What does this mean

QUESTION $1$

$(20$ Marks$)$

Reflect on the observation below and answer the following questions.

While the article highlights the financial underperformance of Pick $n$ Pay as the group's primary challenge, it is Gareth Ackerman's statement, Chairman of Pick n Pay, that points to the root of the issue: $"$It was distressing to find that operational changes over many years had caused the core business to decline to its position at the end of the $2024$ financial year."

$1\mathrm{.}1.$ Critically discuss how effective integration and alignment across the three $(3)$ major functional areas

$(10$ Marks$)$

$-$finance, operations, and marketing$-$and across their supporting functions, impacts overall organisational performance. Your discussion should integrate theoretical perspectives from operations management literature and provide detailed supporting information from the article to demonstrate how these interrelationships have influenced Pick n Pay's current situation.

$1\mathrm{.}2.$ The article further notes that "a misguided strategy caused tremendous harm to the retailer, which

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used to outperform Shoprite" and that $"$It became evident that key elements of the strategy were not working in the core Pick n Pay supermarket business." Considering these challenges and focusing exclusively on the operations strategy, a key element of the business strategy, discuss how Pick n Pay can develop a new effective operations strategy that leverages Chase and Aquilano's $(2006)$ concept of 'four perspectives of operations strategy'.

QUESTION $2$

$(20$ Marks$)$

$2\mathrm{.}1.$According to the article, "the company blossomed and grew to $2,227$ stores across South Africa,

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Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe."

Discuss any six $(6)$ probable reasons why Pick n Pay has internationalised its domestic operations to Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

$2\mathrm{.}2.$Suppose Pick n Pay sells $2500000$ units annually of a popular product within its Namibian operations. The cost to place, process, and receive an order from the supplier is R$100$ per order, and the cost to carry each unit of the product in the distribution center is R $0\mathrm{.}20$ per year. The acquisition cost of the product from the supplier is R$50$ per unit. Assume these costs remain constant throughout the year.

REQUIRED:

Using the information provided above, answer the following questions:

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}1.$Calculate the economic order quantity $($EOQ$)$ for the product.

$(3$ Marks$)$

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}2.$ Based on the EOQ model, calculate the total annual ordering cost and the total annual carrying cost

$(5$ Marks$)$ for the product.

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}3.$A prospective supplier has proposed supplying $625000$ units of the product at the beginning of $(6$ Marks$)$ each quarter at a $2\%$ cash discount. Accepting this proposal would increase the annual carrying cost per unit to R$4\mathrm{.}50$ due to the need to expand the distribution center's capacity. The cost to place, process, and receive an order will remain R$100$ per order. Should Pick n Pay Namibia accept this proposal? Justify your decision by showing all relevant calculations.