ACC4043-N Contemporary Management in Operations and Finance ECA Assignment Part B – Case Study Jan 2026 | Teesside University

Contemporary Management in Operations and Finance ACC4043-N

ECA Assignment Part B – Case Study 

TEES VALLEY PARKERS (TVP)

TEES VALLEY PARKERS (TVP) is a major UK manufacturing conglomerate with significant potential and large-scale operations across diverse sectors, including textiles, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, marine produce, information and communication technology (ICT), financial services, and energy. Despite this broad portfolio, the CEO is dissatisfied with the company's reported performance and is seeking to identify areas for operational improvement. Key concerns include selecting the right proposals for execution and determining how to enhance overall business performance and control inventory levels. A recent customer satisfaction survey, which scored 3.0 out of 5.0, underscores the need for enhancement in both products and services. Furthermore, the company is consistently failing to meet its manufacturing output targets.

A singular positive is that the company's entire production output, however limited, is sold rapidly. This is due to a strong, loyal customer base and the high market acceptance of its flagship textile products, bolstered by an excellent after-sales service rating. The organisation operates with a dynamic structure, comprising a Board of Directors (which is predominantly non-executive), an Executive team, and a talented management team overseeing: Sales and Marketing, Customer Service Support, Finance, a Transformation and Manufacturing Centre, an Advertising and Media Hub with integrated ICT, dedicated R&D for energy, and Human Resources.
TVP’s core product theme is: “To stand out from the rest, choose our textiles and stay with us for everything else.” The company positions its textiles as quality, luxury clothing accessible at an affordable price. Products are presented in eco-friendly packaging, a specific attraction for its primary demographic of Generation Z, who are drawn to its trendy and fashionable designs.

Key Financial Targets

The CEO, Dr. Rudrigo Leyanage, is worried about the recent performance report of TVP; hence, at a recent board meeting, it was agreed to investigate it further to ensure the company meets its returns on the capital employed expectation of 20% and profit before tax of £25.00 million. It also agreed that the selling price of TEXTILE per unit is kept at £65.00. The current TEXTILE variable cost per unit is £35.00. Some new equipment will be bought, bringing the company’s fixed cost figure to £10 million.

Transformational and Manufacturing (T&M) Issues

The company board had agreed that standards must be kept high and that only the best-qualified person should be employed to join the existing team. The T&M Division Director, Ms Florence Nass, thus reminded the Human Resources Director, Dr. Fiu Ming, that although manufacturing is generally very efficient and meets high-quality standards, only staff with BSc in operations/manufacturing-related degrees should be considered for entry-level. Managers/Supervisors should be qualified to a minimum of MSc in operations/manufacturing- related degrees plus three years minimum experience. To support quality and enhance product acceptability, Ms Florence Nass set an ambitious target for defective finished products requiring rectification at a maximum of 5%.

TVP’s Customer Sales and Service Policy

TVP’s policy is to continue its excellent after-sales satisfaction feedback tracking to find out customer experience with the product and their customer service journey whilst buying the product. This weekly customer feedback survey is to be continued. TVP’s target is 98% rating of TEXTILE products as “Fantastic”, while at least 95% of customers shopping at their outlets rate their experiences as “Excellent”. However, the Customer Support Manager, Mr Chen Ho, is concerned about the speed of response to customer complaints and would like to see an improvement. So, the company introduced a new objective of responding to all product-related customer complaints within 18 working hours from its existing 24 working hours response rate. It also set up a rewards scheme for meeting this target.

Employee Welfare Policy

To sustain the current high job satisfaction rate within the company, the Human resources Director, Dr. Fiu Ming, held a crisis prevention and staff retention meeting with Mr McRoy Stephen, TVP Operations Director, as it was noted that a competitor is poaching and hiring their staff. The current annual staff turnover is 8.0% but may exceed that by year-end if some action is not taken. Both directors agree to offer staff a new, improved welfare package agreed upon at a recent board meeting to boost morale/retain staff and meet the new annual staff turnover rate target of 5% set by the company.

Current Developments

The external auditors led by Mr Christ Campher in a recent report were not entirely happy with the budgetary reporting and control system in place at the company. They recommended hiring someone with management accounting and finance expertise. To resolve the situation, TVP hired Ms Angelina Libbey as the new company Head of Finance. This CIMA-qualified management accountant also holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance and she also completed B.Sc. in Accounting and Finance from Teesside University, England.

At a recent management meeting, the CEO, Dr. Rudrigo Leyanage, highlighted the following issues that needed urgent attention.

1.The CEO explained that she is fully aware of the importance of management accounting, inventory valuation, costing, annual budgetary process and detailed budgetary control. However, she is having great difficulties explaining this to fellow directors as a non-accounting person. Moreover, the audit report shows the need to examine the existing process to improve it carefully. She would also like to clearly understand the number of units the company must sell to achieve the target profit of
£25.00 million set at the recent board meeting. Prepare a report with required calculations and explanations for the new head of finance to present at her next meeting with the CEO.

2.The CEO wants a careful look on 31 August 2025 budget report so the board can better understand that quarter’s report. The T&M Division Director, Ms Florence Nass, was asked to review the budgetary control report so management could better understand the performance of her division. Ms Angelina Libbey, the new company Head of Finance, provided the following report submitted by Mr Mark Butcher – Centre Manager. You are required to provide Ms Florence Nass with the required report for her board meeting presentation.

3.The CEO also noted that they are considering four proposals and would appreciate some guidance before taking a decision. Ms Angelina Libbey, the new TVP, Head of Finance, provided the following cash flow and discount table below. The company’s overall cost of capital is 5%. Which of the project proposals would you recommend to the company to accept? The following cash flows and discount factors in the table below were obtained for TVP’s four proposals but can use different discounting rate from 2%-11% for computing IRR.

4.TVP also in dubious about the closing value of the stock which remain in the warehouse and the production and procurement department are not affirmed the year-end value of the stock. Hence, the CEO also demands for providing the necessary information based on the following information:

2025 August    1    Purchased 100 units @ £10 each.
2    Purchased 200 units @ £ 10.2 each.

5    Issued 250 units to Job X vide M.R.No.12
10    Purchased 300 units @ £10.80 each.
13    Issued 200 units to Job Y vide M.R.No.15
20    Purchased 100 units @ £11 each.
25    Issued 150 units to Job K vide M.R.No.25

In addition to the above instances, TVP wants to buy its next year’s annual requirement of 36,000 units in six instalments. Each unit would cost £1, and the ordering cost would
£25. The inventory carrying cost is estimated at 15% of unit value. Hence, it is also advised the manager of the concerned department to provide policy suggestions regarding whether this decision will be effectively reflected with operational efficiency or not considering a key question ‘how much money can be saved by using economic order quantity comparing to the existing policy?’

5.The CEO is concerned that despite the wide acceptance of their TEXTILE products and good customer base, there was a need to adopt a more strategic performance measurement approach. She wants all staff to buy into TVP’s aspirations to foster better operational outcomes. The CEO has recently been introduced to several performance measurement and management tools, including the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). You are required to introduce the BSC and its benefits to the company’s CEO. It would help if you built a novel BSC using information from the case study and literature to show how the tool can help the company structure its strategic objectives better. You can also include sustainability/greening issues from literature in your novel BSC for TVP. Your report and recommendations will be presented to directors at the company’s next board meeting.