Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak Campus) HBC229N ANALYSIS FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FINAL EXAMINATION MARKING SCHEME DEC 2014
Section A (MCQs): 1. a 2. a 3. a 4. a 5. a 6. a 7. a 8. a 9. a 10. a 11. a 12. a 13. a 14 a 15. a b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c b c d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d
Section B: Question 1 Solution Part A i. Activity rates: Packaging rate: $4,000,000/4,000,000 Energy rate: $1,400,000/2,000,000 Toxin release rate: $900,000/3,000,000 Pollution rate: $1,425,000/570,000 Unit cost: = $1.00 per kilogram [0.5 mark] = $0.70 per kilowatt-hour [0.5 mark] = $0.30 per tonne [0.5 mark] = $2.50 per machine hour [0.5 mark] Packaging: $1.00 x 2,200,000 $1.00 x 1,800,000 Energy: $0.70 x 1,200,000 $0.70 × 800,000 Toxin releases: $0.30 x 2,000,000 $0.30 x 1,000,000 Pollution control: $2.50 × 450,000 $2.50 x 120,000 Total ÷ 9,500,000 Unit cost per kilogram $0.5016 LPG $2,200,000 840,000 600,000 1,125,000 $4,765,000 [2 marks] XYZ $1,800,000 560,000 300,000 300,000 $2,960,000[2 mark] ÷ 20,000,000 $ 0.148 Note: flexibility in marking, i.e. if the final answers are correct, then activity rates calculations are not necessary. ii. The LPG has the highest environmental cost per unit. So, to the extent that the per-unit environmental cost measures environmental damage, we can say that this product causes more problems than EZY. [1 mark] iii. Life cycle assessment has three steps: · Inventory analysis · Impact analysis · Improvement analysis. The first two are concerned with identifying the material and energy requirements, environmental releases and environmental effects of competing process the product designs (over the life cycle of the products). Thus, a life cycle assessment provides a more comprehensive analysis of environmental effects than environmental cost per unit. [3 marks]