IB BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SL, Paper 2, November, 2007, TZ0, Solved Past Paper

Creative Technology, a company founded in Singapore in 1981, is renowned for its leadership in digital entertainment products within the personal computer industry. The company has carved a niche in the personal digital entertainment market, offering a range of products including portable media centers, multimedia speakers, and digital and web cameras. Among its most notable products are the Zen and MuVo lines of portable MP3 digital audio players. The Zen is known for storing thousands of music tracks but is relatively bulky, while the MuVo is lightweight, doubles as a portable computer hard drive, and targets specific demographics such as teenagers, commuters, and joggers. Despite facing competition from Apple's iPod, which is perceived as trendy, the Zen has been praised for superior sound quality and battery life by independent industry journals.

Tony Hopwood's business has experienced significant growth since its inception in 1990, expanding from a small team of 20 employees to over 5000. Tony has maintained a close-knit and informal relationship with his management team, fostering a family-like atmosphere. However, as the business grew, Tony began spending more time away from the office and appointed his daughter Leila to manage the business in preparation for his retirement. Leila, a recent graduate, believed that the informal structure was no longer suitable for the growing business. She restructured the company into new departments, appointing new staff from outside to manage them. Unlike Tony, Leila prefers to make decisions independently and communicates them through emails, which has led to dissatisfaction among the original staff who feel excluded from decision-making and overlooked for promotions.