Corporate Strategy
Guidelines for Exam Prep Workshop
General Notes
1) Students need to interrogate the questions before attempting them
2) Ensure that relevant theory is incorporated into the discussion
3) Theory needs to be applied to practise
4) The use of additional information : models, theories, stats and relevant
diagrams will be useful when answering the questions.
5) It is also good practise to work with past year exam papers which are available
on the website : mymancosa.co.za
Structure of Exam Paper ( Applicable to Final & Supp Exams)
1) This is an Open Book Examination
Students may use textbooks, lecture notes and other resources except the
internet during the examination
2) The duration of the paper is 3.5 hours
3) Section A – Required to ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. This is 60% of the
paper. This Section deals with a case study
4) Section B – Students are given THREE questions but are expected to answer
ONLY TWO. These are essay type questions and consists of 40% of the
paper
5) Students are advised to manage their time in terms of reading, understanding
and completing the questions.
Focus Areas
Although these sections have been highlighted as the main focus of the study, it is
very important that students have a detailed understanding of the subject matter
holistically
1) Strategic Management Process & Alignment
2) Evaluating a Company’s external environment
3) Evaluating a Company’s Resources and Competitive position
4) Tailoring strategy – fit to specific companies
5) Impact of Culture, leadership &Teamwork
6) Performance Management
7) Corporate Governance and Ethics
The use of textbooks in conjunction with the module will give students a detail
understanding of the subject matter.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1) Based on the case information , describe and briefly explain the main
competitive advantages of New Balance. To what extent do these identified
competitive advantages comply with the generally accepted requirements for
sustainable competitive advantages?
2) Identify what you consider to be “market opportunities”. Discuss how this
impact on management views.
3) Explain the purpose and importance of internal analysis of a company’s
strength and weakness in strategy development and strategic development.
4) Briefly discuss how industry and firm situations affect the development and
formulation of a company’s competitive strategy and why these situations
should be considered in strategy development.
5) Explain why organisational structure is so important in strategy
implementation with reference to the organisation structure of your own
organisation. Substantiate your findings.
6) “Performance and Development Management” is the key process in providing
the link between the vision and strategy and the integration of people
management process”. Critically discuss this statement and explain the
management performance in terms in annual performance and development
management cycle. Motivate your answer.