Q.1

(a)

Definitions of Acquisition and Merger were quite precise and generally written in a manner that clearly drew distinction between the two terms. Reasons for acquisitions and mergers were also pointed out by most of the candidates with right perspective, hence students scored very well in this part.

(b)

Students struggled a bit whilst pointing out the reasons for not taking the abandonment decision. Most of the candidates described obstacles / reasons that          lead to closure of any business; instead of  identifying  reasons for non abandonment such as government interventions, opportunity cost, redundancy payments, severance cost and marketing considerations.

Q.2

Majority of answers were well directed and as per requirement. However some of the students mixed HR/Operational Management with Public Relations and lost marks. For example the point of publicizing about the adoption of best practices was related to Public Relations and not HR/Operational Management. Moreover, in the first part some students elaborated too much on good working conditions and few came out with need to have good practices and the value and necessity to adhere to legislation.

Q.3

Here, by and large the response revolved around poor working conditions and other unhealthy management policies and practices. Very few candidates came to the pertinent points for example

• compromising on quality in a race to produce more
• dependence on other workers i.e. where team work is essential
• important considerations other than monetary gains

It seemed as if students could generally not apply what they apparently read in theories due to which answers were generalized to a great extent.

Q.4

The actual answer was based on the “identification of customer needs”. Very few student developed answer on the basis of the above point. Majority concentrated on developing new marketing strategies for the old product. Surprisingly a large number of students were not even able to identify Zodiac’s previous orientation to the market - a mix of sales and production orientation.

Q.5

(a)

Students were unable to differentiate between the three terms. Most of them were unable to explain the main issue that although monetary gain is not the ultimate objective of NGO’s yet, better utilization of monetary resources will allow them to better achieve their objectives, obviously because their reasources as are also limited.

(b)

This was a well attempted question in which students scored good marks.

Q.6

(a)

The definitions provided were very general in nature. Similarly rest of the

solution was also very general. This clearly showed that students had left this areas for answering on the basis of their general perceptions and had not studied it in detail.

(b)

Students provided correct answers and scored good marks in this part, as the description of five ways in which on-the-job training can be imparted was an easy task.

Q.7

This was the most poorly attempted question. Some students were able to explain the concept but were unable to give specific consumer actions that classify the different goods in particular categories.

Q.8

Majority of the students provided answers that concentrated on the Marketing aspects of Packaging. Few students talked about User convenience, Product hygiene and User Information.

Q.9

Very few students provided answers meeting the technical areas of the solution. Although answers were general in nature but they were relevant.

Q.10

The overall score in this question was good. The answers showed students’ understanding of WTO and its implications on international markets in general and Pakistani market in particular.