Strategic Management Control Systems

 Work-integrated-learning (WIL) plan

• Major project: Business report

WIL plan (10 marks)

Students should be able to organize, coordinate and manage, in teams of three or four, the planning of their work-integrated-learning (WIL) activities. These include your abilities to enable team collaboration and locate, contact and arrange to visit an organisation (which has been approved by your lecturer).

The team will be required to submit a brief planning document (WIL plan – max 1,200 words) where you specify the following:

• Name of the team members, name of the organization and your contact/s at the organization;
• Industry context and anticipated bases of the competition of the organization of reference;
• Questions (interview) you intend to address during your visit (please refer to the Major project requirements as a guideline to elaborate your questions);
• Your reflections on gaining access to the organization;
• Your reflections on enabling factors of your team’s

You will receive feed-back from your lecturer of reference on your planning and further advice to enhance your organization’s visit.

Major project assessment (50 marks):

Students should be able to develop a sense of the nature of a business, its purpose, how it operates, and examine and report on how and what management accounting tools/techniques (if at all) are applied in decision-making.

To do this, students, in teams of three or four, will be required to visit an organisation (which has been approved by your lecturer) and make a formal class presentation on their findings. The team is also required to submit a Business Report comprised of two main parts:

Part 1. An analysis of the industry within which the chosen organisation operates and an outline of the competitive strategy (product differentiation, cost leadership) of your organisation.

Part 2. A description of the main product/service of the organisation, the primary activities involved in providing the product/service and the management accounting information currently used by managers to aid decision-making.

In completing part 2, you should give your opinion on how well the management accounting information assists the management of your organisation in decision-making  and make specific recommendations on any additional management accounting  information you consider may be of assistance.

To complete this section it is a requirement that all members of the team undertake a  site visit to the organisation. You must provide evidence in either your presentation or in your report that you have undertaken this site visit.

Business report (30 marks) – specific requirements:

Part 1.         Industry Analysis (10 marks – 1,250 words)

Before undertaking this assignment you should ensure you have read Chapters 1 and 2  from Ward (see course references). Pay particular attention to discussion of Porter’s  (1980, 1985) “Five-forces” model of industry competition and generic strategies for strategic competitive advantage.

1. Choose an organisation/firm to investigate and briefly describe the industry within which it

1. Analyse and report on the competitiveness of the industry using Porter’s five-forces model.

1. Identify the current competitive strategy (low cost or differentiation) and the target market (broad or niche) that you think your chosen firm is following. Give your  opinion on the suitability of the firm’s choice of competitive strategy in the light of your analysis in part1 b).

Part 2.         Site Visit and Company Report (20 marks – 2,750 words)

The broad aim of this part is for your group to think about what type of management accounting information (that you have studied this semester) is used or could be used to assist management decision-making in your chosen organisation. In considering management accounting tools/techniques/methods, you should reflect on a number of factors including how the firm is competing, the size of the business, the main activities of the business, the resources and/or the ability of managers to effectively utilise management accounting information.

Required:

1. Identify, describe and document the key activities involved in producing the organisation’s main product(s) (either good(s) or a service(s)). The activities should not be limited to the physical production, but should also include those activities that straddle the extended value chain of the

1. Describe and discuss how effectively the following aspects of management accounting are utilised at your organisation:

• Performance measures (such as those in the four perspectives of the balanced- scorecard) – how does the organisation measure performance of its primary (value- chain) activities?
• Product/service costing – how is the product costed and overheads applied? How does the organisation identify direct and indirect costs?
• Cost-volume-profit analysis – how (if at all) does the organisation work out break- even point?
• Budgeting – how, why and when is budgeting used?
• Sustainability – how does the organisation take into account issues of social and environmental performance?

1. For each aspect of management accounting discussed in part 2b) above, evaluate how appropriate it is in supporting the information needs of managers and the strategic direction of the business, e.g., is the costing approach/technique the most suitable to assist managers in decision-making.

Please note that it is not necessary to ask the organisation for information regarding the amount of cost involved in the activities/processes. Emphasis should be on determining what are the major costs involved.

1. Recommend any aspect of management accounting which you consider may be appropriate in improving the current information. Base these recommendations on a cost benefit analysis basis, taking into account the size and resources of the organisation.