Free CIPS L4M5 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 3

Direct costs are expenses that can be clearly attributed to the production of specific goods. These typically include raw materials, direct labor, and other costs tied directly to the manufacturing process. They are variable with production volume and help procurement teams analyze pricing more effectively during negotiations.

According to Thomas-Kilmann conflict model instrument, there are 5 conflict management styles:

Accommodating is an unassertive and cooperative approach to resolving the conflict. Accommodating means conceding to the other party with little debate or fight, not challenging or strongly putting forward your own point of view and generally giving and yielding to the other party's point of view. Accommodating is best used when:

1. When others can resolve the conflict more effectively

2. When the issue is much more important to the other person than to yourself - to satisfy the needs of others and to show you are reasonable

3. To build up social credit for later issues which are important to you

4. When continued competition would only damage your cause

5. When preserving harmony and avoiding disruption are especially important

6. To aid in the managerial development of subordinates by allowing them to experiment and learn from their own mistakes

LO 1, AC 1.1

In the scenario, anyone who has concerns can join a meeting to raise their thoughts. The project team takes the stakeholders' ideas into account. This is known as coalition: A group of people or organisations come together and work collaboratively to achieve some goals. Specifically in this scenario, the goal is creating a high-quality and unified specification for an important project.

Both organisational and personal power have the ability to influence the outcomes of negotiation. Good negotiators recognises the different sources of relative personal power they possess in a negotiation. There is no one superior source of personal power; they will vary in their effectiveness based on the situation. The more personal sources available the better, even if some not used, these can be used as a fallback.

LO 1, AC 1.3

Trust is built through consistent communication (e.g., regular meetings) and fulfilling commitments (keeping promises). Coercion erodes trust, while mediation is reactive and not a foundational element of trust-building.

In the scenario, the main cost driver is suppliers' mark-up. The priority should be limit the margin to be added. XYZ Ltd can agree “cost plus” contracts with their suppliers to ensure no IT product purchased exceeds an agreed maximum margin level. Procurement teams can use their benchmarking tools to police these contracts. Cost plus contracts are agreements where the contractor's pricing is based on itemising allowable costs and then adding an agreed margin.

Market penetration pricing - pricing low to win a large share of the market

Market skimming - pricing a new product high in order to make a large profit from the purchases by initial customers. This is an effective strategy only in the absence of competition.When competition appears, market skimmers usually drop their prices

Premium pricing - usually pricing high because the market is prepared to pay extra for the kudos associated with the product, thanks to, say, a reputation for quality, or a highly fashionable brand name, and so on

Fixed costs (FC) are costs that do not vary with volume. To an airline once aircraft are purchased, flight crews trained and departures scheduled, costs are disproportionately fixed.

Variable costs (VC) are those which vary with the amount produced. Fuel, catering services and marketing are examples of variable.

LO 2, AC 2.1

Hypothetical questionsare used to explore scenarios or options without making a commitment. For example, asking "What if we were to increase the order volume?" encourages creative thinking and testing potential agreements without binding either party. This technique is valuable in theproposing and bargaining stagesof negotiation to explore trade-offs and build mutual solutions.

An organisation's expense can be categorised into three groups:

Fixed Costs – costs that do not change with output.

Variable Costs – costs that vary in direct proportion to output.

Semi-variable costs – costs that are a combination of the above, with both a fixed and variable element.

Among the four options:

"Land rental paid in advance": This is fixed cost. The rental won't increase when the production increases.

"Additional pallet hires due to higher demand in year-end season": This can be identified as semi-variable cost (or step cost).

"Governments taxes": The taxes are often levied by a percentage of income or revenue. Therefore, it is variable

"Raw materials for next year production": This is obviously variable cost.