Independent Living (IL) is a charity that provides living aids to help elderly and disabled people live independently in their own home. These aids include walkers, wheelchairs, walking frames, crutches, mobility scooters, bath lifts and bathroom and bedroom accessories. IL aims to employ people who would find it difficult or impossible to work in a conventional office or factory. IL's charitable aim is to provide the opportunity for severely disable people to 'work with dignity and achieve financial independence'. IL currently employs 225 people (the vast majority of whom are disabled) at its premises on an old disused airfield site. The former aireraft hangars have been turned into either production or storage facilities, all of which have been adapted for use by IL's employees. Smaller items (such as walking frames and crutches) are manufactured here. These are relatively unsophisticated products, manufactured from scrap metal bought from local scrap metal dealers and stored on-site. These products require no testing or training in use and they are packaged and stored after manufacture. IL uses its own lorry to make collections of scrap metal, but the lorry is old, unreliable and will soon need replacing. Larger and more complex items (such as mobility scooters and bath lifts) are bought in bulk from suppliers and stored in the hangars. Delivery of these items to IL is organised by their manufacturers. These products are stored until they are ordered. When an order is received for such products, the product is unpacked and tested. An IL transfer logo is then applied and the product is re-packaged in the original packing material with an IL label attached. It is then dispatched to the customer. Some inventory is never ordered and last year IL had to write off a significant amount of obsolete inventory. All goods are sold at cost plus a margin to cover wages and administrative costs. Prices charged are the same whether goods are ordered over the web or by telephone. Customers can make a further voluntary donation to help support IL if they wish to. About 30% of customers do make such a donation. Ordering and marketing IL markets its products by placing single-sided promotional leaflets in hospitals, doctors' surgeries and local social welfare departments. This leaflet provides information about IL and gives a direct phone number and a web address. Customers may purchase products by ringing IL directly or ordering over their website. The website provides product information and photos of the products which are supplied by Some inventory is never ordered and last year IL had to write off a significant amount of obsolete inventory. All goods are sold at cost plus a margin to cover wages and administrative costs. Prices charged are the same whether goods are ordered over the web or by telephone. Customers can make a further voluntary donation to help support IL if they wish to. About 30% of customers do make such a donation. Ordering and marketing IL markets its products by placing single-sided promotional leaflets in hospitals, doctors' surgeries and local social welfare departments. This leaflet provides information about IL and gives a direct phone number and a web address. Customers may purchase products by ringing IL directly or ordering over their website. The website provides product information and photos of the products which are supplied by IL. It also has a secure payment facility. However, customers who ring IL directly have to discuss product requirements and potential purchases with sales staff over the phone. Each sales discussion takes, on average, ten minutes and only one in two contacts results in a sale. 20% of sales are through the website (up from 15% last year), but many of their customers are unfamiliar with the internet and do not have access to it. Goods are delivered to customers by a national courier service. Service and support for the bought-in products (mobility scooters, bath lifts) are supplied by the original manufacturer. Commercial competitors IL is finding it increasingly difficult to compete with commercial firms offering independent living aids. Last year, the charity made a deficit of $160,000 and it had to sell some of its airfield land to cover this. Many of the commercial firms it is competing with have sophisticated sales and marketing operations and then arrange delivery to customers directly from manufacturers based in low cost countries. Required: IL fears for its future and has decided to review its value chain to see how it can achieve competitive advantage. (a) Analyse the activities of the value chain for the product range at IL. (b) Evaluate what changes IL might consider to the primary activities in the value chain to improve their competitiveness, whilst continuing to meet their charitable objectives. (c) ACCA