2.2. Motivation
A subsection of Business Studies, 9609, through 2. Human resource management (AS Level)
Listing 10 of 33 questions
Peterson Manufacturing (PM) PM is a large public limited company operating in the secondary sector. PM manufactures four types of industrial ovens. PM only sells its ovens to other businesses. Most of PM’s customers are bakeries which use the ovens to produce bread and cakes. Jacob is the Marketing Director of PM. He has been examining the data shown in Table 1. Table 1: Revenue data by oven type ($000s) Oven Type A B C D Jacob is worried about the future success of PM. He is aware of how the market for PM’s products has been changing. • Market research shows that customers prefer the more advanced products of competitors. • The sales team has reported that customers are becoming more demanding when negotiating prices. • In PM’s industry there is an increasing emphasis on developing effective customer relationships. • PM relies on trade fairs to attract new customers. However customer attendance at these fairs is declining. Jessica, the Human Resources Director, is proposing to replace the performance related pay scheme with a profit sharing scheme. The current system of bonuses, based on meeting production targets, will end. Table 2 contains a summary of these pay schemes. Table 2: Summary of different pay schemes Current performance related pay scheme Proposed profit sharing scheme • Workers are paid an hourly wage. • Workers also receive a bonus based on meeting production targets each month. • 90% of production targets were met in 2015. • Workers will be paid an hourly wage. • Workers will also receive a bonus based on the profit of PM each year. Some workers are not happy about this change and worker representatives have asked for a meeting with Jessica. Workers know that revenue and profit have been declining over the last few years. Workers blame poor marketing and a lack of product development. However PM managers hope that new types of oven will improve company performance in the future. Workers’ bonuses have been rising but only due to increased hours worked. Define the term ‘public limited company’ (line 1). Briefly explain the term ‘worker representatives’ (line 32). Refer to Table 1. Calculate the percentage decrease in total revenue between 2013 and 2015. Briefly explain one likely effect on PM of this decrease in total revenue. Analyse how PM could use the 4Cs to improve its customer relationships. Discuss the advantages a nd disadvantages to PM’s employees of the change from performance related pay to a profit sharing scheme.
9609_s16_qp_21
THEORY
2016
Paper 2, Variant 1
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Questions Discovered
33