Task 1 Ex1

1(a) Report
Opportunities + how it benefits PSS (8m):
- Largest charity - PSS as a collaborative partner (promote in website, national press,
social media) - wide exposure among the public - reputation enhanced - possible
increase in demand
- Maintain high standards in hospital - choose PSS mattresses - recognise PSS high
quality mattresses - brand name / brand recognise - in line with the mission & value of
PSS
- Taking care of public health - new exposure to PSS in performing CSR - possible future
recognition by the public
- Fixed revenue by contract - at least 2 months - 1,000x2mthsx$190. If contract never
terminated, 1,000x6mthsx$190 - large stream of cash flows

Challenge + how it harms PSS (8m):

- Lower than retail price $50 - total revenue lost - $50x6x1,000
- Additional costs to be incurred - delivery - additional cash flows. recycle, dismantle - not
a relevant cost - current practice
- Only receive revenue end of the month - PSS has to incur initial cash flows.
- If disruption of supply chain - cannot get raw materials - non-delivery - non compliance of
contract - penalties - risk management on whether this is possible to happen - if yes,
extent of penalties? - cost estimation

1(b) 2 slides
(i) Actions needed to comply EMAS (5m)
- Set environmental policy - guidelines and procedures to minimise the disruption to the
environment
- Set the target to be achieved
- Review the current business process and operations - gap analysis with the set target -
improve
- Thorough understanding of EMAS requirements - self-read, training, experts?
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(ii) Areas in environmental policy (5m)

- Corporate values related to environmental aspects e.g. commitment in taking care of the
environment.
- Environmental targets - e.g. carbon neutral, waste disposal, recycle effort, etc.
- Code of ethics and conduct applicable to the entire organisation - dos and don’ts by the
employees.
- Detailed procedures in business processes especially on those potentially create
environmental footprints
- Process of reviewing the achievements of the targets and areas to improve

2(a) briefing paper Ex2

[Assess + consequence (9m)]
- Possible health issues due to exposure to chemicals from the lower quality foam -
clash with PSS value in employee welfare - lesser workers - cannot meet the production
demand
- Changed to a cheaper foam to cut costs - lower cost compromises the quality - clash
with PSS value in quality - customer dissatisfaction
- Assume same quality under the special offer - no proper checking and confirmation -
no assessment on the cost vs quality OR - low quality raw materials - wastage
during production, customer satisfaction, more returns and warranty claims.
- Hide the truth from the foundation - try to get the issues resolved internally and
committee to the promised quality - if this issue is public, take the proactive steps to
explain to the foundation.
- High costs in digital advertising - effectiveness? Less - lower OPM due to high marketing
cost but more customers dissatisfied with the mattresses (high DTC returns)
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Recommendation (9m)
- Review and investigate the quality of the foam - check whether meet PSS standards - if
not, talk to the suppliers on the possibility of changing
- Enhance the quality checking process at the beginning of the production process - train
the employees - more supervision
- Provide necessary care and compensation for the employees who are affected by the
foam quality.
- Review the marketing structure & the needs and effectiveness of marketing activities -
streamline to only focus on the activities which are effective - channel the costs to
controlling the quality of raw materials - valued by the customers.

2(b) Email Ex3

[Talent management features + helping value: quality, sustainability, service, innovation, ethics,
employee] (6m)
- Employees’ suggestions can be adopted - e.g. writing positive review - showcase the
quality of mattresses to the customers - boost demand
- Employees feel the urge to be innovative - involve those talented into R&D effort - help
in innovation activities through their ideas - keep up with the competition.
- Identify representatives who represent the employees - provide feedback regularly to the
top management - opinions help PSS to improve proactively.
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[Talent management features + have resources? feasible? conditions? financial result?] (6m)
- R&D effort requires investment - dropping OPM - can PSS support financially?
- Does PSS have good managers to lead the talent management programme?
 - Comprehensive reward system need to be developed - to recognise the efforts of the
talents.
- The process of recognising talented employees - how to determine the selection criteria?

3) Briefing notes: Ex4

(a)

[which type of data + how to analyse + how would this analysis help PSS] (6m)
- Identify possible trends and relationships between customers’ type and mattress
preferred - cater the marketing effort to specific groups of customers - increase
effectiveness of marketing costs.
- Design promotional activities based on the buying behaviour of customers - e.g. payday
sales, seasonal promotions, etc. - higher chance to boost the sales
- Identify high selling mattresses or mattresses with high views - arrange production
schedule to cater for high demand mattresses
- Gather reviews from customers who recently bought mattresses by sending emails -
display these reviews in website to close the sales from potential customers.

[possible threats of big data + consequence to PSS] (6m)

- High storage cost - need a huge capacity to store all data - frequent maintenance and
upgrade might be needed - need to hire experts
- Data being stolen - possible litigation cases (sued by customers). Data being corrupted -
affect the operations as need to collect again the customer data
- Incompatibility with current system - operation disruption due to system clash OR not
able to fully utilise big data analytics when money has been spent.

(b) [weakness + impact + recommendation] (12m)

- Lack of comprehensive quality control check - lack of knowledge in quality of raw
materials - impact: low quality mattress sold to customers - dissatisfaction - recom:
relook at quality control process - identify real problem of low quality - train quality
control staff to run more comprehensive quality control check - supervision
- Lack of monitoring and investigation on warranty claim - no proactive actions in solving
issues - impact: pro-longed bad publication about quality of mattress - recom: regular
reporting on quality issues & warranty claims to initiate the further investigation - assign
person-in-charge to oversee the process
OR
It may be the warranty claim is done too easily and cases are passed without detailed
investigation - impact: cost - review the warranty claim process and identify the
thresholds, clarify to the warranty claim staff on the conditions entitled for warranty
claims.
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