CMA Intermediate · June 2026 · Paper 9
CMA Intermediate Operations Management and Strategic Management June 2026: paper analysis
Our own analysis of the official paper, as of 12 October 2026. The questions and answers belong to ICMAI; read them on ICMAI's website.
Chapter-wise marks
Where the marks were in this paper (out of 100; internal-choice alternatives not double counted).
What each question tested
In our words, by question number. Open the official paper for the full question.
| Q | Marks | Tests | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2(a) | 7 | Factors influencing the choice of facility location | Designing of Operational Systems and Control |
| 2(b) | 7 | Five stages of the design thinking process | Designing of Operational Systems and Control |
| 3(a) | 7 | Replacement analysis: average annual cost and optimal replacement year for a machine without time value of money | Economics of Maintenance and Spares Management |
| 3(b) | 7 | Least squares regression for sales forecasting and its use to estimate sales or required spend | Operations Planning |
| 4(a) | 7 | Assignment problem: allocating jobs to contractors to minimise total cost | Job Evaluation, Job Allocation - Assignment |
| 4(b) | 7 | Monte Carlo simulation of daily demand with random numbers to estimate profit or loss | Simulation and Line Balancing |
| 5(a) | 7 | Formulating a linear programming model for a product mix with resource and minimum production constraints | Optimum Allocation of Resources - LPP |
| 5(b) | 7 | PERT: expected activity times, network paths, critical path and floats | Project Management, Monitoring and Control |
| 6(a) | 7 | Basic elements of the strategic management process | Introduction to Strategic Management |
| 6(b) | 7 | Levels of artificial intelligence and its role in digital and social media marketing strategy | Digital Strategy |
| 7(a) | 7 | Primary and support activities in Porter's value chain | Strategic Analysis and Strategic Planning |
| 7(b) | 7 | Limitations of the BCG growth-share matrix | Strategic Analysis and Strategic Planning |
| 8(a) | 7 | Softer people and behaviour issues in human resource strategy | Formulation and Implementation of Strategy |
| 8(b) | 7 | Areas that help create goal congruence in an organisation | Formulation and Implementation of Strategy |
What stood out
- Section B split cleanly: Questions 3 to 5 were operations research numericals (replacement, regression, assignment, simulation, LPP, PERT) and Questions 2, 6, 7 and 8 were theory.
- Strategic management theory offered four full questions, so a candidate could answer most of Section B from strategy and operations theory alone.
- Project management was the most visible chapter, with a PERT network in Section B and three MCQs on project life cycle and floats.
- Newer syllabus areas such as design thinking and artificial intelligence in digital strategy each carried 7 marks.
- The LPP question asked only for formulation, not solution, which lowered the computational load compared with a full simplex or graphical solve.
Practise the chapters that carried the marks
Strategic Analysis and Strategic Planning, Formulation and Implementation of Strategy, Designing of Operational Systems and Control: study guides and practice questions in the CMA Intermediate format.