OCR Applied Business F248 Creacon Developments case study

For those of you preparing for the A2 strategic decision-making paper this month, here are a few ideas to begin organising your thoughts in preparation.

Firstly, get into a strategic mind-set which is all about thinking about the firm's aims and goals. Perhaps one way you can begin taking this long term, strategic view is by looking at the information presented in the appendix. Obviously, CD plc are anxious to avoid failure (appendix 1), but which items presented in the 10 point list seem particularly relevant to their situation? Are there any hints in the list about medium- or long- term aims CD plc should be developing? Similarly, how do the other appendices help you to form an impression of the way the construction industry may be affected over the next 5-10 years by trends in home ownership, the housing market and growing demand for industrial units?

Make sure that you are familiar with Ansoff’s Matrix and the concept of the marketing mix. You should use these ideas to analyse and evaluate the two options up for discussion. You might think about the degree of risk and the opportunities presented by the options, and consider how CD plc will need to adjust their marketing approach depending on the option they choose.

When you consider production planning you may wish to consider how Gantt charts and critical path analysis could be applied to the problems of securing planning permission, construction, making sales and so forth.

Financial analysis tools such as Payback, Average Rate of Return (ARR) and returns discounted into net present value (NPV) terms. Break even analysis and decision trees could almost certainly be examined in relation to the problems posed by falling profit margins and investment in construction sites.

Human resource indicators, with measurements such as absenteeism, labour productivity, labour turnover, and/or wastage levels seem very relevant in the context of the declining performance of the building division.

Contingency planning is all about imagining possible “what if” scenarios to invite discussion about the plans CD plc could have in place for the (maybe) not-so-unexpected.