2025 Realistic L4M2 100% Pass Guaranteed Download Exam Q&A [Q27-Q45]

Detailed Explanation:Roles such as a data researcher and marketing consultant are directly tied to the provision of services, which are intangible and often knowledge-driven. Warehouse managers and logistics directors are more relevant to goods markets. Reference: CIPS Level 4, Services Procurement.

The buying organisation is keen to encourage innovation so they should use the outcome or output based specification. In an outcome-based specification, umbrella statements like ‘good quality’, ‘ambient temperature’, ‘convenient way’ are often used. This may confuse the suppliers, and it’s hard to check the solution that supplier offers. On the other hand, ouput-based specifications often include measurable requirements. For example, a specification for air conditioning system states that the system should maintain the room temperature at 19-24 degrees Celsius. Therefore, output specification is more appropriate in this case.

Through-life Management involves the life-cycle management of the products, services and activities required to deliver a fully integrated capability to the customer, while reducing the cost of ownership for the customer.
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Source: Andrew Graves
With through-life management, buyer not only cares about the physical asset but also other factors like customer services and maintenance.

Kano model of excitement and basic quality (Kano et al, 1984; Berger et al, 1993; Matzler et al, 1996) brings a different perspective for the analysis of improvement opportunities in products and services because it takes in consideration the asymmetrical and non-linear relationship between performance and satisfaction. The Kano model classifies customers requirements in three categories (figure 3):
a) Basic Requirements. The basic requirements fulfill the basic functions of a product. If they are not present or their performance is insufficient, customers will be extremely dissatisfied. On the other hand, if they are present or have sufficient performance, they don’t bring satisfaction. Customers see them as prerequisites. For instance, for luxury automobiles, “air bags” are considered basic. A customer won’t feel satisfied if the automobile has “air bag”, however he/she will not buy it if “air bag” is not present.
b) Performance Requirements. As for these requirements, satisfaction is proportional to the performance level – the higher the performance, the higher the customer’s satisfaction will be and vice-versa. Gas consumption in automobiles is an example of these requirements. Usually customers explicitly demand performance requirements.
c) Excitement Requirements. These requirements are key to customer satisfaction. If they are pre-sent or have sufficient performance, they will bring superior satisfaction. On the other hand, if they are not present or their performance is insufficient, customers will not get dissatisfied. For instance, a surprise gift at the end of a dinner in a restaurant will certainly bring satisfaction, but it will not cause dissatisfaction if not offered. These requirements are not demanded nor expected by customers.
Two other types of requirements may be identified in the Kano model: neutral and reverse ones. Neutral requirements do not bring either satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Reverse requirements bring more satisfaction if absent than if present.

Reference:
– Integrating Kano model and QFD for Designing New Products
– CIPS study guide page 171-172

The quantity of aluminium Apple needs to buy is calculated as follows:
Quantity needed for production + the inventory needed at the end of the year – inventory at start of the year That formula is quantified as: 200 + 54.8 – 27.4 = 227.4

One of the biggest disruptors in retail has been e-commerce. According to a report by IDC, in the month of December 2018, which is also the holiday season in the west, the e-commerce sector globally, has grown by 20 percent.
LO 2, AC 2.2

Value Analysis (VA) is concerned with existing products. It involves a current product being ana-lysed and evaluated by a team, to reduce costs, improve product function or both. Value Analysis exercises use a plan which step-by-step, methodically evaluates the product in a range of areas. These include costs, function, alternative components and design aspects such as ease of manufac-ture and assembly.
According to the Value Methodology standard, there are 6 phases to a Value Analysis:
– Information
– Function Analysis
– Creative
– Evaluation
– Development
– Presentation
1. Information
In this first phase, the team attempts to understand why the project exists and who or what it is to produce.
They obtain project data, present the original design or product concepts, and understand the project scope.
Schedule, costs, budget, risk, and other non-monetary issues are studied until the team is comfortable with the concept of the project, what it is to produce, and who its end users are.
This step also includes things like site visits and meetings with the project team, if required. Project documents like plans, drawings, specifications, and reports are obtained and the value engineering team becomes familiar with them.
2. Function Analysis
This step represents the meat and potatoes (core) of the value analysis. The team attempts to determine the functions the project serves. Functions come in two forms:
– Primary functions are those that represent the reason for the project’s existence, for example, a building project might have adequate plumbing as a primary function.
– Secondary functions are those that the project serves without being core to the project. For example, a building project might have as a secondary function maintaining the view of the neighboring building.
The functions are described in verb/noun pairs, such as “supply water to all suites,” or “Maintain view of adjacent park.” For a project like this, the team should come up with 10 – 15 functions. You might be surprised how many secondary functions exist for most projects. Subject matter experts would be a great resource, but in their absence an appropriate level of brainstorming and analysis are necessary.
The team should also identify value-mismatched functions to focus the improvements on. For ex-ample, maybe a large obstruction is preventing the view of the adjacent park from too many suites resulting in a potential mismatch of the cost vs. functional benefit. This is investigated in the next step.
3. Creative
This phase represents the generation of improvement ideas. The team develops alternative ways that the project can perform the functions that have been identified. At this step, the functions are looked at individually and each one gets a list of alternative ways to perform the function. There is no judging between the importance of the various functions.
4. Evaluation
At this stage, a priority is given to each project improvement idea. The ideas are discussed and potential costs are determined. Once the risk-reward profile of each idea is itemized, the team has determined which ideas are worth implementing into the project or feature.
A few years ago, there was a pedestrian bridge built near my home which was originally designed for emergency vehicles. Although this type of design is standard practice for the bridges of this type, the value engineering team identified that emergency vehicle passage was not needed (verb/noun pair = ‘maintain passage for emergency vehicles’). Also, a second major outcome of this value analysis was to change the design to an aesthetic, curved bridge because it was in a prominent location. The redesign of the bridge cost some money but this was more than made up by the cost of the bridge construction. Thus, the value analysis paid for itself about 10 times over in the reduced construction cost, and the bridge was significantly more aesthetic.
5. Development
Once the value improvement options have been whittled down to the ones that make sense, the value engineering team develop the options to the point of passing them back to the original project team. They must be clearly written and explained so that the project owner and stakeholders can understand how it benefits the project and act on it. Any potential negative factors are identified. Potential costs and cost savings are itemized.
6. Presentation
This last phase represents the presentation of the alternatives to the stakeholders. Often value engineering represents a change in the normal practices that people are used to, an “out of the box thinking.” Thus the best salesperson on the team is often the best one to do the presentation.
Some typical products of a value engineering analysis are a briefing document, risk analy-sis, present worth analysis, advantages vs. disadvantages, etc.

Market analysis is a stage in CIPS Procurement and Supply Cycle. This stage informs the purchaser about the number of suppliers, the average pricing, and product trends. Even urgent purchase should undergo market analysis. Without undertaking this stage, the buying organisation may not purchase the right product, or they may purchase at higher price.
Reference:
LO 2, AC 2.1

Detailed Explanation:When the buyer does not align with the supplier’s strategic interests, the supplier may take advantage by charging higher prices to compensate for the perceived lack of value. This approach maximizes the supplier’s benefit from a transactional relationship. Reference: CIPS Level 4, Supplier Engagement and Negotiation Strategies.

The term product life cycle refers to the length of time a product is introduced to consumers into the market until it’s removed from the shelves. The life cycle of a product is broken into four stages-introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

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Source: https://blueoceanoutsource.co.ke/the-product-life-cycle-concept/ At maturity stage, price competition sets in as more and more supply capacity has been added by new entrants, then the competition will be the most intense.

Products used in agriculture can be subject to shortage due to natural disasters.

As you can see from the scenario, the procurement manager is suggesting to use cost plus pricing arrangement.
A cost-plus contract is an agreement to reimburse a company for expenses incurred plus a specific amount of profit, usually stated as a percentage of the contract’s full price. These type of contracts are primarily used in construction where the buyer assumes some of the risk but also provides a degree of flexibility to the contractor.
Cost-plus contracts can be separated into four categories. They each allow for the reimbursement of costs as well as an additional amount for profit:
1. Cost-plus award fee contracts allow the contractor to be awarded a fee usually for good per-formance.
2. Cost-plus fixed-fee contracts cover both direct and indirect costs, in addition to a fixed fee.
3. Cost-plus incentive fee contracts happen when the contractor is given a fee if his or her perfor-mance meets or exceeds expectations.
4. Cost-plus percent-of-cost contracts allow the amount of reimbursement to rise if the contrac-tor’s costs rise.
In the scenario, the procurement manager suggests a pricing structure that covers supplier’s costs and adds 10% markup. This is cost-plus fixed-percentage.
Reference:
– Cost-Plus Contract Definition (investopedia.com)
– CIPS study guide page 30-36
LO 1, AC 1.2

Through-life management is a approach applied to capital asset. According to Ward and Graves, Through-life Management involves the life-cycle management of the products, services and activities required to deliver a fully integrated capability to the customer, while reducing the cost of ownership for the customer. According to CIPS study guide, through-life management comprises of 6 parts:
1. Design
2. Manufacture
3. Installation
4. In-service support
5. Decommission and disposal
6. Customer support
In this scenario, the company is planning to procure a ship, which is a capital asset. Through life management is a good approach. Sealines can start with developing through-life specification. This approach may have several benefits:
– It lowers the costs over the whole life of the asset
– It lowers the risks as there is a single company accountable for costs and service over the life of the asset
– A closer match between the asset delivered and the users’ needs
– Development of capability over the life of the asset as the supplier continues to get experience of the users’ needs and can adapt services to meet them.

The bargaining power of supplier is a major determinant of the structure of an industry and also how much profit is available to organisation operating in that industry. Supplier is weak if:
– Substitutes are available and easy to access
– Suppliers are small and fragmented
– The industry is important to the seller
– The sellers’ product or service is not an important of the industry’s value chain
– The sellers’ product or service is undifferentiated
– There are no significant switching costs
– There is no threat of forward integration.
Suppliers may have more power:
– If they are in concentrated numbers compared to buyers.
– If there are high switching costs associated with a move to another supplier.
– If they are able to integrate forward or begin producing the product themselves.
– If they have specific expertise or technology needed to manufacture goods.
– If their product is highly differentiated.
– If there are many buyers and none make up significant portions of sales.
– If there are no substitutes available.
– If there are strong end users who can exert power over the organization in favor of a supplier (This can be the case in labor situations).
In all of these cases, the bargaining power of suppliers is high to demand premium prices and set their own timelines.
LO 2, AC 2.2

Functional benchmarking is a comparison to similar or identical practices (e.g., the picking process for assembling customer orders, maintaining inventory controls of spare computer parts, logistics to move operational forces, etc.) within the same or similar functions outside the immediate industry. Functional benchmarking might identify practices that are superior in your functional areas in whatever industry they may exist. Functional benchmarking would be accomplished at the federal level by comparing the IRS collections process against those of American Express. Comparing copper mining techniques to coal mining techniques is an example in the private sector.
Benefits
– Provides industry trend information
– Quantitative comparisons
– Better improvement rate
Challenges
– Diverse corporate cultures
– Great need for specificity
– Not invented here. syndrome
– Common functions can be difficult to find
– Takes more time than internal or percent
– Must be able to visualize how to adapt the best practices
Source: USN Benchmarking Handbook
LO 1, AC 1.3