the cima student

The CIMA MCS pre seen materials were released by CIMA – you can find them here.

I normally analyse the pre seen materials in the form of a SWOT analysis, but I thought I would pick a theme from the materials and look to piece together a story as to how you can plan your answer on exam day.

Maximising Profit Margins

It’s clear that the trend of the industry is moving towards smart devices.

This is inferred by the news articles at the back of the pre-seen and the shift in revenue from 2019 to 2020 – the demand for Smart Speakers is defintely on the rise.

The issue that Frinta will now be facing is the fact their Smart Devices “Frinta Friends” are not as profitable as the more traditional heating and ventilation controllers.

If we look at the costings of their products, we can calculate the profit margins and it’s evident that the increase in sales and demand for the Smart Devices will lower the groups overall profit margins.

To combat this, Frinta can either;

• Increase selling prices of smart speakers
• Decrease cost of production

We are told in the pre seen materials that Frinta’s products are marketed on “quality and functionality” and “feedback from consumers indicate that Frinta’s products inspire confidence because of their high build quality.”

So looking to cut costs of production could be a risk to their quality which would hurt their brand.

What’s more, we are told that;

Frinta’s only major competitor in the smart speaker market is Ypburn. The retail prices for both company’s products are comparable. Neither company actively aims to compete with the other on the basis of price.

This leads me to think that Frinta has room to increase prices if they can market it to the customer that their product is head and shoulders above Ypburn. Which many of their customers already believe based on the quotes in the preseen.

New Product Opportunity

Another point that seemed glaringly obvious in the pre seen materials were the customer reviews of the Ypburn Home Alarm systems – a product that Frinta doesn’t yet produce.

The home alarm system itself seems to be a great hit with the customers and feels like a natrual area of the market Frinta can move towards.

Although there was a modest 3 thumb review that caught my eye.

I am awarding this product three thumbs. It would have been five, but I am annoyed that I had to pay for two door/window sensors when I only need one and for a siren that I wouldn’t have purchased if I’d had a choice.

The Ypburn home alarm kit comes in a standard size kit with two door/window sensors and three indoor sensors but nothing smaller.

There is an opportunity here for Frinta to enter this area of the market and cater for customers who have smaller needs, perhaps looking at a “build your own” alarm package so customers can buy single pieces of the alarm kit.

The CIMA Student Conclusion

Hopefully this has given you some ideas on how you can analyse the pre-seen materials, find a theme and build a story around it.

If you can build up this kind of knowledge on the Frinta case study scenario, then you can natrually begin to tie this information together in your answers on exam day.

Good Luck!

CIMA MCS Frinta Astranti Case Study Course

The full Astranti MCS case study course has recently been revamped and contains more resources than ever to help your pass the MCS exam first time.

• Pre seen materials pack (analysis, top 10 issues, industry examples & 30 questions)
• 5 x mock exams with feedback
• Syllabus theory revision series
• Exam technique series
• Ethics and questions packs
• Tutor feedback
• Pass guarantee & money back guarantee

Good Luck with your studies.