CIMA Management Case Study – Mock Exams – May/August 2020 – Alpaca Hotel Group

This is a challenging mock that includes a lot of evaluation of a significant amount of background information and associated reference material including guest data and customer survey information. Many students may find they get bogged down in the volume of information and will then find that time management becomes a challenge.

This technical evaluation of the material provided needs to be combined with knowledge of the pre-seen to do analysis and make recommendations around current internal and external issues affecting Alpaca Hotel Group. The issues facing Alpaca are wide ranging and include an analysis of how Alpaca could adopt Integrated Reporting as well as assessing the extent to which TQM could help address customer complaints including how to overcome the challenges of bringing about team co-operation to ensure TQM works effectively. You will need to utilise your business skills to assess the advantages and disadvantages of big data analytics and evaluating if it can be a source of competitive advantage for Alpaca. You will need to show your technical skills to with issues such as assessing the reporting implications of an acquisition and how to determine if insurance claims and potential legal action against Alpaca are liabilities or contingent liabilities. You will also need to demonstrate your understanding of internal benchmarking and sensitivity analysis. You will need a good understanding of project management to identify the key phases and key roles in project management as well as showing people management knowledge to advise on project leadership issues.

This mock is medium difficulty. There is a lot of unseen content to digest and time management is key.

The first section requires you to explain the importance of the communication process for Alpaca and to assess the impact any enterprise social media network would have on Alpaca’s governance. You will also be expected to explain the various finance options available to Alpaca to finance the implementation of this new network.

The second section requires you to explain the risk management process for Alpaca in preparation for a large corporate party. In addition to this, you will be asked to assess the impact of a disruptive digital business, HotelHomes and how Alpaca can use digital operating models to protect itself from disruptive businesses.

The third section requires you to assess the application and implications of using IFRS 15 for Alpaca’s financial statements. Since the Year of Culture 2021 is a large event that Alpaca is involved with, you will also need to explain the different key stakeholders involved with the project and to measure the performance of the project.

The final section will require you to explain the relevance of WACC to Alpaca’s shareholders and how the new refurbishments will affect Alpaca’s WACC and return on investments. It will also require you to breakdown the key principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and to recommend an appropriate leadership style that will effectively promote TQM as a model within Alpaca.

This is a difficult mock. There is a lot of unseen content to digest and time management is key.

The first part of section one requires you to explain the impact big data would have on Alpaca’s value chain. The second part asks you to outline the plan for a project and how to measure the performance of that project.

The second section requires you to explain the different accounting treatments that Alpaca will need to apply as part of an acquisition and to include in your explanation how the acquisition will affect users of Alpaca’s financial statements. You will also be asked to provide an appropriate negotiation strategy for the acquisition, detailing the different steps and contingencies that Alpaca will need to consider.

The third section asks to give a breakdown of how Hertzberg’s Two Factor theory can be used to explain staff motivation. Furthermore, you will need to assess the pricing strategy of various proposals. You will need to explain the impact of these proposals on Alpaca and to justify which proposal(s) to choose over the others.

In the final section, the first part requires you to explain the characteristics of a high performing team and the ways in which Alpaca can measure a team’s performance. The second part asks you to explain the purpose of integrated reporting and to outline the benefits and limitations of an integrated report.