviewed revision