Environmental Analysis

The two were involved in the day to day running of their company though they were board members. Peter was the chairman of the board of directors while Patrick was the chief executive officer (CEO). Patrick was responsible for operations in the company, Peter was responsible for leadership, marketing and human resource in addition to carrying out the chairman’s role. This at times brought about confusion in the company leading to bad decisions.

Due to the complexities associated with the shift from partnership to a company and the confusion in decision making, MWRPL hired the services of Mamlaka Management Consultancy (MMC) to assist in establishing working structures and recruitment of relevant key personnel. Before the consultants came on board, the business had a workforce of 67 employees, a few working on permanent basis while majority were engaged on temporary contracts. 

The Consultants analysed the defunct partnership business to establish strengths and weaknesses and recommended a divisional structure. They also advised that all the employees who were retained by the business after conversion into a company for them to change their mindset. MMC also recommended to MWRPL to recruit new employees in order to fill identified skills gap. The consultants insisted that the staff recruited be apt in intuition, technology, data collection, analysis and dissemination of information to ensure decisions in the company were mainly arrived at scientifically. The new employees were to focus on both internal and external matters affecting the company. 

The company’s main objective as stated in its Memorandum of Association was to offer wood and roofing products in the country. MWRPL segmented its market by offering tailor made solutions to two classes of customers; furniture for home owners and roof construction for the construction industry. The company adopted diverse marketing as its primary marketing strategy. 

Most of the company’s operations took a job shop approach. For each segment, the company worked on one project at a time before moving to the next project. Project scheduling skills were necessary to the production managers so as to ensure customer orders were completed on time. This ensured high levels of customer satisfaction.

To continuously improve the quality of its products, MWRPL invested heavily in technology and customer service. A slogan was devised and circulated “think and delight the customer”. Improved quality of its products and services has resulted into lowering of the production cost. As compared to the competitors, the market now prefers MWRPL’s products due to quality and affordability. 

The company diversified its services to capture new customers and markets. In year 2021 and after carrying out an environmental analysis, MWRPL noted an opportunity through its research and marketing department and included solar appliances in its products offering. This targeted low-income earners in rural areas who were not connected to the national electricity power grid. 

By mid-2022, the demand for the wood products and roofing services had exponentially expanded with the company’s clientele being spread in all the 47 counties in the country. MWRPL has since expanded its operations and services and has opened branches in all East African Countries. The company has future plans of opening branches in West African countries. 

(a) Explain why the following are important to MWRPL: 

     (i) Internal analysis. 

    (ii) External analysis. 

(b) The County Chamber of Commerce assisted its members in generating business ideas. Discuss FIVE techniques that could have been used by the members to generate business ideas. 

(c) Analyse FIVE characteristics of the organisational structure recommended by Mamlaka Management Consultancy (MMC). 

(d) Despite being board members, Peter and Patrick were involved in the day to day running of their company leading to bad decisions. With reference to the above statement, analyse FOUR inhibitors to effective decision making. 

(e) MWRPL adopted diverse marketing as its primary marketing strategy. Propose to MWRPL, SEVEN strategies that they could use while developing a diverse marketing campaign. 

(f) MWRPL’s production managers were expected to possess project scheduling skills in order for them to be effective. Highlight SIX contents they could have included in their project schedules.     

The company manufactures most of the appliances centrally in India and then ships them directly to its global markets. At the initial stages of establishment, MCL collaborated with technical institutes to train technologists who assembled and maintained the appliances. The company’s after-sale service approach has boosted its customer base globally. Any major repair was referred back to New Delhi.

In the year 2013, MCL hired a business analyst to carry out a worldwide business analysis with the aim of identifying countries where new offices could be set up. This decision would be based on a wide variety of factors. Globally, MCL customers were classified according to geographical regions. Africa region was the largest, with MCL present in five countries. The company had enjoyed monopoly status in the countries where it operated for a long period of time. 

From the year 2018, competition has been building up where some companies have been able to offer more advanced and better products. This has led to MCL’s bottom line being impacted adversely. The competitors’ products are imported as a complete portable set, and do not require local assembly. The marketing model used by competitors borrows heavily on multi-level marketing and therefore embraced by MCL customers. Perception associated with companies such as MCL which sell in large quantities undermines quality selling. The competitors introduced new modes of selling including hire purchase and loaning for the appliances. These modes were quickly adopted by customers. 

Peter Quick joined MCL in the year 2020 as the head of sales, Africa region, at a time competition was very stiff and the financial position of the company was very low. Major customers that had remained loyal to MCL were shifting their loyalty. By the year 2021 the competition grew exponentially as new entrants joined in with cheaper and more technologically advanced appliances.

Khan Ho, the global operations general manager, whose office is in New Delhi, planned for a brainstorming workshop in the year 2022 for all the regional sales heads to advise on the way forward. The regional sales managers were required to provide scientific responses to the problem, guided by facts and the unique challenges in each of their regions. Khan Ho expected that the workshop would yield remedies to the effects of fierce competition and the way forward would be arrived at. 

In preparation for the workshop, Peter Quick and his team carried out an in-depth internal and external analysis of MCL, studied the competitors’ strengths, customers behaviour, market volatility, competitors and products differentiation. In the analysis, it was undisputable that some of MCL’s appliances were unique and effective in the market. 

To enable him understand the reasons behind the customers shift in loyalty, Peter Quick purchased some of the competitors’ products and shipped them to the company’s main laboratories in India for detailed analysis of their constituent parts. The laboratory report revealed that 70% of the competitors’ products comprised of MCL’s products components. The only major differentiating factor was the logo, colour and packaging. Most of the competitors were buying MCL’s products, adding on a few improvements, re-branding, packaging and selling the products in the market as their own. 

In his presentation, Peter Quick noted that the assignment was complex and weighty. To enable him have a logical presentation during the workshop, he classified his findings in the following categories: marketing strategies, production and operations, human resource, ethics and morals, and legal issues. 

The workshop recommended certain measures to be undertaken. These measures included: • To broaden the customer base • Top management to implement e-marketing strategy 

By the beginning of this year, the company’s bottom line had started showing a positive increase. Customers were trickling back in and it is expected that by the end of the year, the company will have regained its lost market share. 

(a) Discuss THREE possible reasons why MCL engaged the services of a business analyst. 

(b) Evaluate FOUR internal factors that could have played part in impacting on MCL’s bottom-line.

(c) Examine FOUR ways in which MCL could apply Michael Porter’s generic competitive strategies to regain its competitive advantage. 

(d) (i) Identify the leadership style applied by Khan Ho in the case. 

     (ii) Analyse FOUR characteristics of the leadership style applied by Khan Ho in (d) (i) above. 

(e) (i) Explain the type of thinking that Peter Quick used, to address the problem. 

     (ii) Analyse FOUR steps followed in the thinking process described in (e) (i) above. 

In the year 2015, the company fully acquired Brillers Agencies Limited (BAL) which operated in the same area with DCL. The Board of DCL however resolved that the two companies would operate independently and some members of the Board of DCL would sit in the Board of BAL.

Due to his vast experience and successes, the Board of DCL appointed James Shark as the chairman of the newly reconstituted Board of BAL, an added responsibility to that of the CEO’s position at DCL. The Board also appointed Engineer Rebecca Ayoo as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BAL. Her rich corporate leadership experience enabled her to spearhead transformative changes in the entire organisation. Within a short period of time, manual processes had been automated and data held in old files digitised. BAL opened four more regional branches and restructured processes to make the company more efficient. 

Based on her experience in the water sector, Engineer Rebecca Ayoo recommended to the Board that the company carries out a national study to establish the actual demand for its services based on its strengths and weaknesses. This was to inform further strategic decision making. Vertex Researchers and Consultants (VRC) were hired to carry out the study. When the full report was presented to the Board of Directors, majority of board members were excited, but the chairman, James Shark was hesitant and gave a directive that further analysis be done on every recommendation. The study revealed that there was great demand for services such as waste management, sewerage networks and water supply in major towns in the country since most county governments were not able to meet the high demand for the growing numbers of residents especially in urban areas. The consultants in their report had included a detailed risk assessment matrix, cost benefit analysis, human capital requirements, market demand forecast and proposed implementation strategy for each project.

Another report was presented in a Board meeting six months later and the Board recommended the implementation of the projects in phases based on risk factors and return on investment (ROI) of every project. The chairman was cautious and advised that the company should implement one project at a time. He argued that each project should be given reasonable time before embarking on another one. According to him, every project was to be treated as a cost-centre. He further advised against expanding the company’s operations outside its core mandate irrespective of the projected returns. VRC was again engaged to oversee the implementation of the first project. This project included drilling of boreholes in five major towns and distribution of water trucks. The service proved to be very profitable. 

Two years after the retirement of James Shark as the Chair of the DCL Board, his predecessor Alex Kim whose risk appetite was higher than that of James Shark convinced the Board to implement all the other projects recommended in both reports. He was able to convince both the Boards of BAL and DCL, the parent company’s Board (where he also sat as a director), to extend BAL’s operations in two other regions of Africa. This resulted in the opening of regional offices in West Africa and South Africa. In these two regions, the company operated as Global Drillers Company Limited (GDCL). Engineer Rebecca was against this aggressive move and insisted that the company should remain focused on its core mandate. She was however overruled by her Board. Some Board members started frustrating her efforts at BAL leading to her resignation as CEO of the company.

Last year most counties restructured their services including water supply and waste management. This affected the company’s bottom-line negatively that the company could not sustain its branches in the country nor the high number of employees. All the branches outside the country were also struggling to break-even.

Alex Kim has called for a brainstorming meeting for Board of Directors and Management to address the challenges with a view of re-engineering the company’s processes.

(a) State FIVE political factors that Drillers Company Limited (DCL should consider when planning expansion of its operations. 

(b) Discuss FIVE steps that Engineer Rebecca Ayoo could have followed to institute changes at BAL.

(c) Vertex Researchers and Consultants in their report to the Board of BAL had included a detailed risk assessment matrix for each project. Examine FIVE benefits that would accrue to BAL from the preparation of a risk assessment matrix.

(d) Propose FIVE possible hurdles which BAL was expected to overcome as the business expanded to other regions in Africa.

(e) Assuming that you are a Board member of BAL, prepare a FIVE point memoranda in support of Alex Kim’s idea of re-engineering the company’s processes.   

    

BD will be taking over the leadership of the XYZ County at a time when nothing seems to work at the county. The county has been greatly mismanaged by the outgoing governor, Kipenda Pesa with his team. The population, especially in the two major towns of XYZ County, Kipeo and Makao has been declining at an alarming rate as many people have been migrating to other towns outside XYZ County in search of better prospects. Kipenda Pesa’s government has been highly bureaucratic and incompetent. His wife appears to wield more power than the governor and she influences how the county government is run. County employees follow her orders unquestionably to avoid trouble. Several large scale manufacturing plants in the county closed down while others have relocated to the neighbouring counties where the business environment is conducive. This has resulted in an increase in unemployment levels that further led to high crime rate in the county.

Many residents described Kipenda Pesa as a “lame duck” who could not make a decision without consulting his wife. As a result of the chronic bad decisions regarding the governance of XYZ County, the county is currently dysfunctional. Garbage is all over the streets, residents have no access to essential drugs in the county hospitals, educational facilities and county roads are dilapidated and some businesses have closed down due to high cost of doing business. Residents of XYZ county have become poorer under Kipenda Pesa’s reign. It is against this backdrop that Baridi Joto (BD), a renowned economist and consultant with an international organisation was approached by some opinion leaders to contest the position of governor and rescue the county. All the aspirants who had been nominated by their respective political parties stepped down in BD’s favour. 

BD has promised to offer visionary leadership in the county. Towards this course, he has developed a manifesto that if implemented, water shortages, bad and impassable roads, lack of drugs in hospitals, children dropping out of schools will be a thing of the past. He has promised to pay all the pending bills owed to XYZ County’s suppliers which run into billions of shillings. Pending bills have really affected small scale suppliers especially those who had borrowed money from financial institutions on the strength of local purchase orders and local service orders issued by the county. Many of them have closed down their businesses while others have seen their businesses auctioned. 

BD has promised to develop a county integrated development plan (CIDP) six months after he assumes office which will address most of the social problems faced by the residents of the county. Currently, there are no recreational facilities in the county. County staff are demotivated due to meagre and delayed salaries. They have been bearing the brunt of various jokes from their peers in other counties especially when they meet in county forums. BD will have to work extremely hard to ensure that the county staff work as one united team in his endeavour to return the lost glory of the county. He has a daunting task of completing projects which were half-way abandoned by his predecessor due to inadequate budgetary allocation and misuse of funds. BD inspires hope and everyone in XYZ County, including children are looking up to him to deliver them from many years of bad leadership.

(a) Kipenda Pesa ran a highly bureaucratic county government. 

     With reference to the above statement, evaluate six drawbacks of bureaucracy that could have contributed to the ills at XYZ County. 

(b) Kipenda Pesa’s wife wields a lot of power and county employees follow her orders unquestionably. 

     (i) Identify Kipenda Pesa’s wife’s source of power. 

    (ii) Discuss six disadvantages of the use of power identified in (b) (i) above with respect the county government’s office. 

(c) Many small scale suppliers closed down their businesses or have seen their businesses auctioned due to failure of XYZ County to clear their pending bills. 

     Explain two external environment factors or aspects that might have contributed to the closure of businesses in XYZ County. 

(d) (i) State BD’s leadership style. 

     (ii) Examine five qualities of the leadership style stated in (d) (i) above.