BPP Blog

The CIMA E3 paper continues the trend of testing key syllabus areas in an entirely fair manner. In fact, the recurrence of Mendelow (a favourite subject for the examiner) and an entire question on the Balanced Scorecard made parts of the paper feel very lenient for a strategic level exam.

Section A

The unseen scenario in Question 1 focused on franchising and planning control systems. Both of these issues were clearly flagged in the pre-seen and candidates should have felt entirely comfortable addressing them.

Section B

In Section B, students should have appreciated that Question 4 was a gift – a classic application and discussion of the Balanced Scorecard. For the second optional question, Question 2 contained nine easy marks (external analysis and stakeholder mapping) which sandwiched an interesting discussion of the conflict between CSR and stakeholder interests. Question 3 also began with a gentle explanation of evolutionary v big bang change and, after an evaluation of proposed solutions, concluded with a generous nine marks for advising how to manage resistance to change.

View further details on studying CIMA with BPP.