Question 1

Tuyambe Community Development (TCD) is a local Non-Governmental

Organization with its head office in Kampala and regional offices in 10 districts

throughout Uganda. TCD implements public health community initiatives with the

support of local and international donor organisations. The Chief of Party, Dr.

Musawo holds a PhD in public health, and reports directly to the board of

directors; who have collectively served on various boards of other health

development organisations. TCD's employees are of diverse background,

however, as a minimum requirement, they must all have public health training

prior to being recruited. This is considered a prerequisite to join the technical

implementation work force of the organisation.

One of the public health initiatives by TCD that is currently underway is the

distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets to the village community

households in each of the 10 districts. The exercise involves engaging the

community leaders and households not only about the benefits of sleeping under

insecticide treated mosquito nets, but also other ways of malaria prevention. In

this regard, the organisation has for sometime been running sensitization

campaigns on TV, even though some people in the target audience

(predominantly village communities) do not own television sets. The TV

campaigns are about the proper use of mosquito nets.

It was discovered during a survey conducted 7 years ago that fishermen were

using the mosquito nets for fishing while women used them for making wedding

gowns. Although this was highlighted as a key finding from the research, TCD

regional office staff have not been consistent in following up with the community

leaders about the effectiveness of the sensitization campaigns. The community

leaders recently complained that the illustration materials being provided to the

communities were all in English yet the villagers neither speak nor read English.

The leaders in the various districts have also expressed interest in participating in

a series of workshops in which they would be able to assist with translation of

the illustration materials into the local languages. The Chief of Party has agreed

to present this proposal to the board of directors in their next meeting.

TCD's leadership also recently approved a plan to support community drama and

theatre themed towards the benefits of sleeping under a treated mosquito net as

well as its proper use. If approved at the next board meeting, the initiative will

commence during the next distribution cycle. The board will also discuss the

matters raised by donors in a recent review of TCD's projects. A recent donor report highlighted some issues and action points as prerequisites for future

funding. The report notes that financial and progress reports are not submitted

on time and that most of the information has not changed from previous

reporting periods despite new activities being funded.

According to the Finance Manager, since the reporting system at the regional

offices is internet based, some reports are received late owing to network

interruption. He adds that although the data reporting tools were recently

upgraded, the employees are yet to receive refresher training on how to use

them. Likewise, some of the records have been misplaced because the file room

is not well organised. In light of this, the Finance Manager has opted to use

estimates in the reports in order to avert the pressure posed by reporting

deadlines.

TCD recently hired a new Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Mrs. Jane Naasi

who has introduced and implemented new work procedures. Work plans, for

example, have to be created and performance frameworks designed for tracking

and evaluation of the progress on assignments. The manager has also trained

the technical staff in writing detailed concept notes for TCD's public health

programmes so as to present them to the current and potential donors for

funding. The employees at the regional offices have been motivated by Mrs.

Naasi's new policies even though they have some concerns and challenges which

they communicated to management during the last staff meeting.

The regional office employees acknowledged the benefits of the support

provided by the head office team. The support has been received during field

implementation of health programmes. However the recent concern has been

the inconsistency of the support supervision programmes. Additionally, it was

reported that three of the employees under Mrs Jane Naasi had threatened to

quit because it was becoming increasingly difficult to work with Mr. Tawulira, a

nephew of Mrs. Naasi. Mr. Tawulira was hired to work with other officers despite

not having any public health training. He does not attend scheduled team

meetings and on some occasions during the intervention activities, he was

reported to have left before the end of the community engagement activities. In

one instance, the company laptop was only returned by Mr. Tawulira's associate,

who is not a TCD staff, after a long weekend.

In another development, the government has just announced a safe drinking

water programme with one of the campaigns being the distribution of water

treatment appliances. Under this initiative, Government intends to translate the

campaign materials into the major local languages. TCD has written a concept

note requesting for funding as a sub-recipient to implement this safe drinking

water programme.

In the circumstances, it is imperative that TCD management is conversant with

organizational dynamics and you have been approached as a management

consultant for advice

Required:

Write report to the management of TCD:

(a) Discussing the importance of strategic management to TCD as a nonprofit

organisation.

(10 marks)

(b) Conducting a SWOT analysis of TCD's business operations.

(15 marks)

(c) Evaluating the appropriateness of TCD's chosen means of communication

in achieving its organisational objectives.

(13 marks)

(d) Examining the ethical issues at TCD and proposing management

interventions to improve ethical conduct within the organisation.

(12 marks)

SECTION B

Attempt two of the four questions in this section.

Question 2

Drink-cola has for long been the reigning 'soft drink of choice' for many

customers in the Uganda beverages market. The soda is produced and supplied

by Drink Investments Limited (DIL). DIL was registered as the first beverage

producer in Uganda more than 40 years ago. In the previous five years,

however, especially following the entry of new competitors like Rohima-Cola,

Drink-cola has started to experience declining sales.

One of the approaches used by competitors is to breakdown DIL's distribution

channels by signing up the company's agents. The competitors have also

changed the packaging from the use of branded glass bottles to plastic

disposable bottles. Such and other related strategies introduced by competitors

have led to a fall in DIL's market share from 68% to 55%. The closest rival

product to drink-cola, which is produced by a competitor of DIL, has 13% market

share. While drink-cola seems to depend on its widely known brand name as a

key source of competitive advantage, it has fears that its leadership position is

significantly under threat. This is more so if nothing is done to counter advances

from ever growing rivalry and new entrants.

To make matters worse, more producers of substitute products like Gata Water

have continued to flood the market, targeting the very consumers of drink-cola.

Additionally, DIL's large clients such as Sweet-Foods Ltd., have been demanding

low prices. The recent reduction in the price of 'pure water' which is another

substitute product to drink-cola has further caused a slump in the industry

demand for carbonated beverages. Following a general slowdown in the

economy, some of DIL's suppliers have shown the need to increase prices of

their supplies, except that they are restricted by an agreement between them

and DIL which forbids such price increases. During a recent Board meeting, the

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DIL, confirmed that he was challenged with the

high costs that come with the need to keep changing marketing strategies for

the company's products.

While reflecting upon the evolution of the firm's marketing events over the years,

the CEO commented thus, "As the only producers of carbonated beverages then,

our concern was on producing more and more of the product. There was always

assured market for our beverage and our only challenge then was timely receipt

of spare parts to ensure uninterrupted production. However, over time, this

company could only sell more by investing in advertising and other sales

promotion activities. The trend has kept on changing ever since and each change

comes with costs although the benefits have always outweighed the costs.

Matters are not being helped by the regional players such as East and Central

African Brewers Ltd who have the backing of international parent companies. On

the whole however, we have moved with the times and currently we recognize

that the customers are the reason why we exist. We are interested in making

them better not only with goods and services, but also in terms of general well

being, including their environment."

Required:

(a) Guided by the five forces model, assess DIL's competitiveness within the

beverages market in Uganda.

(15 marks)

(b) Analyse the stages that characterize the evolution of marketing at DIL.

(10 marks)

Question 3

Manpower Limited (MPL) is a prominent recruitment agency operating in Uganda.

MPL is currently working on an assignment from one of its clients, Wood Works

Limited (WWL), which tasked MPL to develop a tailor made 'job description' and

'job specification' for a newly created position of assistant office administrator.

WWL deals in the production and sale of timber, charcoal and domestic furniture.

In addition to the job description and job specification, WWL wants MPL to

provide training to its new recruits in the human resource department. As part of

the training, MPL will present a paper about the new job demands that come with

transforming the role of a personnel manager to that of a human resource

manager.

As a team leader working with MPL, you have been asked by the Chief Executive

Officer, to study the difference between personnel management and human

resource management. The CEO has guided you that he believes human resource

management is a more pragmatic approach to achieving organisation goals

compared to personnel management.

Required:

Prepare report:

(a) on the assignment provided by WWL management.

(15 marks)

(b) justifying the need to transform the role of personnel management to

human resource management.

(10 marks)

(Total 25 marks)

Question 4

In 2000, Pariza Electronics Limited (PEL) opened shop in Uganda with the

principal goal of maximizing the owners' wealth. This goal was to be achieved

using a number of strategies, one of which was expansion of operations by

opening up branches in all major districts of Uganda. At inception, four branches

were simultaneously opened in Kampala, Jinja, Lira and Mbale.

PEL deals in a range of products including mobile phones, television and radio

sets, music systems, cameras, computers and computer accessories among

others. Over the past two years, the sales at the company's various centres have

declined and many employees have increasingly failed to achieve the results

expected of them. The staff at operational level, especially those who directly

interface with the clients, indicate that challenges are bound to continue until the top management of PEL involves them in decision making. These staff are

seeking timely and meaningful feedback regarding their involvement in the

pursuit of organizational goals.

Meanwhile, arising from a special top management meeting, the board of PEL is

considering the following options as possible solutions to the challenges faced:

1. To hire an external management consultant to diagnose the problems of

PEL and provide readymade solutions on which to base future operations.'

2. To convene a meeting with all the operational staff of PEL and design an

in-house solution to the challenges.

You, as a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda and

a specialist in the field of management and strategy, have been approached on

the situation at PEL.

Required:

(a) Using the Doctor - Patient model, evaluate the appropriateness of the first

option in addressing the challenges faced by PEL.

(12 marks)

(b) Assess the practicability of adopting result oriented management as a

measure to address the challenges faced by PEL.

(13 marks)

(Total 25 marks)

Question 5

Tugendetukole Limited (TTL) is a small startup company, whose business is in

the fashion and design industry. The directors of TTL, Maggie and May, are

young graduates whose passion for contemporary fashion and design drove

them to start their own company. Their aim is to create the biggest fashion

design house in Uganda. These two entrepreneurs have no experience in running

their own business, but are optimistic that their company is going to be

profitable because they are skilled fashion designers.

TTL's directors plan to use mainly social media to colorfully market their products

and services which they hope to appeal to the urban youth who have created the

demand for celebrity inspired fashion designs. The challenge however remains

on how they will get their designer-products and services to their customers

since opening a shop up market is expensive yet funding is still limited. Maggie

has recently learnt that Traders' Bank Ltd now offers loans for entrepreneurs,

tailored to startup companies like TTL with attractive repayment plans. However,

May, her partner is skeptical about pursuing external funding options because of

the unnecessary formal requirements by the bank. May feels that since theirs is a small company, they do not have the experience and capacity to adequately

meet such procedures and that external borrowing is simply going to expose the

promising startup to unnecessary financial risks, including receivership.

TTL is in need of expert advice and management has consulted you on the way

forward.

Required:

Write memo to TTL management discussing the:

(a) reasons for preparation of a business plan.

(15 marks)

(b) essential elements of a tailor-made business plan for TTL.

(10 marks)