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问答题Required:

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问答题2.The town of Brighttown in Euraria has a mayor (elected every five years by the people in the town) who is responsible for, amongst other things, the transport policy of the town. A year ago, the mayor (acting as project sponsor) instigated a ‘traffic lite’ project to reduce traffic congestion at trafficlights in the town. Rather than relying on fixed timings, he suggested that a system should be implemented whichmade the traffic lights sensitive to traffic flow. So, if a queue built up, then the lights would automatically change togreen (go). The mayor suggested that this would have a number of benefits. Firstly, it would reduce harmful emissionsat the areas near traffic lights and, secondly, it would improve the journey times for all vehicles, leading to drivers‘being less stressed’. He also cited evidence from cities overseas where predictable journey times had been attractiveto flexible companies who could set themselves up anywhere in the country. He felt that the new system would attractsuch companies to the town. The Eurarian government has a transport regulation agency called OfRoad. Part of OfRoad’s responsibilities is tomonitor transport investments and it was originally critical of the Brighttown ‘traffic lite’ project because the project’sbenefits were intangible and lacked credibility. The business case did not include a quantitative cost/benefit analysis.OfRoad has itself published a benefits management process which classifies benefits in the following way. Financial:A financial benefit can be confidently allocated in advance of the project. Thus if the investment will save$90,000 per year in staff costs then this is a financial benefit. Quantifiable:A quantifiable benefit is a benefit where there is sufficient credible evidence to suggest, in advance, howmuch benefit will result from the project. This benefit may be financial or non-financial. For example, energy savingsfrom a new building might be credibly predicted in advance. However, the exact amount of savings cannot beaccurately forecast. Measurable benefit:A measurable benefit is a benefit which can only be confidently assessed post-implementation,and so cannot be reliably predicted in advance. Increase in sales from a particular initiative is an example of ameasurable benefit. Measurable benefits may either be financial or non-financial. Observable benefit: An observable benefit is a benefit which a specific individual or group will decide, using agreedcriteria, has been realised or not. Such benefits are usually non-financial. Improved staff morale might be an exampleof an observable benefit. One month ago, the mayoral elections saw the election of a new mayor with a completely distinct transport policywith different objectives. She wishes to address traffic congestion by attracting commuters away from their cars andonto public transport. Part of her policy is a traffic light system which gives priority to buses. The town council ownsthe buses which operate in the town and they have invested heavily in buses which are comfortable and havesignificantly lower emissions than the conventional cars used by most people in the town. The new mayor wishes toimprove the frequency, punctuality and convenience of these buses, so that they tempt people away from using theircars. This will require more buses and more bus crews, a requirement which the mayor presents as ‘being good forthe unemployment rate in this town’. It will also help the bus service meet the punctuality service level which itpublished three years ago, but has never yet met. ‘A reduction in cars and an increase in buses will help us meet ourtarget’, the mayor claims. The mayor has also suggested a number of initiatives to discourage people from taking their cars into the town. Sheintends to sell two car parks for housing land (raising $325,000) and this will reduce car park capacity from 1,000to 800 car spaces per day. She also intends to raise the daily parking fee from $3 to $4. Car park occupancy currentlystands at 95% (it is difficult to achieve 100% for technical reasons) and the same occupancy rate is expected whenthe car park capacity is reduced. The new mayor believes that her policy signals the fact that Brighttown is serious about its green credentials. ‘This’,she says, ‘will attract green consumers to come and live in our town and green companies to set up here. Thesecompanies and consumers will bring great benefit to our community.’ To emphasise this, she has set up a Go Greenteam to encourage green initiatives in the town. The ‘traffic lite’ project to tackle congestion proposed by the former mayor is still in the development stage. The newmayor believes that this project can be modified to deliver her vision and still be ready on the date promised by herpredecessor. Required:

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问答题3.TMZisamusiccompanybasedinthedevelopedcountryofArtazia.Itwasfoundedin1963whenitstartedtosignemergingrockandrollartiststoitsrecordlabel.TMZoffersacontractinwhichtheartistsreceiveroyaltiesbasedonthesalesoftheirmusic.Aspartofthiscontract,TMZrecordthemusic,distributeitandpromoteit.Mostofthecontractsareforadefinednumberofsongsorrecords.Forexample,in1980,TMZcontractedtheheavymetalband,Vortex31,toproducetenalbums,tobedeliveredoversevenyears.Extractedfinancialdatafortheperiod1965–2000isgiveninTableone.DuringtheseyearsTMZsuccessfullysignedbandsofferingdifferentandemergingtypesofmusic(pop,punk,garage,grunge,patio)andalsosuccessfullyalteredthephysicalmediaofdistribution,fromvinylrecordstotapecassetteandsubsequentlytocompactdisc(CD).Tableone:Revenueandprofitinformation:TMZ(1965–2000)Thecompanyremainedprofitableinthisperiod,despitemusicianstakinglongertoproducealbumsandseniormanagementadoptingarelaxedandindulgentapproachtotheircreativeartists.In1999,thefirstfilesharingcompanywasformedinArtazia,allowingpeopletoeasilysharetheirmusicfileswitheachother.Duringthenextdecade,numerousfilesharinganddigitaldownloadingcompanieswerelaunched.Asearlyas2003,thepossibleimplicationsofthisgrowthinfilesharinganddigitaldownloadingwerehighlightedbyanumberofemployeesinTMZ.However,seniormanagementatTMZweredismissiveofthisthreat,suggestingthatthecontractswiththeirartistswere‘watertight’.Tabletwoshowsrevenueandprofitinformationfor2003–2007.Tabletwo:revenueandprofitinformation:TMZ(2003–2007)SeniormanagementatTMZbelievedthatthisdeclineinperformancewasduetothemprovidingthe‘wrongmusic,promotedtothewrongpeopleatthewrongprice’.Duringthisperiodthecompanysignednewartists,increasedadvertisingandcutprices.However,thisdidnothaltitsdecline.Losseswerealsomadein2008and2009andthecompanywasonlykeptafloatbyfreshinjectionsofshareholdercapital.Duringtheseyears,thecompanytooklegalactionagainstwhattheyconsideredillegaldownloadingandfilesharing.Itwonanumberofsmallcasesbutitsactionsangeredmanymusicfans,whofeltthatmusiclabelshadbeengreedyinthepast.Italsoupsetsomeofitsartistswhonowbenefitedfromtheopportunitytheinternetgavethemtosellmusicdirectlytotheirfans.In2009,anewCEOwasappointedfromoutsidethemusicindustry.In2010heannouncedanewstrategy.TMZwasnolongerinterestedincontractingnewartiststothelabel.Insteaditwouldfocusonderivingprofitfromitsestablishedartistsandmusiccatalogue.Hecametolicensingagreementswithsomelargedigitaldownloadingoperatorsandstores,allowingthemtoaccessorsellthemusicofestablishedartists.However,hecontinuedlitigationagainstothers.Healsobegantogeneraterevenuefromlicensingthemusicforuseincomputergames,televisionadvertisementsandpersonalisedringtones.In2011thecompanyreportedagrossprofitforthefirsttimesince2005.In2013and2014itrecordedasmallnetprofit.TheCEOstatedthatTMZwasnowa‘slimmer,fittercompany.Wearealearningorganisation,developingtheresilienceneededtotradesuccessfullyintheever-changingdigitalmusicage’.However,hewarnedthatTMZ,likeothersintheindustry,wouldcontinuetopursueactionsagainsttheillegaldownloadingofmusic.‘Thereisagenerationwheremanypeopleconsidermusicandallcreativecontentshouldbefree.However,weseesignsthatthisassumptionisbecominglesswidelyheld.Thenextgenerationisquestioningit.Likemanyothers,wecontinuetoseekwaysofdistributingmusicwhichisfairtoboththeconsumerandtheartist.Weareconstantlymonitoringtrendsandpatternsinconsumerbehaviour.Wewillnotgetcaughtoutlikeweweretenyearsago.Wewon’tbefooledagain!Required:

问答题(b) Benefit owners, benefits maps and benefits realisation are important concepts in benefits management process. Explain each of these concepts and their potential application to the computer-based assessment project.(10 marks)

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问答题(b) Assess the advantages of appointing experienced and effective non-executive directors to the KK board during the period in which the company was growing rapidly. (7 marks)

问答题2.Rosey and Atkins (R&A) is one of the largest institutional investors in the country. Its investment strategy has traditionally been to own a minor shareholding in each of the top 200 companies on the stock exchange. The R&A shareholding is typically between 2% and 10% of each company and it manages funds for over two million clients(people and businesses who buy into share funds managed by R&A). Established over 200 years ago, R&A has always believed itself to be socially responsible. As part of its CSR strategy,R&A recently purchased 100% of the shares in a national housebuilder, Natcon, which it owned as a direct holding and did not include in its managed funds. Natcon, in turn, owned a large amount of land suitable for future low cost housing development. The R&A website reported that the reason for this purchase was to address the board’s concerns over a shortage of affordable housing in the country which R&A felt they could help to address by having outright ownership of Natcon. R&A reported that there was a large social need for affordable homes, and it hoped to create many hundreds of new low cost homes each year. Natcon wanted to build a large estate of new homes in the town of Housteads and the local government authority granted the required building permission. But the nearby University of Housteads strongly opposed it because it believed the new houses would ruin what was considered to be a panoramic view from the university campus which helped it to recruit staff and students to the university. Both the Housteads local government authority and the University of Housteads had money from reserves invested as clients (i.e. fund investors) with R&A, but with the university having a substantially smaller investment in the fund than the local government authority. The local government authority also owned shares in R&A, meaning that it was both an investor in funds and a shareholder in R&A. Required: