A leading retail chain is undertaking environmental scanning as it is concerned that it is becoming uncompetitive and profits have started to fall. The Board of Directors is concerned that it will need to have a viable strategy to present to its shareholders at the next annual general meeting, in order to prevent shareholders' protests.
The company has been reluctant in the past to offer an Internet shopping service. It now believes, however, that by offering this service and introducing customer relationship marketing (CRM), this will produce a strategy that will help it to improve its competitiveness.
Which of the following statements apply to CRM? (Choose all that apply.)

• A. In mature markets, existing customers provide the most likely source of future earnings.
• B. The CRM process needs to include increasing the range of products that will be offered to customers.
• C. CRM utilizes marketing resources to retain, rather than simply attract new customers.
• D. CRM is about marketing to customers to obtain their loyalty, so customer research is not needed.
• E. The company must be prepared to take customers' needs into account and be able to meet these needs.

JJJ is a publically quoted advertising agency. JJJ's competitive advantage is based on the expertise of its staff and its reputation in digital media advertising. JJJ has robust systems to protect its intellectual property. These include patents and copyrights. JJJ has also restricted access for most of its staff to its most sensitive data, such as studies of its customers' profitability.
JJJ's new Managing Director, Z, is concerned that when staff leave JJJ, the company loses whatever tacit knowledge they possess. These losses also impact on JJJ's reported profits. In order to remedy the losses of knowledge and the reduced profits Z wants to introduce a knowledge management strategy.
Which of the following steps support the introduction of a knowledge management strategy? (Choose all that apply.)

• A. Z should gain the support of the Board of Directors.
• B. Z should set a target for reported profit.
• C. JJJ should unfreeze current habits and standard operating procedures.
• D. JJJ should integrate knowledge management and management accounting.
• E. JJJ needs to acquire and install appropriate hardware and software.
• F. JJJ should convince staff of the benefits of sharing their tacit knowledge.

Which THREE of the following frameworks are used solely to evaluate the external environment of an organization? (Choose three.)

• A. Porter's Diamond
• B. Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard
• C. Porter's Five Forces Model
• D. PEST Analysis
• E. SWOT analysis
• F. Porter's Value Chain

STU is a hospital that is wholly funded by its national government. In the last five years it has seen its funding cut by over 30% due to budgetary pressure on the government, caused by a global recession. As a result, the senior management team of STU has had to make some very difficult decisions about prioritizing how it spends the funds it receives from the government. Its main strategies have been to reduce the number of administration staff and nursing staff by 20%, in order to reduce its costs. It has also stopped providing a number of services to patients, including its counselling services and its physiotherapy unit.
Which of the following strategies has STU adopted to manage its reduced funding? (Choose all that apply.)

• A. Divestment
• B. Liquidation
• C. Retrenchment
• D. Facilitation
• E. Turnaround