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INTERNAL
ASSIGNMENT APPLICABLE FOR JUNE 2019 EXAMINATION
SEMESTER 2 ASSIGNMENTS
Marketing Management
1. Assume you plan to
purchase a new car for personal use. This will be the first car that you will
be purchasing. Discuss various steps of consumer buying process that will be
involved in purchasing a car.
2. M/s Furnideas
wishes to sell furniture in the Indian Market. The company is known for their
innovative ideas in furniture. The company has a global presence in selling
furniture. The company sells to High, Middle and Lower Income group in
different countries based on the segmentation. Furnideas appoints you as a
consultant to guide them on types of segmentation that they should use for
their furniture.
3. M/s Furnideas (as
given in question 2) wants to promote its brand and products to create
awareness and increase the sale of its products
a. Explain various
promotion mix tools that you will use for M/s Furnideas to create awareness
about the brand and products.
b. Explain any three
online marketing tools that you will use to increase the sale for M/s
Furnideas.
Essentials of HRM
1. Mazbooti Pvt Ltd
is a civil engineering firm doing projects in buildings, roads, bridges,
Flyovers etc. Recently they have bagged a lot of projects for which they
require Graduate Trainee Engineers as well as Diploma Trainee Engineers in huge
numbers. What could be the method of recruitment in such scenario? Discuss any
two methods of recruitment for such high numbers also conclude by choosing the
best method.
2. As per various
researches it is reported that simulations are one of the most effective way of
training. Discuss this statement with the help of strong supporting
justifications and examples. Also conclude by suggesting any other form of
training which can be considered to be as strong as simulations.
3. Kaira is working
as an Assistant Manager –Marketing from past five years in an FMCG company. She
is a very hard working and dedicated employee. Her performance has also been
good consistently. She is one of the deserving employee who never got her fair
share of success. From past five years she has not got a single promotion
because of which she is contemplating to resign. She communicated the same to
Mohit who is her reporting authority. Mohit apprises this to the top management
and even gives cues that because of lack of career planning their organisation
is in a verge of losing an important talent. Sanjay, the Operations Head on the
other hand is totally against the idea of Career planning.
a. Mohit is asked to
prepare a list of merits of Career planning. Help him prepare the same.
b. Sanjay opposes
Mohit with his list of demerits on the career planning. Mention all the pros
and cons of career planning and highlight who is right, Mohit or Sanjay?
Business Law
1. List out the
exemptions under which information can be denied under the Right to Information
Act, 2005.
2. Explain two (2)
instances in which the consumer courts in India have given directions/orders
awarding reliefs in respect to defect of goods/deficiency of service.
Each instance should
in detail explain (i) facts of the case and (ii) what relief and damages the
consumer courts has granted.
3. Karan and Arjun
had entered into a contract where Karan was to supply 50,000 phones to Arjun
within 2 months from the date of signing of contract. Karan was to procure the
phones from China and deliver the same to Arjun. The rate of the phone was Rs.
5000/- a piece (inclusive of all taxes and duties). At the time of the
execution of the contract, the duty was at 5% (five percent). Immediately after
the execution of the Agreement, India had increased the duties to 1000% (one
thousand percent). Therefore, Karan was finding it difficult to sell the phones
at the price agreed earlier. In the circumstances, kindly advice:
a. How can Karan
discharge such a contract?
b. How can Arjun
enforce such a contract?
Business Statistics
1. The Stock Price
details of TATA TELESERVICES (MAHARASHTRA) LTD. are given below
Date Close
No. of No. of
Total Turnover
Shares Trades
01-03-2019 3.09
69,242 100 2,14,257
05-03-2019 3.35
1,97,344 251 6,51,621
06-03-2019 3.41
1,58,205 160 5,47,942
07-03-2019 3.55
4,00,183 433 13,99,537
08-03-2019 3.49
2,73,890 503 9,42,944
11-03-2019 3.5 1,46,178
145 5,12,714
12-03-2019 3.52
80,672 109 2,83,868
13-03-2019 3.46
1,49,428 116 5,14,536
14-03-2019 3.4 72,539
183 2,44,876
For the above sample,
determine the following measures:
a. The mean closing
price
b. The standard
deviation of total number of shares
c. The median value
of number of trades
d. The 75th
percentile value of total turnover
Analyze the above
data using descriptive statistics and comment on the relationship between the
various variables
2. Let’s assume that
you have gathered the following information on the prices for different management
books and the number of pages that each book contains.
Book
Pages
(x)
Price
(y)
A 500 700
B 700 750
C 750 900
D 590 650
E 540 750
F 650 700
G 480 450
a. Develop a
least-squares estimated regression line.
b. Compute the
coefficient of determination and explain its meaning.
3. The OECD cut
forecasts again for the global economy in 2019 and 2020, following on from
previous downgrades in November, as it warned that trade disputes and
uncertainty over Brexit would hit world commerce and businesses. The
Organization for Economic Co- Operation & Development forecast in its
interim outlook report that the world economy would grow 3.3 percent in 2019
and 3.4 percent in 2020.
Those forecasts
represented cuts of 0.2 percentage points for 2019 and 0.1 percentage points for
2020, compared to the OECD’s last set of forecasts in November. “High policy uncertainty,
ongoing trade tensions, and a further erosion of business and consumer confidence
are all contributing to the slowdown,” said the OECD in its report.
“Substantial policy uncertainty remains in Europe, including over Brexit. A
disorderly exit would raise the costs for European economies substantially,”
added the OECD.
Europe remains
impacted by uncertainty over Britain’s plans to exit the European Union, the
U.S. - China trade spat and other weak spots, such as signs of a recession in
Italy. For Germany, Europe’s largest economy, the OECD more than halved its
2019 GDP growth forecast to 0.7 percent from 1.6 percent previously. It
predicted a light recovery to 1.1 percent growth in 2020. Germany’s
export-reliant economy is particularly affected by weaker global demand and
rising trade barriers.
(Source:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oecd-economy/global-economic-growthforecasts-cut-again-by-oecd-idUSKCN1QN13N)
a. In your opinion
what forecasting tools are used in the above case for forecasting the global
economy? Justify.
b. Are the forecasts
accurate? Comment. What all errors are possible in the forecasts and how to
deal with such errors?
Strategic Management
Case:
M/s Ximi wants to
enter in the washing machine and refrigerator market in India. The company has
earned a lot of reputation in the global market. The company is known for low
priced segment and delivers the best quality. The service is the best in the
world. The response time to customer problems is less than 24 hours.
1. The CEO appoints
you as a consultant to analyze the external environment for the Ximi Brand.
Analyze.
2. Discuss the
various types of business models and suggest the one that should be implemented
by M/s Ximi for their product launch in India. Explain the same with reason.
3. a. Explain various
functional strategies that M/s Ximi can adopt to improve and maximize the
resource productivity.
3. b. Explain any
five CSR activities that the company should undertake in India to benefit its
stakeholders.
Financial Accounting & Analysis
1. An investor wants
to tests the financial position of Asian Paints Ltd. Thus, he wants to assess
the short term liquidity as well as long term solvency. Discuss the four
relevant ratio’s which he will definitely look into.
2. Discuss the
components of Other Income under the statement of Profit and Loss accounts of
any Indian Corporate. How other income is different from revenue from normal
operations under the vertical format.
3. The following
information is provided by a dealer in computer chips. The dealer follows FIFO
method for valuing stock, calculate from the following figures –
Date particulars
April 1, 2019 Opening
stock 750 chips @Rs1550 per chip
Purchases
April 10, 2019 1000
chips @Rs1750 per chip
April 20, 2019 1650
chips @ Rs1875 per chip
Sales
April 15, 2019 900
chips @Rs3000 per chip
April 16, 2019 1950
chips @ Rs 3250 per chip
a) Cost of goods
available for sale (5 Marks)
b) Gross profit
Customer Relationship Management
1. As a customer,
which are the best loyalty programmes that you have experienced? Share any 2
programmes with their outstanding features and scope for improvement.
2. How important is
Customer Life Time Value in understanding customers & taking important
business decisions? Illustrate with examples of brands that are leveraging the
concept of Customer Life Time Value. (
3. Aarav is a highly
successful web designer known to exceed your clients’ expectations. He has a
new client Ferris Wheel events which is a startup who have a limited budget but
are looking for an effective solution to build traffic for their website and create
their presence on the internet.
a. What aspects are
imperative to the success of a site design?
b. Discuss the
payment gateway options that you would propose to Ferris Wheel.
Enterprise Resource Planning
1. A medical device
manufacturer Sammedics, provides Lacrimal Occlusion Therapies to physicians,
hospitals and distributors around the world. Lacrimal Occlusion is a treatment
for dry eye syndrome and related ocular surface diseases. Sammedics decided to
replace their accounting and manufacturing systems with an integrated
Enterprise Retail Planning (ERP) solution that would support their growth and
address a number of operational problems. After 15 years in business, inventory
was growing faster than revenue, on-time delivery was slipping affecting their
financial and operational performance. What are the factors the management must
keep in mind while selecting a vendor for the integrated system? What benefits
do you think the ERP implementation will bring in for Sammedics?
2. The Malkan Group
is one of the largest construction groups in India. It has more than 90
companies in its fold with several companies running at various locations
throughout the country. Each company has its own database and information
system, which was not connected to the head office. Getting a 360 degree
integrated view of the business was proving to be impossible for the
management. One of the biggest challenges faced was estimating the cost of
construction. Since the project was spread over many years, aligning of
projected versus actual cost was very difficult. With 30-40 projects running
concurrently, departments maintaining data in different files, poor exchange of
data with the head office, slow decision making, creation of power centers in
the organization and difficulty in real- time estimation of different projects,
the organization has decided to implement certain ERP. It plans to implement
ERP in a phased manner with certain modules at first. Which modules would you
recommend to them in their initial ERP implementation phase?
3. Ijo is a
manufacturer of chips for smartphones. The supply chain at Ijo has become
increasing complex. The chips are manufactured around the world and then
delivered to customers worldwide. To support this complexity and anticipated
growth, Ijo decided to evaluate it supply chain performance to meet the
customer needs. It needed a cost effective way to interact with the suppliers
and customers. Ijo was exploring alternatives for its legacy software and
improve both relationship with suppliers and customers and thus considering the
use of an ERP package.
a. How can the supply
chain module in an ERP package help Ijo?
b. What challenges do
you think Ijo may face while implementing the ERP package?
Financial Institutions and Markets
1. Mukesh wants to
invest and diversify his portfolio in mutual funds, bonds and debentures. Since
he is unaware with these financial products, he seeks advise from the
Relationship Manager. As a relationship manager guide Mukesh on the above
options stating the pros and cons of each of the investment vehicle.
2. Anita established
a new software company. She is in need of capital for the company. Anita is
unaware as to how she can raise fresh capital from the primary market. As a
friend of Anita help her to know the various sources from which she can raise
capital from the primary market.
3. a. Kabir has
recently joined his dream company, SEBI. Since he is a fresher, his manager asks
him to prepare a presentation on the role of SEBI in the financial market. Help
Kabir with his presentation.
3. b. In order to
highlight the role played by regulatory bodies, Kabir ‘s manager also asked him
to analyse and present the role played by regulatory bodies in the “Harshad
Mehta Scam” which shook the entire economy of our nation.
HR Audit
1. Company ABC a startup,
has grown rapidly from a small 2-member team to 100 members over 3 years. They
have an accountant who has been handling the payroll and other regulatory
matters. While they have comprehensive data on all the employees, they do not have
any specified policies or any practices set out. The CEO has been advised to
conduct a HR Audit by the board.
You have to share a
note with the CEO detailing out HR Audit Categories that the audit will cover,
with the rationale.
2. ABC Limited is a
software company with offices across India. They have well defined HR policies
and a competent HR team. Every year they conduct an Employee Satisfaction
Survey to assess the level of employee engagement. Last 2 years have seen the
satisfaction scores go down. The biggest drop was in Training and Development
section of the survey. Your firm has been appointed to Audit the Training and
Development structure and suggest appropriate steps.
3. Company A has seen
rapid growth into a well-established organization. The company has a clear
strategy and the same has been shared with all the employees. The company hired
an external Human Resources consultant who then redefined the policies to keep
them in line with the overall business strategy. A recent satisfaction survey
showed that the employees felt that there was a big difference between the aim
of the policy and the actual implementation.
The current HR team
was set up at the start of the company’s operations and has efficiently managed
the basic HR processes so far. However, they are now finding it difficult to
handle the new processes that the consultant has put in. The CEO has hired your
firm to conduct a HR audit. To present to the CEO:
a. Detail out the
Levels of HR Audit you will focus on as well including the reasons for the same
and
b. A brief note on
the steps you will take to audit the company.
Compensation & Benefits
1. XYZ Ltd is a newly
set up Pharma Company with a factory in Surat and head office in Mumbai. You
are hired as a compensation consultant. The first task you have is to help the
company set up the compensation system. Which types of compensation will form
the part of your recommended compensation system?
2. VICTORY Ltd is a
newly set up IT firm in India. You are an HR Manager of the firm and one of
your early responsibilities is to set up a compensation system for which you
are deciding to conduct a compensation survey. Which steps will you suggest for
the same?
3. LMC Pvt Ltd is a
recently set up Medium Enterprise operating in the IT sector. The company has
50 employees in which 20 are females. Company has decided to offer benefits to
its employees. In this background, answer the following questions.
a. Which women
employee benefits the company has to provide?
b. What fringe
benefits the company can provide?
Industrial Relations & Labour Laws
1. Accord Designing
completed 4 years in the field of commercial interior projects. With a staff of
28 on various levels of experience, loyalty, job profiles, the company has
handled and successfully completed some really large projects. In fact, the
staff is like family and works together well. While, the company is known to be
a good paymaster and is up to date with compliance as far as employees are
concerned. There is still a very casual approach towards formality into
appraisals, which leaves an undercurrent of jealousy among all. Jyoti joins as
an HR consultant with a mission to get this ‘family culture’ into a more formal
culture in the organization. As the first project, she wants to conduct a wage
and salary administration. Please help Jyoti by discussing each step in the
Salary and Wage administration process in detail.
2. Prakash joined
Bindal Manufacturing Company as Head of HR and IR. The company had very good
human resources policies and great level of compliance was maintained for
years. However, the production units were not very peaceful. The company had
two production units based in two different states. Three different unions were
leading 1200 workers. Constantly, some small or large labor unrest would erupt
time and again which needed handling. Prakash decided to run a survey and
decided to start the task of listing general factors that cause Industrial
Disputes and understand the ones that are applicable at Bindal. In light of
this case, please list all the possible factors that cause Industrial Disputes.
3. Shivam is a fresh graduate of Industrial Relations Course and feeling upbeat
about his upcoming assignment. He has a project to complete, where he has to
make a presentation to a growing company about Workmen’s Compensation Act,
1923. He has to conduct two meetings on different level, details of those
meetings are given below. Please guide Shivam for developing the content for
his presentations.
a. Shivam has to
prepare his pointers for a presentation to the management of the company about
the scope of the Act and amount of compensation covered under the Act. List
down points in brief for these two topics
b. Shivam needs to
communicate with the workers of the organization about the circumstances that
are covered for compensation under this act. Please explain in brief.
Advanced Supply Chain Management
1. SCM plays a
pivotal role in an organisation’s success by enhancing its operational efficiency
and maximising customer satisfaction. In the earlier days of supply chain management
there were four enablers, namely, Infrastructure, Technology, Alliances and
Human Resources which influenced the supply chain performance. Today in your
opinion, apart from these enablers, what other effective methods can an organization
adopt for competitive supply chain management? Give examples wherever possible.
2. As Supply Chain
Head, it is your job to develop and implement an effective transportation
strategy. The business unit head, asks you to use the intermodal strategy to
lower overall transportation cost. Explain the steps you will follow. (Give industry
best practices examples wherever possible).
3. Warehouse manager
of Integrated Parts, an electronic manufacturing company, has an objective of
preventing a stock-out situation at any time for one of its vital components.
The annual demand for the component is 60,000 units and the usage is uniform.
The quantity ordered from supplier each time is 600 units and it is delivered
after 7 days from ordering date. The company policy is to maintain a safety
stock of 20% of its average inventory. The company works for 300 days in a year.
a. What should be the
re-ordering point?
b. Briefly discuss
the steps the warehouse manager should take in determining optimal inventory
level
Business Ethics, Governance & Risk
1. Analyse the Satyam
Scam (Satyam Computers Services Ltd). Present your views on, “Scams influence
and change the corporate governance landscape” and substantiate them using
insights from the Satyam case
2. In your
organization, ‘Smart Solutions & Services’, a midsize IT services company,
all the mandatory requirements for compliance to “Sexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Protection, Prohibition, Redressal) Act 2013 have been put in place.
You are Head of Marketing, with 11 people reporting to you directly and
indirectly. What according to you are the five critical practices / initiatives
/ processes you need to genuinely implement to ensure that you are providing a
safe working environment to all your women employees. (DO NOT copy paste the
law)
3.a. “India is one
market where sales of so called ‘Fairness Cream’ does booming business”.
Identify all the inherent ethical issues. Argue and present the pros and cons
of advertising fairness cream in India.
3.b. You have studied
Business Ethics as a structured subject for the first time. One of its
objective is, ethical literacy- making the students aware of ethical dilemmas
and provide tools and frameworks for future and current managers to deal with
some of these ethical dilemmas they face. How has it helped you? Give 3 clear
points to showcase that it has helped you become a better manager.
Employee Development & Talent Management
1. Subhash joined
Moorty Software in HR Department and his primary responsibility is to improve
Employee Development initiative. The organization had tried running the
employee development initiative previously too but it has not seemed to be
successful. Subhash started with an analysis to check on the reasons for the
failures. In light of this case, please enumerate the issues in successful
employee development.
2. Mr. Parikh is the
head of Geman Consultancy. His organization is into a business of HR
outsourcing. Mr. Parikh steps in at the time of planning of a project and hands
the project over to the assigned team. However, he steps in once again after
the project is completed for evaluation of the success. At one such large
organization, Mr. Parikh steps in to evaluate an employee development project.
He is currently contemplating on the method for evaluation. In light of this
case, please elaborate on the Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluation.
3. Janvi wants to
implement Employee development activities in the organization. She is the HR
Manager at Hive Five Media. While the organization is a medium sized, they have
a lot of mobility among the employees between departments and projects. Janvi
wants to work out two initiatives in the organization. Answer the following
questions about her project.
a. As a part of
On-The-Job development, she wants to implement Mentoring and coaching activity.
Please elaborate on the activity of mentoring and coaching.
b. As a part of
Off-The-Job development, Janvi would like to take up case study method. Please
elaborate how does case study method work in the organizations.
Decision Analysis & Modeling
1. Suppose you want
to design a salad having two main items, lettuce and tomato. Suppose that each
gram of lettuce provides 2 units of vitamins and 2 units of minerals and each
gram of tomato provides 1 unit of vitamins and 2 units of minerals. The cost of
lettuce is 100 Rs/gram and the cost of tomato is 20 Rs/gram.
The salad must provide
at least 8 units of vitamins and 10 units of minerals. How many grams of each
item should be provided in order to meet the requirements of vitamins and
minerals for the least cost? What will this salad cost? Use the graphical method.
Present both primal
and dual forms, including their graphs.
2. You are required
to develop a multiple linear regression model based on the data given below,
reporting about multicollinearity to refine your model, if required. Consider Profit
(Rs.) as the dependent variable. Interpret your results.
Suppose your
dependent variable (Profit) takes values of “High profit” (Profit > Rs 1,35,000)
or “Low profit”: in such case what type of regression model would you like to use
and why? (For this part of the question, you need not develop the model or
interpret the results.)
PLEASE REFER THE
TABLE BELOW
Raw
materials
consumed
Number
of
factory
workers
Number
of sales
personnel
Capacity
utilization
Sale
price
Office
expenses
Electricity Profit
(Rs.)
20000.0 5.0 4.0 0.4
60.0 4000.0 5000.0 120,000.0
25000.0 5.0 4.0 0.5
62.0 4100.0 5100.0 125,000.0
25000.0 5.0 4.0 0.5
63.0 4000.0 5100.0 127,000.0
30000.0 5.0 5.0 0.6
65.0 4900.0 5900.0 130,000.0
32000.0 5.0 5.0 0.6
66.0 5000.0 6000.0 135,000.0
32000.0 5.0 5.0 0.7
66.0 5000.0 6000.0 135,000.0
30000.0 5.0 5.0 0.6
65.0 5100.0 5800.0 130,000.0
32000.0 5.0 5.0 0.7
66.0 5100.0 5800.0 132,000.0
36000.0 6.0 5.0 0.7
67.0 5100.0 6000.0 135,000.0
39000.0 7.0 5.0 0.8
70.0 5100.0 6800.0 140,000.0
45000.0 7.0 5.0 0.8
72.0 5000.0 7000.0 145,000.0
39000.0 7.0 4.0 0.7
70.0 4100.0 6800.0 140,000.0
39000.0 7.0 4.0 0.7
70.0 4100.0 6800.0 140,000.0
38000.0 7.0 4.0 0.7
70.0 4100.0 6900.0 140,000.0
39000.0 7.0 4.0 0.7
70.0 4000.0 6900.0 141,000.0
39000.0 7.0 4.0 0.7
70.0 4100.0 6800.0 140,000.0
37000.0 6.0 4.0 0.7
67.0 4000.0 6700.0 138,000.0
37000.0 6.0 4.0 0.7
67.0 4000.0 6600.0 137,000.0
35000.0 6.0 4.0 0.6
67.0 3900.0 6300.0 135,000.0
34000.0 6.0 4.0 0.7
67.0 3900.0 6200.0 135,000.0
35000.0 6.0 4.0 0.7
67.0 3900.0 6300.0 136,000.0
3. Suppose that you
are required to plan the least-cost transportation from the manufacturing centers
to the outlets. The transportation cost matrix is given below.
Destination 1
Destination 2 Destination 3 Supply
Origin 1 20 17 4 120
Origin 2 35 10 5 60
Demand 40 30 110 180
a. Find the initial
basic feasible solution using Vogel’s Approximation Method.
b. Find the final
(optimal) solution using Modified Distribution method.
Manpower Planning, Recruitment and Selection
1. With corporate
houses facing major problems of low productivity, low sense of belongingness
towards the organization, higher employee turnover; do you think performance
counselling can be useful in addressing any of these issues? How?
2. The recruitment
landscape has been changing rapidly. From newspapers, campus recruitments,
trade unions and referrals to recruitment through social and professional
networking platforms. What according to you are the advantages and limitations
of using these modern methods for recruitment?
3. ABC is a reputed
retail brand. It is into the business of apparel for men, women and kids. The
brand has exclusive stores as well as counters in malls and departmental stores
like Shoppers Stop, Central, etc. The front-line staff is regularly being
trained on product knowledge, but no behavioral skills as such. Considering the
steep targets set from April 2019, the training manager wants to start the
behavioral trainings calendar.
a. How should he go
about planning and executing this initiative?
b. What should be the
topics on which the staff should be trained and what methods for each do you
recommend?
International Finance
1. Exchange rates can
be explained by different underlying theories. Explain briefly any three of
these theories, along with mathematical formulas, where applicable.
2. There are short
term and long term fluctuations in Exchange rates, and various factors are
responsible for this. Explain the eight factors and whether they contribute to
long or short term fluctuations.
3. An exporter has
Eur 10 million receivable in 3 months, and is in a dilemma whether to book
forward contract to sell Euro or to sell Eur-INR 3 month futures.
a. Explain to him in
a tabular form the characteristics and differences between Forward and Futures.
b. Then with an
example (assume 3 months forward and futures rate of Eur/INR 79) explain the
cash flows in either situation.
Logistics Management
1. Logistics as well
as supply chain management has received attention since the early 1980s, yet
conceptually the management of supply chains is not particularly well
understood. How will you explain the difference between Logistic and Supply
Chain Management with relevant examples?
2. A manufacturer of
premium electrical goods is setting up a distribution network. He desires your
help in the physical distribution management. Explain the functional areas you
will focus on.
3. Warehouse manager
of Integrated Parts, an electronic manufacturing company, has an objective of
preventing a stock-out situation at any time for one of its vital components.
The annual demand for the component is 60,000 units and the usage is uniform.
The quantity ordered from supplier each time is 600 units and it is delivered
after 7 days from ordering date. The company works for 300 days in a year.
a. What should be the
re-ordering point?
b. Briefly discuss
the factors that influence the calculation of safety stock.
Organisation Theory, Structure and Design
1. Value for Money is
a modern-day Fintech company with a work force of 300 people. The promoters
have been stalwarts of the banking sector with a work experience of more than
30 years. The company has a lot of millennials and promoters are worried about
creating a sustainable and productive work culture. Which are the factors that would
affect organizational culture at Value for Money? What benefit will Value for
money derive from a strong culture?
2. Hitech Solutions
Ltd. is an upcoming IT solutions company. Their performance for past 3 years
has been good, however performance has dipped this year. The CEO wants the
strategy team to carry out a VRIO analysis. Which type of technique is VRIO?
Conduct a VRIO for Hitech. Make assumptions where ever necessary. in spite of
challenging market conditions. If the management decides to use the Historical
analysis, which type of tool are they considering?
Q.3. a. Explain any 4
types of organizational structures with an example.
Q.3.b. Give an
example of any organization that has gone through the phases of organizational
life cycle.
Performance Management System
1. Aarti is the Team
Leader at Neel Industries which specializes in plastic products. Aarti has 8
team members. Recently 3 of her team members resigned at the same time and
during the exit interview process each of her team members complained to Ashish
(General Manager) about Aarti’s style of management. Aarti has been described
by them as autocratic who dictates instructions and does not listen to her team
members. They also described her as rude in her behavior. Ashish has called
Aarti for a counselling session.
Assume you are
Ashish, explain how you would conduct the counselling session and ensure a successful
interaction.
2. Correct the
following goals by converting them to SMART goals:
To be a high profit
company
High Sales in
northern and southern region
Take care of
employee attrition
Make customers
happy
Take care of sales
inventory in the plastic bottles section
3. Disha enterprises
is a 5-year-old company that sells toys and stationary products. The company
has a turnover of Rs 200 crores and profitability of Rs 25 crores. The company
is ranked 5th in India as per the All India Retail Magazine. There are 500
employees located across 4 regions in India (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata).
The company has a vision to be a leader in toys and stationery and also has
aspirations to expand outside India, primarily in South East Asia. The customer
satisfaction index of the company is 63%. The company has just introduced the
Balanced Scorecard.
As per the Balanced
Score Card prepare one goal each on: a. Financials and Customer perspective
b. Business Process
and Learning & Growth Perspective
Marketing Research
1. The Distance
Education Council (DEC) wants to conduct a research among the various distance
learners across different colleges, universities and courses across India.
Since the population of distance learners is widely dispersed, the research
team at DEC feels that it may be effective to conduct an online or telephonic
survey. However, these methods have their own drawbacks. Besides, the
information to be collected is quite detailed which is prompting the
researchers to consider other approaches such as a face-to-face survey. Discuss
the advantages and disadvantages of the various data collection methods
available to the researchers at DEC and recommend an approach
2. Nestle wanted to
understand the key challenges that their brand Maggi is likely to face in its
comeback; in the wake of more aggressive competition from competitors such as
Sunfeast Yippee noodles and Patanjali Atta noodles. The research agency took
this brief from Nestle and gave instructions to its team to find out the
customer satisfaction with Maggi and its arch rivals. “Specifying the research
objective in the most clear and precise form, is the most crucial step involved
in the research process”. Evaluate this statement in the light of this case and
discuss how the steps involved in this research process (as proposed by the
research agency) will turn out to be different from what Nestle expects as the
research outcome.
3. Scene 1: Nivedita,
an interviewer for a data collection agency, approached a couple at the mall
seeming to be hailing from a rural background and asked the woman, if she would
like to participate in a marketing research survey. The couple quickly walked
away. A group of teenage girls overheard Nivedita and asked her if they could
participate. They were from rural areas, and they would like to answer
Nivedita's questions. Nivedita was ecstatic! She could fill a good portion of
her sample with these helpful girls! Scene 2: Nivedita had a list of names and
contact details of 100 women in Faisapur in U.P. She started with the top 5
names. In 4 out of 5 cases, the women either didn’t respond to her request or
refused to participate. Only one woman took the survey. How will she reach out
to these 100 shortlisted women in one week? It seemed to be a daunting task as
of now. Nivedita was confused.
The reason was
simple: The "normal" rules for conducting a marketing research survey
do not apply when the target sample is a Rural population. Nivedita was one of
the women researchers who had been appointed by an NGO for conducting a
research on the sanitation and personal hygiene methods being used by women in
rural areas. The objective was to capture the aftermath of the awareness
campaigns been done on account of the Indian Household Latrines (IHHL), School
Sanitation and Hygiene Education and Anganwadi toilets. After a whole lot of
debate and discussion, it had been decided that the respondents for this survey
shall be rural girls / women ranging from a broad age group of 12-60 years. For
conducting a survey among this wide audience, two things were done: A list of
women was procured from secondary sources of data The women were segregated on
the basis of age into the following categories: 12-17, 18-25, 26-35, 36 – 45,
46-60 The sampling method had also been very scientifically decided. However,
reaching out to these women unknown to the researcher, unrelated to each other,
was not working out, no matter how scientific the approach may be. With this
very first experience shared by Nivedita as a part of the pilot, the team was a
bit confused on whether their understanding of the rural research methods is
correct. Anxiety was creeping in as to what should be the ideal method to
choose this sample of rural girls / women?
a. To choose this
sample of rural girls / women, which sampling methods will you consider most
appropriate and why? Suggest any two methods and justify your answer.
b. Suggest some
innovative interview methods to reach out to the target audience
International HR Practices
1. ABC Ltd is an FMCG
Company operating in India and you are planning to start the operations in
South Africa. First problem you have, as an HR Manager, is to ensure that
availability of skilled and able workforce in South Africa. What are your
sources for the same and which one will you choose?
2. NITT is a leading
IT Company in India and it is planning to expand its operations in Africa. The
company has decided to send the expatriates from India to man important
positions in the subsidiary in Africa. What selection criteria will you use for
expatriate selection?
3. ADB is a Bank in
India and it is planning an international expansion in China. One of the
functions that ADB needs to deal with is ‘International Staffing.’ With respect
to this write a note on each of the following:
a. E Recruitment
b. Use of social
networks
International Logistics & Supply Chain Management
1. An old Indian
company is in the field of animal nutrition for the past 25 years and is
wanting to grow its business in line with the global sector growth and business
opportunities. It is exploring the international opportunities and had want to
enter in Kazakhstan and Russia the Eurasian countries due to high potential for
the nutrition business. Derive a strategic plan for logistics, supply chain and
a business plan to succeed and establishing a strong foreign brand.
2. SG electronics is
a German manufacturing and marketing company is into white goods mainly washing
machines, refrigerators and sophisticated kitchen ware. What is the approach
strategy that the company would employ for the successful launch of its products
in the INDIAN market? Formulate a strategic logistics and SCM plan which makes
the company a top brand in the Indian market which is crowded with
international branks like LG, KENSTAR, BOSCH and SAMSUNG.
3. A beverage company
named Gold spot drinks is in the Indian market for the past 15 years with is
soft drink brand GOLD SPOT. It is a family owned strong brand with unstructured
professional set up in place. Due to new government policy a foreign company
ABC want to enter India by investing in the company and capitalise on the Gold
spot brand and bring in its own brands into India.
a. What elements of
importance ABC company should consider while doing so in the business approach,
and the SCM strategies?
b. What kind of
professional approach it need to locational planning, production planning and
distribution set up to gain market entry PAN India and introduce its products
along with the Gold spot?
Organisation Culture
1. Discuss briefly
the culture of four different organisations based on the four quadrants
(Incubator, Guided Missile, Family, and Eiffel Tower) of Trompenaars’ Model of
Organisational Culture.
2. Ajay joined a
start-up in the food business where he noticed that despite an amazing business
model the company is not able to real good profits. He did a root cause
analysis and found that the relationship with external stakeholders is not
maintained and is grim. What steps shall Ajay follow in order to maintain a
strong relationship with external stakeholders?
3. Jal Pvt Ltd. is an
Indian organisation which is acquiring H2O a Finland based company. Rajat is
the CEO of Jal and is very much worried as in his previous organisation he has
seen M&A failing because the organisations were from two different
cultures.
a. Is Rajat’s
apprehension right? What should be Rajat’s role in a smooth amalgamation of two
cultures?
b. Provide any other
example where the M&A failed because of cultural incompatibility. Conclude
by emphasizing the importance of culture in such a change.
Project Management
1. What is a project
charter? Describe different components of project charter? What are the various
elements and steps of project planning? Briefly mention about various project
planning tools.
2. Discuss different
steps and approaches involved in estimating time? Please explain in brief the
different steps involved in the Critical Path Model as part of Project
Scheduling.
3. a. What is earned
value management? What are the four main earned value management forecasting
formulas? Please describe them with equations
4. b. What is
schedule compression? Elucidate the meaning of fast tracking and crashing the
schedule? Highlight the differences between the two.
Strategic Financial Management
1. You are
considering an investment project. The project has a life of three years.
Project Information:
Initial investment
into a new machine, which would cost Rs.4,50,000.
Machine is to be
depreciated to zero over three years (straight line depreciation) with no
salvage value at the end.
Operating revenue
is expected to be Rs. 6,00,000 per year.
Operating costs for
raw materials expected to be Rs.3,00,000 per year.
Assume tax rate is
30% and the discount rate is 20%.
a. Compute after-tax
cash flows every year.
b. Evaluate the
project NPV. Would you accept the project? (10 Marks)
2. Compute the fair
value of the following three stocks. Assume cost of equity to be 10%
Stock A is expected
to pay a uniform dividend of Rs. 3.50 per share forever.
Stock B is expected
to pay a dividend of Rs. 2.00 per share next year. Dividends are expected to
grow at 5% YOY per year forever.
Stock C has paid a
dividend of Rs. 2.50 per share in the current year. The dividend is expected to
increase by Rs. 0.50 per year for the next three years. Thereafter, dividend is
expected to remain constant.
3. Rate of return on
treasury bills (risk-free short-term government papers) is around 6%. The
expected rate of return on a market portfolio is 14%. Applying the capital
asset pricing model (CAPM), answer the following:
a. What is the
expected rate of return on a stock with a beta of 0? Is it a risk-free investment?
b. A stock currently
trades at Rs. 60 per share. The stock is expected to pay a dividend of Rs. 5
per share next year and you expect to sell the share then for Rs. 65. You
estimate the beta of the stock to be 0.8. Is the stock overpriced or
underpriced?
Strategic HRM
1. “Performance
management system which is an alternative to management by objectives evaluates
the performance of the employees in the job and analyses the areas of
development. It also assesses the individual strengths and weaknesses of the
employees in the job. Give example of one FMCG/banking organization you know
of, that was able to evaluate the performance of an employee in alignment with
the organizational objective. Evaluate and justify the complete process.
2. Critically assess
how humour and simulation-based training can be used to motivate staff who are
undertaking low skilled, repetitive, mundane and unsatisfying tasks. Give
examples to support your narrative. Also share example from a manufacturing
unit where humour-based training can be linked with the learning, reduced
turnover, performance improvement and satisfaction of the employees. (10 Marks)
3. Cisco sources
revealed that the company had a policy of attracting the ‘top 10-15%’ people in
the networking industry. It believed that if it could get the best people in
the industry and retain them, it would remain the industry leader. According to
Cisco’s vision statement, “Attracting, growing and retaining great talent is
critical for sustaining Cisco’s competitive advantage.” Thus, effective
recruitment was used as a powerful strategic weapon by the company. The company
began to use revolutionary techniques like the ‘build-the-buzz’ strategy, which
was centred on the primary market for its products, i.e. the Internet. Cisco’s
recruiting team identified the candidates whom they felt the company ‘should
hire,’ and then figured out the way those potential candidates did their job
hunting and designed hiring processes to attract them to the company. Cisco
recruiters targeted even passive job seekers – people who were happy and
successful in their current jobs. Barbara Beck (Beck), Vice President, Human Resources
said, “The top 10% are not typically found in the first round of layoffs from
other companies, and they usually aren’t cruising through the want ads.” Cisco
changed the way it posted advertisements in newspapers. Instead of listing
specific job openings, the company featured its Internet address in its ads and
invited prospective candidates to apply. This move helped Cisco to direct all
job seekers to its website where it could inexpensively post hundreds of
openings and provide information regarding them. It also advertised its website
in cyberspace to reach candidates who surfed the net from around the world. The
company was thus able to monitor and measure its recruiting programs through
the number of visits to its site. Since most people visited Cisco’s website
from their jobs, the company could identify their place of work. Cisco worked
towards removing some of the frustration associated with applying for jobs. The
company learned to attract happily employed people through focus groups. These
focus groups targeted senior engineers and marketing professionals in other
companies and found out how they spent their free time, the websites they
visited and the how they felt about job hunting. These insights helped the
recruiters. For example, it was found that most professionals like to watch
movies in their free time, websites on ‘corporate cartoon Dilbert’ were
extremely popular and most professionals hated job hunting. Cisco, thus, linked
its website to the Dilbert web page (www.dilbert.com), which registered around
2.5 million hits per day, mainly from engineers and Internet-savvy managers, it
also bought space on websites like Travel Quest (www.travelquest.com), a
reservation service provider. These steps turned Cisco’s website into an
extremely useful recruiting tool. The website also offered features through
which applicants could fill their resumes online or create one with the help of
Cisco’s resume builder. In this way Cisco attracted active and passive job
seekers. The focus group’s exercise made Cisco realize that a candidate would
approach the company if he had been informed by a friend about better opportunities
at Cisco. This led to the launch of the friend’s program in April 1996. Cisco
also reached out to potential applicants through a variety of routes which were
unusual in recruiting. It began frequenting art fairs, beer festivals and
certain annual events in which people from Silicon Valley participated. These
places proved to be very ‘fruitful hunting venues’ as they attracted young
achievers from various successful infotech companies. Cisco recruiters mingled
with the crowd, collected business cards from prospective candidates and spoke
to them informally about their careers. More than 1,000 Cisco employees
volunteered for the Friends program, attracted by the referral fee, which
started at $ 500 and a lottery ticket for a free trip to Hawaii for each
prospect they befriended and who was ultimately hired. In this program, Cisco
employees were matched up with people who approached the company as prospects
and who shared similar backgrounds and skills. The Cisco employees then called
the prospects to inform them in their own words about life at the company.
Cisco advertised the friend’s program in movie theatres in San Jose and
received around 100 to 150 applications each week. By 1997, about one third of
new recruitments were made through the Friends program. Cisco launched a tool
called Profiler on the employment page of its website to accelerate and
standardize online resume submission. The Profiler asked applicants to provide
educational and employment information through appropriate selections from pull-down
menus. Cisco also found that applicants and recruiters were not totally
comfortable with, the time-consuming recruiting process. To speed up the hiring
process, Cisco hired inhouse head hunters to identify qualified candidates for
managers. After streamlining its recruitment policies, 1996, Cisco conducted an
employee survey to find out how the new recruits felt on their first day at
work. The survey showed that some new recruits felt lost on their first day -
their phones did not work; their computers had no software and if it did they
had no idea how to use it. It was also found that most of the employees did not
get their email addresses for two weeks. To address the above problems, Cisco
launched Fast Start, an employee orientation initiative. Cisco installed
computer software, which tracked the hiring process and alerted the team about
the new recruit’s arrival. As a result, every recruit started with a fully
functional workspace and a whole day of training in desktop tools. Cisco believed
that its new recruitment philosophy should also be made a part of the overall
corporate culture. By late 1999, Cisco’s job page was recording around 500,000
hits per month. The company generated a stream of reports about who visited the
site and fine-tuned its strategy accordingly. By the time the new recruitment
initiatives were established, Cisco, which was hiring approximately 8,000
people a year, received 81% of the resumes were from the web. Eventually, 66%
of the new recruitments were from the candidates who had sent their resumes
through the Cisco website. It was also reported that about 45% of company’s new
recruits came from the Amazing People Program. Cisco’s hiring cycle also came
down to 45 days from 68 days. The recruitment costs in this ‘direct mode’
amounted to $6,556 per capita, which was around 40% below the industry average.
Referral rates at Cisco were twice the industry norm and that created a
performance edge as most recruits were qualified employees with vast
experience. By 2001, referrals and the friends program accounted for 50-60% of
new employees. Most importantly, the retention rate at the company had also
increased. The employee turnover figure was 6.3% in 1999, a very low rate
compared to the industry norms, which varied from 18-28%. According to company
sources on average Cisco employees accessed the corporate e-HR site 16 times a
day for information about job cuts. Analysts claimed that Cisco’s innovative
and aggressive recruiting initiatives were to a large extent responsible for
the company’s expansion at 40% per year and recruiting 250 employees every week
despite the global dot-com slump.
a. According to
Cisco’s vision statement, “Attracting, growing and retaining great talent is
critical for sustaining Cisco’s competitive advantage.” Analyse the various
recruitment strategies adopted by Cisco.
b. Cisco believed
that its new recruitment philosophy should also be made a part of the overall
corporate culture. Explain the various key aspects that are to be considered in
recruitment philosophy by companies like Cisco. Discuss how Cisco is benefitted
by adopting innovative recruitment philosophy.
World Class Operations
1. What are the
building blocks of World Class Operations? Explain with suitable example.
2. Briefly explain
the different types of quality with examples.
3. AL is an Indian
automobile company headquartered in Chennai, India. Founded in 1948, it is the
second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in India, fourth largest
manufacturer of buses in the world and 10th largest manufacturer of trucks
globally. It has manufacturing plants in India and abroad. The company believes
in producing world class products wants to be competitive in the world market.
a. Think your-self as
a consultant for the company. Briefly state how the company should go for
implementing TQM in its operations.
b. With reference to
AL, explain how KANBAN can be implemented in the company.
Services Marketing
1. Bookworm’s World
is a U.K based Book Store chain planning to launch in the Indian market,
specifically catering to children’s books, workbooks and educational toys.
Initially the Book store chain will begin its operations with 6 major cities
which are being seen as potential markets and then slowly it shall expand to
other big cities in India as well. With this vision, the management, now wants
to explore the various options for service delivery. Since it is a new chain,
the delivery options need to be cost effective, atleast to begin with. The
management is open to all sorts of technology tie-ups to explore the
self-service or remote options along with the traditional delivery models.
Suggest all the possible delivery options that you consider appropriate.
Justify with an argument.
2. Summer vacations
for the kids are round the corner. This time around, you have decided to
surprise the kids with the Big Summer Holiday that you and your better half had
been contemplating since long. Choosing between a 7-day European dreams or The
best of U.S or Amazing Australia or the umpteen options flashing on various
travel sites, is indeed a complicated decision; especially in the backdrop of a
budget constraint. Quite obviously, while the flashy packages offer the
‘oh-so’irresistable’ deals, these prices are not just the only costs that the
customer has to incur. The real cost of the service to the customer is an
amalgamation of many inter-related monetary and non-monetary costs.
Discuss the various
search, purchase and post-purchase costs that you will have to incur in the
purchase of the holiday package.
3. Nannytracker.com
is the new kid on the block; a new mobile-app based service which helps you
keep a tab on your children and their nanny while you’re out of the house. The
Nannytracker, a new service for working parents, allows them the facility of
home care viewing on their smartphones. The subscriber can view real-time video
through a smartphone that is capable of showing video clips of footage of the
home’s interior space. The app gives the user a comprehensive view of what
their kids are up to while they are away.
Besides the
clandestine video clips of the home, that get captured periodically through a
hidden camera and are posted to the parents, the smartphone app can be installed
at both the parents and nanny’s end, and can work as a vital communication tool
between them. The app provides easy messaging between parents, nannies, or any
other caretaker, all within the account. Hence, any important information such
as medication dosages, nappy changing frequency, food and play instructions
don’t get missed out.
The app also allows
the Nanny to click pictures of the baby and post them so that they remain in
one location/ account. The Daily News Feed provides an overview of their
activities, as well as all the data that was tracked, messages that were
exchanged, and photos that were shared.
The service is being
targeted to working women living in urban metro cities such as Delhi and
Mumbai; many of whom have domestic helpers to take care of their children
during working hours.
Although the service
intends to provide parents with peace of mind, it could work equally well for
pet owners.
The app is compatible
both the iOS and android platforms. Priced at Rs. 999 on Playstore and App
store, as one-time download charges, each member of the caretaker team needs to
download the app by paying the installation charge. The charge includes
installation of the camera, all app-related services and unlimited data
storage.
As if this is not
enough, the app also allows you to add another child to the same account. And
this one’s completely free of charge. You will receive separate notification
for both the kids; however, you have to ensure that they are in the same
location.
Now this is what you
call women’s empowerment!!
a. Discuss and
evaluate the marketing mix for Nannytracker.com
b. What is the core
service being offered by Nannytracker.com? Compare the facilitating and
enhancing supplementary services being offered by Nannytracker.com
Supply Chain Management
1. There are multiple
problems facing the Indian pharma supply chain. Dearth of medicines for
patients, unavailability of medicines at the hospitals and pharmacies, poor
quality of medicines and availability of counterfeit drugs. How can the SCOR
model be used in this case to address and enhance supply chain management
decisions within an organization and with its suppliers and consumers?
2. Patanjali, a
fast-growing organization crossing US$1bn of sales in five years of time span
and declaring a target of doubling this figure in the financial year 2016-2017
(to reach US$1,500m). The prime focus of Patanjali is the health food segment
based on herbal and Ayurveda science through the use of organically grown
agricultural produce by integrating the associated value chains while radically
benefitting all the stakeholders in a two-way process as suppliers as well as
buyers/consumers. The basic objective of a Mega Food Park was to create a
direct connection between the farm, processing and the consumer markets. This
was accomplished by creating a network of collection centres (CCs) and primary
processing centres (PPCs) with the aid of effective logistics facilities.
Source (Sengar, A., Sharma, V., & Agrawal, R. (2017). Market development
through integrating value chains–a case of Patanjali Food and Herbal Park.
Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 7(4), 1-22.) Describe the distribution
channels used by Patanjali to ensure its products can reach everywhere?
3. TAPF commonly
known as The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a non-profit organization in India
that runs school lunch program across India. The organization was established
in 2000. TAPF started out as a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization
(NGO) headquartered in Bangalore in June 2000. It provided free mid-day meals
to 1,500 students in government schools in the city during the initial year. By
2015, TAPF kitchens were operating at 24 locations (across ten states) and were
serving over 1.4 million children. These kitchens were both centralized and
decentralized and served a set of schools in the area in which they were
located. Such efficiency didn’t happen overnight, according to Vinay Kumar,
head of operations at Akshaya Patra. He and his colleagues standardized
processes across multiple facilities. They also implemented systems to share
innovations across the entire chain of kitchens. “Each of our decisions is
data-driven. Anything we implement should be measured by data, replicable in
another place, and standardized,” says Kumar. Kitchen workers know exactly how
long it takes to cook each meal. They know how much kitchen capacity is required
to make that meal. TAPF is on a mission of feeding five million children by
2020. (Source: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/case_study_akshaya_patra)
a. Identify the
different stages followed by TAPF in their supply chain activities to ensure
that no child skips a meal
b. How can the use of
technology aid their operations?
Total Quality Management
1. Explain your
understanding on the below:
About the process
of “Acceptance Sampling”
Double sampling
& sequential acceptance sampling (Along with process) – Give appropriate
examples to explain
2. What do you
understand by Quality Function Deployment (QFD) & what are the QFD
processes? What do you mean by Poka Yoke? What are the objectives of Poka Yoke?
Give 2 examples of Poka yoke?
3. A manufacturing
cos manufactures bangles for different sizes for the kids of different group.
You are appointed as an expert. You selected 1 unit (As sample) in every 5
finished product. Total population size is 50. You checked each and every
specification given to you. Below are the number of defects identified by you
in each of the sample.
Answer the below:
a) What is the type
of data (Defect in this scenario) & what kind of control chart would you
suggest? Calculate the UCL & LCL for the mentioned scenario?
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