CM0603 Common Errors 1 AGT/CD 6/3/2012

CM0603 Common Errors

Activity 1
Question 1.1 Just providing excerpts from company accounts that dont identify the income or cost channels/categories (e.g. only one entry for operational costs). Too much discussion on share capital or taxes rather than operational income and expenditure Question 1.2 Measures are only for product. i.e. only considering measures that a consumer would use rather than measuring the business as a whole Question 1.3 Value chain doesnt identify the activities (but instead talks about the products or raw materials) Generic answer that is not tailored to the company Question 1.4 Generic diagram that doesnt reflect (or show understanding of) the shape of the actual supply chain Including their suppliers, our suppliers without demonstrating understanding of who these are Question 1.5 Using only marketing slogans or consumer view of product Excessive use of quoted material

Activity 2
Question 2.1 Interpreting environmental as green Generic PEST rather than identifying relevant factors Not addressing the question what is causing it to change (or otherwise identifying trends) No mention of inflection points (not even saying there arent any) CM0603 Common Errors 2 AGT/CD 6/3/2012 Question 2.2 Not saying if each force is strong or weak Not being clear who is customer/supplier. (or not matching the value system from earlier) Assuming alternative products is the same as competitors/rivalry Question 2.3 Not applying criteria from 1.2 Not making conclusion from discussion Basing decision on only one factor/measure Using share price as a comparative measure Taking someone elses word for it Excessive use of quoted material

Activity 3

Question 3.1 & 3.2 Superficial or unclear answers Drawing conclusions from SWOT analysis (this should be in Activity 4) Confusing bullet points Excessive use of quoted material

Activity 4
Question 4.1 Generic strategy discussion (e.g. differentiation/niche market) rather than focussing on cost competitiveness and answering the question. Confusing Cost with Price Question 4.2 Reproducing activity 3 (i.e. not understanding difference between SWOT analysis and SWOT matrix) Not clear which SWOT analysis entries relate to each strategy generated Not addressing each quadrant of the SWOT matrix Excessive use of quoted material CM0603 Common Errors 3 AGT/CD 6/3/2012

Presentation
Not clear what the company or industry sector is Not clear what question is being answered (e.g. not using section headings) Paraphrasing question for heading and then not answering the right/full question No page numbers Too long (or too short) see page limits General visual presentation (e.g. break big blocks of text into paragraphs) Poor phrasing, grammar, spelling that can (at worst) obscure or confuse the meaning Inappropriate or unclear use of bullet points The expectation is for a first class, professional, report

Referencing
References and citations must be separate (including: dont embed url in the text) It must be clear what has come from where Too many facts and opinions stated without supporting references or arguments We must be able to look up the reference o So dont just reference top level domain (e.g. www.ford.com) or entire company report Only referencing core text Only referencing company resources (bias) References provided but No Citations Citations do not match references References should be in alphabetic order at the end of the report, not provided separately for each activity.