← Strategic response to external factors

Evaluate a strategic response (TWICE in every paper)

Four sub-parts, identical wording every year. This is half the paper.

The four sub-parts, and what each needs

(i) STATE the response, then prove it is business-wide by naming AT LEAST TWO of: SIZE (significant resources committed, a senior-level decision), SCOPE (reaches multiple areas/departments of the business), TIMEFRAME (plays out, or its effects last, over an extended period).
(ii) ONE POSITIVE impact — mechanism, then the measure it improves.
(iii) ONE NEGATIVE impact — who bears it, and how.
(iv) JUSTIFIED CONCLUSION on likely success, using NEW information not already used above.

Exam-style External factor: a multinational competitor enters the market Evaluate a strategic response. (i) RESPONSE: reposition as a premium, locally-sourced brand. SIZE: repricing the range and re-sourcing inputs commits significant resources, so it needs a decision by senior management. SCOPE: marketing rebrands and repackages, operations changes suppliers and quality systems, and finance reprices the range — multiple departments, not just one. TIMEFRAME: the new positioning is meant to hold for years, not one season. (ii) POSITIVE: customers who value provenance will pay more, protecting margin even as volume shifts — and the multinational cannot copy genuine local sourcing. (iii) NEGATIVE: premium inputs raise unit cost, and price-sensitive customers are lost immediately, so revenue may dip before the repositioning takes hold. (iv) CONCLUSION: likely to succeed, because the business is too small to win a price war against a multinational's cost base — but only if it can fund 12–18 months of lower volume while the brand shifts. Its current cash position is therefore the deciding factor. ✓ The (i) answer must name at least two of size, scope and timeframe, in those words. The (iv) answer must add something — here, the funding condition.

Before writing, identify all four required pieces

The response itself, stated in one sentence.
Two of size, scope, timeframe, each with its own specific fact.
One positive AND one negative impact, each with a mechanism and a named measure.
A conclusion sentence built on information not used above.

The operational answer

"Run a promotion", "hire another salesperson", "redesign the website" are operational. They may be sensible, but they cannot score in a standard about strategic responses. Ask: can I name at least two of size, scope or timeframe for this response? An operational fix usually fails all three. ℹ

The (i)–(iv) shape never changes

Whatever the external factor named in the resource, the four sub-parts keep the same shape every year: prove business-wide, state one positive, state one negative, then conclude with new information. Learn the shape once and apply it to any scenario. ✓

This section appears twice per paper

Since "evaluate a strategic response" occupies two of the four parts every year, drilling this one section thoroughly covers roughly half the marks on the whole paper.