01 CIMA E3 Notes - Enterprise Strategy - Chapters 1 & 2(1).pdf

CIMA E3Course Notes

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CIMA E3 Enterprise Strategy Course Notes

By Nick Best

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Chapter 1 ...............................................................................4 Formulating a business strategy ...................................................4 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Business strategy .............................................................................. 5 Levels of Strategy ............................................................................. 7 Approaches of Strategy Formulation ...................................................... 8 Planned Strategies ............................................................................ 8 Emergent Strategies (Mintzberg) .......................................................... 11 Incrementalism ............................................................................... 12 Freewheeling Opportunism................................................................. 13 The three strategic lenses.................................................................. 13

Chapter 2 ............................................................................. 16 Mission and objectives ............................................................. 16 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Mission ......................................................................................... 17 Mission Statements .......................................................................... 17 Objectives ..................................................................................... 19 Effective Objectives ......................................................................... 21 Stakeholders .................................................................................. 22 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) .................................................... 25

Chapter 3 ............................................................................. 29 External analysis .................................................................... 29 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

External Analysis ............................................................................. 30 PESTEL analysis ............................................................................... 30 Porter’s Five Forces ......................................................................... 32 Evaluating overseas markets – Porter’s Diamond....................................... 36 Environmental uncertainty ................................................................. 38

Chapter 4 ............................................................................. 43 Internal Analysis .................................................................... 43 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Internal Analysis.............................................................................. 44 The Resource Audit - The Nine M’S ....................................................... 44 Porter’s Value Chain......................................................................... 46 Supply Chain Management.................................................................. 49 Product life cycle ............................................................................ 52 Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix ................................................... 54

Chapter 5 ............................................................................. 60 Financial evaluation of current position ....................................... 60 1. 2. 3.

Financial analysis ............................................................................ 61 Financial ratios ............................................................................... 62 Ad-hoc financial evaluation in the CIMA P3 exam...................................... 67

Chapter 6 ............................................................................. 70 Corporate Appraisal ................................................................ 70 1. 2. 3.

Corporate Appraisal - Swot Analysis ...................................................... 71 GAP analysis................................................................................... 72 End of the strategic analysis stage........................................................ 73

Chapter 7 ............................................................................. 75 Strategic Choice and Evaluation ................................................. 75 1. 2. 3.

Strategic Choice .............................................................................. 76 Porter’s Generic Strategies ................................................................ 76 Strategy Clock ................................................................................ 79


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Strategic direction ........................................................................... 80 Methods Of Strategic Development ....................................................... 83 Corporate political activity and non-market strategies ............................... 87 Strategy Evaluation .......................................................................... 87 Ethics and strategic choice................................................................. 88

Chapter 8 ............................................................................. 93 Strategic Implementation – Change management ............................ 93 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Strategy Implementation ................................................................... 94 Change management ........................................................................ 94 Types of change .............................................................................. 95 Effective management of change ......................................................... 97 The process of change ...................................................................... 99 Culture and Change........................................................................ 100

Chapter 9 ........................................................................... 106 Strategic Implementation – Information systems ........................... 106 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Information.................................................................................. 107 IS strategy ................................................................................... 107 Steering committee........................................................................ 112 Levels of management, information and control..................................... 113 Information systems at different levels ................................................ 115 E-commerce................................................................................. 119 Using business strategy models to identify IT needs................................. 120

Chapter 10 ......................................................................... 125 Strategic Implementation - Marketing ........................................ 125 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Marketing .................................................................................... 126 Defining a marketing strategy ........................................................... 127 The Marketing Mix ......................................................................... 128 Marketing Research ........................................................................ 131 Segment - Target – Position .............................................................. 132 The Management accountant’s role in marketing .................................... 136 Branding ..................................................................................... 140 Relationship marketing ................................................................... 142

Chapter 11 ......................................................................... 144 Strategic Implementation – Organisational Structure...................... 144 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Structure..................................................................................... 145 Types of organisational structure ....................................................... 145 Centralisation Versus Decentralisation................................................. 151 Structure and strategy .................................................................... 152 Business process reengineering and lean systems .................................... 152

Chapter 12 ......................................................................... 156 Strategic Review And Control .................................................. 156 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Strategic Review And Control............................................................ 157 Performance Measurement ............................................................... 157 Balanced Scorecard ........................................................................ 161 Performance pyramid ..................................................................... 163 Benchmarking............................................................................... 164 Critical Success Factors ................................................................... 165 Internal Control ............................................................................ 166


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CIMA E3 Course Notes

Chapter 1 Formulating a business strategy


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1.

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Business strategy

Strategy A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a goal or objective. The aim of a strategy is to gain some kind of competitive advantage or to help to exploit future opportunities. A strategic plan tends to be an overall guide to the way forward rather than a detailed step by step approach due to the tendency of the real world to be uncertain. In the example of a chess game, a ‘strategy’ provides the over-riding approach that the player will take to win the game, but the exact set of moves they undertake will vary depending on the opponent’s moves.

Strategy in business Applying this to a business scenario, according to the CIMA official terminology a business strategy can be defined as: "A course of action, including the specification of resources required, to achieve a specific objective" Or, more complete definition is given by Johnson, Scholes and Whittington as: “The direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a changing environment, to meet the needs of the markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations” Business strategy therefore is concerned with the overall management of an organisation and includes the management of and taking decisions about: a) b) c) d) e) f) g)

Products Markets Locations (production and sales) Structure Personnel Buildings and machinery How to compete


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Key features of strategic management The key features of strategic management are: Long term approach – decisions are made over the long term, often for periods exceeding one year Focused on organisational objectives – the aim being to ensure that the plan of action achieves the most important objectives for a wide group of key stakeholders Aligned with internal strengths and weaknesses – the aim should be to capitalise on the business strengths and overcome any key weaknesses. Devising a strategy will often follow a position audit of the business to ascertain the businesses current position. Adapted to the changing business environment – so that changes in political, economic, social and technology factors are taken account of, while adapting to industry changes, such as competitive threats, supply issues or changing customer needs.

The importance of strategy Strategic management of businesses is important for the following reasons: •

Provides a clear direction, focusing management decision making

•

Adapts the organisation to the changing environment ensuring it’s continuing survival and success

•

Ensures competitiveness through understanding and adapting to competition

•

Focuses in building key competences to meet customer needs

•

Co-ordinates all elements of the business in a structured planned approach.

Director’s role in strategy Ultimately it is the director’s responsibility to decide on and take decisions on strategy in the organisation. Typically strategy will be discussed and agreed in board meetings. Larger organisations often have a small department whose role is to analyse the business, markets and competitors and devise strategy for the board to discuss and agree upon. © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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The directors have a fiduciary duty to make strategic decisions which are in the best interests of the company and its shareholders, and as such it is important that due diligence undertaken before key contracts resulting from strategic decisions are signed. This might include an analysis of key suppliers prior to long term supply agreements or review of an acquisition target by an independent accountancy firm prior to purchase.

2.

Levels of Strategy

There are three different levels on which strategy can be set:

Corporate Strategy The corporate strategy provides the direction for the business as whole, including all parts of the business. It includes consideration of: • • • • • •

The overriding purpose and scope of the business Which businesses and markets should the organisation operate in? What should the core competencies be? Resources and financing How to compete How to integrate and structure the business

For a company such as Diagio, one of the world’s leading premium drinks businesses with brands such as Guiness, Smirnov and Johnie Walker amougst it’s group. It needs to decide which products to include in it’s brands, which markets to operate in and so on. In 2002 Diagio sold Burger King as they moved out of the ‘food’ industry into a focus on Premium Branded Drinks. This was a ‘corporate level decision’.

Business Strategy Each business unit or subsidiary of the business is likely to have different goals, competitors, suppliers, manufacturing approaches, IT, financial requirements and so on, and so each strategic business unit (SBU) needs its own strategy. This covers: • • • • • •

Which competencies? Which products? Which markets? Tactics to beat competition in this market Business resources (people, buildings, machinery, processes) How to compete in this business area?

In Diagio, different strategies will be required for each drinks brand and each regional market due to the different nature of the products and markets. These are ‘business level’ strategies. © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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Operational/Functional Strategy Each functional area within each business unit will then have its own strategy, so there will be strategies in each department e.g. HR, IT, production, finance and marketing. These should be designed to be consistent with the business strategy of the SBU.

3.

Approaches of Strategy Formulation

There are a number of different approaches to the development of strategies within organisations. • • • •

Planned strategies Emergent strategies Incrementalism Opportunism

These will be examined one by one in the following sections.

4.

Planned Strategies

Strategies can be consciously and formally planned in advance, either by the directors or by a specialist department. This provides a clear, justifiable strategy based on the information available about the company’s current position, environment and competencies. As such the strategy developed should be well thought through and effective. Planned strategies are often used in large organisations, and are particularly suitable where the industry is subject to relatively little change. Planned strategies tend to consist of four of distinct stages: Strategic Analysis •

Defining the direction (e.g. Mission and objectives)

•

External analysis of the business environment (e.g. PESTEL analysis, Porter’s 5 forces)


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•

Internal analysis of the firm (e.g. Value chain, Resource audit, Product analysis)

•

Corporate appraisal (e.g. SWOT analysis)

Strategic Choice •

Selecting strategic options

•

Choosing options the firm is going to take (including financial evaluation using techniques such as NPV, IRR and Payback period).

Strategic Implementation Putting the strategies into practice including polices and strategies for: • • • • • • • •

marketing finance R&D IT Human Resources Project management Change management Structure

Strategy Evaluation and control •

Evaluating the success of the strategy by measuring actual performance against objectives

•

Taking control action by amending future strategies and objectives.


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Rational planning model The stages of strategic planning can also be shown using the rational planning model, which is an alternative way of showing the same process.

Mission and Objectives Environmental Analysis

Position Audit

Corporate Appraisal

Strategic Options

Strategic Evaluation Strategic Implementation

Review and Control

Criticisms of planned strategies While planned strategies provide logical focused, well organised strategies they have also been criticised: Time commitment – they can be very time consuming to create, for large businesses often taking many months, and may be out of date by the time they are published Cost – costs include staff time, collecting information, using strategy consultants


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Lack of flexibility - The organisation can become constrained by a fixed plan and as a result not take new opportunities that arise or adapt to changes in the business environment (e.g. a new competitive threat).

5.

Emergent Strategies (Mintzberg)

Emergent strategies are strategies which emerge out of the course of the business rather than having been formally planned. They could perhaps be due to opportunities which present themselves (e.g. a competitor comes up for sale) or threats which need to be addressed (e.g. a competitor develops a new product and the company must follow suit to remain competitive).

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General idea of goals And future direction

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Emergent strategies can be combined with the successful elements of the planned strategy to define the way forward for the business. The process of bringing these together is called crafting a strategy. In the example of a development of a new product, that needs of the new product would need to be crafted alongside those of the existing business, © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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including production timings and approaches of both existing and new products, combined marketing strategies, allocation of funds to different product lines and the use of human resources for each area. This is more appropriate for businesses in a changing environment, such as high technology, where restriction to one planned strategy may be a competitive weakness. It is also most commonly used in smaller organisations where the organisation relies less of formal plans and processes and more on the knowledge of key managers and staff who can be very flexible to change.

6.

Incrementalism

In fast changing environments it may be unrealistic to effectively undertake the full strategic planning process. Instead it is more practical to develop a short term strategy based on the consensus of opinion of major stakeholders. An incrementalist approach was adopted by many businesses during the ecomonic downturn of the late 2000s as uncertainty made it hard to make accurate long term predictions. The strategy is then developed regularly using a series of small scale changes as dictated by the changing environment. Another situation where incrementalism is common in the public sector which while not a rapidly changing environment, is one where there are a wide variety of stakeholder needs to satisfy. It can thus be hard to agree clear long term objectives to keep every stakeholder content, and thus a shorter term ‘middle ground’ view is taken that ‘satisfies’ all groups.


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7.

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Freewheeling Opportunism

NOW

Take advantage of opportunities as they arise Little plan or direction, but very flexible and dynamic

In this model there is no formal approach to strategy development. Directors dictate the business direction through taking whatever opportunities are available at a particular point in time. This allows the business to be very flexible and take opportunities that companies using a more formal approach to strategy development would be slow to take. Freewheeling opportunism is most common in small companies with an entrepreneurial leader who can direct and focus their organisation down each new track based on the opportunities they identify and wish to pursue. The lack of formal processes makes change quick and easy.

8.

The three strategic lenses

According to Johnston, Scholes and Whittington, business strategy can considered from three different perspectives.

Strategy as design A strategy is planned based on internal and external analysis and logical and rational thought. e.g. Rational model


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Strategy as experience Strategy comes from learning from and adapting to real-world experience e.g. Emergent strategies (and to a lesser extent incrementalism)

Strategy as ideas Strategy comes from the continuous application of new innovations and business and process change. This depends on staff and structural flexibility, entrepreneurship and idea generation.


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Strategic Mock Exams – E3, F3 and P3 Based around the latest Preseen 2 full mocks are available for each strategic subject Full marking and detailed feedback Full mock marking Detailed and personalised feedback to focus on helping to pass the exams Personal coaching on your mock exam 1hr personal coaching session with your marker Personalised feedback and guidance Exam technique and technical review Strategic and Financial analysis of the Pre-seen Strategic analysis - all key business strategy models in E3 Financial analysis – based around the F3 syllabus Risk analysis – based around the P3 syllabus 30 page strategic report Full video analysis of how all key models apply to the unseen Video introduction to all the key models Personal Coaching Courses Personal coaching to get you through the exam Tuition Course – Personalised tuition to give you the required syllabus knowledge – tailored to your needs Revision Course - Practise past exam questions with personal feedback on your technical weaknesses and exam approach and technique Resit Course – Identifying weaknesses from past attempts and providing personalised guidance and study guides to get you through the exam


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CIMA E3 Course Notes

Chapter 2 Mission and objectives


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1.

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Mission

What is the organisation all about? Why does it exist? Who does it exist for? What is it trying to achieve? An organisation’s mission answers these questions. A mission helps to provide: Common purpose – so everyone is clear what the purpose and values of the company are to help guide the company’s culture Focus for the strategy – strategic decisions can be based upon and reviewed against their consistency with the mission to ensure the organisation does not get off track or lose focus on its true values and purpose. Direction for objectives – to ensure alignment of activities towards achieving objectives which are consistent with the company’s purpose.

2.

Mission Statements

A mission statement is a written statement of the company’s purpose, strategy, values and policies. Campbell set out the following key elements of good mission statements: Purpose • • •

Why does the organisation exist? For whom does it exist? What does the organisation hope to achieve long term?

Strategy • •

How will the organisation compete? The range of businesses it is operating within.

Values •

What the organisation stands for (quality, value for money, innovation etc.)


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Policies •

Policies people are expected to follow which will ensure people act according to the defined values, strategy and purpose.

Qualities of good mission statements include: • • • •

Clear/unambiguous Concise Covers the whole organisation Open ended (not quantifiable)

Example real life mission statements Amazon To be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

Apple Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. Dell To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve. Facebook To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Google To organise the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Microsoft To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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YouTube To provide fast and easy video access and the ability to share videos frequently

You will notice that many real life mission statements are often short and focused, and lack some of Campbell’s elements of good mission statements. While theoretically incomplete this adds focus and improves the mission as a communication tool. Many of these organisations go on to produce other statements which when taken in combination with the mission statement complete Campbell’s elements. For example Microsoft has the following values statement: “As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual selfimprovement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honouring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality.”

3.

Objectives

The purpose of objectives A mission is non-quantifiable i.e. it provides an overall direction and purpose rather than being directly measurable. This means it is very hard to measure its success and it is not a good tool for motivating staff since targets are unclear. For a mission to be effective, it needs to be supported by clear, measurable objectives which provide targets for directors and staff, and hence motivates and provides focus for them. They also perform an important role in performance measurement as organisational and individual performance can be assessed by how effectively they have achieved their objectives.

Hierarchy of objectives Objectives are set at different levels within the organisation to motivate and focus performance in each major part of the business. This goes right down to the individuals who are set objectives as part of their appraisal. © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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Corporate

Vertical consistency

Business Unit

Functional/operational Individual Horizontal consistency

Time-based consistency

Vertical consistency of objectives Lower level objectives should be consistent with higher level objectives (e.g. individual’s should be set objectives which. when achieved, will contribute to the achievement of their function’s objectives.). This ensures each part of the organisation is acting in a way which is appropriate to the needs of the next level up.

Horizontal consistency of objectives The objectives of different departments, individuals, or businesses are consistent with each other (e.g. the production department objectives and sales department objectives are co-ordinated to ensure the right products and product quantities are produced to meet sales planned). This facilitates co-ordination within the organisation.


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Time based consistency Objectives should be consistent and achievable over time, so for example the 6 month objectives should be a natural progression towards those for the full year.

4.

Effective Objectives

Qualities of effective objectives To be effective objectives should have the following qualities: Specific – about a clear focused topic e.g. profit, sales, customer satisfaction, new product development. Measurable – able to be measured to ensure people can be held accountable for them, and to give people focus. e.g. Turnover from new products launched. Achievable – To ensure they are motivational to those people tasked with working towards them and to make rewards attached to them meaningful. Relevant - to the person/division who has been set the objective, and consistent with the organisation’s mission. E.g. New product launch objectives might be given to the research and development or marketing departments. Timebound – to provide a deadline to focus and motivate people towards, and ensure accountability at that date

Examples and how they relate to SMART 1. To have great quality products. Not measurable or timebound. Hard for the manager to know what they’re trying to achieve, and so they lack focus in their actions and are demotivated. 2. To be great Not SMART in all 5 areas. (Great at what? How do you measure great? How do you achieve greatness? Is it relevant for the manager to be great? By when should they be great?) Hard for the manager to know what they’re © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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trying to achieve, and so they lack focus in their actions and are demotivated. 3. To reduce our current level of defects from 69 per 1000 to 0 per 1000 by the end of the month. Probably not achievable, but SMART in other respects. Demotivating as too difficult. The manager does not strive to achieve it. 4. To increase sales of products by 10% over the course of the next month. Not relevant enough to what they do, but SMART in other respects. They can’t control the target directly so it does not motivate them to improve what they do. 5. To reduce the number of defective products from 2 per 1000 to 1 per 1000 by the end of the year. A SMART objective

5.

Stakeholders

What are stakeholders? Stakeholders of an organisation are people who are affected in some way by what the organisation does. Organisational objectives should always be considered in relation to the objectives of different stakeholders. This ensures that a wide range of needs are considered in the objective setting process and balanced objectives are produced.


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Who are the key stakeholders Stakeholders and their needs include: Category

Stakeholder

Needs of the stakeholder

Internal

- Directors - Employees

- Pay, bonus, overall performance, job security - Pay, bonus, personal performance, job security

Connected

- Shareholders - Customers - Suppliers - Financiers

- Share price growth, dividend payments - Prices, quality, delivery times, assured supply - Assured custom, high prices - Interest payments, ability to pay back loans

- Government - Pressure groups - Local community - Wider community

- Tax, law, wealth of nation - E.g. environment - Employment, nice place to live - Environment

(usually have a contract)

External (Other)

Stakeholder power The degree to which stakeholder needs are considered as part of the objective setting process depends on the level of power they have to impact the organisation and its results. The needs of powerful groups will tend to be prioritised For example large customers have significant power and products, prices, location of production facilities and so on may be impacted by their needs. Small customers have far less power and less consideration will be paid to their individual needs.


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Stakeholder Mapping (Mendelow’s Matrix)

Low

Minimal Effort

Keep Informed

Keep Satisfied

Key Players

Power

High Low

Level of Interest

High

Mendelow's matrix helps to identify the relationships that should be built with different stakeholders. A stakeholder's position in the matrix depends on two factors: Power- The power to influence the organisation, and affect its decisionmaking. Interest - The interest which the stakeholder has in the organisation. The greater the interest in the organisation the greater the level of communication that will be required with them. Many employees have little power, but good communication of plans is important to retain their loyalty and motivation.

Each stakeholder is placed in one box depending on each factor and then treated differently depending on where they are: Minimal effort – e.g. Temporary employee. Give them basic information to meet their needs, but pay little attention to them in decision making and strategy. Keep informed – e.g. Full time employee. Regularly communicate with them, particularly things they are interested in. This helps retain good relationships and avoids them seeking to increase power (e.g. through staff grouping together in a union).


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Keep satisfied e.g. Government. They have high power so to avoid them exercising the power they should be kept satisfied e.g. by paying them on time or meeting whatever needs they have. As they have little interest only information is given to them as is necessary (e.g. profit information to government to help assess tax payable). Key players (Keep Close) e.g. Major shareholder – Regular communication is maintained and their goals and objectives included as part of the strategy setting process and business approach.

6.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility is, as the name suggests, a companies responsibility to the society in which it operates. This means considering all stakeholders as part of the decision making process – not just the ‘key players’. CSR policies cover issues such as environmental policy and sustainability, health and safety, treatment of staff, charitable work and contribution and supporting local communities.

Benefits to business of good CSR Brand differentiation In crowded marketplaces, companies strive for a unique selling proposition that can separate them from the competition in the minds of consumers. CSR can play a role in building customer loyalty based on distinctive ethical values. Several major brands, such as The Co-operative Group, The Body Shop and American Apparel are built on ethical values. Avoiding regulation Corporations are keen to avoid interference in their business through taxation or regulations. By taking substantive voluntary steps, they can persuade governments and the wider public that they are taking issues such as health and safety, diversity, or the environment seriously as good corporate citizens with respect to labour standards and impacts on the environment. Reputation A good CSR policy and approach can support a good long term reputation for the firm, which supports the development of a strong, well recognised and well respected brand. This can help to gain customers, attract and retain © Strategic Business Coaching Ltd 2013 Personal use only - not licensed for use on courses

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high quality staff, build trust with investors, and gain the loyalty of suppliers.

Building CSR into the organisation There are a variety of ways of Mission and objectives Inclusion of CSR values within the mission statement has become common practise, and creates focus for directors when setting strategy to ensure CSR is built into strategies being are followed. Creating focused CSR objectives with clear plans for achievement also help focus CSR activity, particularly when these are linked to managerial performance and reviewed regularly. CSR Policies A CSR policy is an internal statement of rules and expectations on CSR issues to be applied within the organisation. It sets out the organisations values and clear rules to be following in relation to many ethical and social issues. Philanthropy A common element of CSR is philanthropy. This includes monetary donations and aid given to local organizations and impoverished communities in developing countries. Benchmarking Benchmarking enables comparison of CSR performance against other organisations. It involves reviewing competitor CSR initiatives, as well as measuring and evaluating the impact that those policies have on society and the environment, and how customers perceive competitor CSR strategy. After a comprehensive study of competitor strategy and an internal policy review performed, a comparison can be drawn and a strategy developed for competition with CSR initiatives. Social accounting, auditing, and reporting Social accounting involves accounting for and reporting social and environmental effects of a company's economic actions.


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A number of reporting guidelines or standards have been developed to serve as frameworks for social accounting, auditing and reporting including: • •

Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines The ISO 14000 environmental management standard

In some nations, legal requirements for social accounting, auditing and reporting exist although there is little international agreement on what constitutes meaningful measurement of social and environmental performance. Many companies now produce externally audited annual reports that cover Sustainable Development and CSR issues ("Triple Bottom Line Reports"), but the reports vary widely in format, style, and evaluation methodology (even within the same industry). Within organisations internal auditors may perform internal reviews (or audit) against the companies CSR policies as a way to review internal compliance.


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Strategic Mock Exams – E3, F3 and P3 Based around the latest Preseen 2 full mocks are available for each strategic subject Full marking and detailed feedback Full mock marking Detailed and personalised feedback to focus on helping to pass the exams Personal coaching on your mock exam 1hr personal coaching session with your marker Personalised feedback and guidance Exam technique and technical review Strategic and Financial analysis of the Pre-seen Strategic analysis - all key business strategy models in E3 Financial analysis – based around the F3 syllabus Risk analysis – based around the P3 syllabus 30 page strategic report Full video analysis of how all key models apply to the unseen Video introduction to all the key models Personal Coaching Courses Personal coaching to get you through the exam Tuition Course – Personalised tuition to give you the required syllabus knowledge – tailored to your needs Revision Course - Practise past exam questions with personal feedback on your technical weaknesses and exam approach and technique Resit Course – Identifying weaknesses from past attempts and providing personalised guidance and study guides to get you through the exam


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01 CIMA E3 Notes - Enterprise Strategy - Chapters 1 & 2(1).pdf

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