CSS Solved Business Administration Past Papers | (a) A successful strategy requires determining the firm’s Critical Success Factors (CSF) and core competencies. Discuss how a manager of pharmaceutical firm can align core competencies with CSF. (b) How an operation manager can manage demand of a product in the light of available capacity?
The following question is attempted by Miss Nimra Masood, the top scorer in CSS Business Administration papers. Moreover, the answer is written on the same pattern, taught by Sir to his students, scoring the highest marks in compulsory subjects for years. This solved past paper question is uploaded to help aspirants understand how to crack a topic or question, how to write relevantly, what coherence is, and how to include and connect ideas, opinions, and suggestions to score the maximum.
Part A: Critical Success Factors:
Also known as the key success factors, they are of utmost importance for an organizations success. They are crucial in developing the firm’s strategy, also being an integral part of the strategic management process. These factors vary from industry to industry as driving forces and competitive conditions change.
Nature and Extent of Critical Success Factors:
- These factors are integral to achieving mission, vision and organizational goals.
- It is found in internal areas like resources, skills or profitable market segments.
- These factors are limited areas of success ensuring competitive performance of the organization
- Their result can be measured
Sources of Critical Success Factors:
- Environmental Factors:
The conditions in which the company operates are crucial such as the economic, legal and social factors.
- Industry Factors:
Every industry has its own characteristics such as competition, geographic location and market.
- Organizational Factors:
Internal factors are as important as external and industry related factors. Factors such as human resource, skills and financial capabilities are organizational factors.
Core Competencies:
These are skills or capabilities that serve as a source of strength as compared to the competitors. They are part of the critical success factors that help company succeed. They evolve overtime as organizational better utilize their resources and skills.
Four Criteria for sustainable core competencies:
- Valuable Capabilities:
It allows the firm to exploit opportunities or neutralize threats in external environment. - Rare Capabilities:
Firm may possess such capabilities, which others cannot access easily. - Costly to imitate:
Firm have capabilities that are costly for others to gain. - Non-Substitutable Capabilities:
These capabilities cannot be replaced easily.
How manager of a Pharmaceutical firm can align core competencies with critical success factors:
Core competencies in majority cases are a part of the critical success factors. Like every industry pharmaceutical industry also have certain core competencies that can be aligned with the critical success factors. For Pharmaceutical industry following core competencies could become critical success factors:
- Research and innovation is the biggest core competency in pharmaceutical industry that can become a critical success factor for a firm.
- Marketing strategy is another core competency in pharmaceutical industry that can become a critical success factor.
- Skilled Human resource and financial strategy can also turn into a critical success factor in pharmaceutical business.
Part B: Managing Demand in Light of Available Capacity:
Managing supply and demand is the primary task of operations manager. Timely and efficient delivery is the crux of keeping a customer satisfied. Consistent shortage of product forces a customer towards substitute or competitors product. Similarly, excess supply results in huge inventory costs resulting in significant profit loss for the company. The need for managing demand arises when there is clear understanding of demand patterns and the capacity constraints. Managing demand means to shift customers away from a period when demand exceeds the available capacity. Operations manager can adopt various strategies to manage demand.
- Changing Price:
The most common approach to managing demand is shifting towards premium pricing. While, the companies offer discounts and sales when demand is low, they may shift towards premium pricing to reduce demand. Heavy use of price changes to stabilize demand is a risky strategy as it attracts fierce price competition and customers get accustomed to lower pricing throughout the year. Seasonal industries like airline, clothing and hotels are more prone to such challenges.
- Promotion:
Another crucial factor to managing demand is promotion, lowering promotion during peak season will aid in shifting demand towards substitutes or competitors. Likewise, excessive promotion in off-season, such as ice cream can help increase its demand.
- Communicating with customers:
Another approach towards shifting demand is communicating with customers. It will help to keep customers informed of peak times; hence, using the service at alternate times. Telecommunication and online taxi industry are some examples that face prime time issues. Therefore, these industries consistently communicate with customers and more importantly offer packages for time apart from prime time.
- Proper Forecasting:
One possible way to effectively manage demand is demand forecasting to understand future trends. This helps in planning in advance by better utilizing the resources available. It can also allow time to further stretch capacity by arranging overtime and other operational hurdles.
CSS Solved Past Papers’ Essays
Looking for the last ten years of CSS and PMS Solved Essays and want to know how Sir Kazim’s students write and score the highest marks in the essays’ papers? Then, click on the CSS Solved Essays to start reading them.
CSS Solved Essays
CSS Solved General Science & Ability Past Papers
Want to read the last ten years’ General Science & Ability Solved Past Papers to learn how to attempt them and to score high? Let’s click on the link below to read them all freely. All past papers have been solved by Miss Iqra Ali & Dr Nishat Baloch, Pakistan’s top CSS GSA coach having the highest score of their students.
General Science & Ability Solved Past Papers
CSS Solved Pakistan Affairs Past Papers
Want to read CSS Pakistan Affairs Solved Past Papers and learn how to attempt them to score high? Let’s click on the link below to read them all freely. All past papers’ questions have been attempted by Sir Kazim’s students, who scored the highest in the subject.
CSS Solved Pakistan Affairs
CSS Solved International Relations’ Past Papers
Have you opted for International Relations in the CSS examination and want to score above 150? Then, click on the CSS Solved International Relations’ Past Papers by Miss Abeera Fatima, the top IR scorer and the best IR coach in Pakistan.
CSS Solved International Relations Past Papers
Articles Might Interest You!
The following are some of the most important articles for CSS and PMS aspirants. Click on any to start reading.
