(c) At a recent meeting of the board of directors, the managing director of Envico Ltd sai

Question

(c) At a recent meeting of the board of directors, the managing director of Envico Ltd said that he considered it

essential to be able to assess the ‘value for money’ of each seminar. He suggested that the quality of the speakers

and the comfort of the seminar rooms were two assessment criteria that should be used in order to assess the

‘value for money’ of each seminar.

Required:

Discuss SIX separate and distinct assessment criteria (including those suggested by the managing director),

that would enable the management of Envico Ltd to assess the ‘value for money’ of each seminar.

(6 marks)

Answer 1

正确答案：
(c) The following are six separate and distinct assessment criteria (including those suggested by the managing director), that
would enable the management of Envico Ltd to assess the ‘value for money’ of each seminar. The assessment criteria are
presented as questions that would comprise the contents of a questionnaire but other presentations would have been equally
acceptable.
(1) Did the course meet your objectives?
‘Value for money’ may, in part, be assessed by reference to the ‘effectiveness’ of the service provision. Effectiveness may
be viewed in this context as meeting the objectives of attendees. All attendees have similar but varying objectives and
hence it is vital that Envico Ltd meets the objectives of all attendees if seminars are to constitute ‘value for money’.
(2) How would you rate the quality of the speakers?
A primary resource of Envico Ltd is its speakers and thus it is important to gauge how they were perceived to perform
by the attendees.
(3) How would you rate comfort, cleanliness and facilities of the seminar rooms?
Again, a principal resource, which is consumed when providing the service, is the seminar room and the facilities
contained within it. Attendees will find a clean and ergonomically designed room more conducive for education and
training activities.
(4) How would you assess the quality of the course materials?
Since Envico Ltd undertakes the provision of educational and training seminars then the quality of course materials
provided assumes critical significance as they represent the ‘raison d’être’ of Envico Ltd. If they are perceived to be of
high quality they may act as a good advertisement for the company. Conversely, poor quality course materials will cause
Envico Ltd to be perceived poorly.
(5) How strongly would you recommend Envico courses to friends and colleagues?
This is a very important consideration since ‘word of mouth’ may represent the best means of advertising the services
provided by Envico Ltd and is indicative of whether attendees consider that they have received ‘value for money’ from
Envico Ltd.
(6) Do you consider that you could have achieved your objectives in attending the course in a more expedient manner? If
so, please detail below.
This question acknowledges that the time of attendees is a scarce resource and hence there may well be an opportunity
cost in attending seminars in addition to the explicit costs such as course fees, travel and subsistence costs etc. It is
essential that Envico Ltd is flexible in its approach to meeting the needs of clients where attendance at seminars is either
impracticable or undesirable. Perhaps a series of interactive CDs and/or video tuition may be more appropriate in certain
instances.