Degree: Master of Business Administration
Subject: Strategy SEPTEMBER TEST
Code: GSOB834
Date: September 2011 Duration: 2 Hours
Total Marks: 100 Number of Pages: 3
Internal Examiner: Paul Bowden
Instructions to candidates:
1. This paper consists of THREE pages.
2. You are required to answer ALL FOUR questions in essay form in your answer book.
3. Each question carries 50 marks.
4. NUMBER your answers correctly.
5. Ensure that your STUDENT NUMBER appears on all your answer books.
6. Write LEGIBLY and in INK.
7. This is an open book test. You may consult any notes and/or text books during the test.
QUESTION 1
Read the case study below on Madonna and answer the questions that follow.
CASE STUDY: MADONNA – The Role of Strategy in Success
The fifty-first birthday of Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone on August 16, 2009 offered no respite from her hectic work schedule. The day before she had performed the 71st concert in her Sweet and Sticky world tour; a tour that would gross over $400 million. For yet another year seemed unlikely that Madonna would be displaced in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s top-earning female entertainer and most successful female recording artist of all time.
In the summer of 1978, aged 19, Madonna arrived in New York with $35 to her name. After five years of struggle, she landed a recording contract. Madonna (1983) ultimately sold 10 million copies worldwide, while Like a Virgin (1984) topped 12 million copies. Between 1985 and 1990, six further albums, three world tours, and five movie roles had established Madonna with an image and persona that transcended any single field of entertainment; she was rock singer, actor, author, and pinup. Yet, she was more than this – as her website proclaims, she is “icon, artist, provocateur, diva, and mogul.” She has also made a great deal of money.
What is the basis of Madonna’s incredible