UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Portsmouth Business School

Introduction to Business Operations
U15024
Level 1, Semester 2

June 2010
Time allowed: 2 hours

This paper contains

Section A
7 compulsory questions. Complete your answer in the answer book. Total 70 marks
Section B
3 questions based on the attached case studies. All questions are compulsory. Complete your answers in the answer book. Total 30 marks

This is a closed book examination. No textbooks or files are allowed in the exam hall.

Department of Strategy and Business Systems
Unit co-ordinator: Briony Boydell

Calculators that are capable of holding text are not permitted in examinations
(for the purposes of identification calculators capable of holding text will have an alpha-numeric keypad, i.e. a-z letters)

Section A

Answer all questions in this section, use examples to illustrate you answers.

Q1 Once the project manager has been given the objective for a project, what are the stages the project manager should go through to prepare a project plan?
10 marks

Q2 What are the operational differences between goods and services? Give examples to illustrate your answer

10 marks

Q3 What factors can make projects complicated?

10marks

Q4 What are the operational advantages and disadvantages of Incremental, next generation and break through projects for operations managers?
10marks

Q5 What are the costs of holding stock? Consider the implications and costs of running short of inventory in your answer.
10marks

Q6 What strategies may an operation employ to match capacity and demand?

10marks

Q7 Explain with examples how the management of a large retail business (e.g. Tesco) can make use of the transactional data generated at point of sale. Explain the transformations that the data must undergo to yield information suitable for these management purposes. 10 marks

Section B

Smith and Sons

Smith & Sons are a firm of timber merchants operating five branches in West Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset, trading Monday to Friday. They currently use paper-based procedures to manage customer orders and stock. They are about to implement a replacement system linking the branches to a central computer at the head office in Southampton. There is a small IT department at head office, but employees in the branch offices have little or no IT expertise.

Q8 Identify the various possible approaches to system changeover that Smith & Sons might adopt, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each. Recommend the changeover strategy that you think would be most appropriate for Smith & Sons.
10 marks

Disney Land Paris

At the time of Disneyland Paris opening, more than 2 million European visitors had visited US Disney Parks. Initially as well as France, Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy had been considered as locations. The decision became a direct contest between Spain (Alicante region), with a tourist population and great weather and Paris. The new park promised over 30,000 jobs for the region so competition was fierce between the two locations.
Paris was selected as it offered a suitable site (at a reduced cost), good transport links with the channel tunnel and regular international flights, Paris was already a popular tourist destination and the local and national governments offered significant financial incentives such as VAT reduction on