Page 13 - CIMA May 18 - MCS Day 2 Suggested Solutions

CIMA MAY 2018 – MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Marketing and sales – occurs throughout the process with heavy emphasis on client contact (in
the case of passengers) and the tendering agreement process for schools and government
departments. The activities undertaken here can influence the success of MENTA considerably
and we will need to be sure that we have the correct skill set and appropriate information to
make decisions on new routes or new markets in this critical activity. In addition MENTA does
have on‐line sales for which it may be appropriate to use social media to market its services to a
new and wider audience, for example, in a recent survey 55% of respondents from the age group
18 to 29 years own a car or another motor vehicle, meaning that at least 45% might consider bus
services for regular travel.

Service ‐ would involve dealing with all after‐sales activities. In our case we would be dealing with
the passenger (schools, government and individual passengers) in terms of complaints and any
corrective action taken. This is a sensitive area and one traditionally associated with
differentiators. The customer will expect a safe and reliable service however and that will apply
throughout the whole process, particularly given the options we are offering for customers.

Support Activities, for MENTA these are critical activities, contributing directly to the success of
the business and are inextricably linked to delivering value.

Procurement – for example, purchasing involving the negotiation of the best deals from our
suppliers (of which there are likely to be many) is a key activity for MENTA to ensure quality of the
vehicles, materials and compliance with environmental policies for example.

HRM – all matters relating to staff from recruitment through to dismissal. This is particularly
relevant for MENTA, given the growth in the number of staff (now 35000 worldwide) and is not a
function that is currently represented on the board or with a separate department. Despite future
technological developments, it will always be likely that we employ human operators to comply
with the nature of our business model. As the industry is clearly subject to change, MENTA may
need to consider hiring professionals in this sensitive area to deal with issues that may arise with
key stakeholders such as trade unions.

Technology development – essentially how we at MENTA will use technology. This is an area upon
which MENTA will be increasingly reliant for future success with the changes in the external
environment creating almost a constant need for update to sustainability, efficiency, sourcing of
new vehicles, increased reliance on data for decision making etc. The introduction of new
technology is very much a possibility and MENTA need to be careful that they have the rights skills
in place. This may again be a reason to consider employing HR professionals.

Infrastructure – deals with how we at MENTA are organised to include structure, culture, finance
and the policies and processes that MENTA has in place. This is an area that will need some
additional work based on the future strategic growth plans and the increased need for
communication and interaction between our depots to improve efficiency and lead the business
forward.

Application of the value chain:

Our basic approach should be to work through the elements of the value chain, as identified by
the model and consider which of the activities MENTA undertakes contribute towards our client
and passenger experience. The starting point would therefore be to understand what each link in
the value chain contributes, if anything, to the creation of added value.

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