Q159. Which of the following is the most appropriate approach to investors or shareholders who have high level of influence but low interest in the running of business?
Investors or shareholders who have high level of influence but low interest belong to ‘Keep satisfied’ quadrant of Mendelow’s Stakeholder Matrix.
You may read 2 versions from L4M1 and L4M5 here:
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LO 1, AC 1.1
Q161. Lina Rawlins, a senior buyer, asks a supplier: “Can you tell me exactly what you are doing to ensure quality?” What type of question is this?
A probing question seeks deeper information, clarifying specifics beyond surface-level responses. Lina’s question is factual, detailed, and investigative – designed to uncover processes and commitments.
Q163. Which of the following are most likely to beindirect costs of a garment manufacturer? Select THREE that apply.
Indirect costs are those cost that are not directly attributable to production. Examples of indirect costs including the following:
Q166. Rose is a senior buyer from a skiing equipment retailer. Rose is concerned about the current ski boot shortage and the number of invoicing problems from a key supplier. Shehas decided to have a video conference with Victor, CEO of the supplier. Initially, she intends to threaten Victor with contract termination unless he can improve the situation. However, she is a little wary of doing this as the switching costs are high. Eventually, she decides to seek solutions by encouraging the other party to offer their views and ideas. Rose also prepares some ideas to discuss with Victor. Which of the following is the persuasion method that Rose intends to use in the forthcoming conference?
There are two major persuasion methods: ‘push’ and ‘pull’.
Persuasion can be defined as encouraging someone to dosomething that you want them to do for you.
Persuasion is reasoning with someone so that they will believe or do something they might not otherwise do.
Persuasion can be considered as ‘pushing’ on TOP so that they can accept the change in attitude or behaviour as a result of your actions.
Influence is the ability to affect the manner of thinking of another. Influence can be considered as pulling on TOP so that you achieve the same result, but TOP feels they have changed their attitude or behaviour as a result of their reflection and thinking, and not your direct actions.
There are multiple variables to consider when choosing between ‘push’ and ‘pull’. Professor Fiona Dent of Ashridge Business School proposes situations when each style might be most appropriate, breaking down push into ‘directive’ and ‘reasoning’ and ‘pull’ into ‘collaborative’ and ‘visionary’:
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In the scenario, Rose intends to let both parties exchange their views and ideas so that solutions to current problems can be found. This is the typical characteristic of collaborative (pull) method.
Q167. An oil refinery plant imports much of its crude oil from overseas. A procurement manager in the refinery suggests that fixing the crude oil contract price for 36 months would be beneficial for the company. Would this be a right thing to do?
Fixed price contract is the contract in which the price is static throughout the contract period. A fixed-price contract may give certainty to budget and simplify contract management. However, it may lead to other problems since it requires bidders to estimate and bear the financial risks associated with price escalations. If the estimates are too high or events do not materialize, the buyer will pay a steep price that may affect the economy and efficiency of the contract. In the worst case, it may mean that the bid price is then above budget and may lead to a reduction in the requirements or rebidding. If the estimates are too low, it may appear as an abnormally low bid and disrupt contract execution.
