[Apr-2025] CIPS L4M2 Official Cert Guide PDF [Q137-Q152]

As you can see from the scenario, ABC Group is developing the new product. It might be using value engineering. The latter sentences confirm this: the cross-functional team in ABC is mapping the functions and surveying the customers. Their method is known as Kano model.
Reference:
LO 3, AC 3.4

Detailed Explanation:The bargaining strength of suppliers and buyers is a key factor influencing market competitiveness, as outlined in frameworks like Porter’s Five Forces. These forces dictate pricing, supply availability, and value delivery. Reference: CIPS Level 4, Market Analysis and Competitive Forces.

There are three basic groups of WLC (whole life-cycle costing) models:
– Decision support models
– Simulation models: Life cycle cost is an essential approach to decide on alternative rehabilitation strategies for infrastructure systems. Monte Carlo simulation approach is used to develop a stochastic life cycle cost (SLCC) model and methodology in order to compare different rehabilitation scenarios/alternatives for infrastructures, such as water mains. This method assumes that some inputs are randomly variable in a range of values.
– Optimisation models
Reference:
LO 1, AC 1.2

There are three major types of buying situations, which are new purchase, modified rebuy and straight rebuy. Three factors make the buying situations be different from the others, customers may face different problems in these situations.
A new purchase is a situation requiring the purchase of a product for the very first time.
A straight rebuy is when a company places a second order with a supplier that is identical to the first purchase it made.
A modified rebuy is when a company orders again from a supplier, but wants to change some as-pect of the order, such as the quantity, packaging, product features, or delivery times. The scenario above is an example of modified rebuy.
Reference:
– What is a straight rebuy example?
– CIPS study guide page 3-4

Barriers to entry is an economics and business term describing factors that can prevent or impede newcomers into a market or industry sector, and so limit competition. The most obvious barriers to entry are high start-up costs and regulatory hurdles which include the need for new companies to obtain licenses or regulatory clearance before operation. Also, industries heavily regulated by the government are usually the most difficult to penetrate. Other forms of barrier to entry that prevent new competitors from easily entering a business sector include special tax benefits to existing firms, patent protections, strong brand identity, customer loyalty, and high customer switching costs.
In the scenario, the new factory for chipset manufacturing costs billions of dollars, which indicates high set-up costs. Also, the incumbent manufacturers have reached economies of scale, allowing them to produce the components at optimal price.
The above descriptions are compiled from recent reports on current chip shortage (2021).

Products used in agriculture can be subject to shortage due to natural disasters.

In the scenario, the products have low value and high risk of supply. This group is known as bottleneck or critical in Kraljic’s portfolio matrix. The objective for such items would be securing the supply. The company can achieve this goal by ‘making’ the products themselves, or finding an alternative option.
Diagram Description automatically generated

Payback period is the time in which the initial outlay of an investment is expected to be recovered through the cash inflows generated by the investment. It is one of the simplest investment apprais-al techniques.
Since cash flow estimates are quite accurate for periods in the near future and relatively inaccurate for periods in distant future due to economic and operational uncertainties, payback period is an indicator of risk inherent in a project because it takes initial inflows into account and ignores the cash flows after the point at which the initial investment is recovered.
The formula to calculate the payback period of an investment depends on whether the periodic cash inflows from the project are even or uneven.
If the cash inflows are even (such as for investments in annuities), the formula to calculate payback period is:
Payback Period = Initial Investment / Net Cash Flow per Period
When cash inflows are uneven, we need to calculate the cumulative net cash flow for each period and then use the following formula:
Payback Period =A + (B/C)
Where,
A is the last period number with a negative cumulative cash flow;
B is the absolute value (i.e. value without negative sign) of cumulative net cash flow at the end of the period A; and C is the total cash inflow during the period following period A Cumulative net cash flow is the sum of inflows to date, minus the initial outflow.

Detailed Explanation:
* A (Early supplier involvement): Engaging suppliers early fosters innovation by leveraging their expertise in developing solutions.
* D (Outcome-based specification): Focusing on outcomes rather than rigid inputs encourages creative and flexible proposals.Conformance specifications (C) restrict innovation, and standards (E) limit supplier flexibility. Reference: CIPS Level 4, Innovation in Procurement Specifications.

According to Andrew Graves, “Through-life Management involves the life-cycle management of the products, services and activities required to deliver a fully integrated capability to the customer, while reducing the cost of ownership for the customer.” Benefits of through-life asset management can be:
– Lower total life-cycle costs
– Better match between the asset and end-user’s needs
– Better supplier capabilities over time because it gains experience of buying organisation’s needs.
Reference:
LO 3, AC 3.2

There are two major types of specification: conformance and performance specifications. They have the following characteristics:
Table Description automatically generated

Since performance specification is often a list of outputs or outcomes, it usually takes less time to develop than conformance specification.

A product’s life cycle portrays the length of time a product is in the market; from the beginning of its introduction to consumers until it is removed from shelves and phased out. This cycle is often divided into four phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Depending on the relevant stage, companies will set an according strategy to achieve their desired targets. Pricing and promotions play a pivotal role in the design of these product life cycle strategies. Therefore, product life cycle management, the process of strategizing ways to continuously support and maintain a product, is seen more and more at pricing mature players and could bring real value to your company.
Introduction phase: during the introduction phase, the new product is introduced to consumers and a substantial amount of money is invested in advertising and marketing campaigns to bring awareness of the product to the customer. In this phase competition is low, but units sold will also correspondingly be quite low as well still. Consumers need to be convinced of the benefits of the product. Lots of articles never make it beyond this phase: e.g. 3D televisions.
Profits in the introduction stage tend to be low or there may even be a loss. This is because the cost of marketing to establish product awareness plus distribution costs can be far higher than the revenue received from sales. This can be offset to a degree by ‘skimming’ price in the very early stages. Skimming a price is where a business charges the highest price that it thinks the market will bear initially until product recognition brings in other buyers and then the price drop.
Growth phase: when it’s shown there is proven demand for the product and consumers are buying it, the next stage will be its growth phase. This phase is punctuated by increasing demand, increas-ing production and an increase in the competitive landscape. Availability of the product is under-standably paramount during this phase, going out of stock is unthinkable during the growth period.
The electric car is an example of a product that is currently in the midst of the growth phase.
Maturity phase: normally the maturity phase is the phase that is characterized by declining production and marketing costs due to synergies and economies of scale. During this phase the first signs of market saturation occur and most consumers or households already own the product. Sales numbers still grow, but at a slower pace. In the maturity phase, price competition becomes intense, a broader range of distribution channels are deployed and competition is more focused on competitive pricing, marginal product differences or the difference in services or promotions. This period in the PLC is often said to be the ‘cash-cow period’.
That being said, the idea of ‘Maturity from the start’ also exists. This occurs when a brand decides to launch a product extension and directly follows up the maturity phase of an earlier version of the product. For example, the iPhoneX followed up from the ‘normal’ iPhone-series and therefore the iPhoneX never had to undergo the introduction or growth phase, but immediately started in its maturity phase.
Decline phase: the final phase of the PLC is entered once the product loses market share to other, newer products and the competitive landscape becomes too hard to survive. During this stage, de-mand declines, companies are left with overstock with prices and margins getting depressed. Therefore retailers and brands normally start stunting with promotions during the decline of the PLC to sell their final stock.
A well-known example of a product that has been through the decline phase were the Nokia phones; sales results dramatically decreased after the introduction of the iPhone.
Reference:
– CIPS study guide page 90
– Adjusting your Pricing Strategy to the Product Life Cycle Stage (omniaretail.com)
– Price Skimming Definition (investopedia.com)
LO 2, AC 2.2