IMT CASE STUDY ANSWERS & SOLUTIONS

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM / NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU / ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL  / GARUDA / HIMALAYA

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

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CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

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www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

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09901366442 - 09902787224

CAM-Computer Aided Management

SECTION - A

Question 1: What do you understand by computer aided management? Illustrate.

Question 2: What does a formula do in a spreadsheet?

Question 3: Name and explain four commonly used type's data in worksheet.

Question 4: List five business applications for which one can use excel.

Question 5: List some of the sensitivity tools of Excel.

SECTION - B

Question 1: Describe why organizations need databases.

Question 2: Majority of organizations worldwide have only TPS and MIS as part of their information Systems. Do these

organizations really need databases, and if so, why?

Question 3: What is Tally? What is the business value of tally?

Question 4: What is meaning of SPSS? Why is it required for business and management? Justify.

Question 5: What are the various uni-variate tests in SPSS? How to apply them? Write commands of each

SECTION - C

Question 1: What is the concept of free webhosting? Illustrate

Question 2: Research on Google and list down various free hosting websites.

Question 3: What attributes you would like to include in your professional website? Illustrate why?

Question 4: What are the security challenges for any organization? Illustrate

Question 5: How you can protect individual identity and secure in cyber world?

CASE STUDY - 1

CASE 1: Write the steps required to create three dimension pivot table. (Please attach print out.)

CASE STUDY - 2

Case 2: Create a personal website: upload the reading material, photo, CV, Image, some graphics, and put the website or add

URL on google search engine.

Management Process and Organization

SECTION - A

Q1: With examples, describe the various functions performed by managers. Also elaborate on Managerial Roles and Operational

Approaches to the Management Process.

Q1: Elaborate upon the interrelationship between planning, organizing and control.

Q2: Taking examples, comment on how the macro environment affects the business of an organization

Q3: Why are Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives needed? Comment on the pros and cons of CSR activities for the

organization

Q4: Elaborate on the steps in Decision Making. Comment on the techniques for effective decision making

SECTION - B

Q1: What is delegation? Comment on the steps in the delegation process. Discuss some reasons for the failure of delegation.

Q2: What is power? With examples, comment on the various sources of power.

Q3: What is employee retention? Why is it important? Comment on the utility of employee retention strategies.

Q4: What is conflict? With examples, comment on the sources of conflict in an organization. Discuss the relevance and impact of

culture and gender in conflict handling.

Q5: Why is control important? Taking examples, explain the control process.

SECTION - C

Write Short Notes on:

Q1: Approaches to Org. Structure and Work Design

a. Span of Control

b. Strategic Business Units (SBU)

c. PERT and Balanced Scorecard

Q2: Ethical questions faced by managers of MNC's. Comment on the ethics of managing the environment around the company

with the context of Clean Development mechanism and Carbon Credits

Q3: Goals and Objectives and how a Blue Ocean Strategy can help shape the future direction of the organization.

Q4: Recruitment and Selection Techniques

Q5: Key ingredients of Leadership with examples.

CASE STUDY - 1

(Union Problems at George A. Hormel & Co.)

George A. Hormel & Company has many meat packing plants in the US and one of these plants is located at Austin, Minnesota.

During the mid 1980s, the company was faced with a decreasing demand for its products. It became necessary to cut the costs of

operations in order to remain in business and be competitive. To keep its costs down, the management of the company cut the

base wages of its union employees. This was done arbitrarily and without consulting or negotiating with the union

representatives. Even though the dispute between the union and the management had been simmering for a long time at the

plant in Austin, it culminated in a strike led by the union in August 1985.

An arbitrator was appointed to act as mediator and due to his recommendation; some of the cuts in wages were restored. The

management offered to restore the balance of the cuts at the time when the previous labour contract would expire and a new

contract would be signed. The new contract was signed by all the unions at all other Hormel plants, except the one in Austin, and

hence the strike. Because of the worker 's strike, the plant was shut down.

The plant remained closed for nearly five months. The strike had not yet been settled when the management at the Austin plant

decided to reopen the plant, and accordingly, some union members returned to work. Many other workers refused to return to

work and formed a picket line and the local union urged its members not to cross the picket line. The management started to hire

new workers to replace those who were on strike. There was conflict between the employees and the workers on strike, so much

so that at one time, there was a danger of physical violence and local police had to be called in to restrain the workers who were

on strike.

The local union sent some of its members to picket other Hormel plants and asked the union members at these other plants to

honour the picket lines and not report for work. About a week after the Austin plant was reopened, the central management fired

hundreds of their workers at plants in Texas, Iowa and Nebraska for refusing to cross the picket lines and refusing to report for

work. This step was significant because picket lines at the other plants were not set up by the local employees but by the striking

employees at the plant in Austin.

The strike at the plant in Austin went into ninth month. Tempers flared and violence erupted and in May 1986 hundreds of

strikers fought with police outside the Austin plant. The parent union, United Food and Commercial Workers union also disagreed

with the striking workers prompted by the local union, considering the economic slowdown and conditions in the industry. The

President of the parent union decided to take over the operations of the local union and started proceedings to appoint a new

union leadership at this plant. He believed that the conflict had gone too far and he hoped that with these changes, the strike

would be over and the workers could go back to work.

Questions:

Q1. Who were the winners and who were the losers in this conflict?

Q2. Is the conflict between union and management inevitable? What preventive steps can be taken to avoid the

possibility of worker strike? Explain your viewpoints.

Q3. If you were hired as a mediator, after the union went on strike, what step would you recommend in order to

minimize the negative impact of this conflict?

CASE STUDY - 2 (Promotion of Mr. Ritesh Mashroo)

Mr. Ritesh Mashroo was Senior Sales Manager working in Indian Lever Limited, a most reputed FMCG company for a decade. He

was an excellent worker and had always achieved beyond the target assigned by his superior. In March 2001 when he returned

from his official tour of 15 days, he came to know from his colleagues that the promotion list has been displayed and his name

does not appear in that list.

On hearing this, he felt annoyed, humiliated and in his gush of anger entered the office of Mr. Mithun Chatterjee, General

Manager (Marketing) and began to discuss:

Mr. Mashroo : Why I have not been promoted, Sir? Since last year you are assuring me to continue working hard and

that I would be promoted this year. This year too, you have not promoted me. What is the matter? (Mr. Chatterjee felt

insulted at Mr. Mashroo's behaviour as some guests were waiting outside his cabin.)

Mr. Chatterjee: First take your seat and cool down. I am indeed surprised to find your name missing in the promotion

list, even though I had recommended you for promotion. As you are aware, these days Vice President (Marketing)

decides on all matters related to promotion and he mentioned about the feedback from the field staff he had received

regarding your poor interpersonal skills. So, I suggest you that you be careful about your work behaviour and try to

improve upon it. We will see next time. (Mr. Mashroo was very angry at Mr. Chatterjee's remark and left the office

uttering that he would meet VP Marketing on this issue. Next day he went to meet Mr. P. Venkatraman.)

Mr. Mashroo: Good morning Sir, I have come to know from Mr. Chatterjee that I have not been given promotion

because of my poor interpersonal skills. Sir, you may be aware that the new sales staff is very arrogant because they

proclaim that they have postgraduate degree from renowned business schools in the country and they are not

interested in working in the field. That is why I have to be strict in managing them, as our ultimate goal is to achieve

the target.

Mr. Venkatraman: Mr. Mashroo, don't feel annoyed. I was just informally discussing with Mr. Chatterjee that if you

started working on your problems you would become VP in few year's time. But as far as this promotion is concerned,

I have already given you 4 rating in your performance and recommended you for the same. I think that HR department

might have made certain changes in the grading and that may have worked against your benefit. Why will I harm you

in getting the promotion; after all, you are the high performer in the company.

Mr. Mashroo: How can it happen, Sir? How can they change the performance rating that you have given? Then in

that case I would like to meet HR Head to know the reason.

Mr. Venkatraman: You may meet HR Head, but it is too late for this year. (Next day, Mr. Mashroo goes to meet Mr.

Ashok Motiramani, Head of Human Resource Department.)

Mr. Mashroo: Good Morning, Sir. I have a problem regarding my promotion. I am the only person in the marketing

department who had for the past five years achieved beyond the target. But this time I have not been given promotion.

Mr. Venkatraman told me, that he had recommended by promotion, but it seems HR department has revised the list

and I am deprived of promotion.

Mr. Ramani: Mr. Mashroo, take it for granted that we cannot change the rating or modify the recommendation of your

VP (Marketing) because he is your HOD. Ultimately, HOD is the final decision-maker for promotional issues of a

department. I am sorry I cannot do anything for you.

Mr. Mashroo moves out of HR department, unable to decide what to do. Finally, he decided to go for long leave.

Answer these questions:

Q1. Reflect on the behaviour of Mr. Mashroo.

Q2. What are the problems in this organization as seen in this situation?

Q3. What would be suggest to Mr. Mashroo as his next course of action?

Advertisement and Sales Promotion

SECTION - A

Question 1: Explain what is integrated marketing communication?

Question 2: What are the factors we should consider while selecting an advertising agency?

Question 3: Explain the communication process highlighting the roles of the source, medium and message.

Question 4: Discuss the consumer purchase behavior and why do we need to understand this while designing communication.

Question 5: Discuss the role of memory in consumer response to advertising.

SECTION - B

Question 1: Discuss the various objectives of advertising.

Question 2: What are attitudes? How do they influence consumer purchase behavior?

Question 3: Discuss merits and demerits of advertising on TV.

Question 4: What are the factors one should consider before starting the creative designs of advertisements?

Question 5: How is business advertising different from consumer advertising?

SECTION - C

Question 1: Discuss various reasons for the changes in promotion mix expenditure in the last few years.

Question 2: Differentiate between consumer sales promotion and trade promotions , while highlighting tools used for each.

Question 3: What is Public Relations? How companies leverage PR elaborate with examples.

Question 4: Discuss the relative merits and demerits of various modes of entry by a company in the international market.

Question 5: Discuss key challenges in handling sales force.

CASE STUDY - 1

The Reebok brand got a black eye in India last year when an accounting scandal there resulted in parent company Adidas firing

Reebok India managing director Subhinder Singh Prem and COO Vishun Bhagat as well as shutting down hundreds of its stores.

Now the brand is trying to make a comeback in the world‘s second-most-populated country. Adidas is ―repositioning Reebok as a

premium fitness brand in India as part of a major revival drive," This year alone, Reebok India

"What happened in the past I s behind us. We are now growth-focused and we will start with our new retail format of 'fit hub'

stores in India," Adidas Group India Managing Director Eric Haskell says.The Reebok fit-hub stores offer fitness and training

products besides advice, guidance and information on community based fitness events. will open 50 'fit-hub' stores in India which

will be more than half of the 80 such outlets that the sportswear brand has at present globally, mostly in US, Australia, Korea and

Russia.

"This year 50 fit hub stores will be opened. The plan is to open 100 such stores by first quarter of 2014," Haskell said, adding out

of the 100 stores, 50 will be new and the remaining half will be renovated ones.Most of the fit-hub stores would come up in

metro cities but few new stores would also be located in tier-II cities, he added. The company plans to convert all the existing 490

Reebok stores in India to fit-hub stores in next couple of years. "It should not take longer than two to three years," Haskell said.

Question 1: Critically analyze firms new strategy.

Question 2: Reebok has huge residual equity in the country , suggest how it can be leveraged with communication.

CASE STUDY - 2

On 1st

The company is now focusing its original content programming line up. In an effort to increase weekly hours of original content,

the channel will be introducing two new shows which include ―The Buddy Project.‖ Besides it will convert its teen crime show July

2012 , the Channel V viewers were confused as the channel was not there in the list of Music channels. The channel, which was

first introduced nearly 15 years ago in the country, was relaunched in 2009 with the ―bloody cool‖ tagline and focused on playing

Bollywood music. However from first July it shifted from a music channel category to General entertainment channel category.

Music now is just part of an overall strategy to engage with the youth in today‘s world for channel V. Its original content garnered

higher television ratings compared to its music slot.The broadcaster was playing three hours of music content in a day in the

morning slot so far. Some of its rivals play 16-19 hours of music throughout the day.

Gumrah-End of Innocence into a daily show. Its other shows which are directed towards youth are already well entrenched. The

company also forayed into Channel V spot coffee parlors and have launched channel V apparels and phone range to attract youth

which is their core target market. Moving away from music content and entering into GEC space has been a strategic decision for

the firm which is yet to deliver results.

Question 1: What benefit do you see for the firm in the new segment to improve its marketing

Question 2: Suggest firm a positioning migration plan for smooth acceptance.

Working Capital Management

Question 1: The varying ratio between fixed assets and current assets has an impact on profitability/liquidity of a firm. Discuss

Question 2: Enumerate the advantages of trade credit.

Question 3: Write short notes on:

a. Call money market in India

b. Commercial Papers

Question 4: The ABC Ltd sells goods on credit. Its current annual credit sales amounts to Rs 900 lakh. The variable cost is 80%.

The credit terms are 2/10, net 30. On the current level for sales the bad debts are 0.75. The past experience has been that 50% of

the customers avail of the cash discount, the remaining being financed in the ratio of 2:1 by a mix of bank borrowings and owned

funds which costs 25% and 28% per annum respectively. As an alternative to the in house management of receivables, ABC LTD. is

contemplating use of full advance non- recourse factoring with the Indbank factors Ltd. The main elements of the deal are:

• Factor reserve 15%

• Guaranteed payment date 24 days after the purchase

• Discount charge 22%

• Commission of other services 4% of the receivables

Analyze the proposal.

Question 5: Following information is available in respect of a trading firm:

• On an average, debtors are collected after 45 days; inventories have an average holding period of 75 days and

creditor‘s payment period on an average is 30 days.

• The firm spends a total of Rs 120 lakh annually at a constant rate.

• It can earn 10% on investments.

From the above information compute:

a) Cash cycle and cash turnover

b) Minimum amount of cash required to meet the payment obligations

c) Savings by reducing the average inventory holding period by 30 days.

SECTION - B

Question 1: Explain with an example how cash requirements in a particular period are assessed.

Question 2: What are the different forms of bank credit? Explain different modes in which collateral is placed.

Question 3: From the following information you are required to calculate the Economic Order Quantity and the total annual

inventory cost.

• Annual Demand:- 2400 units

• Unit Price: Rs 2.40

• Ordering cost per order: Rs 4.00

• Storage Cost: 2% per annum

• Interest Rate: 10% per annum

• Lead time: half month

Question 4: The objective of working capital is not attainable unless factors influencing working capital management are

confirmed. Discuss

Question 5: A company deal in consumer durables, having an annual turnover of Rs 80 lakh, 75% of which are credit sales

effected through a large number of dealers while the balance sales are made through showrooms on cash basis. Normal credit

allowed is 30 days. The company proposes to expand its business substantially and there is a good demand as well. However the

marketing manager finds that the dealers have difficulty in holding more stocks due to financial problems. He therefore proposes

a change in the credit policy as follows:

The product yields an average contribution of 25% on sales. Fixed costs amount to Rs 5 lakh per annum. The company expects a

pre tax return of 20% on capital employed. The finance manager after a review of the proposal has recommended increasing the

provision for bad debts from the current 0.5% to 1% for proposal A and to 1.5% for proposal B.

Evaluate the merits of the new proposal and recommend the best policy.

SECTION – C

Question 1: A company has a collection of Rs 5,00,000 per day. Mailing and processing delays account for 6 days. If a lock box

system is introduced, the delay is reduced to 3 days but the annual cost of the lock box system comes to Rs 50,000.

• How much cash is released on account of the shortening of mailing and processing delay?

• What will be the annual benefit on account of lock box system if the released amount is invested at 10% p.a?

Question 2: Write a note on the JIT in inventory system.

Question 3: Explain the norms suggested by Tandon Committee for providing bank credit.

Question 4: Differentiate between

• Payment float and receivable float

• Budgeting and forecasting

Question 5: From the following information, draw a plan of ABC selective control:

CASE STUDY - 1

A proforma cost sheet of a company provides the following particulars:

Amount (Rs)

Raw Material 80

Direct Labour 30

Overheads 60

Total Cost 170

Profit 30

Selling price 200

The following particulars are available:

Raw material in stock, on average one month; material in process, on average half a month; finished goods in stock, on average

one month. Credit allowed by suppliers is one month, credit allowed to debtors is two months, lag in payment of wages is one

and a half weeks, lag in payment of overhead expenses is one month; one fourth of the output is sold against cash; cash at bank

is expected to be Rs 25000. You are required to prepare a statement showing the working capital needed to finance a level of

activity of 1,04,000 units of production. Assume that production is carried out during the year evenly.

CASE STUDY - 2

Prepare the cash budget for July-December from the following information. The estimated sales, expenses etc are given below:

Additional Information:

1. 20% of the sales are on cash and the balance on credit.

2. 1% of the credit sales are returned by the customers, 2% of debts are uncollectible, 50% of the good account receivables are

collected in the month of the sales and the rest during next month.

3. The time lag in payment of miscellaneous expenses and purchases is one month. Wages and salaries are paid fortnightly with a

time lag of 15 days.

4. The company keeps minimum cash balance of Rs 5 lakh. Cash in excess of Rs 7 lakhs is invested in Government securities in

the multiples of Rs 1 lakh. Shortfalls in the minimum cash balance are made good by borrowings from the banks. Ignore interest

received and paid.

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

Security Analysis and Portfolio Management

SECTION - A

Question 1: Define the term ‗investment‘ as it relates to securities investments.

Question 2: How do operations on a stock exchange affect the economic life of a nation?

Question 3: Explain the term ‗New Issue Market‘. How does it differ from the ‗secondary market‘?

Question 4: What is meant by ‗listing of securities‘? What are the advantages form the point of view of a company?

Question 5: What is a market index? Outline its utility for security analysis.

SECTION - B

Question 1: Why it is said IPOs are underpriced compared to the price at which they could be marketed?

Question 2: What are the main determinants of the level of interest rates (real and nominal rates)?

Question 3: How do we compute expected return, variance and standard deviation using time series of historical (past) rates of

return?

Question 4: Describe the main differences in the historical performance of returns on equity and long-term bonds.

Question 5: Describe how we measure risk with non-normal distributions. What is the meaning of the term ―fair game‖?

SECTION - C

Question 1: Explain the capital allocation choice across risky and risk-free portfolios.

Question 2: Explain the simplifying assumptions of the basic version of CAPM.

Question 3: Explain the trade-off between liquidity and expected returns.

Question 4: Explain the role of diversification in eliminating the portfolio risk.

Question 5: Explain the role of Security Market Line (SML).

CASE STUDY - 1

Consider a risky portfolio. The end-of-year cash flow derived from the portfolio will be either $50,000 or $150,000 with equal

probabilities of .5. The alternative risk-free investment in T-bills pays 5 percent per year.

a. If you require a risk premium of 10 percent, how much will you be willing to pay for the portfolio?

b. Suppose that the portfolio can be purchased for the amount you found in.

(a). What will be the expected rate of return on the portfolio?

c. Now, suppose that you require a risk premium of 15 percent. What is the price that you will be willing to pay?

d. Comparing your answers to (a) and (c), what do you conclude about the relationship between the required risk premium on a

portfolio and the price at which the portfolio will sell?

CASE STUDY - 2

Consider the limit-order book depicted in Table below. The last trade in the stock took place at a price of $50.

Limit – Buy Order Limit-Sell Order

Price ($) Shares Price ($) Shares

49.75 500 50.25 100

49.50 800 51.50 100

49.25 500 54.75 300

49.00 200 58.25 100

48.50 600

a. If a market-buy order for 100 shares comes in, at what price will it be filled?

b. At what price would the next market-buy order be filled?

c. If you were the specialist, would you desire to increase or decrease your inventory of this stock?

Managing People

PART - A

Q1. Do you agree that HRM is faced with several challenges in today's world? What are the steps that organizations should take to

handle these challenges?

Q2. Discuss the issues that an HR department faces in the context of its structure in an organization

Q3. In the times of economic recession, how would you balance the supply and demand of Human Resources in your

organization?

Q4. An HR Audit is expensive, and though organizations are not legally bound to take it, they still pursue it. Why?

Q5. 'The purpose of training is to achieve a change in the behaviour of those trained and to enable them to perform better.'

Discuss.

PART - B

Q1. Which appraisal system would you recommend to your organization for appraising its employees and why?

Q2. Write a short note on The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948.

Q3. 'Separation means cessation of service agreement with the organization.' Discuss the different ways of separation in light of

this statement.

Q4. Why is the quality of work life important for the employee and the organization?

Q5: Discuss how the recommendations of the National Commission of Labour can be used effectively in private organizations.

PART - C

Q1. 'Morale is high when there is improved employee contribution, lower labour turnover and absenteeism.' Discuss.

Q2. Design a systematic transfer policy.

Q3. What steps would you take to tackle human relations problems in your organization?

Q4. Why do you think it is important for an organization to involve employees or employee representatives at all levels of the

decision-making process?

Q5. Discuss how collective bargaining evolved in India.

Case Study - 1

Human Resource Planning - What is that?

You are a human resource consultant. The newly appointed president of a large paper manufacturing firm has called you:

President: I have been in this job for about one month now, and all I seem to do is interview people and listen to personal

problems.

You: Why have you been interviewing people? Don't you have a human resource department?

President: Yes, we do. However, the human resource department does not hire top management people. As soon as I took over, I

found out that two of my vice presidents were retiring and we had no one to replace them.

You: Have you hired anyone?

President: Yes, I have, and that is part of the problem. I hired a person from the outside. As soon as the announcement was made,

one of my department heads came in and resigned. She said she had wanted that job as vice president for eight years. She was

angry because we had hired someone from outside. How was I supposed to know she wanted the job?

You: What have you done about the other vice president job?

President: Nothing, because I am afraid someone else will quit because they were not considered for the job. But that is only half

my problem. I just found out that among our youngest professional employees, there has been an 80 per cent turnover rate

during the past three years. These are the people we promote around here. As you know, that is how I started out in this

company. I was a mechanical engineer.

You: Has any one asked them why they are leaving?

President: Yes, and they all give basically the same answer: They say they do not feel that they have any future here. Maybe I

should call them all together and explain how I progressed in this company.

You: Have you ever considered implementing a human resource planning system?

President: Human resource planning? What is that?

Q1. How would you answer the president's question- 'Human resource planning? What is that?'

Q2. What would be required to establish a human resource planning system in this company?

Q3. What measures should the president take to retain good young employees

Case Study - 2

The New Boss

One of the largest NGOs in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal is the Environment Protection Agency. The grant management section

of its water division was formed seven years ago. The main functions of this division are to review applications for grants,

engineering designs and requests for change. It also inspects the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities.

Four engineers, one technician and one secretary-cum-programmer reported to Prem Sharan, head of the section. Prem was 36

years old and had headed the section since its inception. He had earned a good reputation for his technical acumen and

dedication. Three of the engineers had joined the section recently. The senior engineer, R. Sundaram, had been working there for

the last four years. Prem had personally trained him. Because of his experience and expertise, Prem had allotted to him the areas

with the most complicated projects. The other three engineers were given less complex regions. They were asked to work closely

with Sundaram and learn all they could about the section's work.

At the beginning of the year, Prem decided that the new engineers had gained enough experience to undertake more difficult

tasks. He divided the territory on a geographical basis. This section worked fine and the section was able to meet all its

objectives.

Three months ago, he accepted an offer with larger responsibilities and growth possibility from a large organization in the private

sector. He gave two months' notice to the top management. Time passed, but the top management did not even advertise for a

new section chief. People in the section speculated as to who might take over. Most of them hoped that Sundaram would take

over. On the Monday of Prem's last week, top executive met with him and the section employees and announced that they had

decided to appoint a temporary section head till a new one could be hired. The person chosen was Shyam Mehrotra, a senior

engineer from another EPA division. This came as quite a surprise to Sundaram and other people in the section. Shyam had no

experience of the section's work. His background was in technical assistance. In his previous job he was required to do research

in certain treatment processes so that he could provide more technical performance information to other divisions within the EPA.

Q1. What was the rationale behind Shyam's choice?

Q2. If you were the CEO, what action would you have taken?

Q3. Assess Prem's role as the section chief.

Q4. Was it proper for Prem to leave EPA?

Human Resource Management

SECTION - A

Q1: Bring out the paradoxes in HRM.

Q2: Discuss the role of HRM in strategy evaluation.

Q3: Define Job Analysis. What are its uses?

Q4: Discuss the common interview problems.

Q5: Explain the career development initiatives.

SECTION - B

Q1: Bring out the salient features of the incentive schemes followed in Indian Industries.

Q2: Describe the components of Executive Remuneration.

Q3: Explain the various steps in the benefits administration.

Q4: How is safety performance assessed?

Q5: Bring out the principles of transfers.

SECTION - C

Q1: Explain the different approaches to Industrial Relations.

Q2: Explain the strategies and techniques adopted by the management to keep their plants union-free.

Q3: What is arbitration? How does it help resolve industrial conflict?

Q4: Explain the typical e-recruiting model.

Q5: What is reverse culture shock? How do MNCs cope with it?

CASE STUDY - 1

Rita and Manoj are post graduates in Management under different streams from the same B-School. Both of them are close friends

from the college days itself and the same friendship is continuing in the organisation too as they are placed in the same

company, Hi-tech Solutions. Rita placed in HR department as employee counselor and Manoj in Finance department as key finance

executive. As per the grade is concerned both are at same level but when responsibility is concerned Manoj is holding more

responsibility being in core finance.

By nature Rita is friendly in nature and ready to help the people who are in need. Manoj is an introvert, ready to help if

approached personally and is a bit egoistic in nature. They have successfully completed 5 years in the organization. The

Management is very much satisfied with both of them as they are equally talented and constant performers.

Rita started noticing some behavioral changes in Manoj and he is not like as he use to be in past. During general conversations

she feels that Manoj is taunting her that she is popular among the employees in the organisation on the other hand he is not even

recognised by fellow employees.

One morning Mr. Sharma General Manager Hi-tech Solutions received a shocking mail from Manoj about his resignation. Mr.

Sharma called Rita immediately and discussed about the same as she is close friend of Manoj. By hearing the news Rita got

stunned and said that she do not know this before she also revealed her current experience with him. Mr. Sharma who does not

want to lose both of them promised her that he will handle this and he won‘t allow Manoj to resign.

In the afternoon Mr. Sharma took Manoj to Canteen to make him comfortable after some general discussion he started on the

issue. Manoj, after some hesitations opened his thinking in front of Mr. Sharma. The problem of Manoj is 1) He don‘t even get

recognized by the people if he comes alone to the canteen but if he is accompanied by Rita he gets well treated by others. 2) one

day both of them entered the company together the security in the gate wished them but the next day when he came alone the

same security did not do so. 3) Even in meetings held in the office the points raised by Rita will get more value so many a times

he keeps silent in the meeting.

This to him is quite degrading on each day of work and this is totally disturbing him. Manoj also questioned that both of them

have same qualification and experience in this organisation. More over the responsibilities over him are more valuable than that

of Rita. After all these things if he is being ignored or unrecognized by the fellow employees his ego does not allow him to

continue here.

By listening to him Mr. Sharma felt that it is not going to be very difficult to stop his resignation. Mr. Sharma explained Manoj the

reasons for such partial behavior of the employees.

After listening to Mr. Sharma, Manoj felt sorry for his reaction and ready to take back his resignation.

Question 1: Find the reason that Mr. Sharma would have given to Manoj.

CASE STUDY - 2

The department of Social Services represents a large portion of a county‘s budget and total number of employees. The job of

eligibility technician is responsible for all client contact, policy interpretation, and financial decisions related to several forms of

public aid (e.g., food stamps, aid to families with dependent children). Eligibility technicians must read a large number of memos

and announcements of new and revised policies and procedures. Eligibility technicians were complaining they had difficulty

reading and responding to this correspondence. The county decided to send the employees to a speed reading program costing

$250 per person. The county has 200 eligibility technicians.

Preliminary evaluation of the speed reading program was that trainees liked it. Two months after the training was conducted, the

technicians told their managers that they were not using the speed reading course in their jobs, but were using it in leisure

reading at home. When their managers asked why they weren‘t using it on the job, the typical response was, "I never read those

memos and policy announcements anyway."

Questions:

a. Evaluate the needs assessment process used to determine that speed reading was necessary. What was good about it? Where

was it faulty?

b. How would you have conducted the needs assessment?

Management Union Relation

SECTION - A

Question 1: Explain the provisions under the Factories Act,1948 with respect to employee health, safety and welfare.

Question 2: What are the essential factors for the success of industrial relations?

Question 3: Discuss the obligations of a registered Trade Union.

Question 4: Which Act introduces a three tier system for industrial relations and how would you determine a justified or

unjustified strike?

Question 5: Discuss the meaning and scope of misconduct.

SECTION - B

Question 1: How does ID Act, 1947 distinguish between public and non public utility services.

Question 2: Which are the non statutory machinery set up in ID Act for preservation of industrial peace.

Question 3: Differentiate between adjudication and arbitration.

Question 4: What is IESOA? Discuss the main objectives and provisions of the Act.

Question 5: Discuss three conditions necessary for the Parliament to make laws on any matter of the State List.

SECTION - C

Question 1: How do Certified and Model Standing Orders compare?

Question 2: What are the steps involved in the procedure of disciplinary action.

Question 3: Write short notes on any two:

a. ILO

b. Lay off

Question 4: State the conditions in which the employee is eligible and the circumstances when gratuity is forfeited. Include if

any amendments have been made. Mention the formula to calculate gratuity.

Question 5: Discuss the process of collective bargaining in resolving industrial disputes in India with a recent example.

CASE STUDY - 1

Workers versus Volvo: Wheeling in Industrial Dispute

The workers at the only factory of the Swedish bus manufacturing firm Volvo, have struck work for around 60 days now

(starting August 2, 2011). So for the last 60 days, every regular employee of Volvo has been protesting outside the factory

premises against the oppressive management practices adopted by the company.

Located just 30 kilometres from Bangalore, the strike proceeds even as the management continues to push forward

production using a combination of less experienced trainees, probationers and other assorted contract workers hired from

staffing agencies. The quantity of production has been strongly impacted and the clients that placed orders with Volvo would

need to be doubly concerned about the quality of buses delivered during this period of time.Each Volvo bus is sold between

Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore.

The genesis of the conflict lies in the low wages at the factory, right from the time the Volvo buses division was set up in

2001. The share of Azad Builders, who had a 30 per cent minority stake in Volvo India, was bought out by Volvo in 2008,

making it a fully-owned subsidiary of the Swedish giant. At this point of time, workers were being paid monthly wage of Rs

5,500. After continuous demands from the workers for higher wages – the management consented to give a salary hike of a

measly Rs 650 in July 2009. When the workers asked for a higher wage uptick, the management of Volvo insisted that they

would only negotiate with a recognised union. This requirement led to the creation of the Volvo Bus Workers Union (VBWU)

and was registered in October 2009. The VBWU presented its official charter of demands to the management in January 2010.

The VBWU is affiliated to the national union Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

The management then entered into negotiations with the elected heads of the union on Friday, April 23, 2010. The

negotiations went on for a long time and came to a conclusion only at 17:30 hrs on that day. Since the negotiations were to

result in the long anticipated wage increases, there was a lot of curiosity among a section of the workers who waited near the

meeting room to know what had happened. It was precisely between the conclusion of the meeting and the usual busdeparture

time of 17:40 hrs, that Raghuram who was a manager in the administration asked the buses to leave at 17:35 hrs,

five minutes before their usual time. Some other workers who were peacefully sitting in the bus, disembarked to protest this

decision to send the buses early. The buses were sent out all the same. Being 10 kilometres from nearest town, Hoskote,

these buses are the workers sole mode of transport after work.

Upon discovering that the buses had already left, all the workers then went to the management asking for the buses to be

recalled, but the management refused. It is during this argument that there was a surge in the crowd which resulted in some

people being pushed – both among the workers and the management. This was given a negative spin in the subsequent

public relations campaign by Volvo as an assault by the workers on a foreigner, Mr Schwartz. The workers surrounded the

management asking for transportation and this brouhaha went on till the early hours of the next day which was a Saturday, a

holiday. On the same day the management suspended the representatives of the Union and two others. With no progress in

sight, in August 2010, the workers went on a full-strike demanding the required wage hike that had never materialised and

the reinstatement of their union representatives.

The strike led to tripartite negotiations and successfully ended with the long awaited wage settlement (valid for three years)

with salaries increasing in the range of Rs 3,500-5,000 for the employees. However the workers, to their dismay, started to

find themselves being increasingly harassed on the factory floor. All the probation periods were increased by one year, the

managers started accusing employees of product sabotage and dragging them to the police, trainees were not regularised

and there was an increase in the number of contract workers used (who are paid around half the salary of a regular

employee). Apart from this, the management started to resort to other petty actions like denying workers any kind of leaves

(whether for exams or personal problems), reducing the quality of transportation (without changing the salary contribution

under the transportation head), harassment about breaks and so on.

What should be noted is that the three managers who were involved in the incidents of April 23, have since been moved out

of the company or the division. Despite discovering errors on the side of the management during their domestic enquiries,

the management did not reinstate the union representatives. While publicly taking a stand supporting dialogue with unions,

Volvo internally kept its elected union members under suspension for over a year. With no other legitimate representation

and facing increased harassment at the workplace, the workers saw no other option but to go on strike again on August 2,

2011. Their demands were primarily to reinstate the elected representatives of the union and against the harassment of

probationers/trainees and regular employees. Subsequently, the union representatives were dismissed and now the strike

soldiers on into its 55th day (as on September 25, 2011).

There are some external considerations that need to be factored in to understand the strike in the right perspective.

There has been double-digit inflation in the Indian economy since 2008 and it is through this period that automotive

companies have refused to raise wages while trying to increase productivity. Their 'innovative' solution to compensate for

rising input costs and market volatility was to increase the pressure on the workers. This not only depicts a profound lack of

creative problem solving but has also led to increased industrial disputes from the north to the south of the country in 2011.

The clinching aspect is that most of the unrest is limited to the automotive sector which has recently been facing various

other market-related problems. It then becomes obvious that the market problems are being transmitted onto the ordinary

employees thus reflecting the incompetency of the management.

There has been an increasing usage and exploitation of contract workers by Indian companies. The reaction of firms to local

competition and globalisation has been the creative use (and abuse) of contractors and contract workers. The frustration

against these rampant practices was recently shown in a trite Supreme Court judgement admonishing a private company for

taking advantage of contract workers and summarily dismissing its petition. Labour reforms, while simplifying the laws,

should ensure that the workers are protected and allows them to work in a decent work environment. Those in policy-making

capacities must keep in mind that Western free-market type relaxed labour practices, were implemented only after enforcing

rigorous social security mechanisms and stringent health and safety laws – none of which exist in India.

It is the inability of the managements across India to maturely handle the market and workers that reflects in the high

number of industrial disputes across the country. Harassing the workers and increasing their work-loads to intolerable levels

is not a solution to market problems. This is understood by the best companies that have survived over long periods of time.

While harassing workers may give some short-term marginal benefits in the balance sheets - it will only ruin the enterprise, its

image and its products in the longer run. As for the employees of Volvo, small but determined, their struggle for a decent

livelihood moves onto another day.

Question 1: Discuss the external plausible considerations that could have factored the strike.

Question 2: What were the workers concerns?

Question 3: How did the management address them?

CASE STUDY - 2

Damodar Electric Supply Corporation

The main business of Damodar Electric Supply Corporation is to supply electric energy to the entire district. General Manager

is the Chief Executive, having full authority on all matters of administration. During the last two years, the Corporation has

come into financial problems due to economic recession. As such, to bring control on the expenses the General Manager, has

issued an unconditional order forbidding supervisory foremen to authorise over-time work under any circumstances. One

day, a cable-laying workman was working inside a wet manhole, in the marshy area near a river. About an hour before closing

time he realised that he could not finish the job within the regular working hours. He estimated, that the work would be over

within four hours more. The foreman having no authority to grant over-time telephoned the Section Officer at the Head

Office. Section Officer, unwilling to breach the rule, contacted the Superintendent who in turn asked the Section Officer, to

use his discretion. Section Officer conveyed the same message to the foreman. The Foreman, however, was still afraid of the

consequences of over-time order. He therefore told the cable lay-man to wrap the cable securely and leave the work, to be

finished the next day. During the night, the river went on flood. Water entered the man-hole by the river-side and the

‗cabling‘ was damaged. The damage to the cable was corrected after many days, involving a great expenditure.

Question 1: Was the Corporation‘s over-time policy wrong?

Question 2: Does the ‗Management-by-rule‘ restrict the initiative of the staff and suppress innovativeness?

Question 3: Under such rules, can there be a sense of achievement and job satisfaction for the subordinates?

Question 4: Do you feel ‗No Rules Situation‘ can be advisable for a company?

Question 5: Recommend an over-time Policy to the Damodar Electric Supply Corporation.

Organization Structure and Behavior

SECTION - A

Question 1: How do Indian organizations differ from their Western counterparts?

Question 2: Why is it important for organizations in India to search for hybrid, improvised models of management?

Question 3: What is Organisational Citizenship Behaviour?

Question 4: How would you differentiate between perceptual errors and attributional errors?

Question 5: Explain with example Distinctiveness in Attribution process.

SECTION - B

Question 1: Explain Herzberg‘s two factor theory.

Question 2: Write a note on Pioneering-Innovating motive.

Question 3: What is emotional intelligence?

Question 4: What are existential positions in Transaction Analysis?

Question 5: What are the gains from synergistic group-working?

SECTION - C

Question 1: Which are the commonly used power tactics?

Question 2: What are roles? How do they compare with a job description?

Question 3: What are the advantages and limitations of a strong organizational culture?

Question 4: Explain the process of change.

Question 5: Discuss feminine styles of leadership.

CASE STUDY - 1

Donnelly Mirrors, a small company employing about 750 workers, manufactures practically all of the rear-view mirrors for the

automobiles produced in America. Even though it is a privately held corporation, it has developed a participative management

style where the workers are actively and genuinely involved in the governance of the company. This may be one of the

reasons why the company has been enjoying continuous success over the years.

The participative system started in 1952 and initially, the employees simply participated in cost saving efforts and they

shared those savings among themselves and with the company. Employees were assured that they would not lose jobs

because of introduction of technologically advanced machinery or change in the production methods. This resulted in

reduced resistance for change on the part of employees.

The employees became so involved in cost reduction efforts and activities that they started to volunteer various ways of

improving operational efficiency including selection of equipment and machines. Various problem solving groups were

formed for various operational areas and in order to achieve efficient coordination among all the groups and activities, a

linking-pin organizational structure was adopted, whereby members of various groups make decisions relative to their own

tasks and these decisions are presented to the next higher level of management for consideration.

There are no time clocks and even though workers get paid on a salary basis, their working times are not closely watched or

scrutinized. There is sufficient group cohesion so that the workers do not take undue advantage of these relaxed rules. If a

member is late or absent for a good reason, other workers in the group will make up for his work. If some one misses work

frequently, he becomes answerable to other group members. The group selects its own leader and together the members set

their own production goals within the general framework of the objectives of the organization and are responsible for

meeting such goals. The company has formed a committee comprising representatives both from employees as well as

management and the committee handles all personnel matters such as pay policies, fringe benefits and employee grievances.

Since the workers are represented in this committee, all decisions made by this committee are accepted by all. Pay scales are

also recommended to the management by this committee and these are consistent with the industry practices. As per pay

policies, the company is guaranteed a return of 5.2% on its investment and the balance of the profit is shared with the

employees. If a 5.2% return is not achieved in a given year, the deficit is compensated from the earning of the following year

before any additional bonuses are given to the employees.

Because of its reputation for employee treatment, it attracts a large number of applicants for jobs, but because the turnover

rate is very low, the company can select the best from this pool of applicants. The company is like a close-knit family and

enjoys a reputation for productivity, quality and employee loyalty and dedication.

Question 1: Does the success of the company reflect a general statement that profit sharing and employee

involvement in company affairs is highly motivating for employees? Explain your reasons in detail.

Question 2: How do you think that the group dynamics is at work in this organization? How the group goals are

integrated with the organization goals?

Question 3: Is the concept of worker participation in the management of the company equally applicable in the work

culture of Indian organizations? Give examples

CASE STUDY - 2

Bob‘s is one of the largest fast food chains in Latin America. Headquartered in Rio De Janerio, more than half of this

McDonald‘s clone‘s 225 outlets are located in Brazil. What‘s it like to work at Bob‘s? A day at an outlet in a mall in Sao Paulo

provides some insights.

The most notable characteristic of this fast food restaurant is the youth of the 12 employees. Silvana, who supervises the

training of new hires, has had two promotions in her four years on the job. Yet she‘s only 21 years old. Levy, the short order

cook, is 20 and has been doing his job for a year. Elisangela is 21 and a Bob‘s employee for two years. The restaurant‘s

manager, who has seven years at Bob‘s, is 23. Simone is one of the oldest employees at 25.

Bob‘s employees have another commonality besides their youth. They‘re all from a humble social background. Middle-class

kids in Brazil want to avoid working in fast-food places.

The jobs at Bob‘s have a highly structured routine. For instance, if you‘re working the grill, you need to know that a Big Bob

gets two slices of beef, 11 grams of lettuce and seven grams of sliced onions on a sesame seed bun; a Bob‘s Burger is also

two slices of beef with special sauce but only a slice of tomato n a plain bun; and a Franburgao gets a chicken breast, tomato,

and curry sauce on a sesame seed bun. If you‘re working the French fryer, you need to check the temperature of the oil, make

sure it‘s 345 degrees Fahrenheit, put one package of fries into the bin, push it down slowly into the oil until you hear the

click, wait for the machine to bring it back up, shake the bin three times and pour the fries into the steel container.

Employees seem generally content with their jobs. In spite of having to wear a silly red tie, a blue and red baseball cap and an

apron that says Bob‘s, these people are glad to have a job in a country where as many as one in five is unemployed. Standard

employees at Bob‘s earn 500 reais (less than $ 300 U.S. a month). The manager‘s salary is around 1300 reais a month.

Question 1: Describe an entry-level job at Bob‘s in JCM terms.

Question 2: What type of person do you think would fit well into jobs at Bob‘s?

Question 3: Could jobs at Bob‘s be enriched or reengineered to make employees more productive?

Question 4: How might technology change fast-food jobs over the next 10 years? Could flextime work at Bob‘s? Explain.

Production and Operations Management

SECTION - A

Q1: What is operations management? Describe the different typical measures for quality, speed of delivery and flexibility.

Q2: Neotech Corporation is considering adding a new feature that will increase unit sales by 7.5% and product cost by 13%. The

profit is expected to increase by 23% of the increased sales. Initially the product cost incurred by the company was 54% of the

sales price. Should the new feature be added by the company?

Q3: Amit drives his own car on company business. His employer reimburses him for such travel at the rate of Rs. 8.50 per km.

Amit estimates that his fixed costs per year such as taxes, insurance and depreciation are Rs. 25000. The direct or variable costs

such as gas, oil and maintenance average about Rs. 2.40 per km. How many km must he drive to break even?

Q4: A small manufacturing facility is being planned that will feed parts to three heavy manufacturing facilities. The locations of

the current plants with their coordinates and volume requirements are given in the following table:

Use the centroid method to determine the best location for this new facility.

Q5: What are the qualitative techniques used in forecasting?

SECTION - B

Q1: A firm‘s sales for a product line during the 12 quarters of the past three years were as follows:

Quarter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Sales 600 1550 1500 1500 2400 3100 2600 2900 3800 4500 4000 4900

Forecast sales of each quarter of the fourth year i.e. quarters 13, 14, 15 and 16.

Q2: What is the major difference between aggregate planning in manufacturing and aggregate planning in service?

Q3: Madan Mathur is the supervisor of Legal Cop-Express, which provides copy services for downtown Los Angeles law firms. Five

customers submitted their orders at the beginning of the week. Specific scheduling data are as follows:

All orders require the use of the only color copy machine available. Mr. Mathur must decide on the processing sequence for the

five orders. The evaluation criterion is minimum flow time. Suppose that Mathur decides to use the FCFS rule in an attempt to

make Legal Copy-Express appear fair to its customers.

Q4: What is the role of safety stock in an MRP system? ―MRP just prepares shopping lists. It does not do the shopping or cook the

dinner.‖ Comment.

Q5: Items purchased from a vendor cost Rs.20 each and the forecast for next year demand is 1000 units. If it costs Rs.5 every

time an order is placed for more units and the storage cost is Rs.4 per unit per year. Find that

a. What quantity should be ordered each time?

b. What is the total ordering cost for a year?

c. What is the total storage cost for a year?

SECTION - C

Q1: "You don't inspect quality into a product; you have to build it in." Discuss the implications of this statement.

Q2: A & B company has yearly demand for one of its products as follows

Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Demand 710 660 720 780 730 690 750 770

Develop a three-period moving average forecast and a three-period weighted moving average forecast with weights of 0.50, 0.35

and 0.15 for the most recent demand values, in that order. Calculate mean absolute deviation for each forecast and indicate

which would seem to be most accurate.

Q3: Discuss the purpose of and differences between p charts and R charts.

Q4: What is meant by PMT and MRO? How MRO performs is different functions for maintenance and repairs?

Q5: Describe the concepts of competitive priorities, competitive capabilities, order winners and order qualifiers.

CASE STUDY - 1

Ten samples of 15 parts each were taken from an ongoing process to establish a p chart for control. The samples and the number

of defectives in each are shown in the following table:

a. Develop a p chart for 95 percent confidence (1.96 standard deviations).

b. Based on the plotted data points, what comments can you make?

CASE STUDY - 2

The R & D department is planning to bid on a large project for the development of a new communication system for commercial

planes. The accompanying table shows the activities, times and sequences require:

a. Draw the network diagram.

b. What is the critical path?

c. Suppose you want to shorten completion time as much as possible and you have the option of shortening any or all of B, C, D

and G each one week. Which would you shorten?

d. What is the new critical path and earliest completion time?

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

International Marketing

PART – A

Q1. In International Marketing it is imperative to create a relationship that holds value for the customers and for organization

Discuss.

Q2. Write short note on IMF

Q3. How does international environment play a role in International Trade? What are the International Environment Segments?

Q4. Define factors determining the effectiveness of a political system

Q5. Please help a new entrepreneur in analyzing markets for entry in a new market

PART – B

Q1. Define Quota. What are the various types of Quota?

Q2. What do you understand by International Marketing Research? And types of International Marketing Research

Q3. The main objective of all business is survival .How does a product strategy help in International business what are product

design strategies

Q4. What role does pricing play in International Business? Explain factors affecting international pricing.

Q5. Channel selections depend on distribution structure and choice of specific channel members. Elaborate with suitable

examples

PART – C

Q1. Adopting the right kind of promotional strategies is the most crucial issue of entering markets in many countries. Discuss

Q2. Outline major issues in the New Export Import Policy in force

Q3. Define a letter of credit .What are the contents of letter of credit

Q4. Explain in detail the procedure of conducting a export transaction

Q5. Explain the major commercial documents used in export transaction

CASE STUDY – I

THE CASE OF VENDOR IMPROVEMENT

The rays of the late afternoon sun filtered in through the sheer glass that was south-western wall of Indo-Wichitas boardroom. It

cast three long shadows on the whiteboard that stood in the opposite corner, the diagrams on it from the last meeting only halfobliterated.

The presence of just three people made the room seem larger than it was. Gautam Niyogi, at three inches above 5

feet, was the smallest, but he had die word CEO written all over him. Rajeev Kshirsagar - at 38, he was 10 years younger than his

boss - was more casual; The third person, Arnab Roychowdhury, was trying hard to look older than his 30 years, which was I

exactly the average age of senior consultants at Beninger Darkman.

Gautam Niyogi: "Thanks for dropping by at such short notice, Arnab. You haven't met Rajeev Kshirsagar, have you? He is my righthand

man. Rajeev, Arnab is the bright young man whom Sam told me about. Arnab, we want to talk to you about a special vendor

education programme that we have been running for over two years now. All these months, we thought that it was giving us – and

our suppliers -great results. But, over the past few weeks, we have been getting feedback, some direct, some indirect, which

suggests that we may have been exaggerating its success. In fact, we may actually have been jeopardising our entire supply chain

management process. And that's where we need your help

Arnab Roychowdhury: All right. Could we start at the beginning? What is this special programme?

Niyogi: Our Vendor Improvement Team conducts it. Not very imaginatively, we call it the VIT. It is a sort of crash-course we

devised to quickly bring our vendors up to global standards. A 7-member cross-functional team, made up of our manager s,

offers intensive programmes in manufacturing techniques to our vendors - completely free of cost. It is a parallel process to our

regular vendor management programme. And it is really an intermittent effort, not a continuous one.

Roychowdhury: So, the VIT isn't meant to be part of a long-term association with your vendors?*

Niyogi: Actually, the whole objective of the VIT is to conduct a short-term programme - 10 weeks, to be precise - and to leave it to

the vendor to continue with it. You could think of it as a supplement to our official Vendor Development Programme. So, while the

overall goal of our partnership programme with our suppliers is joint product development, supervisory training and strategic

planning, the VIT is focused on ^the shop floor. You know, manufacturing techniques and that kind of thing……………

Roychowdhury: Why isn't it part of your formal vendor development programme?

Rajeev Kshirsagar: May I take that, Gautam? You see, Arnab, we're doing this not just for ourselves. Nichita, our Japanese partner,

is also using our efforts as a laboratory. If we're successful, they'll ask their companies in other countries to use the same

method. If you ask me why they started with us, it is, probably, because our supplier-base is pretty undeveloped. So, it is a good

testing ground for a new system. In fact, that is why they took special care to train two of our engineers for 9 weeks, so that they

could then come and train our vendors in Japanese systems. But we weren't sure if it would work. So, we did not build the VIT into

the other programme. We started out carefully too. We picked handpicked, I must add - 10 of the medium-sized vendors out of

our 128 suppliers to try out the VIT. And it has always been optional. Of course, we have gone on to cover close to 50 vendors

now, but we are not sure whether we should continue....

Niyogi: Perhaps I should explain a little about how the VIT works, Arnab. Once a vendor firm has agreed, we begin with a half-day

presentation to its senior managers, where we try to allay their apprehensions - especially about additional costs, investments, or

disruptions - and get them to commit themselves to the...." Niyogi's voice trailed often Kshirsagar's ears as he recalled the way

the whole thing had been explained to him. The man who had done the talking was a manager from Nichita, and he had made a

powerful but dense presentation on how the VIT worked. Kshirsagar tried to relive that session 2 years ago…….".. .The standard

presentation begins with a description of what continuous improvement is, and the benefits it brings in terms of cost-reduction

and quality enhancement After that session is over, the VIT briefs other people in the vendor firm, and undertake what is called a

Factory Assessment. The Assessment is discussed with the suppliers senior management, and used to identify areas of concern

and targets for improvement. Although based on the tools, techniques and experience of Nichita in Japan, the programme has

been tailored to meet the specific needs of Indian suppliers.

The next step is the formation of an Improvement Team comprising the supplier's own people. It includes operators and

supervisors from the relevant production area as well as from maintenance, process Engineering, quality, and, sometimes,

administration. Next, targets for improvement are established. The team leader prepares the ground for the activity by briefing

the members, and making the necessary resources available.

The first week is devoted to training. During the second week, the team splits into smaller groups to analyse and discuss the

various processes to be improved. The groups use a combination of hard data and subjective opinions to identify the roots of the

problem, and arrive at possible solutions.

In the third week, the individual groups reconvene as a team. The team makes a flow-diagram of each process so that everyone

appreciates what is involved, and agrees on the changes that will bring the best benefits. The data that has been collected by the

groups is analysed by the entire team.

The period between the fourth and the eighth weeks is spent on implementation. Although the VIT returns often to observe the

progress, the responsibility for this phase vests entirely with the suppliers people. The VIT returns full-time in the ninth and tenth

weeks to help the team review what it has learnt and achieved, and to ensure that all changes are fully documented. It also

discusses the outstanding issues and concerns, and potential improvement projects. The final task is to make a presentation to

senior managers, describing the changes achieved and the benefits gained...

Kshirsagar suddenly switched back to what Niyogi was saying as he realised that his CEO was explaining the improvements that

had since been made to the process.

Roychowdhury stood for a moment in the long men‘s room, and recalled the briefing he had been given by his boss, Sampat 'Sam'

Mathur.

"All right, Arnab, here's your brief. You will be meeting Kshirsagar and Niyogi, who are the CEO and the Vice-President

(Operations), respectively, of Indo-Nichita. Just to refresh your memory, which I know is in top gear first thing in the morning, that

is the joint venture between Nichita and Indian Automotives. Now, Nichitas management in Tokyo counted some $60 billion in

revenue from 23 countries last year while Indian Automotives' accountants put about Rs 1,200 crore in the bank. But don‘t jump

to conclusions, my boy. It is the Indians who run the show here. Nichita only gives them the designs, the technology; and the

systems and techniques.

"What s the problem?" Roychowdhury had asked.

"That's what you must find out. All I know is that Niyogi called me last night, and said he was worried stiff about a vendor

improvement programme they are conducting at the behest of their Japanese partners. You have to go and find out what the

trouble is."

As he prepared to head back into Indo-Nichitas minimalist conference room - was it the Japanese influence or the Indian thrift, he

wondered briefly Roychowdhury invoked the photography memory which had stood him in good stead so many times .Indo-

Nichita had begun manufacturing cars in 1994 at a plant near Bhopal. Check. Indian Automotive two-wheeler plant was at

Chennai. Check Indo-Nichita was a steady, but not spectacular performer since it had managed to increase sales by only about 15

cent every year. Check. And - how could he forget? - since it was now 5 years since it had started doing business, the joint venture

must have indigenised completely by now.

Kshirsagar: "So long as we continued with the routine development stuff, none of our suppliers had any problems. I mean, which

manufacturer doesn't do some kind of work in collaboration with its suppliers these days? The problem is, through the VIT, we

are essentially telling them to radically and, in some cases, totally change the way they do things on their shop floor. For such

changes to really work, it has to be part of the vendors overall strategy, right? So we have to get involved in their strategy. But

that implies that they have to open up their entire business to us so that we can work together....

Roychowdhury: Which, of course, they won‘t since they are not going to tell you what prices they are getting from their other

customers, right?

Niyogi: Absolutely; And it isn't just the price-data; it is also all kinds of other information. And that is making our vendors

suspicious. They think we want to control them, and rob them off their customer so that they become completely dependent on

us. Okay, may be all of them don't think that way. Some of ? them are quite progressive, and know what we are trying to do. But

there is some resistance. And that putting many of our relationships at risk, which is something we are worried about. Of course,

all our contacts with our vendors are long-term. And we chose them after assessing their abilities, and setting cost and quality

targets - not through tendering or anything like that. But if we come across as big brother to our suppliers, we are in trouble……..

Roychowdhury: I must ask an obvious question. I presume you must be having some kind of measure for checking how well your

vendors are doing, and how efficiently your supply chain is working. So have you checked on your gains from the VIT as distinct

from your regular programme?

Kshirsagar: To be honest, it isn't easy to say. When Indo-Nichita started out in 1994,1 understand that the average vendor rating

wis 35 on a scale of 100. That is up to 60 now although I can't say for sure how much of it is due to the VIT. But, judging from the

fact that many of the techniques that have been transferred through the VIT are actually being used, I would say that the VIT has

paid off pretty well Which is why we are hesitant about calling it off altogether.. ..

Niyogi: If I may add, the real objective of the VIT was not just to transfer as many techniques as a 10- week programme would

allow. We actually want to set-off a continuous improvement process. But we are not really sure how much momentum is being

sustained after those 10 weeks. We have no monitoring of that. For all I know, there'll be no long-term impact....

Kshirsagar: And then there's another fear I have although I must add, Gautam doesn't share my views here. I feel that the VIT may

be stretching our people, whose time would be used better in focusing on our core vendor development work.

Niyogi: Who knows, Rajeev. May be you're right. I'm not sure any more. So, can you help us, Arnab

QUESTIONS

1. Is an initiative like the VIT the right approach in helping vendors improve their processes and their output? Should it be linked

to the vendor's strategy? Or to the original equipment manufacturer‘s strategy?

2. Should something like the VIT be pursued continuously, or as a one-off programme? Should its coverage be extended to.

include non-manufacturing activities? Should it now be improved, or discarded? or should it be integrated into Indo-Nichita‘s

regular vendor-development strategy ?

CASE STUDY - II

THE STORY OF A START?UP

March 2000, Dotcom days. CEOs are chucking their jobs in hordes to become entrepreneurs. So much so that such CEO-toentrepreneur

stories are hardly news' anymore. Yet... a handful of journalists huddle together in a small room at the Oberoi in

Delhi for an early morning press conference. The story is the same: A company's CEO quits his cushy job to start his own outfit;

venture capitalists back him; some prominent names on the Board; high hopes; tall projections.

But the tale kept to the script. Over the next three years, Raman Roy, that CEO, was to become an icon in India's business process

outsourcing (BPO) industry and his start-up, Spectramind, a classic example of successful entrepreneurship. Roy, 45, a chartered

accountant, is widely regarded as the pioneer and guru of the IT Enabled Services (ITES) business out of India, having played a

pivotal role in proving that India could be a good location for remote processing and has successfully delivered servicing

solutions from India.

Today, Spectramind has over 10,000 employees, seven facilities in four cities, 17 global customers ^aittUs an integral part of

software major Wipro Technologies. Revenues in the quarter ended September 2003 stoodat Rs 92.7 crore, a growth of 22 per

cent over the previous quarter. Profit margins were in the range of 20 per cent, despite cutthroat competition. All the goals that

Roy and his team had set for Spectramind at the outset wer exceeded well ahead of deadline. Surely, you cant write a story better

than that.

The success of Spectramind - now Wipro Spectramind - partly due to the stupendous growth of India's BPO industry. As more and

more global companies want to cut costs, they take to outsourcing and turn to India. Having established call centres for Amex

and GE, Roy knew this was coming. He had the early-mover advantage, solid funding from VCs - Chrysalis and HDFC put in $7.5

million in the first round - and the expertise required to run the business.

Roy started with a 980-seat facility at Delhi's Okhla Industrial Estate. "We had only 20-odd people when we got out first customer/'

he recalls. Gradually, the facility got filled up, and then it suddenly spilt over. "It was the third customer who made a significant

impact on our operations," Raman says.

As Spectramind was finding its feet in the nascent BPO sector, something else was happening in the big brother software

industry. The crash of dotcoms and the economic slowdown in the US hit India‘s software firms badly. When business began to

get squeezed, these companies were forced to look at other revenue streams. BPO was a natural choice, although there were

hardly any similarities between the two businesses, except that both a call centre agent and a software engineer had a computer

on their desks.

It was then that Wipro Technologies found Spectramind. In October 2001, Wipro announced it was investing $ 10 million in

Spectramind for a 24 per cent stake. "Some ofWipros clients were asking for BPO services. They also saw a huge market

opportunity," says an investment banker who was involved in the deal. The GE background of Roy, practices such as Six Sigma

and the overall work culture of Spectramind endeared the company to Wipro. "GE is one company that Premji admires. Raman was

the most experienced in the industry and there were no cultural issues," he points out. Subsequently, in July 2002, Wipro bought

out other investors and made Spectramind a wholly-owned subsidiary by spending another $83 million, making it the largest deal

in India's BPO industry till date. Industry buzz has it that the investors, Chrysalis and HDFC, got 8-10 times the money they had

ihvested in Spectramind. Roy and other employees, who held about 20 per cent of Spectramind, also made a pile of cash in the

deal:

So Roy was back in the role of an employee from that of an entrepreneur, in the company he had founded. He was later made the

Chairman and Managing Director of Wipro Spectramind, reporting directly to Vivek Paul, Vice-Chairman and CEO. Perceptible

change in Roy now is that he is wary about forecasts. "We are part of an NYSE-listed company. So I can‘t make any forward-looking

statements," he would tell you. But his enthusiasm and passion for the sector and Spectramind is still intact. "We have created the

company of our dreams," he says.

Becoming Wipro Spectramind from Spectramind has done a world of difference to the company. Compared to rivals such as Daksh

and EXL, Spectramind can leverage well on its parentage of Wipro and its deep pockets. "They would boast of being owned by a

company with $8-10 billion market cap, with the result that most Fortune 500 companies treat them as an equal," says an

industry source. "On other occasions, we have seen them offering to buy out the entire operations set-up or technology group for

large Fortune 500 companies and show Wipro s balance sheet strengths to back up their assertion," he says

Wipro has built deep relationships with large European and US companies, for whose BPO requirements Spectramind can easily

feature as a natural choice of vendor. "The leads given by Wipro today immensely benefit Spectramind," sources say.

Wipro benefits from a steady stream of revenues from the BPO business. "At 9,000—10,000 people, even the revenue impact from

Spectramind will soon start being significant in Wipro s consolidated revenue numbers," says Arjun Saxena of Inductis, a US-based

management consultancy. The acquisition has also given Wipro a head start over Infosys, Satyam, HCL and others, whose choice

to grow the BPO business organically means they have achieved barely a tenth of the scale Wipro has been able to achieve though

Spectramind.

Wipro‘s BPO arm provides as many as 60 different processes to its 17 clients, with services ranging from resetting passwords to

offering counselling over the phone to processing e-mails. "Some of our processes last just minutes, while some others may take

about three hours," Roy says. Spectramind provides services to clients in six geographies across industries such as financial

services, information technology, insurance, travel and hospitality and retail, among others.

The "scale in turn provides a chance to leverage economies, provide better growth opportunities to staffers and attain a certain

critical mass that is important for bagging large deals," Saxena says. The present seat utilisation at Spectramind is 1.8 times and

efforts are on to increase it further.

A strong management team is a key differentiating factor at Spectramind. Most officials who started out with Roy have stayed put.

"The one thing that has always been impressive and very fruitful while looking of management talent," an industry official, who is

involved in outsourcing deals, says about Spectramind. While other companies such as EXL and Daksh also have impressive

entrepreneurs at the helm, Spectramind can showcase a complete team of professionals in various areas such as operations,

quality, HR and business development. Apart from Roy, the other key officials at Spectramind are Sanjay Joshi, Vice-Chairman,

who is in charge of sales and marketing, Devashish Ghosh, Chief Operating Officer both Ghosh and Joshi came from Wipro), Raj

Dutta, Chief Financial Officer; S Varadarajan, Vice-President (Talent Engagement and Development) and Nilanjana Paul, Vice-

President, New Business Development.

This team has also been able to cope with the problems caused by rapid growth. "We have the Management width and depth to

handle such issues," exults Roy. For this purpose, Spectramind has created strategic business units, which are run as independent

companies by Vice-Presidents. However; the parentage of Wipro should come in handy here too, as the company is used to over

40 per cent growth for the past so many years. Wipro‘s top brass has also given Spectramind operational decision making

freedom so far, letting the company retain its entrepreneurial midset. It remains to be seen, however, whether such freedom will

continue to exist in the future as well. As the company grows larger, more bureaucracy could influence its managerial structure.

Some time ago, an industry expert said that one significant shortcoming of Spectramind was the inadequate management

attention to smaller accounts. "At its current size, small accounts, of say 100 agents, are largely inconsequential to Spectramind.

As a result, we often hear market buzz around poor servicing to these accounts or diversion of managerial talent to larger

accounts," he had said then. In mid-December, Lehman Brothers, a US based investment banker, pulled out technical helpdesk

work from Spectramind, apparently because of lack of quality in service. Only 26 people were working on this project. Also,

Spectramind stopped working on the human Genomics project, which it once used to highlight as an example of high end,

complex work the company is capable of delivering. Here too, only a small team was involved. But as long as large deals flow in,

there may not be reasons for worry.

Another area of concern for the company is the lack of an international footprint. But Spectramind is understood to be on the

lookout for setting up operations overseas and an announcement in this regard is in the offing.

Who knows, another three years from now, it may be a completely different story.

QUESTIONS

1. Why has the crash of dotcoms and the economic slowdown in the US hit India's software firms badly ?

2. How can Wipro help in leveraging Daksh and EXL?

3. Can Wipro fulfil the BPO requirements for Spectramind, which can feature as a natural choice of a vendor?

Export Finance and Documentation

PART – A

Q1. Explain the role export credit plays in export promotion in India How is the export credit delivery system in India

implemented

Q2. Outline various risks covered under standard policy

Q3. Explain FERA TO FEMA Transition .What do you understand by current account and capital account convertibility

Q4. How is a letter of credit transacted? Explain in detail various types of letter of credit

Q5. Does Cargo Insurance play a role in Export Transaction? Explain difference between Marine and cargo insurance

PART – B

Q1. Outline in detail the claims procedure for a export cargo

Q2. As goods exported are in foreign countries, highlight the major standard clauses of export order

Q3. The Indian Exporters are given certain foreign exchange facilities outline the same

Q4. What do you understand by foreign exchange .Explain different types of possible exchange rate regimes?

Q5. Outline the factors affecting exchange rate

PART – C

Q1. Export finance is important to be competitive do you agree with this statement. What are the means of short term financing?

Q2. Outline need of export documentation Explain major shipping documents needed in export transaction

Q3. Explain major steps required in custom clearance of export shipment

Q4. What is the role of clearing and forwarding agents in international trade

Q5. Explain in detail major Inco terms used in export transaction

CASE STUDY – I

FEMA ALLOWS DEALERS TO MAKE REMITTANCES FOR GENUINE DEALS

FEMA, the improved version of FERA, which has come into effect from June, does not do away with exchange controls as such.

Nonetheless, it puts an end to the archaic system of sending businessmen and managers to jail for civil offences.

The substitute of financial penalties is better even though the quantum of penalty does not reflect the low national cost of

generating foreign exchange. Welcoming the new Act, Fieo Chief, Navratan Samdria, has said that the new Act recognises the

export contract. There are no artificial limits in the law for agency commission or buyer claims. The actual incidence of these is

left to market forces. Agency commission in the case of rupee trade is, however, not allowed.

The invoice value is no longer sacrosanct; it is a mere reflection of the consignment at the time of drawing upJhe bill. The actual

value of goods is a function of time and place, the actual sale proceeds depend upon the market situation. However, the new

thinking should be reflected in bank procedures and also the mindsets of the customs and DGFT officials. They are fixed to the

invoice values and bank realisation certificates and do not wish to hear anything else.

In the new FEMA rules, business travellers can now avail of. minimum of $5,000 forex with minimum documentation and

paperwork. The limit has been raised from the current level of $3,000.

There is new GR/PP form, which should be used in all export documentation. As of now, the RBI has asked exporters to continue

with the old forms after modifying them for the FEMA undertakings. The new set of GR/PP forms will be provided to exporters

shortly.

On the import side, authorised dealers have been given permission to make remittances for all genuine transactions. In case of

doubts on the authenticity' of the transaction, dealers have the right to refuse to deal with the importers, provided they do so in

writing.

Exceptions to the general permissions for import remittances are under Schedule II and Schedule II! of the FEMA rules, which

cover cases requiring permission from union government as well as situations where monetary ceilings are prescribed.

The important point in exchange control on imports is that RBI approval is required for supplier credit beyond 180 days. For

credit below 180 days, no permission is required and the dealer can straight away send out the amount. Similarly, all cases of

buyer's credit, which means advance payment for the goods in some form or the other, also require a RBI clearance.

The RBI has withdrawn itself from the task of prescribing documents for each transaction. The decision is left to the authorised

dealer who must deal with each situation according to the ground level facts and circumstances. The intention is to control the

transaction on the basis of undertakings and declarations rather than conducting another customs clearance at the banking

stage

Agriculture trade: The IIFT and the department of agricultural research and cooperation held a daylong meeting of agriculture

experts recently. The well-researched backgrounder from NCAER showed up negative subsidies on most agriculture commodities,

rice led the field at over minus 40 per cent. The state government representatives felt that imports were responsible for

depressed agriculture prices.

Economists said that rise in state minimum support prices and the consequent difficulties in disposing the expensive purchases is

bad for agriculture. Concerns of good security were topmost in the minds of the commerce ministry negotiators. They are looking

for ideal tariff rate, which meets the interests of the Indian producers and consumers without compromising food security.

The commerce ministry is on a transparency spree, the main discussion papers on both the agriculture and services negotiations

at WTO reflecting the tentative position of the" Indian government on the Internet along with other related material.

Anybody can visit the site in the nic.inserver; one click on the commerce button is all that is required to download the material.

Suggestions and views can be sent on the Internet at the Webmaster address. Given the limitations of the negotiations, cogent

reactions will strengthen India's case at the WTO forum. The views will also build the consensus on reform in agriculture.

Furnace Oil. The DCFT notified Rs 780 per tonne as the industry rate of drawback on furnace oil supplied to 100 per cent EOUs

and export processing zones. The measure reimburses the duties suffered by the deemed export on the fast track route. The

brand rate alternative requires verification of the actual duty paid. The DCFT action is especially welcome because the duties

suffered are rarely reimbursed by the export promotion system.

Sodium Cyanide. The revenue department has slapped a stiff anti-dumping duty on sodium cyanide imports. The final duty is Rs

68.025 per kg on all imports from US, EU, Czech Republic and Korea. The 16 per cent countervailing duty to compensate for the

excise duty suffered by domestic goods must also be paid on the anti-dumping duty. In other words, another Rs 10.88 per kg

must be paid as countervailing duty due to the anti-dumping duty of Rs 68.025 per kg. The short paid provisional duties will also

be recovered as the customs shoot the demand letter out.

Questions

1. Does FEMA allows better flexibility of all export and import Transactions .

2. What Role does agriculture trade play in International Trade and Negotiations with WTO

Quantitative Technique

SECTION - A

Question 1: What are the component of a time series?

Question 2: Assume that the factory has two machines. Past records show that Machine 1 produces 30 per cent of the output. 5

percent of the items produced by the Machine 1 were defective and only 1 per cent produced by Machine 2 were defective .If an

item selected at random is found to be defective, what is the probability that it was produced by Machine 2.

Question 3: Gati India Ltd. Maintains Kilometer records on all of its rolling equipment. Here are weekly kilometer records of its

trucks.

810 450 756 789 210 657 589 488 876 689

1450 560 469 890 987 559 788 943 447 775

A) Calculate the median kilometer a truck travelled.

B) Calculate the mean for 20 truck.

C) Compare part (a) and part (b) and explain which one is better measure of central tendency of the data.

Question 4: Calculate correlation coefficient from the following results:

n=10 ; ΣX=140;ΣY=150

Σ(X-10)2=180; (Y-180)2 =215

Σ(X-10)(Y-15)=60

Question 5: ABC Builders is engaged in the construction of a multistory building. It has recently conducted a cost audit. The

manger ( cost accounting) has collected the figures of the total cost and its major constituents. The information collected as

percentage of expenditure is shown below. Represent the Data with the help of a suitable diagram.

Item Expenditure%

Wages 25

Bricks 15

Cement 20

Steel 15

Wood 10

Supervision and music 10

SECTION - B

Question 1: a) Prove: P(A/B) >P(A),

Then P(B/A)>P(B)

Question 2: What is the probability of obtaining two heads in two throws of a single coin.

Question 3: The two regression coefficients byx and bxy are either both be positive or both be negative. Do you agree with this

statement. If so why?

Question 4: The equations of two regression lines obtained in a correlation analysis are given below. 3x + 12y = 19 ; 3y + 9x = 46

obtain (i) the mean values (ii) the value of correlation coefficient and (iii) the ratio s x /s y

Question 5: Differentiate between primary data and secondary data. Under what circumstances would secondary data be more

useful than primary data.

SECTION - C

Question 1: Find arithmetic mean, median and mode from the following:

Marks below 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

No. of students 15 35 60 84 96 127 198 250

Question 2: A box contains 4 bad and 6 good transistors. Two are drawn out together. One of them is tested and found to be

good. What is the probability that the other one is also good?

On a midterm exam, the scores were distributed normally with mean of 72 and standard deviation of 10. Student Wright scored in

the top 10 percent of the class on the midterm.

Question 3: Wirght‘s midterm score was at least how much?

Question 4: The final exam also had a normal distribution, but with mean of 150 and standard deviation of 15. At least what

score should Wright get in order to keep the same ranking (i.e , top 10 percent).

Question 5: What do you mean by trend analysis? Differentiate between secular trend and cyclic fluctuation.

CASE STUDY - 1

A restaurant manager has recorded the daily number of customers for the last four weeks. He wants to improve customer service

and change employee scheduling as far as necessary, based on the expected number of daily customers in the feature. The

following data represent the daily number of customers as recorded by the manager for the last four weeks.

weeks mon Tues wed thurs fri sat Sun

1 440 400 480 510 650 800 710

2 510 430 500 520 740 850 800

3 490 580 410 630 720 810 690

4 500 500 470 540 780 900 850

Determine the daily seasonal indices using the seven day moving average.

CASE STUDY - 2

A batch of 5000 electric lamps have a mean life of 1000 hours and standard deviation of 75 hours. Assume a normal distribution.

a. How many lamps will fail before 900 hours?

b. How many lamps will fail between 950 and 1000 hours?

c. What proportion of lamps will fail before 925 hours?

d. Given the same mean life , what would the standard deviation have to be ensure that no more than 20% of lamps fail before

916 hours?

Web Technology

PART - A

Q1. A watch company want to display 5 different models of watches. Create a web page which includes 5 different layers for all

the watch models. Every layer will contain standard text like: Image of watch, company name, description, price. There are 5

hyperlinks on bottom of the page representing name of all models. As user mouse moves over the hyperlink, a particular layer

associated with that link should appear, otherwise all layers must remain invisible.

Q2. What is the difference in Client side and Server side languages? Why the forms validations in a HTML page is done using client

side language like JavaScript instead of server side language.

Q3. A job placement company hosted a web site for online submission of resumes by various candidates. Create a web page for

resume submission using forms and various HTML components. The fields in form may include: Name, Address, age, email,

phone, mobile, qualification details, previous experience details, etc. Write client side script for the web page using JavaScript for

implementing various field level validations.

Q4. What is Global.asa file. Why Application and session variables declared in Global.asa file.

Q5. Using Send Mail Component (Or any other Mail Component), create a web page to send mails. The

requirement is to have various mail features like, CC, BCC, Mail Subject, Mail from, etc.

PART- B

Q1. Explain XML. How XML can be used in place of any database management system.

Q2. Write a short note on following:

(a) Document Type Definition (DTD).

(b) XSL (Extensive style sheet language).

(c) Namespaces.

Q3. A scientist want to implement tags (using XML) of following format to create web page which helps in representing Chemistry

periodic table for various elements:

<Element atomic number = " " >

<Name> Sodium</Name>

<Characteristics> Solid, Low melting point….. </Characteristics>

<Atomic Weight> </Atomic Weight>

</Element>

Write document type definition for the above mentioned tags using XML.

Q4. Explain following by taking suitable examples:

(a) XSLT.

(b) XML Schema.

(c) XQuery.

(d) XLInk.

Q5. An educational institute want to implement online result system. The student can feed its rollno and course on the web site

to see it marks details in order of various subjects. More ever administrator of the web site can edit and add marks through web

interface of the site. Write the application page using ASP and XML in backend to implement the above mentioned functions.

Define suitable DTD for the above data storage design.

PART - C

Q1. Explain <img> --- </img> tag.

Q2. Differentiate between Client side and server side scripting.

Q3. Explain various different types of Lists in HTML.

Q4. What is web server and name any three web servers?

Q5. Explain how to use < % %> delimiter.

CASE STUDY-1

Create an online discussion group for a class, with a limited participation to registered users. Add a registration page using the

registration template to allow users to add themselves to the discussion group. The registered user can post message on

discussion board, can answer the already posted questions, send email, etc. Explain process, steps & Codes

CASE STUDY-2

A big manufacturing house is facing difficulty in implementing distributed database system for its ERP application. They decided

to integrate all departments in all the manufacturing units situated in different countries by hosting a dedicated web site with

dedicated database server. To start with they decided to put sales and distribution department online. The user of the web site

can perform operations such as: Add/ Edit sales order, add/edit customer information, add/edit details of distribution centre,

check accounts receivable of customer, check ware house status, implement sales transaction from warehouse to

customer/Distributor, etc. Purpose the detailed design and implementation of the web application keeping in mind following

platform: Windows NT Server, IIS, ASP, SQL Server, JavaScript.

Java Programming

PART- A

Q1. Define each of the following terms: single inheritance, multiple inheritance, interface, superclass and subclass.

Q2. Discuss why casting a superclass reference to a subclass reference is potentially dangerous multiple inheritance? What feature

of Java helps realize the benefits of multiple inheritance?

Q3. Distinguish between non-abstract methods and abstract methods.

Q4. Write a recursive method power (base, exponent) that when invoked returns base exponent

Q5. Selection sort searches an array for the smallest element in the array. Then, the smallest element is swapped with the first

element of the array. The process is repeated for the subarray beginning with the second element of the array. Each pass of the

array results in one element being placed in its proper location. This sort has a performance comparably to the bubble sort-for an

array n elements, n-1 passes must be made, and for each subarray, n-1 comparisons must be made to find the smallest value.

When the subarray being processed contains one element, the array is sorted. Write a recursive method selection Sort to perform

this algorithm.

PART- B

Q1: Create a Data class with the following capabilities:

(a) Output the date in multiple formats such as

MM/DD/YY

June 14,2009

DDD YYYY

(b) Use overload constructors to create Date objects initialized with dates of the formats in part(a)

Q2. Create class SavingAccount. Use a static class variable to store the annual interest Rate for each of the savers. Each object of

the class contains a private instance variable savingsBalance indicating the amount the saver currently has on deposit. Provide

method CalculateMonthlyInterest to calculate the monthly interest by multiplying the balance by annual interest Rate divided by

12; this interest should be added to savingBalance. Provide a static method modifyInterestRate that sets the annual interest Rate

to a new value. Write a driver program to test class SavingsAccountobject, saver1 and saver2, with balance of $2000.00 and

$3000.00, respectively. Set annual interest Rate to 4%, then calculate the monthly interest and print the new balances for each of

the savers. Then set the annual interest Rate to 5% and calculate the next month's interest and print the new balances for each of

the savers.

Q3. Explain the advantage of object oriented model over traditional programming model.

Q4. Define each of the following terms: single inheritance, multiple inheritance, interface, superclass and subclass.

Q5. Discuss why casting a superclass reference to a subclass reference is potentially dangerous multiple inheritance? What feature

of Java helps realize the benefits of multiple inheritance?

PART- C

Q1. Distinguish between non-abstract methods and abstract methods.

Q2. a) What is Package.

Q2. b) Explain Client Server.

Q3. a) What is LRL?

Q3. b) Why has Java gained international acceptance.

Q4. a) Explain Java API.

Q4. b) Explain RMI with suitable example.

Q5. a) What is package and how it is useful in programming?

Q5. b) Class is the heart of Every Java applet, Comment.

CASE STUDY - 1

A spelling Checker: Many popular word processing software packages have built in spell checkers.

1. You are asked to develop your own spell-checker utility. We make suggestions to help get you started. You should then

consider adding more capabilities. Use a computerized dictionary (if you have access to one) as a source of words.

CASE STUDY - 2

Why do we type so many words with incorrect spelling? In some cases, it is because we simply do not know the correct spelling,

so we make a "best guest." In some case, it is because we transpose two letters (e.g., "defualt" instead of "default"). Sometimes we

double-type a letter accidentally (e.g., "hanndy" instead of "handy"). Sometimes we type a nearby key instead of the one we

intended (e.g., "biryhday" instead of "birthday"). And so on.

Design and implement a spell-checker applet in Java. Your program should maintain an array wordList of strings. Enable the user

to enter these strings. Once you have these capabilities, you can obtain the words for the spell checker from a computerized

dictionary stored in a file.

Your program should ask a user to enter a word. The program should then look up that word in the wordList array. If the word is

present in the array, your program should print 'Word is spelled correctly."

If the word is not present in the array, your program should print 'word is not spelled correctly." Then your program should try to

locate other words in wordList that might be the word the user intended to type. For example, you can try all possible single

transpositions of adjacent letters to discover that the word "default" is a direct match to a word in wordList Of course, this implies

that your program will check all other single transpositions such as "edfault," "dfeault," "default," "deafult," and "defualt." When

you find a new word that matches one in wordList, print that word in a message such as, 'Did you mean "default?". "

2. Implement other tests such as replacing each double letter with a single letter and any other test you can develop to improve

the value of your spell checker.

Indian Financial Services

SECTION – A

Question 1: Discuss the various constituents of the Indian Financial System.

Question 2: The RBI Act of 1934 bestows all the important functions of a central bank to the RBI .Explain briefly.

Question 3: What is the Securities and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002

(SARFAESI ACT 2002)?

Question 4: How to repos and reverse repos affect liquidity?

Question 5: Explain the bought-out deal.

SECTION - B

Question 1: Define merchant banker, and explain the nature of merchant bankers‘ activities.

Question 2: What is meant by book building issue?

Question 3. Discuss the key risk management initiatives taken by SEBI.

Question 4: Explain the various types of financial instruments.

Question 5: What are fixed –income securities?

SECTION - C

Question 1: Hyderabad Ltd, entered on a lease agreement with First Leasing Limited on 01st

a. Fair value of the assets Rs. 5,25,000. April 2012. The following are the conditions of the lease:

b. Life of the assets is 5 years, residual value is 52,500.

c. Lease rentals are Rs. 1,45,635 for 5 years payable at the end of each year.

Show how this transaction would be recorded in the books of Hyderabad Ltd., for the first two years; also show the profit and loss

account and balance sheet for these two years.

Question 2: Explain the impact of NII (Net Income Approach) in different approach.

Question 3: Analyze the recent trends in M & A activities in India.

Question 4. Define the venture capital business and explain its features.

Question 5. What is a finance lease? How is it different from other type of lease?

CASE STUDY - 1

Star Ltd. is considering merger with Moon ltd. Star Ltd‘s share are currently traded at Rs. 30.00 Per Share. It has 3000 shares

outstanding. Its earnings after taxes (EAT) amount to ` 6,00,000. Moon Ltd. has 1,60,000 shares outstanding and its current

market price is ` 15.00 per share and its earnings after taxes (EAT) amount to ` 1,60,000. The merger is decided to be effected.

by means of a stock swap (exchange). Moon Ltd has agreed to proposal by which Star Ltd will offer the current market value of

Moon Ltd‘s shares.

Find out:

a. The pre-merger earnings per share (EPS) and Price/earnings (P/E) ratios of both the companies.

b. If Moon Ltd‘s P/E Ratio is 9.6, what is its current Market Price? What is the Exchange Ratio? What will Star Ltd. post merger EPS

be?

c. What should be the exchange ratio; if Star Ltd‘s pre-merger and post-merger EPS are to be the same?

CASE STUDY - 2

From the following information, you are required to advise a company about the leasing out of the assets:

Cost of the assets Rs. 12,00,000/-

Average cost of capital to the lessor 10%

Depreciation 15% on original cost

Life 5 years

Salvage value 50,000

Lease rent payable at the end of each of 5 years Rs. 4,50,000/-

Corporate tax 50% applicable to lessor

Business Ethics

SECTION - A

Question 1: Write a note on Ethical Heritage of India and their relevance to modern management.

Question 2: How did Buddhist and Jain Philosophies influence the thoughts and actions of Mahatma Gandhi.

SECTION - B

Question 1: What are the professional ethics and professional misconduct of the Chartered Accountants as defined by the

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India?

Question 2: What are the ethical questions involved in commercial advertising broadcast through the electronic media? What is

the best method of control of commercial advertising

SECTION - C

Question 1: What are the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary responsibilities (CSR) which should be discharged by a

responsible Company/ Corporation?

Question 2: What are the steps Government of India has taken to make CSR a compulsory legal responsibility for all

Companies/Corporations in India?

CASE STUDY - 1

Political Corruption in IndiaGovernment has been jolted by controversy over licences and radio airwaves that the CAG of India)

says were given out too cheaply, depriving the government of up to $39 billion in revenues. The telecom minister, A Raja was

forced to resign and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been asked to explain himself to the Supreme Court. Opposition

parties want a full parliamentary probe and have blocked proceedings until the government relents.

So, what is the controversy all about and what does it mean for the telecom sector and companies?

In 2008, the country issued 122 new telecom licences and the second-generation radio spectrum bundled with it to several

domestic companies that had little or no experience in the telecom sector, and at a price set in 2001.

The national Auditor General said that the allocation process did not reflect the correct value of radio spectrum as there was no

auction and the entire process was flawed, benefiting selected companies.

The Auditor General said that the telecom ministry did not do the requisite due diligence, granting 85 out of the 122 licences to

ineligible applicants.

The auditor also said the ministry did not follow its own guidelines, changed the cut-off date for applications, which gave "unfair

advantage" to some companies over others. It said that the entire process "lacked transparency and was undertaken in an

arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner".

The auditor said that several companies deliberately suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information, submitted fictitious

documents and used fraudulent means to get licences and thereby access to spectrum.

The auditor said that units of Unitech Ltd, which received licences in 2008 and now operates services in a joint venture with

Norway's Telenor, had not fulfilled eligibility conditions including required share capital.

Other firms which were ineligible according to the auditor include Loop Telecom, Videocon Telecommunications and S Tel Ltd.

The auditor said that Swan Telecom, which has since been partly acquired by the UAE's Etisalat , was given licences even though a

unit of No. 2 telecoms firm Reliance Communications held over 10% of equity, a violation of rules.

It is still too early to know whether any licences would be cancelled, but the pressure would be strong not to do so because

operators have invested in networks and have subscribers.

Any big crackdown could send a wrong signal to investors.

But the government could ask operators to compensate for the potential revenue loss as highlighted by the auditor and may

impose fines for not meeting separate rollout obligations.

The Auditor General also named nine other operators, including market leaders Bharti Airtel , Reliance Comm and Vodafone, who

were allotted spectrum beyond the contracted limit without paying any upfront charges, costing the government a potential $8

billion.

Questions:

Q1. How many Telecom licenses were issued and how many were found ineligible?

Q2. What was the potential loss of revenue to the nation? How did the CAG of India calculate the loss?

Q3. Explain with examples the various kinds of ‗white collar crime‘. How does this case fall under the category of white collar

crime?

Q4.How did these companies violate the principles of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility?

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

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Business Law

SECTION - A

Question 1: While all contracts are agreements, all agreements are not necessarily contracts.‖ Do you agree? Give reasons for your

answer, by citing suitable illustrative examples.

Question 2: What is the position of a contract with or by a minor? Explain in detail.

Question 3: What are the various elements which are considered necessary to constitute a ‗Free Consent‘.

Question 4: Explain with examples the doctrine of supervening impossibility.

Question 5: Differentiate between Sale and Agreement to sell.

SECTION - B

Question 1: What do you mean by LLP? Give the process of registering LLP electronically.

Question 2: What is a company? Give its essentials.

Question 3: Give detailed process of registering a company under electronic system.

Question 4: Explain Doctrine of Ultravires. .

Question 5: What is a prospectus? Why is it considered a sacred document?

SECTION - C

Question 1: What do you mean by Negotiable Instruments? What do you mean by ‗bouncing of cheque‘? What are legal remedies

for dishonor of cheque?

Question 2: Give various types of Intellectual Property in detail.

Question 3: Who is a consumer? Give pecuniary jurisdiction of consumer forums.

Question 4: Explain competition law in detail.

Question 5: What is RTI? How will you file a RTI application?

CASE STUDY - 1

Sandeep had sold his house to Bachchan for Rs10 lakh. It was only later that he came to know that it was even conservatively

estimated to be worth at least Rs 25 lakh. Immediately there-after, he preferred to back out and refused to perform the contract

by giving an undisputed possession of his house to Bachchan, on the plea that the sale price was too inadequate, and that he

(Bachchan) must pay him Rs15 lakh more, when alone he will sell his house to him. Thereupon, Bachchan filed a suit against

Sandeep to perform the valid contract entered into between them. What are the chances of Bachchan winning the case? Give

reasons for your answer.

CASE STUDY - 2

Sudhakar had agreed to rent his house to Gaurav on a monthly rental of Rs 21,000. But, in the rel ative agreement document the

rental was, by mistake, typed as Rs 12,000 per month, instead. In your expert opinion, will this agreement be held valid, voidable

or void? Give reasons for your answer.

Financial Accounting

SECTION - A

Q1: "Accounting is carried out for various types of business ownership". Comment.

Q2: Explain characteristics of a liability.

Q3: Analyse the following transactions and events, and identify debit-credit giving reasons:

i. Mahesh started business with cash Rs. 10,00,000.

ii. Purchased plant & machinery worth Rs. 2,50,000.

iii. Opened a bank account in ICICI bank and deposited Rs. 50,000.

iv. Purchased goods worth Rs. 1,00,000 in cash from Mr. X.

v. Sold goods worth Rs. 80,000 to Mr. Y at 10% profit on cost.

Q4: AS-1 talks about three fundamental accounting standards, explain them.

Q5: How many types of journals are there explain them.

Section B

Q1: Explain advantages of day book.

Q2: On 31st March, 2014, Pass Book showed a balance of Rs. 25,000. Prepare a Bank Reconciliation Statement from the following

particulars:

1. Cheques of Rs. 20,000 were deposited in Bank on 27th March, 2014, out of which cheques of Rs. 5,000 were cleared on 1st

April, 2014. Rests are not cleared.

2. On 28th March, 2014, cheques were issued amounting to Rs. 15,000, out of which cheques of Rs. 3,000 were presented in

March, Rs. 4,000 on 2nd April and rests were not presented.

3. Cheques of Rs. 10,000 were deposited in Bank on 28th march, 2014, out of which cheques of Rs. 4000 were cleared on 2nd

April, 2014 and rest is dishonored.

4. Interest on investment collected by bank does not appear in the Cash Book Rs. 800.

5. A B/R of Rs. 9,000 previously discounted from the bank was dishonored on 30th March, 2014 but no intimation was received

from the bank till 31st

6. Bank has debited Rs. 1,500 and credited Rs. 1,200 in our Account.

Q3: Explain meaning and purpose of trial balance

Q4: Prepare the Store Ledger Account on the basis of FIFO method:

Q5: What do you mean by dividend? Explain the dates which are relevant when accounting for dividends.

SECTION - C

Q1: Differentiate between operating revenue and other income.

Q2: Write a short note on cash and cash equivalents.

Q3: Briefly discuss the matters to be included in the Director‘s report.

Q4: Cash is the lifeblood of business. How cash flow information helps users?

Q5: Explain revenue based, assets based and capital based profitability ratios.

CASE STUDY - 1

From the following information calculate:

a) Gross profit ratio

b) Inventory turnover ratio

c) Current ratio

d) Liquid ratio

e) Net profit ratio

f) Working capital turnover ratio

Sales Rs. 25,00,000; Cost of sales Rs. 19,20,000; Net profit Rs. 3,60,000; Average inventory Rs. 8,00,000; Other current assets

Rs. 7,60,000; Fixed assets Rs. 14,40,000; Long term Debts Rs. 9,00,000; Current liabilities Rs. 6,00,000; Trade Creditors Rs.

2,00,000; Net profit before interest and tax Rs. 8,00,000.

CASE STUDY - 2

From the following information, prepare a cash flow statement of Crispin Ltd.

Additional Information:

a. Depreciation charged on fixed assets was Rs. 81,000.

b. An interim dividend of 15% was paid. Additional shares were issued on 31-03-14.

c. Preference shares were redeemed at a premium of 15%.

d. Fixed assets with a book value of Rs. 54,000 were sold at Rs. 33,750.

Group Dynamics and Managing Change

PART-A

1. What are the stages in the development of groups? Explain the various steps.

2. What is a well-functioning group? What are the characteristics of a mature group?

3. What is a team? How does it differ from a group?

4. What is the managerial grid? Contrast its approach to leadership with the approach of the Ohio State and Michigan groups.

5. Leadership is the driving force which gets thing done by others. Discuss.

PART-B

1. Explain the various techniques used by organizations to empower their employees.

2. Explain the self-theory and evaluate it with examples.

3. What are the functions of counselling? Elaborate.

4. What are the drawbacks of counselling?

5. Explain the various frameworks for understanding human behavior.

PART-C

1. Under what circumstances would the group decision•]making style be preferable over the individual decision•]making style?

2. Explain in detail the process of brainstorming for making innovative decisions. Is entertaining wild ideas justified when it is so

time consuming and the success of these ideas is so uncertain?

3. What are the major reasons individuals resist change? How can organizations deal with such resistance?

4. Who plays the role of a change agent? Explain the various types of change agents.

5. Give the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external change agents.

CASE STUDY -1

UNWANTED PROMOTION

Vinod was a scientist in the Research and Development department of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). He had

worked for the Institution ever since he received his degree 15 years earlier and he was clearly recognized as one of the best

researchers in the area. He spent many hours keeping up on the current literature, and he knew how to set up tight research

designs. Knowledgeable about space research, he had a reputation for sticking to his guns about how specific research studies

should be conducted. He believed that if something was not done well, it should not be done at all. A number of his discoveries

had saved the company of millions of dollars in foreign exchange. His colleagues frequently came to him for advice about how to

proceed on various projects. He was convinced about the correctness of his advice. In short Vinod was a star in the organization.

Early in February 2000, Roney would retire as head of R & D. The decision about his successor was in the hands of Dr. Arun, the

chairman of ISRO. Roney recommended Vinod because of his record of his outstanding service. The new position required large

amounts of administrative work and less research. Roney and Dr. Arun discussed some of these issues with Vinod. He would no

longer be in charge of specific research projects, but because everyone came to him for advice, he could still be actively involved

in research. Vinod thought long about the offer. The promotion meant more money and recognition. Starting June 1, Vinod

became the head of the R & D department.

It was not long before things started to go wrong. First, of all, Vinod had more difficulty keeping up with the literature. Other

priorities seemed to always interfere with his reading time. He also noticed a distinct cooling in the way his colleagues treated

him. At first they had continued to come to him with questions and problems, Vinod responded as he always had ‗Here‘s how it

has to be cone‘. Om a few cases his advice was not followed.

He also got into a number of arguments with Dr. Arun. In many cases he demanded more financial support from Dr. Arun to

conduct various research projects in the way he felt it should be done. It got to the point where almost every interaction between

the two resulted in an argument.

Finally, Dr. Arun knew that something had to be changed. He went to Vinod and told him that he had to (1) compromise more and

accept the realities of his job. (2) Step down from his position, or (3) leave ISRO.

Questions:

1. Why do you think Vinod was not successful at this job?

2. Why did problems start to occur between Vinod and his colleagues?

3. Do you think the selection of Vinod to the position of R & D Head was the right move? How should this process of selection

have been conducted?

CASE STUDY -2

SIX HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

Mr. Vijayant is a CEO of a small startup sports magazine. He had with him a handful of young, exuberant and talented

professionals, who are gifted but inexperienced. Mr. Vijayant has always been a disciplined and dedicated person and a ‗doer‘. His

first issue is greeted with much acclaim by the readers. However, he soon finds himself shorn of new ideas and the subsequent

magazine sales dwindle. He tries to find solutions to the problem but to no avail. One day, he is watching a talk show in a

television programme where the host talks about the benefits of group discussion. The next day he duly brings together five of

his best employees in the conference room and indulges in a two hour session of brainstorming to find the solutions to the

magazines problems.

The meeting is a success. The ideas initially border on the absurd and even downright hilarious, but later on, as the session

progresses, they manage to come up with some novel ideas. The subsequent issues are full of life and are well appreciated by the

readers

Questions:

1. If you were in the CEO‘s position, would you take a similar step or would you be using a different method?

2. What are the benefits of brainstorming? Evaluate your answer.

Management Information Systems

SECTION – A

Question 1: What are basic features of modern organization?

Question 2: What is the difference between Information Systems and Information Technology?

Question 3: What is the difference between data and information? Give some examples.

Question 4: Why information is considered as resource for organizations?

Question 5: Give three examples of versions of software products that you are aware off?

SECTION - B

Question 1: Why did e-commerce become so popular all over the world?

Question 2: What is e-governance? How is it different from e-commerce?

Question 3: What are the first, second and third order effect of Information systems when introduced in modern organizations?

Question 4: How does workplace monitoring effect workers?

Question 5: How can e-waste be managed in organizations?

SECTION - C

Question 1: What is the difference between application software's and system software's?

Question 2: What is the difference between viruses and worms?

Question 3: What is cracking? Explain with suitable examples.

Question 4: Identify the stages of the waterfall model and describe their main goals.

Question 5: What is the need for data management? Why is it difficult to manage data?

CASE STUDY - 1

Morgan Stanley was established in 1935, and in 1997 merged with retail brokerage firm Dean Witter Discover and Co to become a

global financial services organisation that employed more than 53,000 people in over 600 countries including Australia.

Institutional Securities, Asset management, Retail Brokerage and Discover were the four segments of Morgan Stanley. The merger

altered the working environment of Morgan Stanley and created a divide in employee acceptance of the Retail brokerage segment.

It did not integrate well with the firm partly due to the information systems being different to the rest of the company.

Under CEO Philip Purcell‘s management, Morgan Stanley‘s infrastructure and systems did not grow with the needs of employees

and customers, nor did it apply future technologies to their current systems, it‘s focus was reducing overheads to maximize

profits in the short term. Many brokers resigned, taking with them valuable portfolios and profits. In June 2005 Purcell resigned,

and John Mack provided new leadership. The firm then began to change its information systems and provide better services for

clients, which saw stronger ethos and integrity within the employees. The new leadership at Morgan Stanley instigated change,

and the realization that the Company must grow to keep up with the competition in the financial services industry. Not only did

technology need overhauling within all the segments, but management and organizational changes were also required. Some of

these changes were the renaming the Retail Brokerage division to Global Wealth Management Group and hiring James Gorman

with a budget in 2006 to invest over $500 million. It was also forced to make a significant upgrade to its website.

Prior to 2005 Morgan Stanley had no economic advantage, now with changes implemented in a competitive industry such as this

Morgan Stanley's strength of employees, global product range and leading market share for Institutional Securities, Global Wealth

Management and Asset Management has the firm making strong profits

Questions:

1. Evaluate Morgan Stanley‘s business using the Competitive Forces Model.

2. Why did Morgan Stanley underinvest in Information Technology?

CASE STUDY - 2

Amazon.com made Internet history as one of the first large-scale retail companies to sell over the Web: in 2004 it hit $4 billion in

online revenues, and by 2006 its sales guidance estimates $10 billion in revenue. It has grown to become one of the largest

Internet retailers on earth. But the real significance of Amazon for this chapter is Amazon‘s continuous innovation in business

strategy and information systems. In fact, the two are closely connected at Amazon: its business innovations are all driven by

huge investments in information systems. In 1995, former investment banker Jeff Bezos took advantage of new business

opportunities created by the Internet by setting up a Web site to sell books directly to customers online. There were three million

titles in print, and any one physical bookstore could only stock a fraction of them. A ―virtual‖ bookstore offers a much larger

selection of titles. Bezos believed consumers did not need to actually ―touch and feel‖ a book before buying it, and Amazon.com

provided online synopses, tables of contents, and reviews to help with selection. Amazon.com was able to charge lower prices

than physical bookstores because it maintained very little of its own inventory (relying instead on distributors)and did not have to

pay for maintaining physical storefronts or a large retail sales staff. Amazon tried to provide superior customer service through email

and telephone customer support, automated order confirmation, online tracking and shipping information, and the ability to

pay for purchases with a single click of the mouse using credit card and personal information a customer had provided during a

previous purchase. This was called ―1-Click‖ express shopping, and it made the shopping experience even

more convenient. In 1998, Amazon started selling music, CDs, videos, and DVDs, revising its business strategy ―to become the

best place to buy, find, and discover any product or service available online‖—the online Wal-Mart. Its offerings grew to include

electronics, toys, home improvement products, video games, apparel, gourmet food, travel services, personal care, and jewelry. It

also introduced Amazon.com Auctions (similar to those offered by eBay), and zShops (online storefronts for small retailers). To

service these new product lines, Amazon significantly expanded its warehouse and distribu tion capabilities and hired large

numbers of employees. These moves strained its ability to adhere to its original vision of being a ―virtual‖ retailer with lean

inventories, low head count, and significant cost savings over traditional bookstores. In 2001 and 2002, Amazon tried to increase

revenue by cutting prices, offering free shipping, and leveraging its technology infrastructure to provide e-commerce services to

other businesses. Amazon‘s Merchants@ and Amazon Marketplace allow other businesses to fully integrate their Web sites into

Amazon‘s site to sell their branded goods using Amazon‘s fulfillment and payment systems. Nordstrom, The Gap, and Target

stores use Amazon to sell their goods and then pay Amazon commissions and fees. In the Amazon Marketplace program,

individuals are encouraged to sell their used or new goods on Amazon‘s Web site even when they compete directly with Amazon‘s

sales of the same goods. Sales by third parties now represent 25 percent of Amazon‘s revenues. Amazon refined its business

model further to focus more on efficient operations while maintaining a steady commitment to keeping its 49 million customers

satisfied. In early 2001, Amazon closed two of its eight warehouses, laid off 15 percent of its workforce, and consolidated orders

from around the country prior to shipping to reduce shipping costs. Amazon used six sigma quality measures to reduce errors in

fulfillment. These measures reduced fulfillment costs from 15 percent of revenue in 2000 to 10 percent by 2003. Amazon finally

became profitable in 2003 and remains an online retailing powerhouse growing at over 60 percent a year! It continues to innovate

with IT-enabled services: free unlimited two-day shipping for $79 a year (Amazon Prime). Amazon entered the dry goods grocery

business in 2006. These innovations increased its costs and reduced its profits, much to the disappointment of the stock market,

which has depressed Amazon‘s stock from a high of $100 in 2000 down to the mid-$20 range in 2006. But Amazon faces

powerful online retail competitors such as eBay and Yahoo! who also are very adept at using information systems to develop new

products and services. Google is emerging as a competitor because so many consumers use its search engine.

Questions:

1. Do SWOT analysis of Amazon.com?

2. What are the competitive business strategies of amazon.com?

3. What is the future of Amazon?

Managing Human Resource in Global Environment

SECTION - A

1. What are the major challenges in international HRM? What do you think are the causes of the complexities that exist in IHRM?

2. Differentiate between Expatriation and Repatriation in detail.

3. What are the major sources of cultural differences? Why do international managers need to understand cultural differences and

adjust their style accordingly?

4. Discuss ways in which expatriates can be prepared for the coming assignment abroad and how the HR department can help

them to go abroad in as easy a way as is possible.

5. Discuss the methods used to select expatriates. What are the major concerns for selecting employees for expatriate

assignments?

SECTION - B

1. Elaborate upon the reasons for using international assignments.

2. What is Cost of Living Allowance? Explain the reasons behind the same and elaborate on some of the concerns in deciding the

amount for the same.

3. Comment upon the current ways in which an expatriate‘s performance is appraised. Describe the challenges being faced and

outline potential solutions.

4. Discuss the emerging trends in industrial relations from the organization's point of view.

5. Why is it important for IHRM to focus on retaining talent? Discuss the important factors related to retention and development of

repatriates and host country national (HCN) employees.

SECTION - C

Write Short Notes on:

1. The ways in which MNCs try to help the spouse of the expatriate

2. Reverse culture shock

3. Advantages of using a standardized performance appraisal form

4. Problems of dual-career couples

5. Expatriation as a tool for managerial development

6. Female Expatriates

7. Culture shock

8. Hardship Allowance

9. PCN, HCN and TCN

10. Ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric approaches to recruiting employees

CASE STUDY - 1

(Green Giant Runs for the Border)

To generations of consumers, the image of the Jolly Green Giant with his trusty sidekick Little Sprout has symbolized the

convenience and dependability of frozen vegetables from America's agricultural heartlands.' However, the "Ho, Ho, Ho" of this

genial figure is now being heard increasingly from the fields of Mexico, where Green Giant's production has been shifted in recent

years. Today, Green Giant employs fewer than 150 people in Watsonville, California and over 850 in Irapuato, Mexico and in

California as a whole, roughly one-half of all frozen-food processing firms have gone south, taking over 16,000 jobs with them.

An estimated 40 percent of all frozen vegetables sold in the United States are now imported from Mexico.

The economic benefits for Green Giant's move to Mexico are immense. The wages of plant workers in Watsonville averaged $7.50

per hour or about $15,600 annually. Their counterparts in Irapuato receive $4.50 a day for an annual Income of around $1,400.

Even after other costs are counted, Green Giant is estimated to save $13,224 per worker by moving jobs to Mexico. With fringe

benefits that raise the pay by almost 60 percent, Green Giant's wages are slightly above the local rate, and unsuccessful union

organizers have had to admit that the company's workers are quite content. Still, their income allows them only a very minimal

standard of living and falls short of the guarantee in the Mexican constitution of a minimum wage sufficient to support a wife and

children.

The job gains in Mexico benefit the new hires at Green Giant, which is known locally as Gigante Verde, and the Mexican economy

as a whole receives a needed boost, not only from the foreign investment but also from the exposure to more advanced

technology. The move of Green Giant and countless other American companies to Mexico increases the competitiveness of both

countries in the global economy, but the benefit to Mexican citizens also comes at a price. The conversion of vast acreage to

vegetables for the American table increases the price of beans and corn, which are the staples of the local diet. The Green Giant

facility in Irapuato pumps more than half a million gallons of well water each day, and the water table, which used to be between

30 and 60 feet, is now over 450 feet. Few local residents can afford to drill wells that deep, and so most are forced to rely on the

heavily polluted Guanajualo River. The use of well water to process vegetables protects American consumers from contaminants

in the river but increases the health hazards for the citizens of Irapuato.

American companies are not required to observe U.S. standards for worker health and safety and for protection of the

environment, and the applicable Mexican standards are generally much lower and weakly enforced. Although Green Giant claims

to operate by the same standards on both sides of the border, the record of many other companies is not as clean. In

macquiladora plants, which receive special tax treatment, sweatshop conditions are known to prevail, and toxic wastes – which,

by law, should be shipped back to the United States for proper disposal now pollute the Rio Grande.

Questions:

Q1. What are the advantages to Green Giant in moving to Mexico?

Q2. What are the advantages and disadvantages to the local residents of Irapuato from Green Giant‘s new facillity in their city?

Q3. What are the ethical responsibilities of Green Giant towards the citizens and workers at Irapuato? Does Green Giant discharge

them effectively?

CASE STUDY - 2

(Carlos Ghosn – The Quintessential Global Manager)

Carlos Ghosn (pronounced kar/os go:n), the CEO of Renault and Nissan, two of the world‘s biggest carmakers, is one of the most

successful and admired global CEOs. He is also an example of a multicultural corporate leader. Carlos Ghosn was born in Brazil to

Lebanese parents. He then moved to Lebanon, and went on to France to study in top engineering schools there. He is fluent in

Arabic, Portuguese, French, and English. He can also speak Japanese.

Carlos Ghosn began his career with the French tyre manufacturer Michelin where he worked for 18 years. As CEO of Michelin,

North America, which took over the Goodrich Tyre Company, he was credited with successfully integrating the French and US

cultures in the company. He joined the French Renault Group in 1996. After Renault's takeover of the ailing Japanese automotive

company Nissan, he was deputed to Nissan in 1999, and was appointed the CEO of Nissan in 2001.

Ghosn is credited with the remarkable turnaround of Nissan. He shut down many of Nissan's ailing plants and laid-off workers.

These were steps unheard of in Japan, where lifetime employment is the norm. However, he did not take these steps unilaterally.

Ghosn went through a long process of 'sense-making', talking to over one thousand Nissan employees and other stakeholders

and established cross-functional teams to tackle issues. He used both a 'top-down' and a 'bottom-up' approach.

Carlos Ghosn was termed as 'Le Cost Cutter' at Renault, France, and 'the Samurai' in Nissan, Japan, for being very efficient in

reducing costs and increasing profitability. He is greatly admired in Japan and even has a manga comic written on him, which is

called The True Story of Carlos Ghosn. Ghosn is said to get the sort of adulation in Japan normally reserved for rock stars and

football players. He is often mobbed by fans asking for his autograph.

He has won numerous awards including the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He has been nominated 'Man

of the Year' by several institutions. In spite of being a globally admired business leader, Carlos Ghosn is not a single-minded

manager. He is also a family man. He is reputed to have said that one the biggest honours he received in his life was being named

as 'Father of the Year' by a Japanese community group in 2001.

Q1. What is so good about Ghosn‘s approach to global business?

Q2. Comment on the strategies used by Ghosn in turning Nissan around.

Q3. What are the important characteristics/skills/traits required in order to be a successful global manager/leader?

Brand Management

SECTION - A

Question 1: Explain what is a brand?

Question 2: Brands have physical as well as psychological features, explain with the help of an example.

Question 3: Mention branding of any three categories which have transitioned from commodities to brands.

Question 4: What are the various symbols used in branding? What should be the elements of good symbol?

Question 5: Why firm use brand ambassadors? How does it contribute to brand equity?

SECTION - B

Question 1: Discuss the Kapferer model of brand identity.

Question 2: What is strategic brand management process? Elaborate.

.

Question 3: Elaborate brand identity of Star Bucks in India, with the help of brand identity model.

Question 4: What is brand equity? What are the major components of brand equity?

Question 5: Differentiate between revitalization and reinforcement of the brands, with the help of the relevant examples from

your everyday life.

SECTION - C

Question 1: How would you select brand elements and there role in brand building?

Question 2: How is service branding different from product branding , explain with the help of examples.

Question 3: What is co branding? What type of companies can draw benefit from co branding. Also mention different types of co

branding.

Question 4: How can we value brands? Discuss with examples of recent brand acquisitions.

Question 5: Discuss the threat posed by private labels to manufacturer brands.

CASE STUDY - 1

Colour cosmetics player Modi Revlon plans to take on Garnier, the mass hair colour market leader, with the launch of its mass

brand, Color N Care. While this would be Revlon's first India-specific brand, it would also mark a detour from Revlon's premium

positioning.Priced at Rs 120, Color N Care would compete with Garnier, which commands about 75% share of the mass hair

colour market, and Godrej. About 60% of the Rs 200-crore hair colour market is dominated by mass brands priced around Rs 100.

"It is the first India-specific brand from Revlon. If it succeeds, we would like to have the brand rights to distribute it in other

markets," said Umesh K Modi, chairman, president and CEO, Modi Group.

The Rs 150-crore Modi Revlon, a 74:26 joint venture between Modi Mundipharma and Revlon, has hair colour brands like Colour

Silk, Top Speed and Colour Stay, priced at Rs 250, Rs 375 and Rs 450 respectively.

With the launch of Color n Care, it is targeting a 15% market share in the first year. The new brand would be promoted through a

mix of mass media campaigns and in-store promotions through its beauty advisors.

For Modi Revlon, about 20% of its revenue comes from the hair colour business. It has a 12% market share of the total hair colour

market.

Questions:

1. Explain brand strategy of Revlon.

2. Critically analyze firms brand structure. What challenges you foresee for the firm?

CASE STUDY - 2

Mother Dairy Fruits & Vegetables, a company with a billion-dollar (Rs 4,200-crore) turnover,

Mother dairy has been a well established player in NCR. known for products the firm has been largest seller of milk in NCR , with

65% of the revenue being contributed by milk. Amul entered delhi market five years back and in 2011 with in a span on 4years it

defeated mother dairy in terms of market share. Amul procures fresh milk and packages it. Mother dairy adds powder milk in its

products to the tune of 40%. This spoils the taste of the product. Also Amul is credited with more awareness and knowledge

about its products amongst consumers. Amul is a leader in the ice cream segment of the country. Their capacity to develop

products and gain market leadership helped them gain substantial share in the NCR region in the milk segment raising question

marks on the brand equity of the company. Mother Dairy has been market leader in NCR for 35 years. Losing ground to Amul in

2011 in the milk segment is forcing company to rethink its strategy. They plan to increase their capacity and also expand

procurement of the milk. One of the regions why consumer shifted to Amul has been difference in the taste of the milk. Amul

milk is fresh where as a portion of mother dairy milk is reconstituted. Mother dairy sells through its own outlets and home

delivery is not possible where as Amul used channel and home delivery of the milk is possible. Mother dairy milk price has been

less than the price of Amul milk , still a huge number of mother dairy loyals moved to Amul. Now Mother dairy is restructuring its

strategy and systems to combat Amul.

Questions:

1. What would you suggest to Mother Dairy for its revitalization plan.

2. Develop brand identity model for Mother Dairy after collecting additional information for the brand.

Cyber Laws

Q1: Case Study (Compulsory). 15 Marks.

Swan International Agency Pvt. Ltd. (Swan) is in the business of publishing books, e-books, internet blogs for writers, various

other internet publications etc. It wants to expand its business and therefore it also requested to become a certifying authority

under the IT Act. The Memorandum of Association of Swan permits any other business to be done by the company. Swan applies

to the Controller of Certifying Authority to become a certifying authority since it is in business of publishing electronic books and

has various electronic writers' blogs who wish to transact online and thus would be more comfortable in applying to Swan for

digital signature certificate than to any other certifying authority. The Controller of Certifying authority gave a one year license to

Swan. Within 6 months of the grant of license of Certifying authority, there was a raid on Swan's premises by CBI and Delhi Police

alleging that it is allowing the digital signature certificate to be misused and thus has caused massive economic losses to various

people. Swan's directors are prosecuted. One of the creditors of the company wants to liquidate the company and applies to the

High Court in this regard.

Having regard to the above facts, answer the following questions giving adequate reasons:

(i) Whether SWAN could have got the certifying authority license from Controller of Certifying

Authority in the first place? (ii) Whether SWAN's directors can be punished for the misuse of digital signature certificate

information and whether penal action can be taken against them? (iii) Whether SWAN can be liquidated by the High Court and

if so what additional formalities are required?

Short Answers: Attempt ANY 3. Each answer carries 5 marks.

Q2. What is the role of ICANN's UDRP?

Q3. What is the role of jurisprudence in shaping the positive law? Explain by giving example as to how jurisprudence has helped

evolving the IT Act, 2000.

Q4. What are the salient features of Indian Constitution? Can it be stated that Internet is providing free flow of information and

thus giving force to Freedom of Speech and Expression under the Indian Constitution. Hence, IT Act, 2000 which is imposing

restriction on usage of internet is in violation of Constitution of India.

Q5. Write a brief note on:

(a) Whether computer software has to be patented or copyrighted or both

(b) Electronic Signature

E-Commerce, E-Taxation and Regulatory Paradigm

1. What do you mean by e-contracts? Give its essentials and types.

2. Explain with illustrations the process of communication in on-line media.

3. Discuss vicarious liability, inducement and contributory infringement in case of e-commerce. Refer to a leading

case on this point.

4. Write short notes on any 5:

a. Copyright in e-commerce. Who owns copyright in case of "works made

for hire"?

b. Database. Does copyright exist in compilation?

c. Computer programmes. Does copyright exist in them?

d. Trademarks and e-commerce

e. Meta-tags. What is there importance in e-commerce development?

f Cybersquatting and Trademark Infringement

g. Patents in e-commerce

h. e-commerce and WTO.

i. Proprietary Software and Open source Software

j. copy left software

5. Explain in detail the decision of US Supreme Court in Quill v/s North Dakota.

6. Write a note on taxation of digitized goods in EU, US and India.

7. Write short notes on any 4:

(i) What is online advertising? Give its significance,

(ii) goggle ad

(iii) affiliate programs

(iv) uicast ad

(vi) keyword advertising

(vii) Online behavioral advertising

(viii) email marketing

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

Computer in Management

PART - A

Q1. What do you understand by the term 'Internet Protocol'? Describe the commonly used protocols that help in high-performance

network communication.

Q2. Describe the various networking components and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the different types of network

topology.

Q3. What are the advantages of adopting Database Management Systems (DBMS) in the domain of computer aided management?

Define the term 'schema' in the context of DBMS.

Q4. What is the significance of the 'master slide' while creating a presentation in PowerPoint?

Q5. Explain the process of performing the following actions in an Excel spreadsheet: entering formulas, formatting cells, text

wrapping, data filtering and creating scenarios.

PART - B

Q1. What are the benefits of the following facilities in MS Word: Mail Merge, Header and Footer, AutoCorrect, AutoFormat,

AutoText?

Q2. Describe the evolution of MS Windows right from the beginning to its present stage. In what ways do you think the Windows

operating system has improved over the years?

Q3. What do you understand by the term 'operating system'? List the key features of the LINUX operating system.

Q4. What are the different classifications for computer languages? Write a few lines on the following high-level computer

languages: FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, PASCAL, ADA, LISP, C and C++.

Q5. What are the different elements of 'Multimedia'? In what ways does it improve interactivity? Discuss.

PART - C

Q1. Define 'Dumb', 'Smart', 'Intelligent' and 'X' terminals and describe the differences between an LCD display and a CRT display.

Q2. Explain the functions of the following devices: OMR, MICR, OBR, Digitizer, Electronic Card Readers, and Smart Cards.

Q3. Elucidate on the following: Static and Dynamic RAM, ROM, and Cache Memory.

Q4. Is it true that by increasing the processor speed, (or clock speed) one can improve the performance of a computer? Give

reasons to support your answer.

Q5. What are the different characteristics of a computer that make it a 'must have' in today's environment?

CASE STUDY-1:

High-Speed Multiservice-Enabled Network

The New technology Network Architecture at the institute consists of laying down the foundations for a high-speed multiservice

network capable of providing the basic connectivity services and also facilitating the New World technology drivers so as to

empower the faculty and the students with the newest of learning tools and infrastructure.

Also the multiservice network has innovative and state-of-the-art applications, supported on the network. Few examples are:

•LAN IP telephony

•Videoconferencing

•Video on demand learning

•Content management

•Media server

•Secured and fast Internet access

•Converged voice, video, and data network

•High speed Gigabit backbone

This enables the users of the network to learn the latest technology which is very much required by them in their future

assignments and jobs. The network enables the flow of modern teaching methods, and also allows the students to learn more

from the network itself, as it deploys the latest and the proven Internet technologies, that a management and computer

technology learning Institute can benefit from.

With the new technology, it is possible to create a centre of excellence in association with CISCO for learning network-related

technology at the institute. This will not only facilitate value addition to the MBA and MCA students but also train the other

institutes in the region on this technology.

The Distance Learning Programme (DLP), which is the fastest growing education area, is going to derive the maximum benefit out

of the multiple and diverse service offerings such as video on demand, videoconferencing and multicasting.

Questions:

1. Discuss the features of a high-speed multiservice network. What network topology is most suitable for the above network? Give

reasons to support your answer.

2. How can you protect the above network from unauthorized access from outsiders and prevent own users from accessing

undesired websites?

3. What great opportunities are offered by Internet-based technologies for the society in general and specifically for teachers and

the student community?

4. What are the various methods of connecting to the Internet? What connectivity do you recommend for the above network that

has integrated 700 nodes?

CASE STUDY-2:

If his department's access to the online services technical and vendor forums were cut off tomorrow, it would 'severely hamper

our network upgrades across the board said Fred Hegner, Director of Application Development at Bergan Mercy Health System,

Inc., in Dallas. At Bergan, as at many other companies, information systems staffers are increasingly tapping into online networks

like CompuServe and the Internet as a place to fetch software patches from vendors or to monitor discussion forums on the latest

technical developments on myriad computing and networking subjects.

Using the 'Net' to search for employees is also a growing trend. For example, one IS manager hit upon a way to resolve some of

his technical issues and scout new talent at the same time. He posts especially thorny technical problems in the relevant Usenet

discussion groups and watches for the best replies, then sends them an e-mail message. One of the key uses of Internet e-mail at

Jacob's Engineering Group in Pasadena California, says Jim LoSasso, Vice President of IS, is contact with suppliers and potential

customers. 'We request pricing information to get back replies very quickly', he said. The company also collects weekly work bids

from the government, 'which we pass along-salespeople.'

Next to exchanging e-mail and monitoring technical chats, by far the most popular application of online networks in IS groups

involves downloading software patches from vendors. At Ore-Ida Foods Inc., all our upgrades for Apple software products come

via the Internet file transfer protocol', said an information technologist at Ore-Ida.

Questions:

1. How do IS groups use the Internet and other online networks?

2. How do you envision people in other business areas (marketing, finance etc.) using these networks?

3. What sort of Usenet discussion groups is being referred to in the above case?

4. What do you mean by 'downloading software patches?'

Management Information Systems

PART - A

Q1. What types of information systems are used by organizations?

Q2. What role does information play in decision-making?

Q3. Explain the need for information management.

Q4. Discuss how information systems relate to business strategies.

Q5. Explain the various information models.

PART - B

Q1. Explain the different decision-making models.

Q2. What are digital firms? What role do information systems play in such firms?

Q3. What is meant by supply chain management? Why is it necessary for an organization?

Q4. How do information systems aid logistics?

Q5. What are group decision support systems? What are their characteristics and what role do they play in enhancing group

decision-making?

PART - C

Q1. Define software quality. What role does the management of a business organization play in software quality assurance?

Q2. 'The future of a business cannot be safe if its information is not safe.' Explain how a business organization can ensure system

safety in light of this statement.

Q3. The Internet has transformed the shape and form of business enterprises. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer.

Q4. Explain requirement analysis.

Q5. Why is information system evaluation significant? What are the attributes on the basis of which an information system is

evaluated?

CASE - 1

FLEXTRONICS GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

You may not have heard of Flextronics, but you probably use something they have made every day. Singapore-based Flextronics is

a contract manufacturer that makes the innards of technology products, such as cell phones, PCs and Internet hardware for

household names, such as Cisco, Dell computers and Ericsson mobile phones. In the fast paced hyper-competitive technology

industry, profit margins for electronic manufacturing services, such as Flextronics are razor thin, amounting to no more than 3-5

per cent. Yet, during the past seven years, Flextronics has been able to skyrocket from a tiny company into a multi-billion dollar

global organization. How did Flextronics do it?

The answer lies in a skilful, supply chain management information system (MIS). Flextronics continually collects and analyses its

supply chain information to standardize and coordinate the work of its factories around the globe. The company has built a lowcost

manufacturing network in China, Singapore and Mexico and other locations around the world. It has built facilities, such as

campuses with water, sewer, computer lines and buildings for suppliers, close to its factories. The campuses are standardized so

that they look and perform the same way, regardless of their location. Flextronics thus offers inexpensive manufacturing facilities

that are not too far away from its European and US clients.

Flextronics uses the same ERP software in the same configuration in all its factories so that it can standardize and coordinate

their work more precisely. The same business processes for doing manufacturing work are thus replicated worldwide. Employees

who access the Flextronics global Information system can see data pulled together from practically every Flextronics factory on

four continents. A part buyer in Mexico can see what prices a Singapore part buyer is obtaining for a specific component and use

that information to get a price break from suppliers. When someone uses the system to place an order, the system displays a

pop-up window that might show where he or she could get a better price on the same item and whether the component could be

obtained from a Flextronics factory that is overstocked on that item. Flextronics 2000 design engineers can work jointly on

design specifications from different locations using OneSpace Web-based collaboration software.

Armed with such powerful software and well-designed business processes, Flextronics is now assuming the responsibility for an

even larger portion of its client's supply chain. About 85 to 90 per cent of its revenues come from its traditional outsourced

manufacturing work where in the company makes a part of a product for a client and then ships it to the client for assembly into

the finished product. What Flextronics' new strategy will do is to enable customers, such as Cisco systems, to entrust the

manufacturing process for the entire products to Flextronics. Cisco will focus on product design and marketing and Flextronics

will do the rest. Flextronics can also use its end-to-end manufacturing capabilities for other clients as well. The Swedish cell

phone company recently contracted to handover its entire manufacturing process to Flextronics.

Flextronics would like to takeover design work for customers as well. If the work is a Web-based product design system that

extracts individual components of information from a repository of product data and delivers it to designers so that they can see

each potential component's quality, availability and suppliers' history, Flextronics then will be able to use the information for the

bulk purchases of materials so that they can charge less for manufacturing, and hopefully, win more clients.

Questions:

1. Identify the various information systems implemented by Flextronics.

2. How has Flextronics been able to skyrocket from a tiny company into a multi-billion dollar global operation in the last seven

years?

3. How does Flextronics benefit from its supply chain information system to standardize and coordinate the work of its factories

around the globe?

CASE - 2

CASE STUDY AT MANIPAL HOSPITAL, BANGALORE

Manipal Hospital is situated in Bangalore, known as the Garden city of India, with a population of around six million. The hospital,

located on Airport Road, the centre of the eastern part of the city, opened its doors in 1990 for the in and around Bangalore

citizens to usher in a new era of sophisticated and specialized medical care in the southern part of the country. The hospital is

housed in a magnificent twin towered, centrally air-conditioned, and fourteen-storied building with a bed strength of 450 at each

of the towers, totalling 900. The hospital has been set up mainly to benefit the local population.

This hospital is an addition to the Manipal family of health care institutions, which includes four medical and two dental, nursing

and pharmacy colleges and ten hospitals with a total of around 5,000 beds. All of this represents four decades of the Manipal

family's total experience and expertise in medical education and health services, and it is this track record that ensures the

quality of Manipal hospital, Bangalore, known to each and every citizen of Bangalore. This hospital has provided sophisticated

medical and surgical facilities. It has gained reputation in Bangalore as a centre for medical excellence and it is all due to the preeminence

of the specialists on its medical staff panel, its highly skilled nurses and support staff and sophisticated medical

equipment.

A premier, multispecialty unique hospital with multiunits situated at Bangalore, Mangalore, Manipal, Nepal, Sikkim and Goa, it is

committed to providing personalized care of the highest order with the widest scope of advanced medical facilities. The hospital

offers its medical services on a break-even financial basis, thus bringing high quality healthcare on commercial terms. The

individual health insurance plans, company group insurance plans and some subsidized inpatient beds in line with government

directives are some of the highlights that bring sophisticated treatment to the middle class family. Besides these, they have

standard screen programme at very nominal rates for middle class families and executive screen programmes for the privileged

class at a higher rate, covering complete blood count, urine-analysis, stool examination, blood grouping, blood sugar, urea,

cholesterol, electrolytes, lipid profile, X-ray chest, ECG, creatinine, triglycerides and finally, consultation with physicians,

gynaecologists etc. They work towards a preventive approach, pinpointing all possible risk areas and offering solutions to each

and every problem area with the cream of the medical fraternity and state-of-the-art equipment, and thus each of the Manipal

hospitals is a cost centre.

The central office is at Manipal, from where the medical director and other directors provide corporate guidance to their other

hospitals. They decide important matters connected with all their units. At Bangalore, the CEO heads the three hospitals (two

situated in the Airport Road, one at each of the towers and the third hospital, known as north side hospital, situated at

Malleswaram, the northern part of Bangalore, with 62 beds). One hospital at one of the towers deals with heart operations and is

headed by the divisional head, designated as Director, operations. Similarly, in the second tower for three different operations,

like Nephrology/Urology, Neurology, Diagnostics, there are three divisional heads who control the operations in their respective

areas. The fifth divisional head of Bangalore is at the north side hospital. Each of the divisional heads has different departments

under him and each accounts as a separate cost centre. The various departments are personnel, engineering, maintenance,

purchase, accounts, matron, finance office, pharmacy, laundry, security, kitchen, housekeeper, etc., and their clients are all at the

same level. Each of the officers again has assistants, senior assistants, junior assistants, etc., to look after various sub-functions.

Since the inception of Manipal Hospital in 1991, the hospital has computerized the various recurring activities, such as inpatient

and outpatient admissions, transfers, discharges, registration, certain corporate activities, payrolls, billing, etc., from the

computers and software packages purchased at that time. They have also developed software of their own at the head office by

their software engineers to suit their operations. Though the computerization activities are in full swing at various departments,

interconnectivity is lacking and the system is too old to cope with the increased work load. At present, they do not have any

connection between computers of different departments and also of different hospitals. As such, the hospital was very serious in

modernizing the old computer system at each of the departments and to expand its activities to other departments and to have

connectivity to various hospitals, including their hospitals at Nepal and Sikkim, which are far off.

The hospital, considering its future expansions as well as anticipated increased workload, negotiated with some of the reputed

consultants in the software field, about six months back and is likely to entrust this task to one of the leading software

companies at Bangalore (shortlisted) for the full computerization of the hospital. They are likely to spend a huge amount for

computerization activities and the pilot project was likely to commence in April 1999. Manipal Hospital, at present, is having MIS

activities, at one nodal centre at each of the hospitals. MIS do not have a separate department, but all MIS activities come under

the finance controller.

The pilot project commencing in April '99 included computerization of the following:

(i) Front office (Administration, registration, discharge, transfer, etc.)

(ii) Billing

a. Inpatient

b. Out patient

(iii) Accounts

a. Billing

b. Purchase

c. Stores

d. Payroll

(iv) Corporate activities

(v) CDR

(vi) Medical records, ward management, OT scheduling, doctors' appointments scheduling, engineering and maintenance,

laundry, kitchen, housekeeping, all wards, etc.

(vii) Laboratory (Interfacing)

(viii) Computerized library .........., etc.

(ix) Radiology

Many of the activities, though existing, need to be updated with new systems and wherever systems do not cover departments,

these are to be included.

Mr Sairam, who is in charge of all these activities at present, confirms that the entire work will be done in ten phases, as under,

within a span of maximum two years.

(i) Take up pilot project at Manipal Hospital (Tower 1 - 450 beds)

(ii) Extend the pilot project to Tower 2 - 450 beds

(iii) Extend the same to north side hospital - 62 beds

(iv) Connect all the three through WAN

(v) Simultaneously with activity 1, work starts at Manipal - 1600 beds

(vi) Simultaneously with activity 2, work starts at Mangalore -1000 beds

(vii) Connect Bangalore, Mangalore, Manipal, across all the hospitals through extended WAN

(viii) Extend similar activities to Nepal

(ix) Extend similar activities to Goa and Sikkim

(x) Connect all hospitals

During this period, care will be taken to include all high-tech systems , such as expert systems (may be useful for hospital

research work), executive information systems and DSS for the top management to take decisions on vital matters.

Questions

1. Do you feel that DSS and EIS are required in hospital information system? Give reasons for your answer.

2. Analyse whether an expert system can be effectively used in the hospital's R & D activities.

3. In your opinion, are the computerization plans of Manipal Hospital, a multiunit, multiproduct, multi-location organization,

adequate? Are there any other suggestions you could offer to make this more effective, keeping the budget constant also in

mind?

4. Do you think that client/server technology is part of the business strategy for profit health maintenance organizations (HMOS)

and hospitals. Why/why not?

Management Process and Organization

PART - A

Q1. F.W. Taylor is called the father of scientific management. Discuss his contribution and its importance in the current scenario.

Q2. Mention the characteristics of Distributive and Integrative bargaining.

Q3. Mention the advantages and limitations of bureaucracy.

Q4. List out the barriers to communication and how they can be overcome.

Q5. Creativity, though at times not tangible is an essential ingredient of organizational growth. Explain the creative problem

solving process.

PART - B

Q1. Distinguish between divisional and matrix organization.

Q2. MBO is a goal oriented process. Discuss five advantages and disadvantages of the MBO process and give two suggestions for

improving its effectiveness.

Q3. List and explain the factors that contribute towards group cohesiveness.

Q4. The success of the organization as a whole depends upon the harmonial relations among all interdependent groups. Are

there circumstances where a moderate degree of conflict is actually beneficial to the individuals and the organizations? If so, what

can the management do to maintain such degree of conflict?

Q5. How is Transactional Analysis (TA) relevant in dealing with people and situations?

PART - C

Q1. Explain the concept of group-think. Identify the symptoms of groupthink. How does it affect the quality of decisions?

Q2. Define an organization and mention the key elements. Discuss five guidelines for effective organization.

Q3. Give a brief account of the evolution of management thought from the early pioneers to the modern experts

Q4. Discuss the primary functions of management.

Q5. Discuss the importance of McKinsey's 7-S framework for effective management.

CASE STUDY-1:

Be Careful What You Wish For: From the Middle

Sharbari was delighted when she was promoted as the Regional Sales Controller of a leading chemical producer, where she had

been employed for the last three years. It was a big boost in responsibility and would enable her to participate in the incentive

compensation program. Now that he was facing her first end-of-the quarter Sales Report, however, she wondered what she had

got herself into.

A major customer has placed a large order just one week before the end of the quarter, but they do not want delivery till the

middle of the next quarter. The Sales Director of Sharbari's group wants to recognize the revenue now, thereby ensuring the

maximum bonus for his group for the quarter.

This means processing the order, shipping the product to a warehouse and bearing the carrying costs until shipment to the

customer.

Sharbari feels pressure from all sides. When she used to sit in the Accounting department, she saw the costs of such revenue

recognition problems - it involved the cost of sending messages to all levels of the organization that it is OK to blame the system;

the loss of information and distortion in expectation that jeopardized effective decision-making; the cost of cleaning up of the

records when the distortion in expectation that jeopardized effective decision-making; the cost of cleaning up records when the

distortion eventually came to light; and so on. She still reports to her old team and she knows that they are counting on her to

make the right decisions on this kind of thing.

On the other hand, she wants the Sales Director and her new unit's General Manager to consider her as one of the team. She

wants to earn their trust and respect.

Questions:

1. What are the sources of conflict for Sharbari?

2. What is at stake for the parties concerned?

3. What arguments can Sharbari use to influence those with whom she disagrees?

4. What actions do you recommend for dealing with this and similar situations in future?

CASE STUDY-2:

Following is the excerpt from an interview of Adi B.Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group.

Q. "Some people who worked with Godrej a few years back and have since left, remember the Group as a great place to get

started but lacking a sieve to subsequently separate the performers from the laggards. Has this worried you?"

A: "We have changed a lot since. I would agree with their evaluation, five to six years ago. That is why I said that whilst we have

been human resource development oriented, we need to become much more so. We have done a lot of positive work in that

direction in the last couple of years and will do more in the next three years.

But remember, this happens in all good companies. In which good company do people not leave at that stage? After all, the room

at the top is always less than at the bottom. So people have to leave. The challenge is, that our not-so-good performers should

leave and not our very good performers.

Questions:

1. What are the challenges the group faces if their managers wanted to retain the 'good performers' and allow 'not-so-goodperformers'

to leave?

2. Advise effective solutions for achieving Mr.Godrej's goal?

Management Process and Organization

PART - A

1. Identify major planning process premises, that, in your judgment any Company would need in order to forecast its growth

for the next two years.

2. What are the tools and strategies that a business organization can use for meeting the challenges of corporate social

responsibility?

3. Define organization and how can an organization institutionalize ethics?

4. Discuss the different constituents of organizing.

5. What are the objectives behind centralization and mention the advantages associated with it.

PART - B

1. What are the reasons for failure of delegation and elucidate the consequences of poor delegation?

2. How staffing processes are executed and highlight the trends affecting staffing function in the 21st century.

3. Select a business or a political leader whom you admire and identify his/her leadership style. Throw some light with

specific reference to transformational/ transactional/ entrepreneurial/ trait/ charismatic style of leadership.

4. Conflict among managers emerged soon after a French company acquired a Swedish firm. The Swedes perceived that the

French management as hierarchical and arrogant, whereas the French thought the Swedes was naive and cautious and lacked

achievement orientation. Describe ways to minimize dysfunctional conflict.

5. What is control and outline different mechanisms to exercise control.

PART - C

1. Discuss how IT revolution is changing the way business is being conducted worldwide.

2. Why are contingency plans important and Comment on the effectiveness of MBO method of goal setting?

3. What is the role of rationality, intuition and risk management in decision making?

4. Give a brief on span of control and sources of power.

5. Discuss the characteristics and contributions of various management approaches

CASE STUDY

The Wayward Bus Line

Things had gotten out of hand for Manuela M., the bus dispatching supervisor at the Hometown Transit Authority. Drivers were

arriving late for their shifts. Buses were not running on time. There was an inordinate number of breakdowns on the road, which

required that the maintainence department send out special buses to continue the route and to tow the the disabled bus back to

the dispatching shed. There were also frequent reports of buses not following their specified routes, and skipping scheduled

stops on their return trips. On the other hand, many drivers who started their trips on time to the garage late from their runs with

unsubstantiated excuses. Nevertheless, they still had to be paid the extra monies that their union contract guaranteed them. In a

disturbing number of cases, too, a driver's cash receipts did not conform to the normal expectation of fare collections for a

scheduled run.

Manuela had been puzzling for some time over what to do about this deteriorating performance, when the situation was brought

to a head by a call from the transit commisioner. "The mayor and I have been receiving far too many complaints from bus riders

this year. The complaints include just about everything, including the rudeness of our drivers, being deliberately passed by at a

bus stop and unreliable timetables. For my part, l;ve reviewed the expense reports for the last few months and your department is

way over budget, specially for overtime. Fare collections are down, too.

"I know that you can't be responsible for everything that's happened, but I do want you to come up with a plan that can put a stop

to these irregularities".

"I'll do my best", said Manuela.

Questions

Q1. What can you suggest in the way of control measures that would help Manuela Correct the existing conditions, preferably

under preventive and corrective controls?

Q2. Under each heading of preventive and corrective controls, mention the problems/conditions in the case that could be

solved best by the particular kind of control.

Q3. Discuss the problems Manuela might encounter when instituting these controls and what she could do to overcome the

problems.

CASE STUDY 2

The Big Cookie Burnout

What seemed like a simple problem with an obvious solution turned out to be anything but that? It happened in the baking

department of one of the nation's largest cookie makers. Too many batches of cookies, more than 10,000 dozen of them, were

spoiled due to overheating. And when the finger-pointing was over, it was Arsenio, the department supervisor, who ended up

being the fall guy.

Arsenio hadn't intended it to be that way. In fact, he was so sure that Joanna, the chief baker on the oven line was at fault that he

suspended her on the spot. It had seemed like an open-and-shut case. Chief bakers were supposed to monitor oven temperatures

continuously, even though temperatures were automatically controlled by a sophsticated series of thermostats. The chief

bakercould override th eautomatic controls,however, if at any time she felt that the oven was getting hotter or colder to "Manual"

and then manipulating a lever to increase or decrease the flame levels in the oven

Monitoring was easily accomplished by observing a number of temperature indicating devices. The main temperature indicator

was an automatic recorder mounted at the chief baker's workstation at the front end of a 200-foot-long oven. It was there that the

raw cookies entered the oven. The cookies had previously been formed by an extruding machine that squeeezed the dough

mixture through a battery of nozzlesonto a stainless-steel conveyor belt. After entering the oven, the belt automatically carried

the cookies through the oven at a predetermined speed. According to the kind of cookies being baked, it took from 12 to 18

minutes for them to move from one end of the oven to the other.

Besides the main temperature recorder, temperature indicators, were mounted every 50 feet or so so along the oven's side. The

automatic temperature controls could be switched to manual control at each of these points.

On the day of what came to be known as the Big burnout, the cookies were just not "overdone", they were burned to a crisp. So

after first blowing his stack and shunting the spoiled cookies to the garbage truck, Arsenio demanded of Joanna, "How could you

ever hav elet this happen?" "I can't understand it," said Joanna. "I never left my workstation. I must hav elooked at the recorder a

dozen times during that period. And whil eoven temperatures were nudging the high side occasionally, they always seemed to be

within the control limits."

So," said Arsenio," you were too lazy to get off you duff and check the oven-side thermometers".

"That's not true. I can't remmeber whether I checked them because I was talking with the extruder-machine operator at that time

about a problem he was having with his equipment. That distracted me"

"That's no excuse," said Arsenio, "and I don't believe for a moment you were talking, machine problems. You were probably

arguing about last night's ball game. Anyway, your job is to watch ovens, not to chat with every person in the shop. And no

matter what the main recorder indicated, you're supposed to be monitoring the oven-side thermometers. It's obvious that

somewhere along the line, temperatures got too high and you should hav ebeen there to take over. By not doing your job right,

you made a big mistake that cost the company a lot of money.

So I'mm going to suspend you for a couple of days to give you a your headd straight about this job".

To Arsenio' dismay, Joanna's suspension did not stick. Th ereason? After listening to Joanna's story, the bakery manager asked

the plant engineer to examine the oven equipment. The plant engineer found that temperatures indicated by the main recorder

were accurate, as were all th eoven-side thermometers. He also checked the automatic temperature controls and found that they

were functioning properly. He then asked the extruder-machine operator, "and I've had to shut the belts down from time to time

to clean them".

"Don't you realize", said the plant engineer, "that when you shut the belt dow, the belt in the oven stops, too? It is no wonder the

cookies burned up. Next time you want to stop the belt, be sure to let the chief baker know in advance. Meanwhile, we'll see if we

can't adjust the automatic control system to avoid this problem".

Questions

1. Coment on Arsenio's approach to handling this problem.

2. (i) Of the five alternative opinions provided below, which do you think is most appropriate and why?

(ii) Rank the alternatives on a scale from 1 (most appropriate) to 5 (least appropriate). Also justify your ranking.

(iii) You may add another alternative, if you wish.But justify your opinion.

a. Arsenio was justified in suspending Joanna because he had no way of knowing the whole story at the

time.

b. The suspension was justified because no matter what the extruder-machine operator had done, the chief

baker should have discovered the belt stoppage befor damage was done.

c. Arsenio's only mistake was that he did not clearly identify and specify the problem to begin with.

d. Arsenio's biggest mistake was to jump to a conclusion without having all the facts.

e. Arsenio solved the problem as best he could under the circumstances

Marketing In Action

PART - A

Q1. What are the characteristics of a customer-centric organization?

Q2. Write a note on the significance of an effective marketing mix. How can it be achieved?

Q3. The economic environment can affect patterns of demand and supply. What are the major economic indicators? How can a

company monitor them over time?

Q4. What is the purpose of customer relationship management? How can implementation of CRM be profitable for companies as

well as customers?

Q5. Explain the purpose of segment.

PART - B

Q1. How can successful positioning be ensured? What is meant by repositioning?

Q2. A product goes through definite life stages just like living organisms. Describe the stages in a product's life cycle with a focus

on the strategies at the various stages.

Q3. Write a note on the information required to prepare a sales forecast. Explain the qualitative and quantitative methods of

forecasting.

Q4. Experimentation is crucial in the innovation process. Comment.

Q5. What are the activities involved in channel strategy decisions?

PART - C

Q1: How is the effectiveness of advertising evaluated? Explain how advertising results can be improved.

Q2: What is public relations? Explain its relationship with publicity.

Q3. What do sponsors gain from sponsorship?

Q4. New entrants raise the level of competition in an industry. How can this be checked?

Q5: What is the main focus of the core strategy? Describe the elements that comprise the core strategy

CASE STUDY-1:

SPONSORSHIP AND THE MARKETING MIX

Introduction

Ford is a global firm that makes cars and commercial vehicles. It has been the leading car seller in UK for twenty-eight years. It is

based in the US but operates all over the world. In Europe, it has thirty-five sites in nine countries. Its famous brands include Ka,

Focus, Land Rover and Volvo.

Sponsorship

A strategy is a set of plans designed to help a business reach its aims. Part of Ford's strategy is to use sponsorship. It is an official

sponsor of the UEFA Champions League. This helps it reach out to target customers all over Europe. It helps Ford to compete. It

also helps it to develop a strong brand image and improve its brand value.

Marketing aims can be reached by effectively using parts of the marketing mix. These are often listed as product, price,

promotion and place.

Product

Ford's products are cars and commercial vehicles. Each different vehicle is targeted at a certain part of the market. Each will

appeal to a certain market segment. Ford knows, through its market research, that many of its target customers are also

interested in football. It can therefore target the groups accurately. The UEFA sponsorship lets Ford use many communication

channels to reach these groups.

Price

Ford has three aims while pricing its products:

•To cover costs

•To make a profit

•To compete with other firms

UEFA sponsorship also allows it to compete without using price. This is called non-price competition. For instance, Ford produces

a range of Champions League special edition cars. These are more attractive to its target buyers and can have special features.

Place

This refers to where the cars are sold. The football sponsorship allows Ford to spread the brand message across the globe. The

Ford dealership network is the largest in Europe. Dealerships are planned so that everyone has one within reach.

Promotion

Promotion is often split into 'above-the-line' and 'below-the-line'. The first is paid for directly. The second is publicity through, for

instance, sponsorship and public relations (PR). Ford's main above the- line spending has been on TV. New technology and

multiple channels mean that traditional ATL communications are becoming weaker tools. The UEFA sponsorship combines both

types and helps Ford to cover all of Europe. The Ford brand is promoted before and after the game, and at half-time.

Advertisements are shown at matches. Ford uses the slot either side of TV breaks to show brand messages. These are targetted at

the football audience it knows is watching.

Questions:

Q1: Identify the target market of Ford. Critically evaluate the impact of the marketing mix elements on the target market.

Q2: Highlight the advantages and disadvantages of sponsoring a cricket match, in the Indian context.

CASE STUDY-2:

NIKE: RUNNING OVER THE COMPETITION

Nobody takes the admonition 'Just do it' more seriously than Nike, the Company for whom the slogan was written. Whether it's

entering a new sport, moving into a new geographic market, or developing a new product, Nike approaches its mission with the

dedication and single-mindedness of an athlete training for competition. And whatever the task, the goal is always the same: To

turn in a peak performance, one that leaves no doubt as to who the best is. That is because at Nike, winning isn't merely a

corporate philosophy-it's the Company's business.

'This brand is all about building products for athletes, high-performance products, very authentic products, innovative products,

bringing new technology to athletes so they can perform better-at a higher level in their sport,' says Bill Zeitz, Global Director of

advertising development at Nike.

Liz Dolan, the Company's Marketing Director, puts it in even more basic terms. 'We have a really incredibly simple mission, which

is, "serve the athlete". If you're in product development, that means you have to make sure that the products really work, that

they're really great for whatever sport you are assigned to. If you're in the communications area, it means that you have to

communicate with an authenticity about the sports experience, what athletes know to be true of what it feels like to win a

basketball game, or run a marathon, or whatever.'

This near-obsession with authentic athletic performance comes naturally to the Beaverton, Oregon, Company started in the 1960s

by Phil Knight, a sports enthusiast and runner who believed the needs of serious athletes were being neglected by Adidas and

Puma, the German Companies that dominated the athletic shoe industry. With the help of Bill Bowerman, his former track coach at

the University of Oregon, Knight set out to develop a shoe that would make a difference in a runner's performance.

The rest, as they say, is history. Nike has become a dominant player in sports apparel. With track, basketball, tennis, and other

traditional sports in the "win" column, Nike recently has turned its attention to building its franchise in soccer, cricket, rugby,

hockey, and in-line skating, among others. After all, Dolan explains, being a global sports brand requires an intensely local focus.

Being a global brand is extremely important to Nike because its home market, the United States, is nearing saturation. According

to John Horan of the newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence, sporting-goods chains have over expanded and profit margins are

threatened. When Nike announced that its second quarter earnings in 1997 would not live up to Wall Street's expectations, its

stock dropped 13 percent. With these spurs at home, Nike has to look overseas where it has only 27 percent of sales compared to

43 percent in the US to generate additional revenues.

But going overseas is not a sure win for Nike. 'Understanding what sports the people in [a] country play, and then being great at

those sports... that's always the challenge. In UK, for instance, we are a really good basketball brand, but they don't play that

there. And we are a really good tennis brand, but they kept telling us, 'Other than the two weeks during Wimbledon, nobody in

really cares about tennis.' So in UK soccer is what they play. Rugby is what they play. So we had to really concentrate on being

great at two sports that were not really something that came from our American tradition at all. That took years of product

development and talking to consumers about, 'What does this sport really mean to you when you play it, and what does it really

mean to you when you watch it?' The brand attributes for Nike in UK are the same-we really want to be the authentic sports brandbut

the sports that are the building blocks for that are very different in UK than they would be in the US or in Japan.'

Outside the US, soccer is the main sport, and Nike has pursued the soccer player and fan with a vengeance. In the US, Nike has

signed a multiyear contract with major league soccer that calls for it to spend $3.75 million a year to sponsor five of the league's

ten teams. In addition, the contract contains a clause that allows Nike to retain sponsorship of half of the League's teams as it

expands. Overseas, Nike spent $20 million in a sealed bid process to sponsor the Italian national team. During last year's

European championships, it bought up all the billboards around stadiums where matches were held, effectively undermining the

event's official sponsor, Umbro. In the spring of 1997, it sponsored a worldwide soccer tour that featured top teams. It has also

spent millions on global advertising campaigns and signed leading national soccer stars such as Eric Cantona (captain of the

national champion Manchester United soccer team in UK) to highly lucrative contracts.

But nothing matches Nike's sponsorship agreement with the Confederacies Brasil de Futebol, Brazil's soccer federation, which

cost the company a breath-taking $200 million. Why Brazil? It won the 1994 World Cup soccer match. The contract is a 10-year

deal that includes appearances in Nike-produced exhibition matches and community events. Nike will supply Brazil's national

teams with sports kits. In return, the teams will participate in five annual friendly soccer games that Nike is arranging, and to

which Nike retains the television rights. Nike will also have access to training clinics in Brazil and to the infrastructure of the

game.

Nike has applied the same technical skill and drive to soccer shoes that it applied to the basketball shoes. For example, when

Nike couldn't find equipment for testing the best stud configurations and traction in cleated soccer shoes, it decided to build its

own. The goal is to create the world's best soccer shoe, but that won't be easy. First, the competition isn't yet ready to roll over

and play dead. Adidas retains sponsorship of many top teams and players, including the national teams of Germany, Spain, and

France. It also sponsors World Cup 1998, with the rights to sell official soccer balls and sports apparel. Further, Adidas has

invaded Nike's home turf, sponsoring three US teams and featuring players from those teams in its US advertising. 'We don't think

that anybody can get near to us on the product side,' says Peter Csandai, an Adidas spokesman. Reebok, Nike's main competitor

in the US, has also signed contracts with at least thirty professional soccer clubs throughout the globe.

Further, there's competition at home from firms such as Vans, a small California company that aims directly at the teenage

market by targeting the California adolescent-an Internet-surfing latchkey kid. As the number of teenagers in the US grows from

25 million in 1997 to over 31 million in 2010, this move could prove shrewd. These kids are not into team sports; instead they

are attracted by individual sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing and mountain biking. Within two years of

entering the market for snowboard boots in 1995, for example, Vans has become the third largest company in the business. So,

it's in a position to make a move on Nike.

Competition is not Nike's only problem; some of its actions haven't left fans cheering either. Signing bad boy Eric Cantona

generated a lot of criticism and infuriated the soccer establishment in UK In 1996, Nike flew eight of soccer's hottest players to

Tunisia to film an advertisement in which the athletes competed against the devil. Not surprisingly, this ad drew angry letters

from many offended fans. Even the Brazil deal has been heavily criticized. As part of that deal, Nike had to pay Umbro an

undisclosed amount to cover the remaining two years of its contract with the Brazilian federation. 'Nike is going in and almost

encouraging teams to break contracts,' says James R. Gorman, President of Puma, North America. Finally, not all soccer athletes

are convinced that Nike is better. Many pro players continue to get their equipment from companies such as Umbro, Puma, and

especially Adidas, which have been part of the sport for decades, not just the last few years like Nike.

Still, with over $8 billion in sales in 1997, Nike remains the biggest player in the game. Adidas is a distant second with $3 billion.

With its free spending, Nike appears to have changed the economics of the game. Nike intends to be the number one supplier of

soccer gear by World Cup 2002, but so far its efforts have produced only $200 million in annual sales. It has a long way to go

before it scores a match-winning goal in the global soccer market.

Questions:

Q1: Identify Nike's markets and Nike's positioning in these markets.

Q2: Describe the Company's global soccer marketing mix.

Q3: What marketing recommendations would you make to help Nike achieve its quest for global soccer dominance? How serious

is the threat of a firm like Vans? Is Nike likely to be successful in global soccer?

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

Marketing Research

PART- A

Q1. Explain the role played by marketing research in understanding the customer. How do the four components of MIS serve the

informational needs of a marketer?

Q2. Briefly explain the various stages of the marketing research process.

Q3. Compare and contrast exploratory and descriptive research designs.

Q4. Explain the various stages of designing a questionnaire.

Q5. Explain the various probability and non-probability based methods of sampling.

PART- B

Q1. Differentiate between the univariate and multivariate techniques of data analysis.

Q2. What are the four types of scales used in measuring data?

Q3. The purchase behaviour of a customer and his psychological make-up can be an important basis for segmenting customers.

Discuss how.

Q4. Explain the various approaches used in test marketing.

Q5. Explain the various methods of pre-testing and post-testing advertisements.

PART- C

Q1. How does sales forecasting affect the other decisions of a company? Briefly discuss the factors that lead to an accurate sales

forecast.

Q2. What are the objectives of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI)? Briefly describe the significance of television ratings as

a source of information.

Q3. What are the characteristics of a good questionnaire? ABC Ltd is planning to launch a new brand of fruit juices. They want to

conduct a survey to understand the preferences of the consumers. Design a questionnaire to address this research problem.

Q4. How is the target population defined in a research design? How is the size of the sample determined? You have been asked to

carry out a product research on shaving blades in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. What would be your target population?

Q5. Explain the role of marketing research in new product development. What are the research methods used to test the

feasibility of a new product launch?

CASE STUDY - I

A Family

Affair

The market for hair care products, worth Rs 692 crore, is growing at a sober 8 per cent. It is split into four major portions. By

value, hair oils account for 45 per cent of it, shampoos 31 per cent of it, hair soaps 15 per cent of it and hair dyes 9 per cent.

Styling gels may have found their way at the top; however, the majority of people continue to look after their tresses the

traditional way, through oiling. 'Hair oils are seen as pre-wash nourishes, while shampoos are used as cleaners'. This market

boasts of 343 variants under 40 brands. Shampoos began as an elitist thing, although for decades, the product suffered from the

misperception that the chemical formulation could harm your hair in the long term. However, the 8ml pack wave has expanded

the market tremendously by lowering the trial purchase barrier. Many, who have not used shampoos yet, are still using hair

soaps. The leading brands - Wipro, Shikakai, Swastik Shikakai and Godrej Shikakai - enjoy a 'herbal' image in tune with the

traditional hair-care methods.

The Market

Table 1: Sale of Shampoos - unit wise

Size Urban units % Rural units %

Sachets

<100ml

101-200ml

201-500ml

750ml

All sizes

10,08,695

41,122

16,392

4547

492

10,73,619

94.0

3.8

1.6

0.4

0.2

100

7,85,324

10,049

1760

196

6

8,00,524

98.5

13

0.2

0.0

0.0

100

Table 2: Sale of Shampoos - value wise

Size Urban units % Rural units %

Sachets

<100ml

101-200ml

201-500ml

750ml

All sizes

21,01,180

14,35,289

11,56,359

3,98,190

66,295

52,17,599

40.3

27.0

22.2

7.6

2.9

100

7,85,324

10,049

1760

196

6

8,00,524

98.5

13

0.2

0.0

0.0

100

Table 3: Sale of Shampoos - Rural vs. Urban

Variable Urban Rural Total

Units

Value

10,73,619(57.3)

52.18(72.5)

8,00,524(42.7)

19.77(27.5)

15,28,633

3,16,982

*figures in parentheses are growth figures

Low priced sachets are enabling marketers to increase urban as well as rural penetration. Price and packaging are by far the most

attractive parts of the shampoo market. The ORG MARG data shows the following details:

The Leader

HLL leads the Indian shampoo market with its top selling brands Clinic and Sunsilk. Clinic Plus was launched in 1972 as a

therapeutic offering that claimed to prevent dandruff. At that time, Sunsilk and Halo dominated the Indian market. Brand

extensions followed to Clinic - Clinic All Clear and Clinic Active. HLL now had a shampoo for everyone.

Market Ratings

Clinic entered the A and M Top Brand Survey at no. 34 with a score of 22.54. It fared well in the South (30.11),however, not too

well in the West (11.85). It did fairly well with young adult females (31.12) than the males. It scored high in the large urban towns

(25.90), however, not so much in the metros (23.50). It also made gains in the rural areas (35.89), thanks to its sachets, though

some analysts pointed to the feel-good factor (better crop output, etc.). Clinic scored highest in the rural segment, which was

something Head and Shoulders should have noted.

Marketing Plans

HLL plans to increase its market share to 35 per cent by the end of this year. Marketing research has revealed that the single most

important factor that would make consumers buy would be the number of washes offered. The Clinic Plus bubble pack, would

offer more value to sachet users - no spillage, dosage control, easy to store and at Rs 8 for a 28 ml pack, the price per ml worked

out a little cheaper compared to an 8 ml sachet, which costs Rs 2.50. HLL spends heavily on advertising and promotions. Road

shows have also been implemented widely to give the consumers a touch and feel experience. Other activities for the brand have

included wall paintings and demonstrations in schools.

Questions:

Q1. Evaluate the market for shampoos in terms of the potential of various pack sizes in the rural and urban markets.

Q2. Critically evaluate the performance of Clinic Plus in different markets.

Q3. In order to increase HLL's market share, suggest an appropriate strategy in terms of the markets, the consumers, the pack

sizes, etc., to focus on.

CASE STUDY-II

S M Foods Ltd, Mohali

S M Foods Ltd is planning to set up a plant for producing 'Just Heat and Eat' Indian Cuisine with no preservatives. The product will

be in the ready-to-eat form and can be consumed straight out of the pack. The packaging technology shall retain freshness and

authentic taste for over a year without refrigeration. The Company is already in the business of manufacturing spices and cooking

oil.

The company believes that there is a trend of married men doing some shopping and cooking for their households. They wish to

undertake a study to determine the extent to which this trend exists. Such information will help them determine if they should

direct more of their advertising towards married men. Part of the study will attempt to measure men's attitudes towards cooking.

Men will be asked the extent to which they agree or disagree with the following three statements: i) Cooking is solely a woman's

responsibility; ii) I find cooking to be an enjoyable activity; iii) I get a great deal of satisfaction out of preparing a meal. Men will

be asked if they strongly agree with, agree with, slightly agree with, slightly disagree with, disagree with, or strongly disagree

with each statement- assuming that a large number of men will be interviewed in big cities telephonically.

Questions:

(i) What type of study is this?

(ii) What sample design should be used by the Company?

(iii) Design a suitable questionnaire.

Marketing Research

PART – A

Q1. Discuss the nature and scope of Marketing Research. Identify some problems in different areas of Marketing where Marketing

Research can be helpful.

Q2. Is a research design always necessary before a research study can be conducted? In what may do exploratory, descriptive and

causal research design differ? Explain with the help of an example.

Q3. A marketing manager needs to find the causes for the decline in market share of his company. The manager decides to

conduct marketing research. How should he go about finding a supplier of research services?

Q4. a) Distinguish between a Focus Group Interviews and an in-depth interview.

b) In which cases would an In-depth Interview be more applicable than a Focus Group Interview?

Q5. a) What do you understand by selecting samples from the universe?

b) Discuss the various methods of probability sampling. Use examples to illustrate cases in which each of the methods

would be most applicable.

PART - B

Q1. State whether you agree or disagree with the statement ‗Correct identification and clear definition of the research problem

are more crucial to the success of a market research study than sophisticated research techniques‘. Justify your answer with

suitable examples.

Q2. Discuss the various steps in Questionnaire design.

Q3. What sampling scheme you will muse in following situations?

a. A study to find out preference and people for shampoos in urban market.

b. A survey to study the potential users of microwave oven in Delhi.

c. A survey to study the usage of laptops in the small office segment-All India Level.

Q4. Explain the process of new product development and highlight the role of marketing research in developing a product.

Q5. Write short note on the following :

a. Data Gathering techniques.

b. Product Research.

PART – C

Q1. Amul is planning to launch a new flavour of ice cream and wants to get a snapshot of the potential market. The ice cream has

coconut-white chocolate flavour and is aimed at the premium market. What type of research design is appropriate? Develop the

research questions and hypothesis.

Q2. Discuss in detail various methods by which sales forecasting can be done.

Q3. Distinguish between Semantic Differential scale and Liker scale. Give examples.

Q4. Discuss the methods of pre-testing and post-testing of advertisements.

Q5. Write short on the following.

 Advantages and disadvantages of open ended and closed ended questions.

 T-test and z-test.

 Null hypothesis.

CASE STUDY – I

Rex Contact Lens Company

Contact lenses are a modern way of correcting vision. The market has grown rapidly and changed tin character in recent years.

Prices have remained high, but Rex Contact Lens Company came up with a plan for selling contact lenses by mail, a system that

would permit it to sell at a much lower price than was currently available. Before making the investment necessary to develop this

new channel of distribution, Rex wanted to make a better forecast of possible sales than it had made up to date, and it chose to

use the survey method for the forecast.

Two thirds of the total retail market was estimated to be replacement sales. The average life of a contact lens was thought to be

about one year. If 20 million wore contacts and replaced each lens once a year the total replacement market was 40 million lenses

a year.

Rex‘s concept was for a mail-order replacement service for contact lenses. Catalog sales wore booming in many product areas.

And the proposed plan would fit with this national development. A catalog would be prepared with pictures and descriptions of

contact lenses and their advantages. A toll free number would be provided for quick service. Lenses would be shipped in sealed

bottles within 24 hours of receipt of order and overnight delivery would be available at extra charge. Customers would mail in

orders with payment or provide credit card identification for phone orders. Customers‘ for a single contact lens were projected

much lower than the current market level 0 and in addition, this low cost would reduce or perhaps eliminate customer need for

insurance.

Before going further, Rex set about to make an improved forecast for sales. They conducted a survey among wearer of both

regular glasses and contact lenses to determine their attitudes towards the proposed mail order sales; the services they would

want, the different kinds of contacts they were interested in (hard, soft, extended wear, gas permeable, tinted, bifocals); and the

probability they would order lenses by mail.

Questions:

1. Which data collection method would you prefer? Why?

2. How would you analyze the data gathered from this study?

3. Design a suitable questionnaire.

CASE STUDY - II

JINGLE BELLS

Coca-Cola

―Drink Coca-Cola‖ was the first theme out of the gate. ―Delicious and Refreshing‖ came along in the late 1880s, most likely

appearing on an oilcloth sign attached to a soda fountain awning. Since then, those two words have worked hard for Coca-Cola in

about a trillion different ways. Before long, theme lines began to make definite statement about the product. In the early 1920s,

―Thirst Knows No Season‖ helped consumers think of Coca-Cola as more than a summertime drink. Later that decade, ―It Had To

Be good To Get Where It Is‖ added prestige. And ―Just Around The Corner From Everywhere‖ emphasized widespread availability.

In 1929, the most famous commercial slogan of its time ―The Pause That Refreshes‖ marked a return to promoting coke simply as

the quintessential quencher, Into the Age of Aquarius, when ―Things Go Better With Coke‖ captured the lively spirit of the times.

By then, the world had become much more sophisticated – dining on frozen dinners and dressing modern. This was reflected by

Coke‘s breakthrough TV commercials – in colour. ―Have a Coke And A Smile‖ was unleashed in 1979 among a flurry of disco

music (which only made it sound better),

More recently, Coke had to have twice the themes – since there was twice the Coke. In 1985, one campaign had to position Coke

(previously known as New Coke), and another had to differentiate Coca-Cola classic from its sister product and competitive

brands. The big winners? ―Catch The Wave‖ for the junior model, and for the original formula. ―Red, White and You‖ conjured

images of Americana. After All, Coca-Cola classic had just established itself as a national treasure on par with the entire state of

Florida. These days, it‘s Always Coca-Cola‖.

With so many different themes, jingles and slogans added to its name over the decades, Coke was utterly confused as to which

theme strikes the right chord with Coke‘s audience (basically everyone over the age of 12 who drinks liquid). Coke primarily

wanted to identify if at all there lies any difference among the appeals rendered by the jingles- Market research – thousands of

people surveyed, poked and prodded – questioned – ‗ How does this jingle appeal to you?‘

1. Some marketers are of the belief that advertising Coke through Aguilera has shown much larger sales of Coke as compared to

cities which believe and practice endorsing Coke via non- Aguilera advertisements. Write a research proposal for conducting a

research to verify this statement.

Advertising & Sales Promotion

PART - A

Q1. Define advertising. How does it differ from publicity? Does the respective roles and importance in business. Give the major

reasons why firms advertise.

Q2. Advertising plans rest on three central planning and decision-making considerations. Name them and give examples of each.

Q3. A part of money spent on advertising is really an investment in building brand equity, and customer loyalty. Discuss. Which

are the specific factors need to be considered when setting the advertising budget.

Q4. Every advertising medium has advantages and disadvantages. Review in this context television, print and radio advertising

media. What are the variables which media planners take into consideration while making their choices? Explain.

Q5. a) Why is target-audience selection the critical first step in formulating a media strategy?

b) Advertising increases the cost of the product. What are your arguments in favor of advertising?

PART - B

Q1. Why communication-effect research is vital? Explain three major methods of pretesting. 'A growing number of researchers are

striving to measure the sales effect of advertising expenditures instead of setting for communication-effect measures'. Examine

critically this statement.

Q2. a) In protected markets advertising is a luxury, firms can ill afford. Discuss.

b) Personal setting is more effective than advertising but less efficient. Explain. Develop a five stage personal selling process for

any product of your choice.

Q3. What is an advertising appeal? Discuss the major types of appeals and their characteristics. Why are rational motives called

'negative' and emotional motives called 'positive? Discuss with examples.

Q4. Discuss the steps involved in the design process of a print ad. What is the role of headline and visuals? Discuss the important

design principles.

Q5. What criteria would you use in selecting an advertising agency? What are the different agency compensation methods? If you

were an advertising executive in a company, which compensation method would you favour? Why?

PART - C

Q1. What role does sales promotion play in the integrated marketing communication process? What are its primary contributions

to the achievement of marketing communications objectives? Describe the factors that have accounted for sales promotions rapid

growth.

Q2. Do you believe that sales promotion is an integral part of marketing management? If yes, why? Are the promotional plans only

another method for price reduction? Discuss.

Q3. 'Sales promotion seems most effective combined with advertising' Comment. During different stages of product requires

different sales promotion tactics. Elaborate with examples.

Q4. What are the differences between consumer oriented and trade-oriented sales promotions? Discuss the roe of each in a firm's

IMC programme.

Q5. a) The key to sales success lies in closing the sale. Discuss.

b) DAGMAR approach.

CASE STUDY-1:

Pearls Soap

The marketing team of Hindustan Products was debating the creative strategy to be adopted for their Pearls soap campaign. The

account is handled by HML, which is responsible for their entire range of soaps, cosmetics, and other fast moving consumer

products. The total sales revenue for their products is in the range of Rs.1600 crores annually.

The toilet soap market of India is one of the largest in the world - Rs.3000 crores. There are about fifteen major brands

competing in the market, all from big companies. The distribution coverage for all these brands is nationwide. These top brands

command over 85 per cent of the market and are positioned as unique in some way. The different categories are general purpose

soaps, the special purpose soaps, beauty soaps, moisturizing soaps, and fairness soaps. Each of these soaps offers 3 to 4

variants with different features and benefits.

These top brands are manufactured and marketed by five major companies, who are considered aggressive and the competition

is intense in terms of promotion and advertising.

'Pearls' is a specialty brand of soap and commands almost 25 per cent of the premium beauty soap segment. The soap offers

special features and over the years it has established an image of quality and uniqueness. The soap has an unusually pearly

appearance and colour, is translucent and mildly perfumed. According to agency analyst, Sumeet Jha, " The soap is being

advertised for the last nearly 15 years as a mild, pure, and chemical free soap. People feel it is milder than other beauty soaps

and women prefer to use it for their families, especially children. A large number of properties are associated with the brand;

however, all the advertisements are based on mildness, purity, and chemical free nature of the soap. For many years the demand

increased steadily and the company was happy with the growth rate.

At the same time, however, because of special properties and restricted advertising, many consumers felt that the soap is suitable

only for babies, and dry skinned people. In the last three years the growth has been stagnant and volumes have not increased.

In this scenario, the aim of the marketing team must be to appeal to a whole new set of consumers, who are non-users of the

soap. The biggest challenge is to retain the image and still create more demand.

' Pearls' is available all over the country at around 4000 outlets, which is the range of average number of outlets used by specialty

brands. The general category soaps are sold through 1.5 lakh outlets and special purpose brands are sold through 45,000. The

outlets are chemists, general stores, cosmetics stores, and shopping malls. Almost 65 per cent of these outlets of Pearls are in

cities and big towns of north, west, and east regions. The soap did not enjoy much popularity in the south.

The consumer for the soap is well defined. An average consumer of Pearls is the housewife, who does the bulk of shopping and

wants good quality soap for her family, even if it is slightly more expensive. She typically lives in a town or city and had good

education. The family is in upper to upper-middle segment with higher disposable income and exposure to international trends.

She has modem gadgets in her house, has two kids studying in public schools and the family speaks English as fluently as their

mother tongue. Above all, she must be willing to spend almost 40 per cent more on Pearls than a regular brand of soap.

The analysis of the past advertisements has revealed some interesting details about the advertising theme used over the years

and change in the portrayal of the brand.

1. The ad showed soap and little girls, aping their mother's make-up routines or using Pearls as their mother did. The ads

concentrated on the beauty aspects.

2. Another theme used was to show the soap's properties, such as translucent texture and mildness.

3. A not so successful theme used was to target it at teenagers by using the youth oriented context teenage girl showing concern

about her skin and men using Pearls for beautifying skin.

4. A very strong theme used was the image of youthfulness through Pearls. The message given was the Pearls help maintain

youthful/young skin/ complexion. This message was very powerful and had deep impact on the consumers. It was one of the

most impressive and long lasting campaign themes used for Pearls.

Questions:

1. What advertising strategy elements should be considered?

2. Which of the themes you consider as the most appropriate. Why?

3. Suggest two appeals for Pearls? Why do you think these appeals will be more appropriate.

4. Which type of appeals, rational / informational or emotional / transformational will be more appropriate? Why?

CASE STUDY-2:

Close - Up

Close-Up ranked No.5 in A & M's Top Brand Survey of 1997, three ranks below its arch-rival Colgate by 1999, Close-Up was No.15.

Since it5s introduction in the Indian market in 1975, Close-Up has been the closest challenger to Colgate, which is the top brand

in this category. According to Hindustan Lever Ltd., the marketers of Close-Up, the typical consumer had no qualms about not

keeping germs at bay during the night but rather cared more about fresh breath in the morning.

The advertising agency, Lintas, has played on bad breath scare and targeted a typical college student who would be motivated by

what brushing did to his social acceptance. It was hoped that once Close-Up entered homes, older consumers would also start

using it and discard Colgate. To counter Colgate's famed Suraksha Chakra, Close-Up released ads asking consumers so do the

"hah hah" test to check the freshness of breath. The focus was on communicating the key benefit "fighting bad breath".

The intimacy between couples, portrayed in Close-Up commercials, was seen as disturbing the Indian mother's sensibilities and

hence the ads focused on the gregarious couple, as this group-oriented closeness was seen to be more acceptable to mothers,

who are the actual buyers of household toiletries.

Both Colgate and HLL introduced line extensions of their brand, improved packaging and did aggressive promotions. Close-Up

has been strong in the South. It has been quite weak in the East. In West Bengal, HLL roped in popular singer Anjan Dutt to reach

out to the old and young alike.

Questions:

1. Analyze the case and determine which promotion strategy, 'pull' or 'push' would be appropriate.

2. Suggest two 'pull' promotions for Close-Up to load the trade. Why do you think these promotions would be successful?

3. Develop a sales promotion design for Close-Up.

Advertising & Sales Promotion

PART– A

Q1. Explain the concept of Brand attitude

Q2. What is the concept of brand personality- can you give two examples of distinct brand personalitie

Q3. What is brand equity- how is it measured?

Q4. What is brand power? Explain the concept.

Q5. How is brand loyalty built up by a marketing firm?

PART – B

Q1. Highlight the difference – i.e. advantages and disadvantages- between newspapers and magazines as communication media

Q2. What are the key limitations of television advertising- name at least three

Q3. For what products and services is radio advertising suitable?

Q4. Suppose you are the marketing manager for a company manufacturing auto components- what media mix will you choose?

Q5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of outdoor advertising like billboards?

PART – C

Q1. What is the difference between advertising and sales promotion?

Q2. Name at least five types of sales promotion activities

Q3. Distinguish between PUSH and PULL marketing

Q4. Promotion is more important in decline stage than in growth stage-why? Explain

Q5. What are the disadvantages of promotion? Name at least 3 disadvantages

CASE STUDY – I

Amul is one of the pioneers in using political satire in its outdoor advertisements- so much so that people often look forward to

see the next billboard and chuckle when they see the topicality of the newest light hearted satire which they put up.

The satire is always very lighthearted and rarely they had a PIL or angry responses

By cornering this unique method- of humour in outdoor advertisement for so long- they have been able to eke out a unique

communication positioning which others find daunting to replicate-and hence this model has endured through decades

The result of this unique positioning is that Amul also does not invest heavily in other forms of communication. For instance you

would have seen many TV advertisements for Cadbury chocolates or different brands of ice-cream- but Amul TV advertisement

spots are rare.

They also coined a very successful byline called Amul-the taste of India‘ which was extensively promoted in its outdoor

advertisement campaigns and also product packs

Amul tried other media options for promoting its pizza but the product and the campaign bombed in a big way

Now assuming you are the new marketing manager for Amul and there is a plan to introduce a line of frozen ready-to-cook party

snacks.

1. What will be your advertisement and communication strategy

2. Why do you think the campaign for ready to eat Amul pizza failed to bring in buyers –and what remedial actions you will take

so as to avoid a repetition of the fiasco.

CASE STUDY – II

Close – Up

Close-Up ranked No.5 in A & M's Top Brand Survey of 1997, three ranks below its arch-rival Colgate by 1999, Close-Up was No.15.

Since it5s introduction in the Indian market in 1975, Close-Up has been the closest challenger to Colgate, which is the top brand

in this category. According to Hindustan Lever Ltd., the marketers of Close-Up, the typical consumer had no qualms about not

keeping germs at bay during the night but rather cared more about fresh breath in the morning.

The advertising agency, Lintas, has played on bad breath scare and targeted a typical college student who would be motivated by

what brushing did to his social acceptance. It was hoped that once Close- Up entered homes, older consumers would also start

using it and discard Colgate. To counter Colgate's famed Suraksha Chakra, Close-Up released ads asking consumers so do the

"hah hah" test to check the freshness of breath. The focus was on communicating the key benefit "fighting bad breath".

The intimacy between couples, portrayed in Close-Up commercials, was seen as disturbing the Indian mother's sensibilities and

hence the ads focused on the gregarious couple, as this group-oriented closeness was seen to be more acceptable to mothers,

who are the actual buyers of household toiletries.

Both Colgate and HLL introduced line extensions of their brand, improved packaging and did aggressive promotions. Close-Up

has been strong in the South. It has been quite weak in the East. In West Bengal, HLL roped in popular singer Anjan Dutt to reach

out to the old and young alike.

Questions:

1. Analyze the case and determine which promotion strategy, 'pull' or 'push' would be

appropriate

2. Suggest two 'pull' promotions for Close-Up to load the trade. Why do you think these promotions would be successful?

3. Develop a sales promotion design for Close-Up.

Working Capital Management

PART - A

Q1. 'Uncertainty makes it difficult for a financial manager to predict company's requirements for short term funds.' Discuss. What

steps can the financial manager take to minimize the resulting risks to the company?

Q2. What is conservative approach to financing firm's funds requirement? What kind of profitability-risk-tradeoff is involved?

Q3. Differentiate between:

a. Gross operating cycle and net operating cycle

b. Gross working capital and net working capital

Q4. What is credit control? What is the role of credit control department?

Q5. The Divya Paints ltd. is currently following a centralized collection system. Most of it customers are located in the cities of

Northern India. The remittances mailed by customers to the central location take four days to reach. Before depositing the

remittances in the bank the firm loses two days in processing them. The daily average collection of the firm is Rs. 1, 00,000.

The company is thanking of establishing a lock-box system. It is expected that such a system will reduce mailing time by one day

and processing time by one day.

I. Find out the reduction in cash balances expected to result from the adoption of the lock-box system.

II. Determine the opportunity cost of the present centralized collection system if the interest rate is assumed to be 18 per cent.

III. Should the lock-box system be established if its annual cost is Rs. 24500?

PART - B

Q1. 'Efficient cash management will aim at maximizing the availability of cash inflows by decentralizing collections and

decelerating cash outflows by centralizing disbursements. 'Discuss

Q2. Explain the concept of ABC analysis as a technique of inventory control.

Q3. Define the following:

a. Treasury Bills

b. Commercial Papers

Q4. 'Current assets are those which are turned over and at least partially replaced within the operating cycle of the company.

What are the differences you will usually find between the holding of current assets of a manufacturer who sells on credit and a

retailer who sells only on cash basis?

Q5. Performa cost sheet of ABC Company provides the following data:

Costs (Per Unit) Rs.

Raw Material 52.00

Direct labour 19.50

Overheads 39.00

Total cost P.U. 110.50

Profit 19.50

Selling Price 130.00

Following additional information is also available

Average raw material in stock : One month

Average material in process : Half a month

Credit allowed by suppliers : One month

Credit allowed to customers : Two months

Time lag in payments of wages : One and half week

Overheads : One month

1/4th of sales are on cash basis, cash balance is expected to be Rs. 1, 20,000/-

Question

Prepare a statement showing the working capital needed to finance a level of activity of 70,000 units of output. Assume that

production is carried on evenly throughout the year and wages and overheads accrue similarly

PART - C

Q1. What is factoring? What are the types of factoring? Explain how factoring is different from bill discounting?

Q2. How bank credit and trade credit plays vital role in financing the working capital? Describe the methods suggested by Tandon

Committee for financing the working capital.

Q3. Define the following:

a. Public Deposits

b. Objectives of money market

Q4. Define Working capital. What are the factors affecting the working capital management?

Q5. ABC and company buys and uses a component at Rs. 10/- per unit. The annual requirement is 2000 units. Carrying cost of

inventory is 10% per annum and ordering cost is Rs. 40 per order. The purchase manager argues that as ordering cost is high, it

is advantageous to place a single order for the entire annual requirement. He also says that if the order of 2000 units place at a

time, there is a 3% discount from supplier. Evaluate the proposal and make your recommendation.

CASE STUDY-1:

Better deals ltd. having an annual turnover of Rs. 80 lacs, 25% of which are cash sales. Normal credit allowed to debtors is 30

days. To increase the market share from present level, the marketing manager proposed to liberalize the credit policy which is as

under:-

Proposal Credit Period Expected credit sales

Plan - I 60 days Rs. 70 lacs

Plan - II 90 days Rs. 75 lacs

The product yields an average contribution of 25% on sales. The fixed cost amount to Rs. 5, 00,000 per annum. The company

expects a pre-tax return of 20% on capital employed. The bad debts of the company have been from 1% to 1.5% in case of

proposal I and 2% in case of Proposal II. As a finance manager, you are requested to evaluate the proposal and comment

CASE STUDY-2:

RMT ltd are on verge of commencing commercial production for which the following projections are available for

first 12 months of operations.

I) Sales and production: 1 machine per month

II) Average selling price: Basic price Rs. 40, 00,000

Excise duty at 10%

Value Added tax (VAT) at 5%

III. Material cost 60% of basic sales price

IV. Employment cost: Category Number Monthly Cost

Manager 8 Rs. 10,000 each

Supervisor 10 Rs. 6,500 each

Worker 50 Rs. 4,000 each

V. Power and Fuel : Rs. 6, 00,000 per month

VI. Factory Overheads : Rs. 75,000 per month

VII. Selling Overheads : Rs: 1, 00,000 per month

VIII. Sales Collection 30 days

IX. Material cost payment: 70% in the same month and balance in next month.

X. Production time: 30 days

XI. Entire work force is engaged from day 1 of the commercial production and payment to employees is made in the next month.

For other expenses the company has a credit of 1 month. VAT is payable in the next month of sales.

XII. The Bank has allowed the company a borrowing limit of Rs. 45,00,000 on which interest at the rate of 15% is charged every,

quarter, which is calculated based on average drawing of each quarter and is payable at the beginning of the next quarter. ASE S

Q1. Prepare a cash budge for the 5 months (Jan to May) and give your comment. You may make relevant assumptions if any.

Q2. What are the motives of an organization for holding cash?

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

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SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

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Working Capital Management

Q1. Explain the concept of working capital and factors affecting the working capital requirements.

Q2. A firm is considering changing its credit policy from 20 to 2/10 net 30, its sales should increase from Rs 5,00,000 to Rs

7,00,000, its cost of goods sold will go from 55% to 50% of sales. Miscellaneous administrative cost will remain steady at Rs

40,000, but collection cost will

increase from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 and bad debt losses will go up from 5% to 10% of its

average accounts receivables, 40% of the customers are expected to take discount. The firm

currently has debt of Rs 2,00,000 at 6%, which include the financing cost for funds currently

tied up in receivables. If the balance in receivables increase or decreases with the new policy,

the extra cost of funds tied up will be calculated at @ 10% estimated cost of the firms new debt.

a. What is the likely receivables balance under each policy?

b. What will be the forecasted net income after taxes with each policy?

Q3. Current assets are financed through a mix of short term and long term funds. Discuss the

statement and explain the various approaches in this context.

Q4. What is money market? Explain why there is a critical need for money market instruments.

Q5. What is factoring? What are the types of factoring? Explain how factoring is different from bill discounting.

PART – B

Q1 Discuss the following

· Impact of inflation on working capital requirement

· Commercial paper

Q2 Sadhan Nitro Company currently maintains a centralized billing system to handle average daily collections of Rs 4,50,000. The

total time for mailing , processing, and clearing has been estimated at 4 days.

a) If the company‘s opportunity cost on short term funds is 15%, how much this time lag of 4

days costing the company?

b) If management has designed a system of lock boxes with regional banks that would have reduced the float by 1.5 days &

centralized billing system expense by Rs52000 annually, what is the largest total amount of required compensating balance that

the firm would be willing to accept with the lock box management?

Q3 Discuss the following tools of inventory management:

· FNSD analysis

· VED analysis

· Pareto analysis

· GOLF analysis

Q4 Explain the procedure adopted for selecting a customer to whom the credit facilities are

provided.

Q5 Write short notes on:

· Letter of credit

· Collection experience matrix

PART – C

Q1 Differentiate between

ü Payment float and receivable float

ü Budgeting and forecasting

Q2 Raina Paint Company uses 60,000 gallons of pigment per year. The cost of ordering is Rs400 per order, and the cost of

carrying the pigment in inventory is Rs 2 per gallon per year. The firm uses pigment at a constant rate every day throughout the

year.

Calculate the EOQ

ü Calculate the total cost of the plan suggested by the EOQ

ü Determine the total number of orders suggested by this plan.

ü Assuming that it takes 20 days to receive an order once it has been placed, determine the reorder point in terms of gallons of

pigment by using 360 day in a year.

Q3 Explain the norms suggested by Tandon Committee for providing bank credits.

Q 4 From the following data compute the duration of operating cycle for two years & comment on the increase/decrease:

Particulars Year 1 Year 2

RM Stock 20000 27000

WIP 14000 18000

FG Stock 21000 24000

Purchase of RM 96000 135000

COGS 140000 180000

Sale 160000 200000

Debtors 32000 50000

Creditors 16000 18000

You can assume 360 days in a year

Q5 What is meant by budgetary control system? What are the objectives & requisites of successful budgetary control system?

CASE STUDY – I

A Performa cost sheet provides the following particulars:

Particulars Amount per unit (Rs)

Elements of cost

Raw material 80

Direct Labour 30

Overhead 60

Total Cost 170

Profit 30

Selling Price 200

The following further particulars are available:

Raw Material in stock, on average, one month; Material in process ( completion stage 50%), on

average, half a month; Finished goods in stock, on average , one month.

Credit allowed by suppliers is one month; credit allowed to debtors is two months; average time lag in payment of wages is 1.5

weeks and one month in overhead expenses; one fourth of the output is sold against cash ; cash in hand & cash at bank to be

maintained at Rs 3,65,000.

You are required to prepare a statement showing the working capital needed to finance a level of activity of 1,04,000 units of

production. You may assume that production is carried on evenly through out the year , and wages and overheads accrue

similarly. For calculation purpose , 4 weeks may be taken as equivalent to a month.

CASE STUDY – II

Prepare the cash budget for April-October from the following information supplied by Shah Agencies Ltd.

Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2010

Particulars Amount Particulars Amount

Capital 100000 Cash 20500

Outstanding Liabilities 11000 Stock in Trade 50500

Sundry Debtors 20000

Furniture 25000

Less Dep. 500

20000

111000 111000

Sales and expenditure on salaries are expected to be as under:

Month Sales Salaries

April 30000 3000

May 52000 3500

June 50000 3500

July 75000 4000

August 90000 4000

September 35000 3000

October 25000 3000

The other expenses per month are : Rent 1000/-,Depreciation 1000/-,Miscellaneaous expenses 500/- and commission 1 percent

of sales. Out of the total sales , 80 percent is on credit and 20 percent of cash ; 70 percent of credit sales are collected in the first

month following sale and the balance in second month. There are no bad debt losses. Gross margin on sales on an average is 30

percent . Purchases equal to the next month sale are made every month & they are paid during the month in which they are made

. The firm maintains a minimum cash balance of Rs 10000/-. Cash deficiencies are made up by the bank loans whish are repaid at

the earliest opportunity available and cash in excess of Rs 15000/- in securities (ignore interest on bank loan & securities).

Outstanding liabilities remain unchanged. Debtors pertain to credit sales of March .

Working Capital Management

PART - A

Question 1: Write short notes on the following:

a) Playing the float

b) Commercial Paper

Question 2: Explain the factors affecting the size of working capital.

Question 3: Differentiate between:

a) ABC Analysis and VED Analysis

b) Gross Working Capital and net working capital

Question 4: Explain the purpose of holding cash. Explain briefly the factors determining the cash balance.

Question 5: Discuss the preconditions for developing an efficient money market.

PART - B

Question 1: A small firm has total credit sales of Rs 80 lakhs and its average collection period is 80 days. The past experience

indicates that bad debt losses are around 1 percent of credit sales. The firm spends about Rs 120000 per annum on

administering its credit sales; this cost includes salaries of one officer and two clerks who handle credit checking & collection. A

factor is prepared to buy the firms receivables by charging 2 percent commission and interest at the rate of 18 percent after

withholding 10 percent as reserve. What should the firm do?

Question 2: The varying ratio between fixed assets and current assets has an impact on profitability/liquidity of a firm. Discuss

Question 3: A firm disburses Rs 30 lakh every year. The conversion charge is Rs 50 per conversion. The current risk free interest

rate is 9%. Find out the optimal cash balance using Baumol model.

Question 4: A manufacturer buys casting equipment from outside suppliers @ 30 per unit. Total annual needs are 800 units,

annual return on investment is 10%, Rent and insurance per year is Re 1 per unit & cost of placing an order is Rs 100 per order.

Determine the economic order quantity

Question 5: Explain the benefits and cost of maintaining receivables.

PART - C

Question 1: Enumerate the functions of the Money Market. Which institutions act as facilitator to the money market?

Question 2: What are the different forms of bank credit? Explain different modes in which collateral is placed.

Question 3: Explain the norms suggested by the Tandon Committee for providing bank credit. How did the recommendation of

Chore Committee bring modification to then existing norms?

Question 4: A firm sells goods worth Rs 100,000 every month. 20% of the sale is made on cash, 40% on net 30 and the remaining

40% on net 60. If the sale begins in January, find out the cash balance with the firm in the sale account during January, February

and March.

Question 5: Explain the procedure adopted for selecting a customer to whom credit facilities are provided.

CASE STUDY - I

You are required by A P Paper Mills Ltd. To estimate working capital required for the level of activity of 6,24,000 units of

production. Add 5% for safety. You may assume that production is carried on evenly throughout the year and wages and overhead

expenses accrued similarly and a time period of four weeks is equivalent to a month. It provides the following information:

Description Amount (per unit)

Raw Material 90

Direct Labour 40

Overhead 80

Total Cost 210

Profit 60

Selling Price 270

Additional Information:

Raw material in stock: one month; Material in process: half month; Finished goods in stock: four weeks; Credit allowed by

suppliers: one month; Credit allowed to customers: eight weeks; lag in payment of wages: one and a half week; Overheads: one

week; 20% of sales are cash sales and cash at bank is expected to be Rs 60,000

CASE STUDY - II

The Udar Ltd. sells goods on credit. Its current annual credit sales amounts to Rs 900 lakh. The variable cost ratio is 80%. The

credit terms are 2/10, net 30. On the current level of sales , the bad debts are 0.75%. The past experience has been that 50% of

the customers avail of the cash discount, the remaining customers pay on an average 50 days after the date of the sale. The book

debts of the firm are presently being financed in the ratio of 2:1 by a mix of bank borrowings and owned funds which cost 25%

and 28% per annum respectively. As an alternative to the in house management of receivables, Udar Ltd. is contemplating use of

full advance non•]recourse factoring deal with the Indbank Factors Ltd. The main elements of such a deal structured by the factor

are:

 Factor reserve 15%

 Guaranteed payment date 24 days after the purchase

 Discount charge 22%

 Commission of other services 4% of the receivables.

Analyse the proposal

Security Analysis & Portfolio Management

PART- A

Q1. 'The growth of the national economy and political events within the nation influence investment decisions.' Comment.

Q2. A finance company advertises that it would pay a lump sum of Rs 44,650, at the end of the fifth year, to investors who

annually deposit Rs 6000 for five years. What is the implied rate of interest in this offer?

Q3. Why is it important to understand the competitive position of a product of a company before purchasing the shares of the

company? How is the competitive position of a company determined within an industry?

Q4. What is a market index? Outline its utility for security analysis. Give two different methods used to weigh indexes.

Q5. Discuss the return generating process and risk-return relationship according to the Arbitrage Pricing Theory.

PART- B

Q1. What is the significance of the surveillance system in a stock exchange? Discuss in detail.

Q2. Write a detailed note on how indices are built.

Q3. The stock market is prone to different types of risks. Explain.

Q4. At an annual rate of compounding at 11 per cent, how long would it take for a given sum to become double its original value?

Q5. If an investor wants to hold a stock for multiple years, the present price could be estimated with d/e, P/E and EPS. What

formula is applied to find out the present value of the shares?

PART- C

Q1. How are industries analyzed? Classify them into growth, cyclical, defensive and cyclical growth industries.

Q2. Why are charts used as chief analytical tools in technical analysis?

Q3. A company's bonds have a par value of Rs 100. They mature in seven years and carry a coupon rate of 12 per cent payable

half yearly. If the appropriate discount rate is 16 per cent, what price should the bond command in the marketplace?

Q4. Define the Efficient Market Hypothesis in each of its three forms.

Q5. Portfolios that frequently buy new securities and sell old holdings will outperform portfolios that are managed more

passively. Do you agree with this statement? Explain.

CASE STUDY - I

ABC Ltd has total assets of Rs 40 lakh, financed by equity and debt in the ratio of 60 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. The

beta of equity shares is 1.3. The risk-free rate is 7 per cent and the return on market portfolio is 17 per cent.

Find out the following:

Q1. The required return on equity shares

Q2. The beta of the total assets of the company

Q3. The required rate of return on assets of the company

CASE STUDY-II

Ram Enterprise has a beta of 1.5 and risk free return is 7 per cent and the expected return on the market portfolio is 14 per cent.

The company presently pays a dividend of Rs 2.50 per share and investors expect a growth in dividend of 12 per cent per annum

for many years to come.

Answer the following:

Q1. What is the required rate of return on the equity according to CAPM?

Q2. What is the present market price of the equity share, assuming the computed return as required return?

Security Analysis & Portfolio Management

PART – A

Q1. Discuss the characteristics of investors, speculators, and gamblers. Explain the impact of each on the investment programme

process.

Q2. Discuss the features of an investment programme?

Q3. What are the main functions of a stock exchange? In what ways is a stock exchange indispensable for an economy?

Q4. Briefly trace the history of stock markets in India.

Q5. Explain the meaning of the term ‗New Issue Market‘. How does it differ from the ‗Secondary Market‘? Are they connected to

each other?

PART - B

Q1. Discuss the procedure to be followed by a listed company for rights issue.

Q2. P. S. Gupta is considering investing in a bond currently selling for Rs. 8785.07. The bond has four years to maturity, a Rs.

10,000 face value and a 8 per cent coupon rate. The next annual interest payment is due one year from today. The approximate

discount factor for investments of similar risk is 10 percent.

a. Calculate the intrinsic value of the bond. Based on this calculation, should Gupta purchase the bond?

b. Calculate the YTM of the bond. Based on this calculation, should Gupta purchase the bond?

Q3. What part do the growth rate of earnings, dividend, and the future P/E play in the valuation equation?

Q4. What is the money market? Explain the objectives and needs of money market instruments.

Q5. State the meaning, rationale, procedure and limitations of the Fundamental Analysis.

PART – C

Q1. Define the Efficient Market Hypothesis in each of its three forms. What are its implications?

Q2. Explain how the efficient frontier is determined using the Markowotz approach. Use a two security approach.

Q3. Why must the market portfolio be a combination of all securities, each in proportion to market value outstanding?

Q4. Under the CAPM, what is the efficient set called/ If there is buying and selling of a risk-free asset, what happens to the

efficient set?

Q5. Discuss the growth of financial derivatives in the global financial markets.

CASE STUDY - I

Stocks ABC and XYZ have the following historical returns:

Year Stock A’s Returns (%), RA Stock B’s Returns (%), RB

2005 10 3

2006 18 21

2007 38 44

2008 14 3

2009 33 28

a. Calculate the average rate of return for each stock during the period 2005 through 2009. Assume that someone held a

portfolio consisting of 50 percent of Stock ABC and 50 percent of Stock XYZ. What would have been the realized rate of return on

the portfolio in each year from 2005 through 2009? What would have been the average return on the portfolio during this period?

b. Calculate the standard deviation of returns for each stock and for the portfolio.ASE

CASE STUDY – II

High

growth

Low

growth

Stagnation Recession

Probability 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.1

Return on ABC

stock

150 130 90 60

Return on XYZ

stock

100 110 120 140

Calculate the expected return and standard deviation of investing

(a) Rs. 100 in ABC limited

(b) Rs. 100 in XYZ limited

(c) Rs 500 in each ABC and XYZ

Given, both the stocks are currently selling for Rs. 10 per share

Business Communication

Part - A

Q1. How is communication classified? State the advantages and disadvantages of formal communication.

Q2. Why is listening important? Discuss the levels of listening and state the factors that can make listening ineffective.

Q3. Discuss the principles of an effective presentation.

Q4. How is a meeting planned? Discuss the factors to be kept in mind while planning a meeting.

Q5. State the advantages of a group and explain the purpose and characteristics of group discussions.

Part - B

Q1. Define negotiation and discuss the stages in the negotiation process.

Q2. How can the purpose of business writing be classified? What are the characteristics of effective writing?

Q3. Explain the preparation of an effective CV. Why is it important to send a cover letter with the CV?

Q4. Discuss the types of sentences and explain the basic units of a sentence.

Q5. What are the characteristics of technical writing? Discuss the process of planning in technical writing.

Part - C

Q1. What are the reading styles you are aware of? Explain the steps involved in the reading process.

Q2. Differentiate between office circulars, office orders and office notes. State the standard parts of a business letter.

Q3. Discuss the steps involved in writing a case analysis.

Q4. How has technology revolutionized the communication process?

Q5. What are the types of reports? Explain the essentials of a good business report.

Case study - 1

Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Communication Failures

On 3 December 1984, a runaway reaction had occurred in a storage tank of methylisocyanate (MIC), which was used to

manufacture a pesticide. The valves of the tank had burst, and a cloud of poisonous gas had escaped. The winds carried it to

nearby shanty towns and the populous city of Bhopal, where thousands of people either died in their sleep or woke and died while

fleeing. Those who survived suffered from burning eyes and lungs. Local medical facilities were not equipped for the disaster, and

over the next few weeks thousands more died.

Due to production problems, the plant was under a great deal of pressure to cut costs. A number of shortcuts had thus been

taken with such items as crew training, staffing patterns and maintenance schedules. The original procedure called for upto two

years of training for employees in critical superintendent capacities, but the plant operators had received about a month long

training, using classroom materials developed in the US and printed in English.

Perhaps most importantly at the time of the tragedy, the staff did not realize the gravity of the situation and even took a break for

tea after the leak had been noticed, thinking they would have plenty of time to fix it. The operator in the control room did not

notify his supervisor when the temperature began to rise inside the tank and the entire situation remained unattended for at least

an hour.

Mr. Warren Anderson sitting in the US, as CEO of Union Carbide, needed to know exactly what had happened in Bhopal. He knew

that he would have to explain the tragic accident to the employees, to the government officials in both the United States and

India, to the courts, and to the people. Yet, he could not get answers to his own preliminary and personal questions. When

telephone contact failed to yield answers, he got on a plane and flew to India, where he was immediately placed under house

arrest - unable to attend to the very business that had brought him there. His plant managers had also been arrested and were

not allowed to talk to anyone.

Q1. Discuss the levels where the communication systems failed resulting in the tragedy.

Q2. Prepare a bullet presentation of the incident.

Case study - 2

Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Communication Failures

Rachel Ruddy, a fifty year old mid-manager at the City Bank of New Rochelle, has been considering for quite some time having

some extensive dental work. Although she made a point of having yearly checkups and cavities filled, she felt her appearance was

affected by a badly discolored incisor, misaligned teeth and noticeable fillings. In the growing awareness of the self image and its

relationship to job mobility, she decided to invest in having her teeth crowned.

She enlisted the professional services of her regular dentist, Dr Luke, who also happened to be a casual social acquaintance with

whom she shared some friends and interests in common. Her first step was to ask Dr Luke about possible improvements. He

explained that he would initially take an impression and then discuss a total diagnostic package. The cost of her phase would be

$75, a charge to be subtracted later if she chose to have the work done.

After completing the impression, Dr Luke, explained the total procedure to Rachel at a professional appointment. She was so

shocked at the initial figure ($4900 for the work that she assumed would cost half the amount) that she asked a few questions at

that session, hesitant to pay so much just to improve her appearance.

Later upon reflecting upon the importance of her job and her desire never to have dentures, she returned to another appointment

to clarify her understanding of the process and charges. Most of her questions dealt with the process itself.

From this appointment she understood that the charge included five years of maintenance. In fact, Dr. Luke mentioned that at

one time he offered ten years, but found that figure unrealistic. He stressed that the decision to have this work done was the

patient's. But he did mention that saving one's teeth and avoiding later problems with the temporomandibular joint were

investments. And of course, if one compared the cost of that to a new car, it did not seem exorbitant.

Rachel had the work done, but she found that the diagnostic fee was not subtracted from her bill. The doctor's billing secretary

maintained that Rachel misunderstood the initial figure and the doctor had already subtracted the fee. Rachel did not believe that

he had done so, but decided that it was not worth making an issue of $75.

A year later, however Rachel was billed $20 after a regular appointment with doctor's regular hygienists. When she protested this

charge, she was told that she had misunderstood. The package was for one year maintenance, but certainly a reasonable person

would not expect to have 'free' dental care for five years. The five year period was for replacement of crowns that may not have

adapted to the mouth.

Rachel had no intention of going to court or changing dentists. She was fairly satisfied with the work, but not with the colouring

of one tooth. Luke had told her not to worry as within a year the shading would conform through natural staining. He had been

right with other predictions about the teeth, but she was uncomfortable thinking that if she waited too long she might be charged

for any changes and new crowns.

Q1. Who was at faulty in the dentist for not putting his diagnosis in writing or the patient for not fully understanding the

services?

Q2. How could some of these misunderstandings have been avoided?

Q3. What services should have been communicated orally and what ones in writing?

Business Communication

PART – A

Q1. What is communication? List the various types of communication. Describe a communication model with examples.

Q2. Describe the stage in the negotiation process and detail the barriers to a successful negotiation.

Q3. What is listening? What are the barriers to effective listening and what efforts need to put in by both the speaker and the

listener to improve their listening ability?

Q4. Describe in detail the requirements for an effective meeting.

Q5. What are the requirements of a well-conducted presentation? List out the work that needs to be done by the presenter and the

participants to make the presentation successful.

PART – B

Q1. What is a group discussion? Describe, with examples the various types of group discussions that take place and also describe

the skills that are evaluated during these group discussions?

Q2. What are the various approaches to reading? Describe the essentials of effective reading?

Q3. Differentiate between written and oral/non-verbal communication. State both the advantages as well as disadvantages.

Q4. Describe the various steps in case analysis. List out in detail the various requirements and approaches in writing a case

analysis

Q5. What are the characterstics and purposes of technical writing? Describe in detail the technical writing process and the

commonly used types of technical documents.

PART – C

Q1. Write a letter to the manager of your bank asking for an account statement for the first quarter of 2011. Also request him to

waive of the applicable charges (if any)

Q2. Describe in detail the various types of basic official correspondence. List out in detail the various types of reports and their

special features and uses.

Q3. Write an email to Amazon.com asking them about the status of your order as a part of it remains incomplete even after two

weeks.

Q4. Prepare your CV for applying for the post of Team Leader, Business Development at Convergys, Gurgaon.

Q5. List out the merits and demerits of using Informational Technology in communication. Describe in details some of the

electronic innovations that have revolutionized communication.

CASE STUDY – I

“Ravi’s Interview”

Ravi was elated when he received the call from the Indian National Bank (INB) inviting him for an interview with the Zonal Manager

(ZM) at 2.30 in the afternoon next Friday for the post of the Territory Manager for Delhi & NCR. Ravi was that he was not entirely

happy with the way his organization (Lovely Consumer Bank - LCB) was treating him. He was performing well yet he was not

having a comfortable relationship with his boss, who frequently threatened Ravi with dismissal. INB offered a best-in-class salary

structure, good work environment, and provided job security as well. However, INB is a customer centric organization that

employed well mannered people and has strict rules on compliance with internal policies and RBI rules and emphasised personal

grooming and ethics, yet Ravi felt that his past performance would impress the ZM.

Ravi had thought that 40-45 minutes would be sufficient to reach the INB office and he left his house at about 1.50 pm. He

reached INB at 2.35 pm and rushed straight to the 10th floor where he found a person dressed in the unofficial INB uniform of

white shirt, navy blue trousers and a pale blue tie pacing about the room. He introduced himself as Amit Sharma, the ZM. Ravi

apologised profusely for the delay caused by traffic and immediately sat down on the sofa next to the ZM. The ZM accepted his

apologies and began. Ravi had dressed to impress and was wearing his favourite mauve shirt and black pant and dress shoes with

silver buckles. It being a hot day, he had elected not to wear a tie. The ZM began by asking Ravi about his job at LCB. Ravi tried to

make himself familiar to the ZM and spoke in a mixture of Hindi and English, using a lot of local slangs to show his familiarity

with the market. He spoke about his achievements as a Sales Manager at LCB, how well he could manipulate his prospective

customers, how that in 2 days, he and his team had sold 20 insurance policies even though some of the documents of the

customers were modified by them since collecting the documents again would waste time. Ravi also said that he had a low

incidence of customer complaints at about 20 per 100 customers he interacted with.

The ZM asked many questions which Ravi answered in his enthusiastic and booming voice, sometimes even anticipating the

questions and cutting the ZM off in his enthusiasm to answer them. Ravi felt that the meeting was progressing well and he

interrupted the ZM to ask him about the salary package and perks being offered and also asked him how much he could claim as

expenses during the course of the month. The ZM answered all these questions and they parted as friends, with Ravi even putting

his arm around the shoulders of the ZM in a burst of familiarity. Ravi left feeling ―Mission Accomplished‖. However, Ravi felt

destroyed when he was not selected.

Questions:

1. Identify the mistakes made by Ravi that led to his rejection. (1.5 marks)

2. If you were Ami Sharma, what would your reaction have been towards an interviewee like Ravi. (1 Mark)

CASE STUDY - II

―ACME Appliances Letter‖

ACME Appliances (Customer Service Division)

1, DLF Plaza, Chandigarh – 160001

Sh. Ramesh Kumar Singh, Prop. Singh’s Cafe and Bakery,

12013, HUDA Colony – 2,

Sector 25, Chandigarh – 160021.

Dated: 1st June, 2010

Hi,

We have received your request for a refund/replacement. Although your ACME fridge is under warranty for four more months,

you cannot honestly expect us to pay for the cost of a new motor and your spoiled food when the problem clearly resulted as a

result of your negligence. This fridge is not designed to be operated at full capacity with the door open for any length of time, let

alone over the weekend and that too during a heat wave and with a fluctuating power supply.

ACME fridges are designed to endure everyday use in a typical restaurant kitchen. They are constructed with top-quality

materials, are environment friendly and are BEE rated at 5 stars for efficiency and quality. Your model, with its shoulder high

doors, electronic controls and “performance” compressor, is our best selling model.

However, we would like to offer to pay for the cost of the technician’s visit in the spirit of good customer relations. I am sorry, but

that’s the best we can do for you at this time.

Sincerely

Sd/-

Ajay Sharma

Customer Relations Manager

Questions:

1. Identify the problems in this letter. (1 mark)

2. Re-write this letter in a proper manner to address the mistakes identified by you as above. (1.5 marks)

Business Communication

Part- A

Q1: Describe the different kinds of audience with ways to analyze them.

Q2: What should be the determining factors in the use of visuals (graphics)?

Q3: Explain the principal differences between written and virtual reports.

Q4: Define intercultural communication and how can we improve our ability to communicate inter-culturally?

Q5: Write an appropriate subject line for each of these situations:

a. A letter informing the reader that his life insurance policy #29832 will expire soon, due to non-payment of

premium

b. A letter to a bank suggesting that a separate deposit window be opened from merchants from 3 p.m. to 5

p.m. each workday.

Part - B

Q1: What are the different ways to adapt your message to your audience?

Q2: Rewrite and reorganize the following negative message to make it more positive.

Dear Renter:

Effective October 1 2013, the rent for your parking space will go up $75 a month. However, our

parking lot is still not the most expensive in town.

Many of you have asked us to provide better snow and ice removal and to post signs saying that

all spaces are rented so that a car can be towed if it parks in your space. Signs will be posted by

October 10, and if we get any more snow, Acme Company has contracted to have the lot cleared

by 7 a.m.

Enclosed is a new parking sticker. Please hang it on your rear view mirror.

Sincerely

Q3: What three aspects of a document does thorough revision cover?

Q4: How do you decide whether to use a direct request or a problem-solving persuasive message?

Q5: Discuss the guidelines to be kept in mind while writing e-mail messages.

Part - C

Q1: What are the characteristics and different aspects of non-verbal communication?

Q2: What should you know about yourself and the organization before you apply for jobs?

Q3: How do you decide whether to use a chronological or a skills resume? How do they differ?

Q4: How does behavioral and situational interview differ? How do you use your interview strategy during an interview?

Q5: Write a cover letter to a company Vice-president to accompany your short report on energy savings.

CASE STUDY - I

Your Company, Datatron Systems, Inc., has decided to install a new medical insurance program. Although the fees to

employees are reasonable - $35 a month for complete coverage of individual employees and their immediate families - the

program will not cover their visits to private physicians. Instead they must see doctors at a medical network. Many employees

have expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposed plan, arguing that they will be treated like objects on an assembly line,

never seeing the same doctor twice. You have been assigned the task of convincing them to accept the proposal.

Prepare a speech or a write a persuasive message to be delivered at the next union meeting a week from today.

CASE STUDY - II

Workplace communication is multi-layered and complex, especially when employees from diverse backgrounds and different

generations must collaborate.

As president of Professionalism Matters, a corporate training firm based in Atlanta, Dana Brownlee is attuned to many

workplace challenges. She said there's a generational divide in terms of work style and communication practices. Her training

focuses on getting employees away from the daily grind and providing them an opportunity to truly reflect on what's working

and what's not. Brownlee previously spent years working for IBM Consulting.

If the boss is overbearing and his demeanour has been problematic for me during a recent project team meeting, I wouldn't

hesitate to meet with him about it. However, instead of telling him that he needs to tone it down, I'd ask him to give me his

thoughts on how the session went and then chime in based on his comments/observations.

Similarly, if I were planning a session and concerned about his demeanor, I'd meet privately before the session and share my

concern like this: "Bob, thanks so much for agreeing to participate in our vendor discussion on Friday. I think that your

presence really signals to the team that this project is important and that helps boost morale. I've been planning the agenda,

and I do have one challenge that I was hoping you could help with. I know how much everyone on the team really respects

your opinion and sometimes when the VP offers their view, everyone latches onto that view and we don't really hear his or her

honest initial thoughts on the topic. I know how important it is to you to really see what they can come up with, so I'm just

struggling a bit with how to handle that. What do you think?"

He may offer to simply come for the first 15 minutes or agree to hold back and not contribute to discussion until others have

chimed in, but either way, it's a great way to surface the issue and identify some real solutions without alienating anyone in

the process.

Most organizations have at least three generations in the workplace working side by side, and this can pose some unique

challenges. I have one client in particular who is struggling with the fact that younger employees tend to prefer text/email,

while some of the older staff demand face-to-face or phone conversations about everything. Both groups are quite frustrated.

In terms of how we address it, the first step in resolving any problem is acknowledging that there is indeed a problem.

Through work style assessments, employees begin to see that each person has their own style - whether it relates to

communications, conflict management or leadership. How they interact is a direct result of that style. This means that when

Susan emails me about a conflict instead of coming to talk to me directly, it's probably not a sign of disrespect, as some

would assume, but a style difference.

Q1: How can an employee provide constructive feedback to someone with higher authority in the office?

Q2: How do organizations smooth generational gaps within their workplace

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

Software Project Management

PART - A

Q1. What are the benefits of using a project management approach to develop software?

Q2. Describe the relationship among scope, schedule and budget.

Q3. Describe "Software project life cycle".

Q4. Describe the prototyping approach to systems development. When is prototyping appropriate?

Q5. Define, compare and contrast project management processes and project-oriented processes.

PART - B

Q1. Define an IT project methodology and describe its phases.

Q2. Describe Technical Performance parameters for a Software product.

Q3. What is Project Scope and how should it be managed

Q4. What is the purpose of a scope statement? Give an example of a scope statement that might address the needs of an

organization that is looking to establish their first Internet web site.

Q5. Compare and contrast top-down and bottom-up estimating? Why would you choose one method over the other?

PART - C

Q1. What is COCOMO? Under the COCOMO model, describe the organic, semi-detached, and embedded models.

Q2. What is a WBS? How does the WBS link the project's scope to the schedule and budget?

Q3. In what ways are project network diagrams similar to Gantt charts and what additional strengths do they have? Explain with

an example.

Q4. Describe some of the tools and techniques that can be used to identify IT project risks.

Q5. Capacity Maturity Model (CMM) posits five levels of organizational maturity that are a function of the nature of their

processes. Describe how processes mature from the lowest to the highest level.

CASE STUDY-2

Note: read the case carefully and answer the questions given at the end. (M.M: 14)

Tom Walters recently accepted a new position at his college as the Director of Information Technology. Tom had been a respected

faculty member at the college for the last fifteen years. The college- a small, private college in the Southwest-offered a variety of

programs in the liberal arts and professional areas. Enrollment included 1500 full-time traditional students and about 1000

working-adult students attending an evening program. Many instructors supplemented their courses with information on the

Internet and course Web sites, but they did not offer any distance-learning programs. The College's niche was serving students in

that region who liked the setting of a small liberal arts college. Like most colleges, its use of information technology had grown

tremendously in the past five years. There were a few classrooms in the campus with computers for the instructors and students,

and a few more with just instructor stations and projections systems. Tom knew that several colleges throughout the country

required that all students lease laptops and these colleges incorporated technology components in to most courses. This idea

fascinated him. He and two other members of the Information Technology department visited a local college that had required all

students to lease laptop for the past three years, and they were very impressed with what they saw and heard. Tom and his staff

developed plans to start requiring students to lease laptops at their college the next year.

Tom sent an email to all faculty and staff in September, which briefly described this and other plans. He did not get much

response, however, until the February faculty meeting when, as he described some of the details of his plan, the chairs of the

History, English, Philosophy, and Economics departments all voiced their opposition to the idea. They eloquently stated that the

college was not a technical training school, and that they thought the idea was ludicrous. Members of the Computer Science

Department voiced their concern that all of their students already had state-of-the art desktop computers and would not want to

pay a mandatory fee to lease less-powerful laptops. The director of the adult education program expressed her concern that many

adulteducation students would balk at an increase in fees. Tom was in shock to hear his colleagues' responses, especially after he

and his staff had spent a lot of time planning details of how to implement laptops at their campus. Now what should he do?

After several people voiced concerns about the laptop idea at the faculty meeting, the president of the college directed that a

committee be formed to formally review the concept of requiring students to have laptops in the near future. Because the college

was dealing with several other important enrollment-related issues, the president named the vice president of enrollment to head

the committee. Other people soon volunteered or were assigned to the committee, including Tom Walters as head of Information

Technology, the director of the adult education program, the chair of the Computer Science department, and the chair of the

History department. The president also insisted that the committee include at least two members of the student body.

The president knew everyone was busy, and he questioned whether the laptop idea was a high-priority issue for the college. He

directed the committee to preset a proposal at the next's month's faculty meeting, either to recommend the creation of a formal

project team ( of which these committee members would commit to be a part) to fully investigate requiring laptops, or to

recommend terminating the concept. At the next faculty meeting, few people were surprised to hear the recommendation to

terminate the concept. Tom Walters learned that he had to pay much more attention to the needs of the entire college before

proceeding with detailed information technology plans.

Question:

Q1. What is the socio-technical approach to systems development? Based on the above description explain the approach.

Q2. How do sharing experiences in the form of lessons learned lead to best practices in managing and developing systems?

Q3. What should be the best approach of the above project to be initiated and completed successfully?

CASE STUDY-2

Juan Gonzales was a systems analyst and network specialist for a major city's waterworks departments in Mexico. He enjoyed

helping the city develop its infrastructure. His next career objective was to become a project manager so he could have been

more influence. One of his colleagues invited him to attend an important project review meeting for large government projects,

including the Surveyor Pro project, in which Juan was most interested. The Surveyor Pro project was a concept for developing a

sophisticated information system that included expert systems, object-oriented databases, and wireless communications. The

system would provide instant, graphical information to government surveyors to help them do their jobs. For example after the

surveyor touch a map on the screen of a handheld device the system would prompt him or her for the type of information needed

for that area this system would help in planning and implementing many projects from laying fiber optic cable to laying water

lines. Juan was very surprised however in the majority of the meeting was spend discussing past related issues. The government

officials were reviewing many existing projects to evaluate their performance to date and the potential impact on their budgets

before discussing the funding for any new projects. Juan didn't understand many of the terms and charts and the charts

presenter's wear showing. What was this earned value term they kept referring to. How were they estimating what it would cost to

complete projects or who long it would take? Juan thought he would learn more about the new technologies the surveyor Proproject

would use but he discovered that the cost estimate and projected benefits where of most interest to government officials

at the meeting it also seemed as if a lot of efforts would go towards detail financial studies before any technical work could even

start. Juan wish he had taken some accounting and finance courses so he could understand the acronyms and concepts people

wear discussing, Although Juan had degree in electrical engineering. He had no formal education in finance if Juan could

understand information systems and networks he was confident that he could understand financial issues on projects too. He

jotted down questions to discuss with his colleges after the meeting.

Question:

Q1. Discuss why IT professional should learn cost management and its impact on Projects.

Q2. Suggest few costing models Juan should learn to understand the financial aspects of a project.

Q3. What was Juan's problem? What kind of action plan you will suggest to him.

Networking and Telecom Management

PART - A

1.(a). Give an Advantage/Disadvantage for each type of Network Topology?

b. What are some of the factors that determine whether a communication system is a LAN, WAN, MAN?

c. Describe the functions of a Bridge, switch, Router,Gateway.

2.(a). How does Token Ring LAN Operates?

b. Group the OSI layers by function.

c. List two advantages and two Disadvantages of having international standards for internet protocol?

3.(a). Explain the following: TCP, UDP, ITU, ETSI.

b. List two ways in which the OSI reference model and the TCP/IP reference model are the same?

Now list two ways in which they differ

c. Explain the type of cables briefly? Among them which cables can transmit data at high speeds?

4.(a). What is the Principal difference between connectionless communication and connection oriented communication?

b. Write shorts notes on following: ATM, MODULATION, VSAT.

5.(a). What is the Difference between Data Switching and Packet Switching

b. Explain the following-

•Analog- to- Digital Conversion

•Digital- to -Analog Conversion

•Analog- to -Analog Conversion

PART - B

1. A large population of ALOHA users manage to generate 50 requests/sec., including both originals and retransmissions. Time is

slotted in units of 40 msec.

i. What is the chance of success on first attempt?

ii. What is the probability of exactly K collisions and then a success?

iii. What is the expected number of transmission attempts needed?

2. (a) What are the two categories of encryption and decryption methods? What is the main difference between the categories?

(b) Describe the structure of an optical fiber and explain the mechanism of light propagation alongthe fiber?

(c) What are the merits and demerits of a single mode fiber in comparison to a multi-mode fiber?

Describe the structure and composition differences between two.

3. (a) What is ISDN? Explain and differentiate between BRI and PRI.

(b) Explain in brief the concept of ATM?

(c) What is idea behind sub netting a LAN?

4. (a)What is logical topology? What is difference between logical and physical topology?

(b) What is transceiver and what does it do?

(c) Do hubs have a MAC address and IP address? Why or why not?

(d) What is collision domain? What devices can cut down the size of collision domain?

5. (a) What are the different sections of a frame? Briefly describe each?

(b) What is a NIC? What layer of OSI model does it fall? Why?

(c) State some differences between IP address and MAC address?

(d) What is ARP? What is the structure of ARP request?

PART - C

1. (a) What is the definition of Presentation layer? State at least three of its functions?

(b) What are the differences between Bridging, switching and routing?

(c) What is network mask and why it is important?

2. (a)What are the advantages of dynamically maintained networks and statically maintained networks?

(b) Compare and contrast circuit switched services and packet switched services with help of suitable examples

3. Consider the following address:

171.19.123.112

a. Eight bits have been borrowed from this network to create subnets.

b. Into what class this network falls?

c. What is the network address for this node?

d. How many useable subnets have been created?

e. How many useable hosts per subnet will be there?

f. What is the subnet mask?

4. (a) Compare between ATM and FDDI. What do you think is the future of ATM and FDDI in the backbone

(b) Explain and differentiate Time division multiplexing, Phase division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing?

(c) Explain and differentiate horizontal cabling and vertical cabling?

5. (a) Differentiate between token bus and token ring?

(b) What is virtual terminal protocol? Why it is required?

(c) What is cellular radio? Explain the cell pattern for cellular radio.

CASE STUDY-1

While IP Telephony, and the resultant savings in communication costs, has been gaining considerable attention, its adoption has

been slow because of the high initial investment required to set up a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) network. And with the recent cut in

national long distance (NLD) charges, a question mark has formed around the cost-effectiveness of this technology. Enterprises

are reluctant to invest lakhs of rupees on VoIP, with concerns that they may not get decent RoI (Return on Investment).

But since the needs, options, and viability patterns are wildly different for enterprises and customers, lets look at the enterprise

angle first. Ravi Chauhan, vice president, Enterprise Solutions-India and SAARC, Nortel Networks, says, "Given the fact that 70

percent of a company's communication costs are in the form of intraoffice STD bills, VoIP continues to make sense. We have seen

cases where communication costs have reduced by 60 percent after implementing an IP telephony solution. The period for return

on investment on equipment has dropped from ten years to three."

It's not just about saving money. VoIP lets corporates take advantage of a host of value-added services like integrating voicemail,

video, e-mail and fax. Raj Pawate, director-DSP Application, TI India, says, "IP networks are easier to maintain and manage than

switched circuits." And if an organisation already has an enterprise WAN set-up with an existing data network, with a 64 Kbps

leased-line facility, there is all the more reason to add voice capabilities to the data network, thus making even better use of

precious bandwidth.

Cisco's solution

To set up a data network, which consists of LAN and WAN (switches and routers) the investment in equipment will be Rs 27.3

lakh. The cost of cabling will be Rs 2.5 lakh and, for IP telephony solution (Call Manager, IP phones and DSP resource), another Rs

25.4 lakh.

With Cisco's solution the equipment will cost Rs 55 lakh, inclusive of all the IP telephony features. An additional Rs 6 lakh per year

would go toward leased line charges for one 128 Kbps line and four 64 Kbps lines. The total investment would amount to Rs 61

lakh. The depreciation on the equipment over three years would amount to Rs 18 lakh per annum plus Rs 6 lakh for annual

bandwidth charges. The enterprise would have a fixed annual inter-office communication cost of Rs 24 lakh using VoIP. This

investment is justified if the enterprise has an annual inter-office communication in excess of Rs 60 lakh

Nortel's solution

The cost of the IP-PBX (hardware, software and 50 digital phones) is Rs 10.1 lakh, routers Rs 11 lakh and 37 IP phones would be

Rs 6.4 lakh. The equipment cost would be Rs 28 lakh (voice and data) plus Rs 6 lakh for the leased line charges. This works out to

Rs 34 lakh for the equipment.

Depreciation on equipment over three years comes to Rs 9.3 lakh per annum plus Rs 6 lakh for annual bandwidth charges. Using

VoIP, the enterprise would have a fixed annual inter-office communication cost of Rs 15.3 lakh. In this case, the investment is

justified if the enterprise has annual inter-office communication cost of Rs 40 lakh and above.

From the example cited above, it is clear that if an enterprise's inter-office communication cost is more than Rs 50 lakh then the

investment in the VoIP is justified, otherwise it does not make economic sense. Secondly, the higher the communication, shorter

will be the payback period.

According to Cisco's Chaitania, "The investment in VoIP for enterprise WAN makes sense if an enterprise has offices in multiple

locations or even if they have offices in two locations and their average annual spending on inter-office communication goes

above Rs 50 lakh, then the investment will be justified." Cisco's philosophy for the VoIP solution is to give the enterprise

headroom for growth, keeping the future requirements of the enterprise in perspective, whereas Nortel's approach is to give the

enterprise a low-cost alternative solution at the outset that can be scaled up in future.

Any mid-size or large enterprise whose annual communication cost is more than Rs 50 lakh and has offices in multiple locations

should go in for a VoIP solution. Besides the cost it's the value-added services voice, data and video that it brings in, which make

it even more worthwhile. While this clearly means that it may not make sense for SMEs to go in for their own VoIP networks, what

the government's decision to allow Net telephony will do in the SME space is to encourage companies to replace their legacy PABX

systems with IP systems. And since SMEs usually use third-party service providers to meet their network infrastructure needs, ISPs

could take over the role and allow SMEs the benefits of VoIP too

Questions

1. What is the CISCO philosophy for VoIP solution?

2. What is the enterprise view about VoIP?

3. When the investment in VoIP will be justified?

CASE STUDY - 2

Located in, South Carolina, Converse College is a liberal arts college that has been preparing students to be strong leaders in

their professions and in their communities for over 100 years. In addition, Converse also offers a graduate program. In total,

Converse serves more than 1500 students.

When a college accustomed to using the Internet as a learning and communication tool faces frequent network problems with its

legacy equipment and foresees the need to support convergent applications of the future, administrators must determine how to

upgrade their network quickly, reliably and cost-effectively. Network outages and connectivity problems were ongoing. With a

disparate collection of multi-vendor hubs and switches and no network interface, ITS staff spent hours addressing network issues.

Converse required a reliable network for all campus operations with centralized management for diagnosing and resolving

network issues. The old network did not support these goals. "Can you imagine having a computer lab full of students and the

majority of them can't access valuable academic resources?" says Judy Folk, director of ITS for Converse College. "The college

realized that we needed to move forward and one of the first things we identified was that we didn't have a strong foundation. We

needed a high performance network that would sustain both current and future demands."

Converse College addresses these challenges with the implementation of an enhanced network infrastructure based on HP

ProCurve Networking Adaptive EDGE solutions. Converse now has the capability to implement online admissions, registration,

grading and fundraising. Students and faculty can access the network from anywhere on campus. HP ProCurve also enables

Information Technology Service (ITS) staff to monitor and resolve network connectivity issues via the Internet, thus saving

valuable time and increasing productivity in the department.

Using a combination of HP ProCurve switches including HP ProCurve Switch 2524, HP ProCurve Switch 4108gl and HP ProCurve

Routing Switch 9304m, the new local area network (LAN) connects approximately 26 campus buildings. ProCurve Switch 2524 is a

high-speed 24-port switch ideal for low-cost migration to 10/100 managed switching with uplinks. The ProCurve Switch 4108gl is

a Layer 2 modular switch.

With the deployment of the ProCurve solution, Converse has seen a major improvement in network performance and reliability. In

addition, frequent network outages and connectivity problems required the ITS team to replace hardware on a weekly basis. With

the ProCurve Networking solution, Converse also now has the ability to monitor the network from a central location, and if a

problem occurs, can automatically check via the Internet if a particular switch has connectivity. This saves valuable staff time as

they are often able to resolve issues before going out to the location.

Converse students now enjoy faster, more reliable Internet connectivity from the ProCurve solution and can save files to their own

space on the server, which they can then access anywhere on campus. This is especially beneficial to commuting students who

can easily access their e-mail over the Web. In addition, the new e-mail system and client server have enabled the upgrade of

administrative programs, including online admissions and class registration. Faculty members can even enter grades online.

As Converse moves toward the future, including the construction of a new building and the incorporation of distance education, it

is ensured that campus services are operating more quickly, reliably and efficiently with the new system.

Questions

1. In your opinion what were the core problems of the system?

2. Do you think that Converse has invested a lot to over come the problems? What are the hidden costs involved with the new

system?

3. If you were to improve the performance of this establishment, what would you do? How? Explain

Database Administration

PART-A

Q1. Which are new data types introduced in SQL SERVER 2008?

Q2. What is a Filegroup? What is their purpose?

Q3. What are the two mechanisms to authenticate users in SQL server 2008? Write their advantages and disadvantages.

Q4. What is a FileStream Data? What are its advantages?

Q5. What is Policy Management? Briefly explain the four evaluation modes.

PART-B

Q1. What are the basic functions for master, msdb, model, tempdb and resource databases?

Q2. What is SQL Profiler, Server Agent and Service Broker?

Q3. What is Collation? Discuss briefly about the various Collation settings in SQL Server 2008.

Q4. Discuss the various Features of various SQL Server Editions?

Q5. What is stored procedure? What are the key benefits of using Stored Procedures?

PARTQ1.

What is a role of SQL Server Agent service? Briefly explain its component?

Q2. Compare Full recovery model with Bulk-Logged recovery Model?

Q3. What is a role of SQL Profiler and Log File viewer? Briefly explain them

Q4. What do you understand by High Availability options? Compare all the three major options?

Q5. What is Data Collector? Briefly explain its components?

CASE STUDY-1

SQL Server 2008 Runs SAP ERP Database to Support Microsoft Worldwide

Situation

Microsoft has relied on SAP ERP software to run its financial operations since 1996 when it first deployed the solution on

Microsoft® SQL Server® 6.5. Since then Microsoft's SAP ERP deployment, which now has a 6.5-terabyte backend database, has

grown to join the top 5 percent of the largest SAP ERP deployments worldwide.

With 92,000 employees, operations in 89 countries, and 2007 revenues exceeding U.S.$51 billion, Microsoft has plenty of

financial and operational data to track. The company's SAP ERP system handles Microsoft's treasury, worldwide sales, worldwide

finance, worldwide human resources, worldwide operations, material management, U.S. payroll, and other mission-critical

functions.

The company was happy with how its SAP ERP deployment was running on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition and the

Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system. SQL Server 2005 had provided excellent performance and rock-solid

stability for the company's worldwide SAP-based operations.

SAP ERP performance at Microsoft includes:

• Over 1,300,000 dialog steps per business day

• 19 million transactions per month

• An average user response time of less than 0.7 seconds

As the SAP team members looked at the beta edition of SQL Server 2008 they saw features that they wanted to benefit from

immediately, including database and backup compression technology and improvements in SQL Server Database Mirroring

technologies.

But with so many of the company's mission-critical worldwide systems directly or indirectly dependent upon SAP ERP, the

upgrade would need to be seamless, and performance and stability would need to be at least as good as the group had enjoyed

with SQL Server 2005. In short, SQL Server 2008 needed to be enterprise grade— even in beta release.

"SAP ERP serves as the financial backbone of Microsoft," says Hans Reutter, Principal OE System Manager at Microsoft. "This

means that we don't upgrade our database and other infrastructure without having complete confidence that it is enterprise

ready."

In February 2008, Microsoft upgraded its SAP ERP environment to the beta edition of SQL Server 2008 Enterprise running on the

Wndows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system. The SAP deployment has a three-tier architecture that includes:

• Presentation Tier. The presentation tier includes a fat client, the SAP graphical user interface, which is used by

some 2,000 heavy users of the SAP environment. The rest of Microsoft's worldwide employees access SAP through a Web

browser, with access handled by 4 load-balanced servers running the Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition operating

system and Internet Information Services (IIS).

• Application Tier. The application tier includes 12 load-balanced SAP application servers running Windows Server

2003 Enterprise Edition.

• Database Tier. The 6.5-terabyte SAP ERP database is hosted on the beta edition of SQL Server 2008 Enterprise,

running on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. The database grows by about 200 GB a month. The full database is

hosted on a single HP DL585-G5 server with 4-socket quad-core processors and 68 GB of RAM. It is connected using fiber

optics to an EMC CX3-80 SAN disk storage array. To help ensure high availability, the database is setup with SQL Server

2008 synchronous database mirroring with automatic failover enabled. The second database server and storage is an

exact copy of the primary server and storage to allow a failover without any performance impact.

The SAP deployment takes advantage of features new for SQL Server 2008, including:

• Data Compression.

• Backup Compression.

• Enhanced Auditing.

• Resource Governor.

• Enhanced Database Mirroring.

• Enhanced Autogrowth and Lock Management.

Benefits

Upgrading to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise gave Microsoft the data compression it needed to support better resource utilization

and to reduce the size of backup storage required for its 6.5-terabyte SAP ERP database. The Microsoft SAP group plans to use the

enhanced auditing feature of SQL Server 2008 to capture access information required for compliance reasons, while enjoying

improved high availability with Database Mirroring, and reduced downtime needs with Online Indexing.

Resource Governor will enable the team to define the amounts of resources that individual workloads are allowed to use during

execution. "We could use Resource Governor to regulate resources available for backups," says Bregler. "We may want to restrict

backups to 10 percent of resources. Or if we wanted to increase the rate of backups, we could increase available resources.

Resource Governor is a powerful tool for ensuring that key workloads always have the resources required to get the job done."

Results

Microsoft gained the data compression, backup compression, integrity of change tracking, and other benefits it sought by

upgrading its 6.5-terabyte SAP ERP database to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise running on Wndows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.

The combination of Database Mirroring and Online Indexing has reduced the need for scheduled downtime, helping the group to

enjoy 99.99 percent uptime for its platform.

SQL Server 2008 Runs SAP ERP Database to Support Microsoft Worldwide

Questions:

(a) Why Microsoft decided to move on SQL server 2008?

(b) Briefly explain any new feature of SQL server 2008 used in SAP deployment

CASE STUDY-2

SQL Server 2008 improves supervision of 20,000 company cars

Situation

Secar Bohemia operates automobile tracking systems, systems for monitoring vehicles, people and objects, and fleet

management services including electronic drive logging. These services are provided in collaboration with Telefonica 02 Czech

Republic and branded "02 Car Control".

The CarControl system currently (beginning of 2008) includes about 3 billion records amounting up to 1 TB, and it is being used

by tens of thousands users worldwide, from China to the Russian Federation, in ten language versions.

It is designed to simplify car fleet operations for companies, with special focus on decreasing costs and providing logistics

functionality. The system allows up to 20% cost savings on company fleet operations. Key system features include monitoring

vehicle movement data and facilitating analysis of that information in the form of output reports.

The CarControl system is based on the .NET technology and uses Microsoft SQL Server as the database back-end.

The system is distributed across a number of servers with specific assigned roles. Generally, servers in the system comprise four

categories:

1. Routers - communication servers, which pre-process incoming data, identify it, classify specific instances, and also

manage the units onboard the vehicles.

2. Application Servers - host the end-user web-/lnternet-based applications that users interact with.

3. Database servers - store data and provide basic application logic on the database level (such as generating

standard reports).

4. Analytics servers - these are special-purpose servers that perform complex analytic and database operations, such

as evaluation of data from the traffic and logistics features. In addition, these servers are used to generate more

sophisticated output reports.

Secar Bohemia had great expectations for the development and new features available in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for the

purposes of improving CarControl. "We realize that in order to succeed in a fiercely competitive environment, we have to

constantly evolve and enhance our system and keep offering new features to users, to improve the efficiency of car fleet

management. Opportunities for further development are exactly what the new Microsoft SQL Server 2008 offers," said Petr Vacek,

Deputy Chairman of Secar Bohemia. In 2007, Secar Bohemia increasingly received requests for advanced analysis of input

information, and more importantly, for visual presentation of output data such as charts. In addition, the system required

optimizations in terms of performance as well as storage size, due to the massively increasing number of customers in the

system. Last but not least, work had commenced on the development of a module to monitor the traffic situation.

Secar Bohemia in partnership with KAKTUS Software, which is responsible for the development of CarControl and is a Microsoft

Gold Certified Partner, decided to evaluate the pre-release version of Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

This was motivated by the fact that Secar Bohemia was satisfied with the functionality of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 servers that

had acted as the core of the Car Control system. Also considered were the low costs of upgrading to the new SQL Server, ease of

migration and overall simplicity of moving to the new system. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 was the undisputable winner in all those

considerations.

There are several instances of CarControl in operation, three of them in production and one for development and testing. It

stands to reason that the initial deployment was completed on the testing version. This involved updating the central database

server and the server that processes analytic workloads. Thanks to new database compression and management features, the

volume of data decreased substantially, as did the requirements for available disk storage.

The most important features evaluated were deployed on the analytics server. This is where the testing and successful

deployment of the following new features was completed: processing of spatial, geometrical and geographical data for the

purposes of implementing traffic monitoring tasks, in conjunction with an application developed using SilverLight, also a new

technology. Furthermore, a number of advanced analytics were developed and made available to users as reports. The developers

implementing the new reports gave high praise to the new Designer tool and visual data presentation capabilities, especially as

charts. The test mode was terminated in March 2008. There were no major issues identified in testing. Secar Bohemia is planning

to deploy Microsoft SQL Server 2008 to the remaining instances by the end of 2008.

Benefits

Testing has confirmed that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is stable and robust, and it provides a number of new features that can be

used to expand CarControl in future.

Spatial data

The new SQL Server 2008 enables storing and processing of a wide range of new data types. These include new date and time

types. This simplifies and accelerates processing this information. It is also possible to store larger binary data directly to disk.

The HierarchylD data type lets developers structure interdependent information in the form of a tree. Last but not least, there are

new data types that handle spatial data.

Data analysis and output reports

This is an area where SQL Server 2008 provides a large number of new features. Among the first to be used in CarControl were

the output report generating capabilities. For instance, SQL Server enables creating reports in the new Designer tool, closely

linking the resulting reports with Microsoft Office products. The key features of the new server that CarControl has put to use

include the capability to present data graphically as charts, which can now have a much more attractive appearance compared to

the previous version.

"Reliability and rich features are a matter of course in various systems. However, we acknowledge that emotional approach to

products is also very significant. That is why systems developed by us offer top-class graphic design and user experience. To

achieve this in the CarControl project, Microsoft has provided a tool that enables us to do just that," said David Kalous, Director

of KAKTUS Software.

System administration

The new Management Studio significantly decreases the complexity of SQL server administration. SQL Server now includes a new

policy framework, which enables setting and enforcing the same configuration settings and policies across multiple servers. New

data types and data compression capabilities simplify data space management.

Results

Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 provide a secure and trusted platform for creating and running

your most demanding applications. Combined, the products provide a solid foundation for next-generation web applications,

broad support for virtualization technology, and access to relevant information. Advanced security technology, developer support

for the latest platforms, improved management and web tools, flexible virtualization solutions, and access to relevant information

from throughout your organization enable a broad array of technology solutions

SQL Server improves supervision of 20,000 company cars

Questions:

(a) What was the business problem at Secar Bohemia?

(b) Briefly explain the benefits reaped by this company after moving to a new system on SQL server 2008.

Managing People

PART - A

Q1. Do you agree that HRM is faced with several challenges in today's world? What are the steps that organizations should take to

handle these challenges?

Q2. Discuss the issues that an HR department faces in the context of its structure in an organization.

Q3. In the times of economic recession, how would you balance the supply and demand of Human Resources in your

organization?

Q4. An HR Audit is expensive, and though organizations are not legally bound to take it, they still pursue it. Why?

Q5. 'The purpose of training is to achieve a change in the behaviour of those trained and to enable them to perform better.'

Discuss.

PART - B

Q1. Which appraisal system would you recommend to your organization for appraising its employees and why?

Q2. Write a short note on The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948.

Q3. 'Separation means cessation of service agreement with the organization.' Discuss the different ways of separation in light of

this statement.

Q4. Why is the quality of work life important for the employee and the organization?

Q5: Discuss how the recommendations of the National Commission of Labour can be used effectively in private organizations.

PART - C

Q1. 'Morale is high when there is improved employee contribution, lower labour turnover and absenteeism.' Discuss.

Q2. Design a systematic transfer policy.

Q3. What steps would you take to tackle human relations problems in your organization?

Q4. Why do you think it is important for an organization to involve employees or employee representatives at all levels of the

decision-making process?

Q5. Discuss how collective bargaining evolved in India.

Case Study - 1

Human Resource Planning - What is that?

You are a human resource consultant. The newly appointed president of a large paper manufacturing firm has called you:

President: I have been in this job for about one month now, and all I seem to do is interview people and listen to personal

problems.

You: Why have you been interviewing people? Don't you have a human resource department?

President: Yes, we do. However, the human resource department does not hire top management people. As soon as I took over, I

found out that two of my vice presidents were retiring and we had no one to replace them.

You: Have you hired anyone?

President: Yes, I have, and that is part of the problem. I hired a person from the outside. As soon as the announcement was

made, one of my department heads came in and resigned. She said she had wanted that job as vice president for eight years. She

was angry because we had hired someone from outside. How was I supposed to know she wanted the job?

You: What have you done about the other vice president job?

President: Nothing, because I am afraid someone else will quit because they were not considered for the job. But that is only half

my problem. I just found out that among our youngest professional employees, there has been an 80 per cent turnover rate

during the past three years. These are the people we promote around here. As you know, that is how I started out in this

company. I was a mechanical engineer.

You: Has any one asked them why they are leaving?

President: Yes, and they all give basically the same answer: They say they do not feel that they have any future here. Maybe I

should call them all together and explain how I progressed in this company.

You: Have you ever considered implementing a human resource planning system?

President: Human resource planning? What is that?

Q1. How would you answer the president's question- 'Human resource planning? What is that?'

Q2. What would be required to establish a human resource planning system in this company?

Q3. What measures should the president take to retain good young employees?

Case Study - 2

The New Boss

One of the largest NGOs in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal is the Environment Protection Agency. The grant management section

of its water division was formed seven years ago. The main functions of this division are to review applications for grants,

engineering designs and requests for change. It also inspects the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities.

Four engineers, one technician and one secretary-cum-programmer reported to Prem Sharan, head of the section. Prem was 36

years old and had headed the section since its inception. He had earned a good reputation for his technical acumen and

dedication. Three of the engineers had joined the section recently. The senior engineer, R. Sundaram, had been working there for

the last four years. Prem had personally trained him. Because of his experience and expertise, Prem had allotted to him the areas

with the most complicated projects. The other three engineers were given less complex regions. They were asked to work closely

with Sundaram and learn all they could about the section's work.

At the beginning of the year, Prem decided that the new engineers had gained enough experience to undertake more difficult

tasks. He divided the territory on a geographical basis. This section worked fine and the section was able to meet all its

objectives.

Three months ago, he accepted an offer with larger responsibilities and growth possibility from a large organization in the

private sector. He gave two months' notice to the top management. Time passed, but the top management did not even advertise

for a new section chief. People in the section speculated as to who might take over. Most of them hoped that Sundaram would

take over. On the Monday of Prem's last week, top executive met with him and the section employees and announced that they

had decided to appoint a temporary section head till a new one could be hired. The person chosen was Shyam Mehrotra, a senior

engineer from another EPA division. This came as quite a surprise to Sundaram and other people in the section. Shyam had no

experience of the section's work. His background was in technical assistance. In his previous job he was required to do research

in certain treatment processes so that he could provide more technical performance information to other divisions within the EPA.

Q1. What was the rationale behind Shyam's choice?

Q2. If you were the CEO, what action would you have taken?

Q3. Assess Prem's role as the section chief.

Q4. Was it proper for Prem to leave EPA?

Store Operation Management

PART - A

Q1. Discuss the importance of Stores Operations Management in a Globalised Supply Chain.

Q2. What are the main functions of Stores management?

Q3. Explain the alternative organization structures in a store.

Q4. What is the process to be followed for replenishing various categories of items?

Q5. What is the information to be included in a form for Material Requisition for purchase? Who all should be kept informed about

the Request for replenishment?

PART - B

Q6. Explain the process between receipt and final stocking of material in a store.

Q7. What is documentation to be generated while receiving material in a store? Give their recommended formats.

Q8. What are the considerations to be kept in mind while issuing materials?

Q9. Why do we need to take stock taking? Why do Excess/Short inventories occur in stores? How do we handle the same

discrepancies?

Q10. What is AS/AR system? How does it improve store operations?

PART - C

Q11. What are the material handling practices in a well managed store operations? How do we ensure safety in store operations?

Q12. Explain an outline of a store operation information system.What is the different processes that can be computerized?

Q13. What are the reports to be generated for ensuring effective control of Store operations? How do we assess the performance

of Store operations?

Q14. What are the different methods of valuation of store inventories?

Q15. Discuss various factors to be considered for an effective Store Layout.

CASE STUDY-1

Visit your nearest retail chain store (e.g Reliance fresh or any other) and bring out the salient aspects of store operations

management including layout, materials handling, storage of different categories of items, issues etc.

CASE STUDY-2

You have been appointed as a consultant by a hospital to redesign their store management process? They are facing the following

problems at present:

a. Delay in issue of critical medicines when required

b. Spoilage of consumables due to poor handling

c. Obloscence of medicines due to expiry

Work out a revised process with proper control system so that such problems don't ocuur.

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

Human Resource Management

PART - A

Q1. What guidelines would you suggest the HR manager to manage ethics in the organization.

Q2. What do you mean by the statement 'HRM is a line manager's responsibility but a staff function.'

Q3. Discuss the benefits of HR audit.

Q4. Write short note on:

a.) Succession planning

b.) List the types of induction programs

Q5. Explain human resource accounting method

PART - B

Q1. State the objectives of job evaluation

Q2. Explain the process of Human Resource Planning.

Q3. What are the factors that lead employers to lay-off?

Q4. What are the problems in Quality Circles?

Q5. Discuss the determinants of job satisfaction using a diagram.

PART - C

1. Explain the need for counseling.

2. Define human relations.

3. What are the five ethical principles identified by participative management.

4. What are the stages in the empowering process.

5. Discuss the factors that are to be considered while selecting a training method.

CASE STUDY - 1

Fred's Situation

Fred was not handling the change in his department well. The company had recently changed hands, and even though no jobs

had been lost, people had been changing jobs and were being asked to move to different locations. The new leadership had a

completely different outlook than those people he had worked under for the past 21 years. Fred found that he was unable to

concentrate at work and generally felt like he did not like his job anymore. At home, he was getting headaches and having trouble

sleeping, which only enhanced his feeling that things were not going to work out well for him. When he thought about it, he had

always hated change. He worked in the job he did partially because it was considered stable (boring to some) and predictable.

Fred's new boss kept trying to convince him that he was a valuable employee and that new opportunity, along with salary

increases, were in his future. Unfortunately, Fred felt like he never knew what to expect the next day and what Fred really wanted

was to have things the way they used to be.

Question:

Q1. Why was Fred getting headaches?

Q2. Why Fred's new boss did not succeed in convincing him?

CASE STUDY - 2

Sri Ram Pharmacy:

K.U. Nayak is the Managing Director of Sri Ram Pharmacy, a medium sized pharmaceutical firm in Mangalore. He holds an MS

degree in Pharmacy. He has been managing the company since its inception in 1980. For more than two decades the company

has been doing reasonable well.

Recently, Mr. Nayak noticed that the workers were not working to their full potential. They would fill their days with unnecessary

and unproductive activities and work only for the sake of wages. Since the last one year, the situation has become quite alarming

as the organization had begun to crumble under the weight of uneconomical effort. The situation demanded prompt remedial

measures to check the detrimental trend. Mr. Nayak understands that the only way to progress and prosperity is to motivate

workers to peak performance through various incentive plans.

Mr. Nayak asked the HR Manager what the problem with the workers was. 􁪽gWe pay the highest in the industry. Our working

conditions are excellent. Our fringe benefits are the best in the industry. Still the workers are not motivated. Find out what the

workers really want. Unless productivity increases we are doomed.

The HR Manager made a detailed investigation and concluded that the wages, fringe benefits and working conditions were not

enough. Besides this there were other important factors. 􁪽gI have found out from the workers that work and efficiency go

unnoticed and unrewarded in the company. The promotions and benefit plans are tied to the length of service. Even unproductive

workers enjoy all the benefits in the organization, which in fact, according to the workers, should go only to those who work

hard. As a result more and more workers are joining the bandwagon of non􁪽performers. This has become quite alarming as

workers refuse to perform."

Questions:

Q1. Explain the motivational problem in this case by relating it to Herzberg's theory.

Q2. Analyze the problem in depth and find the solution.

Human Resource Management

PART- A

1. What are the factors affecting and barriers to HRP?

2. Describe some methods and techniques of training?

3. Explain the various methods of performance appraisal

4. Briefly describe the sources of recruitment (internal as well as external)

5. Elaborate upon the various types of welfare activities rewards and describe the benefits that a company may gain from

providing these.

PART- B

1. Management Development

2. Factors affecting Job Design

3. Performance Appraisal v/s Performance Management

4. HRM models

5. Selection as a source of competitive advantage

6. Employee induction and orientation

7. Accident Rates

8. Principles and types of Transfers

9. Approaches to IR

10. Challenges of repatriation

PART- C

1. Describe the purpose and methods of job evaluation

2. Briefly describe the components of Executive Remuneration and explain the various types of ESOP varieties available

3. Elaborate upon the various types of non-monetary rewards and explain the benefits a company may derive from providing

employee benefits and services

4. Briefly describe the causes of Employee Separations and elaborate upon the various types o involuntary separations.

5. Elaborate upon the various causes of disputes ad their relative impact on the workings of the organization as a whole

CASE STUDY - I

Retention Challenges at Bharat Fertilisers

Ms. Swamy is the manager of the computer division of Bharat Fertilizers. It is one of the older Fertilizer companies in the country

and is located sixty-three kms. from Hyderabad. In spite of a somewhat old technology it has been making profits consistently in

the regulated Fertilizer market. Its turnover last year was Rs. 620 crores. It employs 2100 workers and staff and 297 managerial

staff. Ms. Swamy is forty years old and has been working for the present company for the last sixteen years. She is presently a

manager in M.I.S. department. She is a God-fearing lady and is liked by her colleagues and subordinates. Among her various

responsibilities is the central data entry office. It has a sanctioned strength of ten grade GS-4 data entry clerks and one GS-5

supervisor. The starting salary of a trainee clerk is comparable to the compensation paid to clerks with little skills in other

companies. However after nearly six months' job experience; most data entry clerks are able to get a substantial salary increase in

other companies. It has become known in the market that Ms. Swamy has an excellent training programme for data entry clerks

and her division has become a favourite poaching ground for nearby companies. As a result of all this Ms. Swamy has

experienced more than 50% turnover over the last two years. A huge backlog of work has resulted. Even after replacements are

recruited their productivity is low for many months and a disproportionate time of the supervisor and also of the manager is

spent in training the new recruits. Within the data entry section there are three exceptions who have worked for Ms. Swamy for

many years. In fact, they have been responsible for most of the work that has been turned out of the section. The GS-5 supervisor

has been running the section for seven years. Yesterday, she informed Ms. Swamy that she has received another offer from an

Engineering company in Hyderabad with larger and more challenging responsibilities and a substantial increase in pay and

benefits. She has just now given the one-month's notice as required by her employment contract and requested leave starting

from tomorrow.

Ms. Swamy is at her wit's end. She had once recommended that the clerks should be given two special increments on completion

of six month's service, but the Personnel department had replied that the rules of the company did not permit increments before

the completion of one year, that it could not be given en masse, and that any exception would have serious repercussions among

the rest of the employees, and they had earlier turned down similar requests from other Divisions. In any case, the management

had imposed a strict control on manpower cost. She had always felt that the supervisor should be upgraded to GS-6 and data

entry clerks to GS-5. In fact, she had even mentioned it to her boss, Shiva Lamba. Unfortunately, the matter did not progress

beyond that.

Questions:

Q1. Identify and explain some of the HR issues presented in the above case.

Q2. What would you do if you are Shiv Lamba, the boss of the M.I.S. department?

Q3. What can the company do to prevent such issues from arising in any other department?

CASE STUDY-II

Local Colour - Challenges at Global Operations

"We are not an American company. We are a Thai company." This is what C. William Carey, Chairman and CEO of Town and

Country Corporation, the largest U.S. jewellery manufacturer and whole seller, said about his Thailand subsidiary, Essex

International Company Ltd. Carey has built a successful business and on the basis of respect for native customs and cultural

traditions. Carey proclaims" i don't believe in Americanizing them. You have to go to a place and understand its strengths and

massage them." He goes on to say that people "don't want outside influences coming in that distort their values and work ethics."

"If you take a cookie-cutter approach and stay open on a Buddhist Holiday workers will be resentful and feel you are disrespectful

of their culture. They don't care if you are closed on the Fourth of July, but they do care if you're closed on the Queen's birthday in

April." Carey's views are shared by a majority of CEO's, who feel that adapting to the local culture is the biggest problem of

globalization. Carey has apparently accomplished the goal of cultural awareness to its fullest extent. When Town and Country

established a subsidiary in Hong Kong, he spent $15,000 on fortune-tellers to tell the workers the fate of the company. Carey also

gave all public holidays after his purchase of Little Switzerland, based in the Caribbean. Thailand is where Carey has proved to be

most culturally sensitive. Essex enjoys being ranked in the top 5 of over 800 jewellery manufacturers in Thailand, with net annual

sales of $19.4 in U.S. dollars. Carey chose Thailand which ranks second in the world in jewellery exports, because of the people's

tradition in stone cutting, the low labour cost and the work ethics. Also, Thailand's pro-business attitude gave Essex a four-year

tax holiday and permission to build a warehouse free of restrictions and duties. Carey's original goal was to make it acceptable to

the people of Thailand, who are motivated by security and respect from their employer. Carey had to do many things to gain their

confidence, including sitting cross-legged for a three and a half hour ceremony, inviting nine Buddhist monks to bless their sevenstorey

factory, and building a Buddhist spirit house at the factory for daily prayers and offerings. After using 115 expatriates to

set up the company in the first year, Carey sent them all back and used a polycentric recruitment policy to fill all positions.

Essex's initial 200 workers were between the ages of 17 and 22 and had previously worked rice fields. Essex lured women from

500 miles with rent-free dormitories and the opportunity to learn a trade and increase their standard of living. The women

received on-site medical care and exams, three meals a day, and uniforms. Courses for high school equivalent diplomas are

offered, as are classes in home economics and self-improvement. There is a library and a number of recreational facilities. These

benefits are intended to both help the workers develop and keep them occupied. "We wanted to give them spirit de corps…to

mould them in what we wanted by getting them to excel," Carey stated. These women, who at one time had nothing, were able to

send money home, open bank accounts, and join the profit-sharing programmes. They were offered company stock in 1991, and

these workers now own approximately 10% of the 30% publicly held stock. The total cost is hard to figure, but Carey estimates

that these benefits add around $250 a month per employee. Recognition is another factor in Essex's success. There are both team

and individual incentives. While at first people were reluctant about individual incentives, the recognition is now welcome. As their

performance improves people can move up the line and earn even more money, relocate to semi-private dormitory, be named

employee of the month, or receive a pat on the back in a public ceremony. Carey's cultural sensitivity knows no bounds. In the

beginning stages of Essex, he allowed a work schedule that started much later than in the western world. After employees were

comfortable with the company, he was able to slowly move up the time to 8 A.M.

To sum up, 95% of the employees have stayed, unlike the Thai average. There is a low level of absenteeism and a waiting list of

job applicants. When there is a large order, Essex has no problem getting the workers to stay late. "The workers feel proud of the

company," says Carey. "They are proud and appreciative of working in a company where they are recognized."

Questions:

1. What was the strategy of Carey for building a successful operation in Thailand?

2. What are the challenges of managing a cross-cultural workforce/organization?

Human Resource Management

Question 1: Explain the factors affecting and barriers to HRP

Question 2: Describe the reasons why employees join unions and taking examples, elaborate upon the tactics used by unions

Question 3: Explain the concept of an orientation program and elaborate upon the requisites for an effective orientation program.

Question 4: Taking examples, describe some of the impediments to effective training

Question 5: Taking examples, elaborate upon the various methods of performance appraisal.

PART- B

1. Explain HRM models with particular emphasis on the Guest Model

2. Taking examples, elaborate upon the various rating errors.

3. What is job design? Taking examples, describe some of the approaches to job design.

4. With examples, explain the approaches to labour welfare

5. Briefly describe the causes of Employee Separations and elaborate upon the various types of involuntary separations.

PART- C

1. Describe the purpose and methods of job evaluation

2. Briefly describe the components of Executive Remuneration and explain the ESOP varieties available

3. Elaborate upon the various types of non-monetary rewards and explain the benefits a company may derive from providing

employee benefits and services

4. Elaborate upon the various causes of disputes and their relative impact on the workings of the organization as a whole

5. With examples, describe some fringe benefits and non-monetary awards.

CASE STUDY -1

Retention Challenges at Bharat Fertilisers

Ms. Swamy is the manager of the computer division of Bharat Fertilizers. It is one of the older Fertilizer companies in the country

and is located sixty-three kms. from Hyderabad. In spite of a somewhat old technology it has been making profits consistently in

the regulated Fertilizer market. Its turnover last year was Rs. 620 crores. It employs 2100 workers and staff and 297 managerial

staff. Ms. Swamy is forty years old and has been working for the present company for the last sixteen years. She is presently a

manager in M.I.S. department. She is a God-fearing lady and is liked by her colleagues and subordinates. Among her various

responsibilities is the central data entry office. It has a sanctioned strength of ten grade GS-4 data entry clerks and one GS-5

supervisor.

The starting salary of a trainee clerk is comparable to the compensation paid to clerks with little skills in other companies.

However after nearly six months' job experience; most data entry clerks are able to get a substantial salary increase in other

companies. It has become known in the market that Ms. Swamy has an excellent training programme for data entry clerks and her

division has become a favourite poaching ground for nearby companies. As a result of all this Ms. Swamy has experienced more

than 50% turnover over the last two years. A huge backlog of work has resulted. Even after replacements are recruited their

productivity is low for many months and a disproportionate time of the supervisor and also of the manager is spent in training

the new recruits. Within the data entry section there are three exceptions who have worked for Ms. Swamy for many years. In fact,

they have been responsible for most of the work that has been turned out of the section.

The GS-5 supervisor has been running the section for seven years. Yesterday, she informed Ms. Swamy that she has received

another offer from an Engineering company in Hyderabad with larger and more challenging responsibilities and a substantial

increase in pay and benefits. She has just now given the one-month's notice as required by her employment contract and

requested leave starting from tomorrow.

Ms. Swamy is at her wit's end. She had once recommended that the clerks should be given two special increments on completion

of six month's service, but the Personnel department had replied that the rules of the company did not permit increments before

the completion of one year, that it could not be given en masse, and that any exception would have serious repercussions among

the rest of the employees, and they had earlier turned down similar requests from other Divisions. In any case, the management

had imposed a strict control on manpower cost. She had always felt that the supervisor should be upgraded to GS-6 and data

entry clerks to GS-5. In fact, she had even mentioned it to her boss, Shiva Lamba. Unfortunately, the matter did not progress

beyond that.

Questions:

Ql. Identify and explain some of the HR issues presented in the above case.

Q2. What would you do if you are Shiv Lamba, the boss of the M.I.S. department?

Q3. What can the company do to prevent such issues from arising in any other department?

CASE STUDY -2

Local Colour - Challenges at Global Operations

"We are not an American company. We are a Thai company." This is what C. William Carey, Chairman and CEO of Town and

Country Corporation, the largest U.S. jewellery manufacturer and whole seller, said about his Thailand subsidiary, Essex

International Company Ltd. Carey has built a successful business and on the basis of respect for native customs and cultural

traditions. Carey proclaims, "I don't believe in Americanizing them. You have to go to a place and understand its strengths and

massage them." He goes on to say that people "don't want outside influences coming in that distort their values and work ethics."

"If you take a cookie-cutter approach and stay open on a Buddhist Holiday workers will be resentful and feel you are disrespectful

of their culture. They don't care if you are closed on the Fourth of July, but they do care if you're closed on the Queen's birthday in

April." Carey's views are shared by a majority of CEO's, who feel that adapting to the local culture is the biggest problem of

globalization. Carey has apparently accomplished the goal of cultural awareness to its fullest extent. When Town and Country

established a subsidiary in Hong Kong, he spent $15,000 on fortune-tellers to tell the workers the fate of the company. Carey also

gave all public holidays after his purchase of Little Switzerland, based in the Caribbean.

Thailand is where Carey has proved to be most culturally sensitive. Essex enjoys being ranked in the top 5 of over 800 jewellery

manufacturers in Thailand, with net annual sales of $19.4 in U.S. dollars. Carey chose Thailand which ranks second in the world in

jewellery exports, because of the people's tradition in stone cutting, the low labour cost and the work ethics. Also, Thailand's probusiness

attitude gave Essex a four-year tax holiday and permission to build a warehouse free of restrictions and duties. Carey's

original goal was to make it acceptable to the people of Thailand, who are motivated by security and respect from their employer.

Carey had to do many things to gain their confidence, including sitting cross-legged for a three and a half hour ceremony, inviting

nine Buddhist monks to bless their seven-storey factory, and building a Buddhist spirit house at the factory for daily prayers and

offerings.

After using 115 expatriates to set up the company in the first year, Carey sent them all back and used a polycentric recruitment

policy to fill all positions. Essex's initial 200 workers were between the ages of 17 and 22 and had previously worked rice fields.

Essex lured women from 500 miles with rent-free dormitories and the opportunity to learn a trade and increase their standard of

living. The women received on-site medical care and exams, three meals a day, and uniforms. Courses for high school equivalent

diplomas are offered, as are classes in home economics and self-improvement. There is a library and a number of recreational

facilities. These benefits are intended to both help the workers develop and keep them occupied. "We wanted to give them spirit

de corps...to mould them in what we wanted by getting them to excel," Carey stated.

These women, who at one time had nothing, were able to send money home, open bank accounts, and join the profit-sharing

programmes. They were offered company stock in 1991, and these workers now own approximately 10% of the 30% publicly held

stock. The total cost is hard to figure, but Carey estimates that these benefits add around $250 a month per employee.

Recognition is another factor in Essex's success. There are both team and individual incentives. While at first people were

reluctant about individual incentives, the recognition is now welcome. As their performance improves people can move up the line

and earn even more money, relocate to semi-private dormitory, be named employee of the month, or receive a pat on the back in

a public ceremony. Carey's cultural sensitivity knows no bounds. In the beginning stages of Essex, he allowed a work schedule

that started much later than in the western world. After employees were comfortable with the company, he was able to slowly

move up the time to 8 A.M.

To sum up, 95% of the employees have stayed, unlike the Thai average. There is a low level of absenteeism and a waiting list of

job applicants. When there is a large order, Essex has no problem getting the workers to stay late. "The workers feel proud of the

company," says Carey. "They are proud and appreciative of working in a company where they are recognized."

Answer these questions:

1. What are the challenges one can face in managing a cross-cultural workforce/organization?

2. What was the strategy of Carey for building a successful operation in Thailand?

Management Union Relations

PART - A

Q1. Enumerate the difficulties that hinder the growth of industrial relations through the Labour Law policy.

Q2. Write a note on collective bargaining.

Q3. Examine the features and salient provisions of the Trade Unions Act, 1926?

Q4. 'Victimization and unfair labour practices are "like twins who cling together"'. Comment.

Q5. Who can raise disputes according to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947? What role does the works committee play in this

regard?

PART - B

Q1. How does the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 define an 'award'? Briefly explain the publication of the Industrial Award.

Q2. Discuss the different types of strikes.

Q3. What powers do labour courts, tribunals and national tribunals have to give appropriate relief in case of the discharge or

dismissal of a workman?

Q4. Analyse the concept and nature of 'standing orders'.

Q5. Set out the procedure, eligibility and time limit for modifying standing orders.

PART - C

Q1. What do you understand by workers' participation? How can workers be made shareholders and how can they be represented

on the board of directors?

Q2. Write a note on the participation of workers in the Management Bill, 1990.

Q3. Examine some of the schemes that the government has framed under the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous

Provisions Act, 1952.

Q4. Discuss the provisions of the ESI Act, 1948. "What are the obligations of the employers and the employees under this act?

Q5. Explain the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

CASE STUDY - I

Ram has been working in a company for the last three years. One day he lost his right hand in a freak accident in the factory. He

was declared unfit for duty after medical examination and his services were terminated. Can he claim gratuity? Give proper

reasons in support of your answer.

CASE STUDY - II

Balbir: The Union Man Chief Engineer Raju

Raju has been with the company for the last 15 years. He is considered to be very competent in his job. He always greeted people

with a smile and never lost his temper on the shop floor. All workers have considerable regard for him. In union circles, he enjoys

a good reputation for his fairness. He has a unique style of his own when it comes to personnel matters. He advocates patience

and restraint while dealing with people. He would often say, "Gone are the days when one could deal with employees strictly. Now

you have to be flexible, considerate and fair".

Supervisor Madan

A young man of 25, Madan is always keen on meeting production targets. He takes a genuine interest in his job and handles all

his assignments carefully. He is of the view that top management, especially the HR manager, often fail to back the supervisors.

As a result, workers get encouraged to indulge in disruptive activities, adversely affecting production.

Balbir Singh

Balbir, a skilled worker, has recently been elected as the Joint Secretary of the Union. He holds leftist political views, though he is

not a member of any political party. He is ambitious and wants to reach the top levels in union circles as quickly as possible.

On Monday, as Raju has hardly entered his office, supervisor Madan rushes in.

Madan: Sir, there is a great commotion in the section. No one is working. Even after repeated requests, workers have not stopped

shouting and hooting. Sir, please come to the shop and see for yourself the extent of indiscipline that has become rampant.

Raju: Madan, take your seat. Tell me the truth. I will come to the shop floor if you want, but first tell me what has happened.

Madan: Sir, you know, Balbir, the joint secretary of the union, was loitering around and not attending to his machine. I called him

and told him to go to his machine and start working.

Raju: Then what happened?

Madan: Balbir retorted quickly, "Do not shout at me. Your lung power does not work here. Even your bosses cannot order me like

that. What are you, after all?" Many workers gathered around and witnessed the scene.

Raju: OK. Now please go to your section. I will ask Balbir to come immediately.

Balbir: Sir, you wanted to see me? What is the purpose?

Raju: Please sit down. What would you have? Tea of coffee? (Presses the buzzer). Bring two cups of tea.

(After the tea has arrived) - Do you need more sugar? Balbir, tell me now why are you after Madan? He is a sincere and

hardworking young supervisor and you should cooperate with him.

Balbir: Sir, first listen to me and then decide. This Madan thinks he is Hitler. This morning the security staff did not allow two

workers of my section in. Somehow I came to know. I left the section and went to see the security officer. With great difficulty I

managed to get the two workers punch their cards and join duty. On my return I saw Madan fuming and fretting. In a derogatory

tone he started shouting at me. When I could stand it no longer I also raised my voice and told him to go and report against me.

Raju: Look Balbir. You are a responsible union official. You should not have created the scene. After all, a supervisor has to

ensure discipline. I am sorry you have set a bad example for other workers. How do you want me to proceed?

Madan is very sore at being insulted in the presence of so many workers. I have to do something so that such incidents do not

occur again.

Questions

Q1. Who is at fault and why?

Q2. Do you think unionized employees require a different kind of treatment on matters relating to discipline?

Q3. What should Raju do now to check both Madan and Balbir from going to the street in future?

Management Union Relations

Q1. What are obligations of employer under Provident Fund Act? What is pensionable service? Write in detail.

Q2. Explain in detail --

1. Code of Discipline

2. Writ of Certiorari

Q3. What are the conditions under which a strike or lock-out is considered illegal? Also explain--

1. gherao

2. lighting strike

Q4. Discuss briefly the powers of ESI corporation? How is contribution of employer as well as employee to be paid to the ESI

Corporation?

Q5. Explain IESO Act? What are it‘s major features?

PART – B

Q1. Write short notes on

1. Types of Conciliation

2. Parties of ―Industrial Dispute‖

Q2. What is ‗collective bargaining‘ & types of ‗collective bargaining‘? Describe in detail essential factors for the success of

collective bargaining.

Q3. What are the major forums of worker‘s participation? What are the major hurdles for workers participation?

Q4. Distinguish between ---

1. Arbitration & National tribunal

2. Domestic enquiry & labor court

Q5. What is the procedure to to register a trade union? Explain how political affiliation help trade unions?

PART – C

Q1. What are the implications of bata shoe company v. d.n ganguly case? What is importance of section 11-A of industrial dispute

Act?

Q2. Write short notes on---

a. ―victimization‖ as per supreme court judgment in bharat iron works v. bhagubhai patel

b. National commission on labor

Q3. What is the difference between

a. check off & exit interview

b. settlement & award

Q4. What are the main features of workers in the management bill 1990? How these features can be enforced?

Q5. What is gratuity? What can an employee do if he is being refused his gratuity on leaving his

company after seven years of service?

CASE STUDY – I

Suma ltd is having its plant in Ghaziabad where 500 workers are working. It has also got workers union in the plant. It opened a

new plant in greater noida where 300 workers got jobs. The new plants‘s workers decided to form a separate union but company

refused to allow formation new union. The workers went on a strike & also damaged property of the company. After hectic

negotiations, the strike was called off. But the company asked workers to sign a undertaking that they will neither resort to

violence nor they will damage any property of company. The workers refused to do so & again went on strike. Based on above

facts answer the following questions—

1- Can any company refused formation of new union by its workers?

2-What actions a company can take against those workers who damaged the property of company?

3- Can workers refuse signing of such bond? Can company incorporate these conditions in its standing order? If yes how?

CASE STUDY – II

Princess was employed in company for last 3 year. One day she was caught stealing from the company. She was dismissed from

the job with one month salary. Is the company‘s action legal? If you were the labor officer, how would you terminate services of

such employee.(Give proper procedure)

Marketing Management

Part - A

Q1. Marketing orientation of a firm directs the type of marketing activities an organization engages into. Elaborate this statement

in the light of Marketing and sales orientation

Q2. What is micro environment? How it effects an organization? Elaborate with examples.

Q3. Explain how social and cultural factors affect consumer behavior?

Q4. Explain different types Samples one may have for a survey? Which one do you think is best for a research on product

perception of X company‘s smart phone?

Q5. Discuss demand forecasting methods.

Part - B

Q1. Define the consumer market and construct a simple model of consumer behavior.

Q2. What attribute should a product have for adoption in the market?

Q3. Differentiate between consumer markets and Business market. Can an organization serve both with same marketing tools?

Q4. Name and briefly describe the stages of the business buying process.

Q5. What are the major variables of segmenting consumer markets?

Part - C

Q1. Explain how having a strong completion can benefit a company?

Q2. Compare and contrast undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated and micromarketing targeting strategies. Which Strategy

is best for digital products?

Q3. Name and describe the major steps in New Product development process.

Q4. Name and describe the four stages of Product life cycle, cite examples in each case.

Q5. How brand equity can be developed and managed, discuss with some Indian example.

Case Study - I

Mercedes in India

Berhard Kern succeeds Peter Honegg as the new CEO and managing director of Mercedes-Benz India Limited. Kern is a veteran

with Daimler having spent around three decades with them and being on assignments across Asia and other global markets.

On his appointment in India, Eberhard Kern said, I inherit a very strong organization in this market where Mercedes-Benz is held

in highest esteem. Our production facility is one of the best in the Mercedes-Benz world; our product line-up is exciting and holds

tremendous potential. The new generation cars from the Mercedes stable will, in my opinion, play a pivotal role and our wide

network of dealers are poised to support the growth. In short, the fundamentals are strong and we look forward to sustained

profitable growth in the next years.

The sustained profitable growth is a problem with India‘s original luxury car seller. Since 1996 Mercedes has been trying to

establish itself in the country. The German company is facing a tough competition from its arch Rival BMW. Off late Audi has

become the most tempting luxury segment brand for neo riches in the country.

The Indian luxury car market segment is facing the heat of the competition with Volkswagen - Audi clearly taking the lead.

According to the monthly sales volume figures reported by SIAM for the month of July, Audi sales in India, during Apr - Jul 2012,

have zoomed by over 45% visa- vis the corresponding period in the previous years.

Having sold over 2500 units in the first four months of the current fiscal, Audi's market share in the Indian luxury car segment

today stands at about 33% against 25% market share commanded by this company a year ago.

This brings Audi extremely close to its archrival - BMW, in terms of market share. Even as BMW continues to lead the luxury car

market segment in India, accounting for 36% of this market, there has been a huge drop in its market share, which was over 45%

during Apr - Jul '2011. The company's sales volumes in the first four months have dipped by about 14% vis-a-vis the

corresponding period in the previous year. The biggest loser in this luxury car segment is however Mercedes Benz that sold about

24% less units in the first four months of 2012-13 as compared to 2011-12 fiscal. Resultantly, the market share of Mercedes has

declined sharply from 30% to 21% in the span of one year, placing at the third position from second until a year ago.

These results are highly disheartening for Mercedes, which despite being high on brand awareness , and great trust for the

product is not able to garner youth as its buyers , The research reports have stated that Mercedes is more popular among senior

executives in the 46-60 age bracket, while the younger buyers have opted for the BMWs and the Audis. Mercedes Benz‘

commitment to regain market share and counter this image perception is illustrated by company‘s plan to launch the B-Class

Sports Tourer, which will hold the title of the company‘s first entry-level model in the Indian market to compete with Audi Q3 and

the BMW X1, in terms of price. The B-class, which will be similar to that of an oversized hatchback, will be priced below Mercedes‘

current entry level C-Class, which retails at upwards of Rs 28.3.

This will be followed by the launch of the A Class next year, which would be the smallest in the Mercedes brand range worldwide.

The A Class, however, will be one of the most expensive compact cars in India — next only to the Fiat 500 and the Volkswagen

Beetle. Experts say going down the price ladder is a move that Mercedes should have taken long ago. For proof, consider the

success of Audi Q3, which is an entry-level crossover.

Mercedes, however, doesn‘t want to read too much into the pricing and market share game and accuses its competitors of

offering huge discounts to shore up volumes and gain market share. Debashis Mitra, director, sales and marketing, Mercedes-

Benz India, says, ―Price is not a strategy, it‘s a tool. You play it too hard and that becomes a benchmark to get one level lower. A

luxury SUV from one of the companies is sold at a discount of Rs 4 lakh. This SUV constitutes more than a fifth of its sales‖.

Competitors, predictably, dismiss such claims.

The market for luxury cars in India now is 22,000-23,000 per annum, growing more than 20 per cent annually barring the last

year. But this is just one per cent of the total Indian car market, way less than the ratio in its home country, Germany, at 15 per

cent and China at 4 per cent. But the potential for growth is something that gives Mercedes hope. ―When the Indian car market

doubles in the next five to six years to five million units and even if the share of luxury cars stays the same, we are expecting

doubling of volumes from here‖, says Mitra. Apart from newer and cheaper models, Mercedes is also exploring markets beyond

the four metros to the towns that would be the ―growth engines of the future‖.

That explains its frequent roadshows in places such as Nellore, Jabalpur, Raipur and Karnal to gauge customer response. If it

finds the demand robust, the company sets up full-fledged dealerships. Several of its new sales outlets have come up in Tier II

areas following greater demand.

But it‘s a game being played by BMW and Audi, too. Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India, says, ―Our focus now is on Tier-II & Tier-III

cities, which are showing a healthy appetite for luxury cars. In the past few months, we have opened new showrooms in Bhopal,

Ludhiana, Surat, Indore, Nagpur and Coimbatore and will add several more in the months to come‖. The great Indian luxury car

race is, thus, going to be tougher for players like Mercedes.

Answer the following questions

Q1. Where do you think Mercedes could not compete?

Q2. Do you think Mercedes can make a comeback? Justify your answer.

Q3. Suggest strategic options for Mercedes.

Case Study - II

Vodafone and Social Media Network

Social Media Network (SMN )has become one of the most prominent medias for word of mouth publicity . Organizations‘ lay

specific budget for marketing on SMN and regularly monitors it for the best utilization of media.

In June 2011, Mobile service provider Vodafone Essar has sent a legal notice to Dhaval Valia, one of its customers, alleging that he

made defamatory statements against the company on Facebook, troubled senior officers, including a female officer through texts

and calls, and posted names and contact details of two senior officers, reports In the notice, Vodafone has asked Valia to stop

calling Vodafone officials, and making defamatory statements. He has been asked to remove his Facebook posts in 48 hours,

warning him that the failure to comply will lead to Vodafone initiating civil and criminal proceedings, the cost of which would

have to be borne by Valia

The cause for this dispute was, allegedly, Vodafone‘s inability to offer 3G services in the area where Valia resides, since Valia

ported to Vodafone from Loop Mobile for this very reason.

Also, it appears that Vodafone billed him for 3G data, and later waived off the charges on his repeated requests. Although,

Vodafone advertises 3G services aggressively, its coverage of many cities including Delhi and Mumbai is not complete. Till a few

days back, 3G was only available in South, Central and Gurgaon regions of NCR/Delhi. However, if a customer activates a 3G plan

and uses data in areas where 3G coverage is not available, he is charged as per 3G tariffs, which are more expensive than

2.5G/Edge.

Because of this legal notice it became a viral fever on internet and other customers also pored in posting complaints about

Vodafone and vehemently criticizing firm for the legal notice being sent to a customer. Ultimately after a couple of days Vodafone

withdrew the legal notice in good faith.

Answer the following questions

Q1. How can social media be used effectively by firms apart fron using it as an advertising tool.

Q2. Suggest how marketing managers at Vadafone should have handled this situation.

Organizational Structure & Behavior

PART - A

Q1. The success of any organization primarily depends upon how good the management of the organization is. Elaborate.

Q2. The ability to do a task need not result in optimal performance. What else do you think is necessary?

Q3. Analyse the role of hygiene factors in motivating employees.

Q4. Managements of most organizations are of the view that the type of punishment should focus on the behaviour rather than

the person. Comment.

Q5. Analyse the role of knowledge as a source of power.

PART - B

Q1. 'Ethics is probably the most difficult concept to define. 'Justify this statement.

Q2. A particular leadership style may be more effective in one situation and the same style may be totally ineffective in another

situation. Why is this so?

Q3. 'Strong culture is important for organizational success.' Justify this statement.

Q4. Discuss the strategies that can be employed to resolve behavioural conflicts.

Q5. The type of structure of an organization has considerable impact on the motivation and productivity of employees. Analyze

this statement, citing suitable examples.

PART - C

Q1. Discuss the role of various types of changes that can have considerable impact on the organizational culture.

Q2. 'There is always a right time and a wrong time for introducing something new.' Comment.

Q3. Work habits are more about response to the work environment rather than personality traits. Do you agree? Support your

answer.

Q4. 'Organization is not simply a group of people at a given place.' What do you infer from this statement?

Q5. Not all employees seek self-actualization as their ultimate goal. Do you agree? Support your answer.

CASE STUDY - 1

Nippon Tyres (NTL) was a medium-sized tyre company, manufacturing tyres of various types and grades. It had 6,000 workers

and 400 executives on its rolls. Pankaj Gupta headed the manufacturing division. Kapil was the chief engineer reporting to Pankaj

Gupta directly. The division had 400 workers, 20 executives and 40 supervisors.

Baluja joined the manufacturing division four years back as a skilled worker. He was technically sound, hardworking and

performed his duties sincerely. He was promoted as a supervisor recently.

On Monday, Baluja was taking rounds in the department. It was a routine inspection and he spotted a worker, Raghu, doing

nothing. Baluja advised Raghu to concentrate on the job given to him instead of wasting his time. Raghu shot back saying 'You

mind your business. I am the senior-most in this department. Do not think you have become big after your recent promotion.'

Other workers witnessed the exchange with interest and burst into laughter when Baluja tried to retort. Encouraged by the

favorable response from his teammates, Raghu retaliated by using obscene language. In frustration, Baluja had to report the

matter to the chief engineer, Kapil. Kapil took a serious note of the situation and issued a stern warning to Raghu, ignoring the

fact that Raghu was quite notorious for such incidents in the past as well. Baluja was able to get along with others in the

departments, despite occasional flare-ups over matters relating to discipline and production targets.

After a two-year stint, Baluja was in the midst of a crisis again. A worker named Roberts came to duty in a drunken state and was

celebrating his birthday with other colleagues, disrupting work. Even after half an hour, the noise did not subside and Baluja had

to intervene and ask Roberts to go back to work and allow others to resume normal duties. Roberts got wild when he was

physically forced to go to his work spot. In a fit of anger, Roberts resorted to physical abuse and slapped Baluja in front of others.

Not content with this, Roberts reported the matter to the union, alleging verbal as well as physical abuse from the supervisor,

Baluja.

Three days afterwards, Baluja got the shock of his life when he came to know about this from another supervisor. After the ugly

incident, Baluja had to rush back to his house for admitting his son in the local hospital for viral fever. Since Roberts was drunk

and it was his birthday, Baluja never thought of reporting the matter to his boss.

The union presented a highly fabricated case to the chief of manufacturing, Ramlal, and demanded immediate disciplinary action

against Baluja. Pankaj Gupta instructed Kapil to demote Baluja immediately so that he would mend his violent ways of dealing

with workers. Kapil advised restraint since this would send wrong signals to other supervisors and would demoralize them

thoroughly. Kapil, however, fearing revolt from the union, had to demote Baluja. Unable to swallow the insult to his ego, Baluja

resigned immediately thereafter, citing personal reasons. Kapil was quite unhappy with the turn of events and sought advice from

the personnel manager, Khurana. Khurana was quick to respond. 'Incidents of this nature should help us realize the importance of

picking up people with good interpersonal skills as supervisors rather than technical skills. After all, they need to extract work

from others, without losing their cool even under provocative situations. You see, we cannot put unions in a spot even when they

are on the wrong side.'

Kapil: 'I know people were after Baluja, since he is sincere and hard-working. He was a racehorse. Others were not. With a little bit

of tact, Baluja could have managed the situation well.'

Pankaj Gupta: 'It is sad to lose people like him. However, Kapil, workers are illiterates and respond negatively when you talk tough

language. A supervisor should use his brains rather than hands while dealing with people. This fellow rubbed shoulders with

union people on the wrong side previously too. Other supervisors seem to be OK. Be careful in your selections from now on.'

Questions:

Q1. What is the main problem in the case?

Q2. What would you do if you were in Kapil's place?

Q3. Do you think Baluja was wrong on both occasions? Why? Why not?

Q4. What ways do you suggest for dealing with tough employees in an organization?

CASE STUDY - 2

John Neill at Unipart

While most parts suppliers for the United Kingdom's automobile industry struggle, one company is doing just fine- Unipart. This

EUR 2.3 billion company has done well largely because of the decisions made by its CEO, John Neill.

In 1974, at the age of 29, Neill was made the managing director of the Unipart division of British Leyland (BL). He immediately

began to ruffle the feathers of conservative BL executives by developing innovative marketing campaigns and focsusing company

attention on the parts business (in contrast to its cars and trucks). He increased the division's marketing budget sixfold, created a

retail shop programme, altered the packaging, and began promoting the division's parts on television. His 'parts first' pitch did

not go down well with his bosses, who saw it as an attack on the viability of BL itself. But it was too fate for BL's top management

to do much about it. Neill had created a viable business, while the rest of the company (which later became part of the Rover

Group) laboured along, losing market share every year.

Almost from the beginning, Neill envisioned making Unipart independent from BL. In 1987, he did just that. He negotiated a EUR

89.5 million management buyout of Unipart from BL. He then immediately began taking actions that would allow Unipart to stand

on its own. 'We knew the future would be worse,' Neill recalls, 'because today's market share was smaller than yesterday's. So the

parts business would go down unless we did something dramatically different.' That 'something' was to move away from

providing original parts for Rover.

Instead, Unipart was commit to creating a strong consumer brand built around replacement parts. Today, Unipart has become a

highly recognizable consumer brand in the United Kingdom. It has also diversified into a range of other businesses. Producing

and selling automotive parts is still the company's main activity, but it also runs a successful warehouse, a logistics business and

has created an Internet trading platform.

In 1987, when Unipart became independent, sales to Rover represented 90 percent of its business. It is now down to 3 percent.

No longer are Unipart's fortunes tied singularly to Rover. In fact, one of Unipart's most profitable current businesses is running

Jaguar's entire parts operation on a fee basis. Despite Neill's success since the buy-out, Unipart faces tough times ahead. The UK

auto industry suffers from massive overcapacity. Intensive downward pricing pressure on suppliers is likely to eat away at

Unipart's profits. In response, Neill has expanded Unipart's logistic business by paying EUR 292 million for auto parts distributor

Partco. This acquisition makes Unipart the biggest automotive parts distributor in the United Kingdom. Neill is also diversifying

beyond Unipart's automotive parts roots, especially on the E-commerce front.

Questions:

Q1. 'John Neill is not smart; he is just lucky.' Do you agree? Explain.

Q2. Did intuition play a role in Neill's decisions? Discuss.

Q3. Contrast the major strategic decisions at Unipart and British Leyland.

Q4. Do you think John Neill would have been equally successful if, back in 1987, he had been head of BL? Explain.

Organizational Structure & Behavior

PART – A

Q1. Explain with the help of an example, how international forces as indirect environmental factor affect an organization.

Q2. Define the principles of scientific management.

Q3. Discuss the principles of job enrichment as given by Herzberg.

Q4. Define the concept of values and ethics

Q5. What are the three characteristics of motivation?

PART – B

Q1. Explain in detail the schedules of reinforcement?

Q2. Describe the psychoanalytical theory of personality.

Q3. Draw comparisons among American, Japanese and Indian organizational cultures?

Q4. What steps can you take to gain political strength?

Q5. How does the maturity of the followers determine or impact upon the style of leadership?

PART – C

Q1. Define organizational structure and explain how structure and productivity can be related to each other.

Q2. Describe the various OD interventions and explain as to how they improve the functioning of the organization.

Q3. What are the disadvantages or democratic leadership?

Q4. Explain in detail the physiological, psychological and behavioural responses to stress.

Q5. What are the three major factors that contribute towards the validation of attribution theory?

CASE STUDY – I

Fred was not handling the change in his department well. The company had recently changed hands, and even though no jobs

had been lost, people had been changing jobs and were being asked to move to different locations.

The new leadership had a completely different outlook than those people he had worked under for the past 21 years. Fred found

that he was unable to concentrate at work and generally felt like he did not like his job anymore.

At home, he was getting headaches and having trouble sleeping, which only enhanced his feeling that things were not going to

work out well for him. When he thought about it, he had always hated change. He worked in the job he did partially because it

was considered stable (boring to some) and predictable. Fred‘s new boss kept trying to convince him that he was a valuable

employee and that new opportunities, along with salary increases, were in his future. Unfortunately, Fred felt like he never knew

what to expect the next day and what Fred really wanted was to have things the way they used to be.

Questions

1. Fred is obviously resistant to the change being introduced in his organization. What are the reasons that are likely to be the

driver of Fred‘s resistance

2. If Fred‘s manager noticed Fred‘s stress, what should he do to reduce Fred‘s stress level?

CASE STUDY – II

Edwin Edwards is a team leader for Lightspeed.com, an e-business that has employees in every global time zone, except three in

the Pacific area and one in the Atlantic area. Some of the factors that the team has to contend with are deadlines, strong work

ethic, creativity-innovation chain, highspeed turn around, and professionalism. As team leader, Edwin is the focal point of

complaints from team members that he only sees via videoconference a few times per year, or compressed video via Internet a

few times more per year. A frustration that he is encountering himself is that he works with all these people and does not have

control over their ―actual‖ work and few organizational rules, regulations, and policies. Yet due to the position he is in, he feels he

gets all their complaints. The part he likes the most is that the team seems to prefer getting their objective accomplished instead

of wasting time trying to decide who should be doing what tasks. The team does not deal well when a member offers an ―off-thewall‖

solution to a team problem. They tend to send Edwin more e-mail when a member offers an ―off-the-wall‖ solution during a

team ―chat‖ than any other team-conflict issue.

Questions

1. What are the reasons for Edwin‘s frustration?

2. State the factors that can develop organizational culture within the team members.

Organizational Structure & Behavior

PART A

1. How does Indian Organizations differ from their Western counterparts?

2. Define Organisational Behaviour. State its importance and scope with at least two examples from the corporate world.

3. What are the trends affecting business organizations globally? How are organizations responding to the challenges raised by

these needs?

4. What is an ―ethical dilemma‖? Why would ethical dimensions of management be highlighted along with a rise of diversity in

Organizations?

5. What is social perception? Why is it described as self-fulfilling in nature?

PART B

1. Explain the following factors of the Attribution Process:

a) Consistency

b) Consensus

c) Distinctiveness

2. What are the limitations of extrinsic motivation? Why do organisations rely on it?

3. Explain the similarities between Need Hierarchy Two –Factor, ERG and Mc clellands classification of needs?

4. How can a systematic study of personality help the individual and the organization?

5. Why do we need to manage emotions? How can emotional Intelligence help manage emotions?

PART C

1. Which are the key interpersonal skills? What is the advantage of the skills approach to Interpersonal phenomenon at work?

2. What measures should be taken by an organization to make the teams more effective?

3. If you saw a diagram depicting an organizational structure, would you be able to identify the sources and direction of power in

it? Give examples?

4. Explain how role pressure and role forces shape role performance? Which one should have a stronger impact? Support your

answer with examples?

5. Detail how leaders can bring about effective turnaround of organization? Explain a leader‘s contribution to the process of

Institution Building?

Case Study - I

Jeenat is the Accounting Department manager for a regional chain of convenience stores. Jennifer is an accounting ―superstar.‖

She has a bachelor‘s degree, recently passed her CA exam, and is really exceptional in her accounting knowledge. She was so

good, in fact, that she was promoted to department manager in her previous company after only two years on the job. She has

been at her current company for ten months. She has implemented two accounting procedural changes that have streamlined the

work and resulted in cost savings for the company

She reports to the CFO, and he is concerned about Jeenat, despite her obvious talents. There is no denying that she has had a

positive impact, but Jennifer is not fitting in so well. Jennifer is a poor communicator and seems to have alienated quite a few of

her peers and her employees. She is often aloof and distant, and her usual way of motivating performance is to simply dictate

what will be done and expect compliance with her orders. She has good ideas but has little ability to present them well or to work

as part of a team

Q1. You are Jeenat‘s CFO, and you believe you can coach Jeenat. How would you approach her and what would you say? What

issues would you work with her on?

Q2. How would you hold Jeenat accountable for improvement on the issues you identified?

Case Study - II

Abhay joined a leading construction conglomerate for summer job. The company he was assigned Cranebow was in the business

of manufacturing construction material which had to be delivered to the client sites using a missed fleet of hired and owned

trucks. Abhay was interviewed by the head of this business, Raman Varma, who had taken charge of this operation about three

months back.Varma has been brought by the top officials at the conglomerate for bringing Cranebow from loss to profit as soon

as possible.

When Abhay analysed the industry, he saw opportunities flying everywhere. The demand was rising, the market was liberalized

and there were no conditions that favored competitor‘s more than Cranebow. So how could the losses at Cranebow be explained?

Abhay had been taking his meals at the common mess, and hoped to make some contacts with the regular employees. Two

weeks in to the assignments, he was still hopeful to develop friendly rapport with some people there. He accompanied some of

the trucks to the sites and got to talk to the site personnel of the clients. Abhay learned that the revenue collection at Cronbow

was problematic. Some clients tricked the company because the records of the order price,, dispatch quantity and the proof of

material received by the client were not maintained properly. So, when disputes arose,the copany had to grant the clients‘ claim

Next day,Abhay met the plant head to show to him some of the formats of the reports he had been preparing. The plant head

took a look at those forms,and said,‖Good,you have worked very hard on those forms.But these are not usable. ‖Plant head then

showed the flaws in each of the forms drafted by Abhay. Abhay was amazed to see this-the forms suggested by the plant head

were simple, user friendly and compact. Then why was the information not available in the interest of the company when needed?

The plant head said, ―You should have asked the person‘s sitting at the top. If I show what I know to them,will they listen? What

do I gain by revealing what I know? My job is to run the plant, and run the plant I do. Why should I worry about anything else?

Q1. What attitude is reflected in the plant-head‘s words and action? Is it favorable for the organization?

Q2. What measures do you recommend for changing the current attitude of the plant –head?

Production & Operation Management

PART - A

Q1. What are production/operation systems? Discuss its components, giving examples from both service and non-service

organizations.

Q2. What do you understand by product design?

Q3. What are the competitive priorities of a firm?

Q4. Why is layout planning necessary?

Q5. Explain any three of the following terms:

(a) Aggregate production planning

(b) Master production plan

(c) Rough cut capacity

(d) Scheduling

PART - B

Q1. Write short notes on following:

a. Acceptance sampling.

b. OC Curve.

Q2. What do you mean by PERT?

Q3. Draw a diagram of MRP II.

Q4. What is the need for a maintenance management system?

Q5. What do you mean by linear programming?

PART - C

Q1. The table below shows a job consisting of 3 sub-jobs a, b and c, along with their time estimates

Job 1-2 1-6 2-3 2-4 3-5 4-5 6-7 5-8 7-8

a(days) 1 2 2 2 7 5 5 3 8

b(days) 7 5 14 5 10 5 8 3 17

c(days) 13 14 26 8 19 17 29 9 32

Draw the project network diagram for each of the jobs. Find the critical path and minimum time taken for each sub-job. Can the

total project be completed in 40 days?

Q2. Perform ABC analysis on the following sample of items in an inventory.

Item AnnualConsumption Price/Unit

A 400 20

B 2900 30

C 40 20

D 1200 10

E 40 10

F 320 02

G 250 10

H 900 10

I 700 30

J 90 20

Q3. Jaycee potteries manufactures ceramic bowls and mugs. Two main resources used by the company are skilled labour and

clay. The resources required and the profit per unit of each product is tabulated below:

Product

Resource Requirement

Profit/ Unit

Labour (hrs / unit) Clay (kg / unit)

Bowl 1 4 40

Clay 2 3 50

There are 40 hours of skilled labour and 120 kg of clay available each day. Formulate the problem for maximization of profit as a

linear programming problem and find the solution graphically using iso-profit lines.

Q4. The processing time (in hours) of seven jobs to be processed on three machine M1, M2, M3 in the order M1, M2 and M3 are

tabulated below:

Job M1 M2 M3

A 1 7 8

B 3 3 10

C 7 8 9

D 9 2 11

E 4 8 9

F 5 6 14

G 2 1 12

Q5. Sequence these jobs using Johnson's method and find the overall processing time. Find also the waiting time of the jobs and

idle times of the three machines.

CASE STUDY - 1

The table below gives details about the various tasks in assembly operation.

Task Requirement (s) Precedence (min) Task Time

A - 10

B C 20

C A 30

D A,C 15

E A 10

F B 20

G D 10

H G 15

I G,H 15

Questions

(a) Explain the heuristic steps involved.

(b) Find the theoretical minimum cycle time.

(c) Find the theoretical number of work stations.

(d) Assign tasks to the work stations using the LOT rule.

(e) Calculate the efficiency of the assembly line.

(f) Determine the balance delay.

CASE STUDY - 2

A company is setting up an assembly line to produce 192 units per 8 hours shift. The following table identifies the work

elements, times and immediate predecessors.

Work Element Time (seconds) Immediate Predecessor(s)

A 40

B 80 A

C 30 D,E,F

D 25 B

E 20 B

F 15 B

G 120 A

H 145 G

I 130 H

J 115 C,I

Total = 720 seconds

Questions:

1. What is the cycle time?

2. What is the theoretical minimum number of work stations?

3. Draw the precedence diagram.

4. Determine the idle time, efficiency, and balance delay.

Production & Operation Management

Q1. What is Production Management? What is Operations Management? ‗Production is the heart of an organization‘ Comment.

Q2.Explain how the following factors help improve the competitiveness of a manufacturing organization.

1. Low production costs

2. Fast delivery of products/Services.

3. On-time deliveries

4. High quality products/services

5. Flexibility

Q3. Bring out the stages in the development of a new product. Explain each stage in brief. How QFD technique helps in product

and process design.

Q4. What is process selection? Why is it essential for a successful organization? Explain Criteria for process selection?

Q5. a). Steps in process design.

b). Product-process matrix.

PART – B

Q1. Define location. Discuss the factors which determine the location of a plant .How is location for a plant selected? Discuss

simple median model for selected plant location with and example.

Q2. What is layout planning? What are its objectives. In brief give the relevance of group technology in plant layout in todays

situation .Under what conditions is G.T. layout appropriate .

Q3. Compare product and process layouts and under what circumstances product and process layouts can be used. Explain with

the help of an example how travel chart method helps in selecting the best layout among several alternatives?

Q4. Define the term capacity planning. How plant capacity is related with plant layout , process design and equipment selection

Q5. The processing time and due dates for 5 jobs A,B,C,D and E are given in the table below :

Job Processing Time (days) Due date (days from now)

A 10 18

B 8 22

C 6 27

D 12 17

E 7 42

Sequence these jobs according to EDD Evaluating Sequencing Rules and Calculate .

a) Total Completion Time

b) Total Flow Time

c) Average Flow Time

d) Average number of jobs in the system.

e) Average job lateness

PART – C

Q1. What is master production Schedule and what are its inputs? Describe the process of preparing a MPS. How MPS differ

between produce-to-stock and produce-to-order firms.

Q2. Describe the various phases in a ‗project life cycle‘ .What is a network diagram? Distinguish between PERT and CPM and state

where they are used .Explain steps in network crashing?

Q3. What is Quality? How it is insured? Explain Quality control techniques. Bring out the famous Deming principles of Quality.

How far Quality circles ensure workers participation?

Q4. What are the trends in maintenance management? Outline the various types of maintenance. What is predictive maintenance?

What is its advantages .Explain the ‗bath tub curve‘?

Q5. Define the terms ‗Inventory‘ and ‗Inventory management‘ Why are inventories held in business? Explain the various

techniques of inventory control a factory uses

CASE STUDY – I

ABC Company Ltd, a manufacturer of floppy disks, inspects a sample of 50 disks from each day's output. A quality inspector of

the company decides on the acceptability or otherwise of the disks based on a variety of attributes.

Date

No of

Date

No of

Date

No of

Defectives Defectives Defectives

18.02.2010 3 25.02.2010 7 03.03.2010 7

19.02.2010 10 26.02.2010 18 04.03.2010 6

20.02.2010 13 27.02.2010 1 05.03.2010 19

21.02.2010 4 28.02.2010 0 06.03.2010 3

22.02.2010 12 29.02.2010 4 07.03.2010 9

Data

relating to

the

number of

defectives in the sample over the past 20 days are given above.

The production manager suspects that the variation in quality was due to deputing an inexperienced substitute operator instead

of a regular one, on three days during the period. With the use of a fraction defective chart, specifying the upper and lower

control Limits or otherwise, determine the days of poor quality which can be traced or assigned to the inexperienced operator. Do

the number of such days, match the number of points indicating out of control situations.

CASE STUDY - II

The activities of a project and their time estimates are given below :

Activity

Estimated duration of activity (in weeks)

Optimistic time (to) Molst likely time (tm) Pessimistic time (tp)

1-2 2 5 8

1-4 4 19 28

1-5 5 11 17

2-3 3 9 27

2-6 3 6 15

3-6 2 5 14

4-6 3 6 15

5-7 1 4 7

5-8 2 5 14

6-8 6 12 30

7-8 2 5 8

23.02.2010 14 01.03.2010 9 08.03.2010 7

24.02.2010 08 02.03.2010 22

a) Draw the PERT network Diagram

b) Determine the mean time and standard deviation of each activity

c) Determine the critical path and the standard deviation for the critical path

d) Calculate the slack for the events

e) Calculate the total float, free float and independent float for each activity

Production & Operation Management

PART - A

Q1: What is operations strategy? What is the role of operations strategy in a business enterprise engaged in manufacturing of

innovative products? How are operations strategies developed?

Q2: Major Jasbir Singh after taking voluntary retirement from Army has started a Car Rental Business. His company serves the

Corporates and Business houses in Delhi NCR region. List and describe buying cycle, conversion cycle and selling cycle processes

of a car rental business?

Q3: Himalayan Adventure Rafting Company has decided to produce rubber rafts due to Quality and Availability problem in India.

Details of manufacturing processes available are as follows:

Process A: Company can produce rafts at an estimated investment in semi-automatic Plant and Machinery of Rs. 5, 00,000. Labor

& material cost is approximately Rs.1250 per raft.

Process B: Rafts can be produced on fully automated Plant and Machinery at an investment of Rs.25, 00,000 that would reduce

the variable cost of manufacturing to Rs. 500 per raft.

Rubber raft can be sold at a price of Rs. 2500 per raft. Compare the two manufacturing processes utilizing Break Even Analysis

Technique. For what volume of demand should each process be chosen?

Q4: Nanotech Electronics Ltd. manufacturing flash drives has decided to diversify in to manufacturing of DVD Players. CMD has

given 12 months' time to plant for product development and commercial production to meet forecasted demand of year 2010.

Describe the process to be followed for product design and development of the new business. Explain the technique to get the

voice of customer in to the design specification of the product.

Q5: What are the benefits of developing an aggregate plan, from the perspective of operations management, marketing, finance

and human resources management? Describe the inputs required and output generated from the aggregate production plan.

PART - B

Q1: Blessings Electronics Ltd is in the business of manufacturing and trading electronic memory modules. Product is made to

stock and sold as per the market demand. Annual demand rate for MC1 product model used in cameras is 12000 units. One unit

of the product costs $ 10 and inventory holding cost rate is 24% / year. Setting up to produce a batch of products requires

changeover of equipment which takes 4 hour. The cost of equipment down time and labor is $ 100/hr. Determine for this product

case:

a. Economic Order Quantity

b. Total inventory costs

c. Total annual cost to the business

Q2: Twenty samples of n=200 were taken by an operator at a workstation in a production process. The number of defective items

in each sample were recorded as follows:

Sample

Number of

Defectives

P Sample Number of Defectives P

1 12 0.060 11 16 0.080

2 18 0.090 12 14 0.070

3 10 0.050 13 12 0.060

4 14 0.070 14 16 0.080

5 16 0.080 15 18 0.090

6 19 0.095 16 20 0.100

7 17 0.085 17 18 0.090

8 12 0.060 18 20 0.100

9 11 0.055 19 21 0.105

10 14 0.070 20 22 0.110

Management wants to develop a p chart using 3 sigma limits. Set up the p-chart and plot the observations to determine if

the process was out of control at any point.

Q3 a): "If line employees are required to assume the quality control function, their productivity will decrease." Express your views

on this.

Q3b): Why must JIT have a stable schedule and partnering with Vendors?

Q4a): What are the three types of demand behavior while forecasting demand? Draw each type of demand behavior curve with

time.

Q4b):A manufacturing company has monthly demand for one of its products as follows

MONTH DEMAND

February 520

March 490

April 550

May 580

June 600

July 420

August 510

September 610

Develop a three-period moving average forecast and a three-period weighted moving average forecast with weights of 0.50, 0.30,

and 0.20 for the most recent demand values, in that order. Calculate MAD (Mean Absolute Deviation) for each forecast, and

indicate which would seem to be most accurate.

Q5: Rainbow Automobiles Ltd. want to start their manufacturing unit outside India for manufacturing of Low price model of their

newly designed car for the Global Market. This model of car has done well in India. They have short listed three locations; these

are Nepal, Singapore and Taiwan. Utilizing the Factor Rating Analysis Method determine and propose the location of new Plant.

Support your answer with the facts.

PART- C

Q1: Business writer Tom Peters has suggested that in making process changes, we should "Try it, test it, and get on with it". How

this philosophy signifies with the continuous improvement philosophy in Production and Operations Management?

Q2: Explain the difference between the following:

(a) DMAIC cycle & PDCA cycle

(b) Short range and long range forecasts

(c) TPM and MRO in maintenance management

Q3. How can firms compete operationally? Describe the concepts of competitive priorities, competitive capabilities, order

winners, and order qualifiers.

Q4: Tasks A, B,C,....... , H, I constitute a project. The precedence relationships are

A < D; A < E; B < F; D < F; C < G; C < H; F < I; G < I.

Draw a network to represent the project and find the minimum time of completion of the project when time, in days, of each task

is as follows:

Task: ABCDEFGHI

Time: 8 10 8 10 16 17 18 14 9

Also identify the critical path.

Q5: Write short notes on any three of the following:

a. Dimensions of Quality

b. Line Balancing

c. Use of ERP in Material Requirement Planning

CASE STUDY -I

Select a manufacturing or a service providing organization, visit and study the processes involved in manufacturing of

products or developing services. Prepare a report covering following scope in person:

(a) Type of layout of the facility and its sketch

(b) Input and output at each stage of process

(c) Value addition at each stage

(d) Cycle time of production process

(e) Scope of productivity improvement

CASE STUDY-II

Plan and visit a departmental store or a reputed restaurant or a corporate bank and perform a quick service delivery

study / audit, thinking like a customer. Prepare a report covering following scope in person:

(a) Desired features of the service delivery important for customer satisfaction.

(b) List the attributes which will make it unique & create differential advantage

(c) Evaluate the three T's of service on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent): The task The treatment The tangible features

of service

Tangible features to include the environment, layout and appearance of the facility and not the goods you purchased or

service you enjoyed.

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

International Trade

PART - A

Q1. Is specialization the key to success in the international market? Give reasons for your answer.

Q2. What is the significance of the law of comparative advantage in international trade?

Q3. Were favourable government policies solely responsible for the extraordinary growth in world trade after World War II? Give

reasons for your answer.

Q4. Why do you think it was easier for the specialized activities of India and China to become part of the international supply

chain?

Q5. The exports of major developing countries such as China and India depend, to a large extent, on the demand of the major

developed countries. Explain how this affects their economies.

PART - B

Q1. How has India transformed from a slow growing economy to a liberalized and fast growing one?

Q2. What role do MNCs play in the host countries' economies? What does off shoring imply?

Q3. Why is the choice of trade strategy significant? What level of Government interference would you suggest for India?

Q4. What purpose does a letter of credit solve? What are the steps involved in the operation of a letter of credit?

Q5. When and how can a country draw upon its international reserves? Explain the consequences with respect to the balance of

payments situation.

PART - C

Q1. How does balance of payments reflect the economic situation of a country?

Q2. Comment on the role of regional trade blocs in international trade.

Q3. How have the changes after 1973 improved the functioning of IMF with respect to the smooth functioning of the international

monetary system?

Q4. What has been the role of WTO in promotion of international trade?

Q5. Why have regional trade agreements or RTA activities intensified across the world? How does it affect the multilateral trading

system?

CASE STUDY 1

Kodak versus Fuji in 1995

Kodak started selling photographic equipment in Japan in 1889, and by the 1930s it had a dominant position in the Japanese

market. Then came World War II and the subsequent occupation of Japan. In the aftermath of the war, US occupation forces

persuaded most US companies, including Kodak, to leave Japan to give the war-torn local industry a chance to recover. Kodak

reluctantly handed over the marketing of its products to Japanese distributors. Kodak was effectively priced out of the market by

tariff barriers. Over the next 35 years, Fuji gained a 70 per cent share of the market while Kodak saw its share slip to a miserable

5 per cent. During this period, Kodak limited much of its activities in Japan to the sale of technology. To quote Albert Sieg, who

headed Kodak's Japanese operations from 1984 until the early 1990s, 'Like most American companies (in the 1950s and 1960s),

we were content to sell technology to the Japanese to make money, and we did. We sold technology to Fuji Photo Film and Konica

and anybody who came to our door. That was the way we decided to make money in Japan. It was also a judgment - obviously not

right - that we did not need to worry about the Japanese as a competitor'.

This situation persisted until the early 1980s when Fuji launched an aggressive export drive, attacking Kodak in the North

American and European markets where for decades Kodak had enjoyed a lucrative dominance in colour film. Fuji's onslaught

squeezed Kodak's margins, took market share, and forced the company to slash costs. Wth their backs to the wall, Kodak's top

executives admitted that their company faced a global challenge from Fuji that would only grow. Deciding that a good offence is

the best defense, in 1984, Kodak set out to invade its rival's home market. Over the next six years, Kodak spent an estimated

$500 million in Japan. At a time when Fuji was committed to heavy spending on promotion abroad, Kodak outspent Fuji in Japan

by a ratio of more than 3 to 1. It erected mammoth $1 million neon signs as landmarks in many of Japan's big cities. It sponsored

sumo wrestling, judo and tennis tournaments and even the Japanese team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a neat reversal of Fuji's

1984 coup when it won the race to become the official sponsor of the Los Angeles Olympics.

Kodak realized that to make any headway in Japan, it had to control its own distribution and marketing channels. Rather than go

it alone, Kodak established a joint venture with its distributor, Nagase Sangyo, an Osaka based trading company specializing in

chemicals. Kodak also realized that it would not succeed in Japan unless it thought and acted just like a Japanese company.

Today, apart from a small unit that liaises with Kodak's headquarters in Rochester, New York, all Kodak's employees in Japan are

Japanese, complete with a Japanese boss and Japanese management. There are only 30 foreigners among Kodak's 4,500

employees in Japan. So thoroughly Japanese has Kodak become that it even has its own keirestu (family of suppliers with cross

holdings in each other).

All this activity has brought success. Between 1984 and 1990, Kodak's sales in Japan soared six fold to an estimated $1.3 billion.

Kodak's share of sales to amateur photographers has grown by a steady 1 per cent each year for the past six years. Kodak now

has a 15 per cent share of that market and may well overtake second place Konica within the next few years. Kodak's success has

been even more impressive in Tokyo, where it now has 35 per cent of the amateur market. In addition, Kodak now has 85 per

cent of the market for medical X-ray film and photographic supplies to the graphic arts and publishing industries. Perhaps the

most important effect of Kodak's Japanese thrust, however, is that Fuji's margins in Japan have been squeezed. Kodak has put Fuji

on the defensive, forcing it to divert resources from overseas to defend it at home. By 1990, some of Fuji's best executives had

been pulled back to Tokyo.

All this success, however, was apparently not enough for Kodak. In May 1995, Kodak filed a petition with the US Trade Office that

accused the Japanese government and Fuji of "unfair trading practices'. According to the petition, the Japanese government

helped to create a 'profit sanctuary' for Fuji in Japan by systematically denying Kodak access to Japanese distribution channels for

consumer film and paper. In Japan, unlike in the United States, film manufacturers do not sell directly to retailers and

photofinishers; in between stand the distributors. Kodak claimed Fuji had effectively shut Kodak products out of four distributors

having a 70 per cent share of the photo distribution market. Fuji has an equity position in two of the distributors, gives large

year-end rebates and cash payments to all four distributors as a reward for their loyalty to Fuji, and owns stakes in the banks that

finance them. Kodak also claimed that Fuji used similar tactics to control 430 wholesale photo-finishing labs in Japan to which it

was the exclusive supplier. Moreover, Kodak's petition claimed the Japanese government had actively encouraged these practices.

Fuji did not take these charges lying down. In a 585 page document called 'Rewriting History', Fuji stated bluntly that Kodak's

charges were a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. Fuji claimed that Kodak had locked up chunks of the US market

through exclusive dealing arrangements with retailers won by upfront payments and rebates. Among other charges, Fuji's

document claimed Kodak had an exclusive agreement with Eckerd Corp., the fourth largest photo retailer in the United States,

that Kodak paid rebates of $2.7 million per year to the Army and Air Force Exchange Services for an exclusive arrangement, and

that Kodak offered Genovese Drug Stores Inc., a 144 store chain based in New York, $40,000 plus rebates if the Company

promised to carry no brand of film other than Kodak. Kodak responded that while it did offer incentives, 'Retailers are free to

carry other brands if they wish. These relationships are completely voluntary'.

Questions:

Q1. How might it be said that Kodak helped to create a competitor in Fuji Photo Film?

Q2. From the evidence given in the case, do you think Kodak's trading practices against Fuji are valid, or are they simply a case of

the kettle calling the pot black?

CASE STUDY -2

Servicing Global Travellers

The international hotel industry is so hugely competitive that it is heartening to hear that the general managers of two very

different hotels recently acknowledged that they might learn something from each other.

The Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments in London's Piccadilly is a small privately owned hotel with the majority of its guests

comprising business travellers from the US. Sally Bulloch, General Manager, says one way of finding out if the hotel was giving

customers what they wanted was to compare it with what they are offered in the US.

She suggested swapping jobs for a week with Valerie Ferguson, general manager of the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta, Georgia and

Secretary of the American Hotel and Motel Association.

Ferguson decided to take up Bulloch's offer and go ahead with the swap. She said: 'I had no idea what I would get out of it but I

saw it was an opportunity to gain an insight into how I could further develop my product. About 35 per cent to 40 per cent of our

guests are international and I wanted to walk away with a better idea of how to service that business and build it up.'

Business travel is increasingly based on the notion of servicing global travellers with similar wants and needs. Ferguson said,

however, that there could be enormous differences.

'One thing that has left an indelible impression is that European travellers are not as vocal as Americans - you have to take more

time to pull the information out. In America, a guest might go to the front desk and say, 'My breakfast was terrible,' but the

British are just not going to do that. We've got to find a way of getting that feedback, rather than assuming that everything is OK.'

One way might be to contact visitors after they have left the hotel. 'I don't think they will speak to you unless something major

happens but once they get home or to the office, they might,' she said.

Guests with limited English could be inhibited by language difficulties, and Ms Ferguson believes one of her achievements over

the past five years at the Ritz-Carton is to ensure that staff speaking a number of languages are available at all times.

She was impressed by the efforts made at the Arthenaeum to make guests feel at home. 'There are all these reminders that you

are at home - whether it's a bowl of apples or wonderful nick-nacks on the lobby. We like to think you can get a homely

atmosphere in a Ritz-Carlton - we have afternoon teas and a special breakfast for Japanese guests - but customers don't want it so

comfortable that it's like an old pair of shoes.'

For her part, Sally Bulloch of the Athenaeum believed there was a difference in attention to detail. 'It's higher over here. For

instance, I've often found if there is a bowl of fruit in an American hotel, it tends to stay there all week, whereas we change it

everyday.' But she admires the informality of US hospitality, and wanted to incorporate more of it in her hotel. 'We can sometimes

be too British,' said Ms Bulloch. 'It took me 10 years to get a hamburger on our room-service menu. I kept suggesting that was

what our guests wanted but kept being told 'that is not what we do at the Athenaeum.'

She added: 'Many travellers want a quick tea or coffee but do not want to sit at a table. At the Ritz- Carlton, outside the breakfast

room, they had this wonderful silver urn and attractive cups, not paper cups, so people could just have some coffee. It's very

American but then why not give our American guests what they want rather than what we think they should have?'

Despite the difference in size between the two hotels - the Ritz-Carlton has 457 rooms and the Athenaeum has 157. Ms Ferguson

said the day-to-day management was very similar. 'It's the same except for the British accent.' But decisions can be made quickly

in a smaller hotel, she said, 'Product development is managed quite differently in an independent hotel than in a chain. While our

standards are very similar and our company is decentralized with a lot of decisions made at the hotel, the decision-making

process here is faster - we're trying to regain that entrepreneurial spirit.'

Ms Bulloch said she had been struck by the amount of time spent by senior staff in the US hotels on administration. 'My

impression has always been that senior staff tend to be in meetings or handling paperwork.

But you don't know what's going on unless you are on the floor, and guests often want to meet the manager,' she said.

Ms Ferguson said she was going back to Atlanta with 'an increased awareness of the importance of face-to-face contact. Each

employee here tries to establish a relationship with the guest; they try and remember the guest's name.'

Both would like to extend the swap to other staff. 'I would eventually like some of our housekeepers and reception staff to do the

swap and to experience what it's like to travel as a guest - especially when you are jetlagged,' Ms. Bulloch. 'There's nothing worse

than arriving at 7:30 a.m. and being told by a smiling girl at the reception, 'Sorry, your room won't be ready till 11'. Since lots of

people leave early, we get the maids to start at 6 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. With three maids, a room can be ready in eight minutes.'

She went on to say: 'We ought to be able to understand our guest's needs. When you are in the US, for example, you notice how

people will give detailed orders in a restaurant. I don't think our staff wants to know what a guest is talking about if they ask for a

low-sodium meal.'

Ms Ferguson would like to use the idea of a swap as an incentive to staff by offering it to the hotel's 'employee of the year.'

Questions:

Q1. What lesson might an international manager learn from this case?

Q2. What business characteristics lend themselves most to organizational learning from using this practice? What characteristics

are least conducive to learning from this practice?

Q3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the methods described in the case?

International Trade

PART – A

Q1. With the help of examples describe the gains from international trade.

Q2. What are the recent trends in world trade?

Q3. Discuss the reasons for the increase in international trade in developing regions.

Q4. Explain the comparative advantage theory of international trade.

Q5. Briefly describe the mercantilism theory of international trade.

PART – B

Q1. Critically examine the Heckscher–Ohlin theory of international trade.

Q2. Explain the non-tariff barriers of international trade.

Q3. Briefly describe Raymond Vernon‘s theory of international product life cycle and international trade.

Q4. What are the benefits and lessons of trade liberalization in India?

Q5. What role is played by MNCs in the host country? Explain with reference to the Indian economy.

PART – C

Q1. What are the benefits of use of letter of credit in international transactions? Explain the steps and parties involved in the

operation of letter of credit.

Q2. What are the reasons for disequilibrium in balance of payments? State the methods to adjust the deficit.

Q3. State the significance for compilation of the balance of payments by a country.

Q4. How does IMF help in promotion of international trade?

Q5. What is the role of SAPTA in promotion of trade in the region?

CASE STUDY – I

New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) is an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, opened in 1984 and

closed in 2010. NUMMI was established at the site of a former GM site that had been closed two years earlier. The factory which

NUMMI took over was built by General Motors (GM) and operated by them from 1962 to 1982. GM and Toyota reopened the

factory as a joint venture in 1984 to manufacture vehicles to be sold under both brands.

The idea of reopening the plant emerged out of the need that GM had to build high-quality and profitable small cars and the need

Toyota had to start building cars in the United States, a requirement due to the possibility of import restrictions by the U.S.

Congress. GM saw the joint venture as an opportunity to learn about lean manufacturing from the Japanese company, while

Toyota gained its first manufacturing base in North America and a chance to implement its production system in an American

labor environment.

The choice of the Fremont plant and its workers was unusual. At the time of its closure, the Fremont employees were "considered

the worst workforce in the automobile industry in the United States", according to the United Auto Workers. Employees drank

alcohol on the job, were frequently absent (enough so that the production line couldn't be started), and even committed petty

acts of sabotage such as putting "Coke bottles inside the door panels, so they'd rattle and annoy the customer." In spite of the

history and reputation, when NUMMI reopened the factory for production in 1984, most of the troublesome GM workforce was

rehired, with some sent to Japan to learn the Toyota Production System.

By December 1984, the first car, a yellow Chevrolet Nova rolled off the assembly line. And almost right away, the NUMMI factory

was producing cars with as few defects per 100 vehicles as those produced in Japan. But 15 years later, GM had still not been able

to implement lean manufacturing in the rest of the United States, though GM managers trained at NUMMI were successful in

introducing the approach to its unionized factories in Brazil. Up to May 2010, NUMMI built an average of 6000 vehicles a week, or

nearly eight million cars and truck.

The first model NUMMI produced was the Chevrolet Nova (1984–1988). This was followed by the Geo Prizm (1989–1997), the

Chevrolet Prizm (1998–2002) and the Hilux (1991–1995, predecessor of the Tacoma), as well as the Toyota Voltz, the Japanese

right-hand drive version of the Pontiac Vibe. Both of the latter are based on the Toyota Matrix. Production of the Pontiac Vibe

hatchback was discontinued in August 2009 as GM phased out the Pontiac brand. Beginning in September 1988, the NUMMI plant

produced the Toyota Corolla compact car. In 1995, it began producing the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

On June 29, 2009, General Motors announced that they would discontinue the joint venture with Toyota. The announcement was

made following GM CEO Fritz Henderson announcing in April that General Motors would discontinue the Pontiac Vibe production

at NUMMI. The two automakers were in discussions but could not find a suitable product to be produced at the factory. ―After

extensive analysis, GM and Toyota could not reach an agreement on a future product plan that made sense for all parties,‖ GM

North America President Troy Clarke said in a statement. "Toyota‘s hope was to continue the venture and we haven‘t yet decided

any plans at the factory,‖ said Hideaki Homma, Toyota‘s Tokyo-based spokesman. ―While we respect this decision by GM, the

economic and business environment surrounding Toyota is also extremely severe, and so this decision by GM makes the situation

even more difficult for Toyota.‖ Before GM decided to sever its stake in the NUMMI joint venture, Toyota was considering offering

a version of its Prius hybrid to GM that would be built at the factory and sold as a GM model but Toyota indicated that it was

seriously considerin exiting the venture also.

On August 27, 2009, Toyota announced that it would discontinue its production contract with NUMMI, shifting Tacoma

production to its San Antonio, Texas pickup plant and Corolla assembly to Cambridge, Ontario. A total of 5,400 employees will be

affected, including 4,550 UAW hourly workers

GM pulled out of the venture in June 2009, and several months later Toyota announced plans to pull out by March 2010. At

9.40am on April 1, 2010, the plant produced its last car, a red Toyota Corolla S believed to be destined for a museum in Japan.

On May 20, 2010, it was announced that Tesla Motors purchased a part in the NUMMI plant and will be collaborating with Toyota

on the "development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support". The plant International will first

be used to produce the Tesla Model S sedan with "future vehicles" following in the coming years. The plant will be producing

20,000 vehicles a year and employ 1000 workers to start.

Questions

1. Why did Toyota prefer joint venture rather than exporting, to enter US market? What were the reasons for GM to enter into the

joint venture and finally to discontinue it?

2. Why did GM select Fremont, California, automobile manufacturing plant for NUMMI?

3. What are the other modes of entry that Toyota could have selected to enter US market?

CASE STUDY – II

Unfair Protection and Valid Defense

―Mexico Widens Anti-Dumping Measure … Steel at the Core of US-Japan Trade Tensions … Competitors in other Countries Are

Destroying an American Success Story … It must be Stopped‖, scream the headlines around the world. International trade theories

argue that nations should open their doors to trade. Conventional free trade wisdom says that by trading with others, a country

can offer its citizens a greater volume of goods at cheaper prices than it could in the absence of it. Nevertheless, truly free trade

still does not exist because national governments intervene. Despite the efforts of the World Trade organization (WTO) and

smaller group of nations governments seem to be crying foul in the trade game now more than ever before.

We see efforts at protectionism in the rising trend in governments charging foreign producers for ―dumping‖ their goods on world

markets. Worldwide, the number of antidumping cases that were initiated stood at about 150 in 1995, 225 in 1996, 230 in 1997

and 300 in 1998. There is no shortage of similar examples. The United States charges Brazil, Japan and Russia with dumping their

products in the US market as a way out of tough economic times. The US Steel industry wants the government to slap a 200 per

cent tariff on certain types of steel. But car makers in the Unites State are not complaining, and General Motors even spoke out

against the anti-dumping charge-as it is enjoying the benefits of low-cost steel for use I n its auto-production. Canadian steel

makers followed the lead of the United States and are pushing for antidumping actions against four nations.

Emerging markets, too, are jumping into the fray. Mexico recently expanded the coverage of its Automatic Import Advise System.

The system requires the importers (from a list of countries) to notify Mexican officials of the amount and price of shipment ten

days prior to its expected arrival in Mexico. The ten days notice gives domestic producers advance warning of incoming loe-priced

products so they can complain of dumping before the products clear customs and enter the marketplace. India is also getting

onboard by setting up a new government agency to handle anti-dumping cases. Even Argentina, China, Indonesia, South Africa,

South Korea and Thailand are using this recently – popularised tool of protectionism.

Why is dumping on the rise in the first place? The WTO has made major inroads on the use of tariffs, slashing them across almost

every product category in recent years. But the WTO does not have the authority to punish companies, but only governments.

Thus, the WTO cannot pass judgements against individual companies that are dumping products in other markets. It can only

pass rulings against the government of the country that imposes an anti-dumping duty. But the WTO allows countries to retaliate

against nations whose producers are suspected of duping when it can be shown that: (1) the alleged offenders are significantly

hurting domestic producers, and (2) the export price is lower than the cost of production or lower than the home-market price.

Supporters of antidumping tariffs claim that they prevent dumpers from undercutting the prices charged by producers ina target

market and driving the out of business. Another claim in support of antidumping is is that it is an excellent way of retaining some

protection against potential dangers of totally free trade. Detractors of antidumping charge that once such tariffs are imposed

they are rarely remove. They also claim that it costs companies and governments a great deal of time and money to file or argue

their cases. It is also argued that the fear of being charged with dumping causes international competitors to keep their prices

higher than would otherwise be the case. This would allow domestic companies to charge higher prices and not lose market

share-forcing consumers to pay more for their goods.

Questions

1. WTO cannot punish individual companies for dumping and can only take actions against individual countries. Is this a wise

policy? Why or why not?

2. Why is protectionism on the rise in recent years?

International Marketing

PART - A

Q1. What are the benefits and disadvantages of MNCs to host countries? How do MNCs influence international relations?

Q2. Explain the purchasing power parity theory.

Q3. How does the culture of a particular region affect the marketing mix? Explain with examples.

Q4. How is a foreign market selected?

Q5. Explain some foreign market entry strategies.

PART - B

Q1. Discuss tariff and non-tariff barriers and point out the differences between the two.

Q2. Briefly discuss the concept of international market research. Why is it undertaken? What are the

chief sources of information in India?

Q3. What is the role of the Commerce Ministry in helping exporters? Explain the role of EEPC.

Q4. What do you understand by 'standardization'? How is it different from 'adaptation' or 'customization'? Explain with some

examples.

Q5. Explain some pricing strategies used in international marketing.

PART - C

Q1. Analyze the concept of dumping.

Q2. How can an exporter get insured against the uncertainty of payments from exports? Examine the role of ECGC in this regard.

Q3. Examine the role of advertising agencies in international marketing.

Q4. Analyze the foreign trade policy (2004-2009).

Q5. Discuss some errors that may occur in international trade documentation.

CASE STUDY - 1

In 1992, Micra, the small Nissan car, cost $20,000 in Denmark. That made it the most expensive car in its class. The price of the

new model was up 20 per cent from the year before. Historically, only 35.4 per cent of Micra owners buy another Micra. The

reason usually given is price. Moreover, due to the continuing recession, car sales in Denmark were at their lowest in 30 years.

Only 9,000 small cars are sold each year, in a good year in Denmark.

To make the problem even more difficult, marketing costs had increased by at least 10 per cent in each of the past five years.

Nissan Denmark addressed this situation by developing and executing a truly innovative database marketing programme. They

were able to do this because they had very little to lose and much to gain:

(i) Given the economic situation described above no one inside or outside the company expected success.

(ii) Even a small success would be greeted with great satisfaction.

(iii) Management was willing to take a chance on a really bold programme because the situation was becoming quite critical.

Working with their advertising agency, management decided that the only way to reverse the trend was to develop and execute an

ongoing relationship-building campaign, specially targeting currently satisfied customers. This new programme was in addition to

the ongoing print campaign, the objective of which had been awareness of the Nissan to chnance Micra. This campaign had been

running in Denmark for several years. The advertising agency brought in a research firm and a direct marketing agency to assist

in the development and execution of the new relationship building campaign. Nissan Denmark had several objectives, some

short-term and others long-term. The key was using a test drive to motivate the previous or the current Micra owners to purchase

the new Micra.

The first short-term objective was to sell 200 Nissan Micras through a test drive programme. The second was to reduce the

average marketing cost below the current $400 per car. The first long-term objective was to develop an ongoing

communication/relationship maintenance programme for current Micra owners. The second was to develop ongoing methodology

to target the highest sales potential customers.

By accomplishing these objectives, Nissan could develop targeted mailing to get potential buyers to test drive a new Micra, or

other Nissan models as part of an ongoing promotional programme. Nissan accomplished all its objectives, both short-term and

long-term, by a few steps that were carefully organized and managed.

By hiring both a direct marketing agency and a respected market research firm, Nissan and its general advertising agency ensured

that whatever programme was developed was based on a higher level of expertise than the ad agency alone would have been able

to provide to the client. Together, all four team members - client, general agency, direct marketing agency and research firm,

developed marketing questions, hypotheses and an initial approach to the problem.

Questions:

1. What marketing research methods were used by Nissan Micra for its sales?

2. Develop a strategy outline and a mailing plan for the clients.

3. Prioritize the mailing and develop a data-driven plan.

CASE STUDY - 2

Failure of Accord hybrid

The cancellation of the Honda Accord hybrid by the Japanese automaker should be recorded as one of the most spectacular

marketing failures of the last five years. Honda announced that the new Accord will not have a hybrid version. But why? The

Toyota Prius sold 77,000 in the US in just the first five months of the year. Honda, meantime, sold 1,700 Accord hybrids and

13,900 Civic hybrids. Ford also sold just 9,252 Escape hybrids. The Accord hybrid features the company's third-generation

electric assist drive-train, matched with a modified version of the V6 that has cylinder deactivation technology. With 253 hp and

232 lb-ft of torque, it is the most powerful Accord in the lineup. The hybrid system captures electrical energy during braking or

deceleration and stores it in the vehicle's special battery pack. Also, the system features the ability to shut off the engine during

vehicle stops for further efficiency gains. The car's fuel economy is rated at 28 mpg city/35 mpg highway, which is similar to the

fuel economy of the standard four-cylinder Accord.

A couple of things. The engineers at Honda got carried away with rational thinking. They talked themselves into the idea that a

load of people would be impressed with getting four cylinder fuel economy with six cylinder power. Not so much. The typical

Accord buyer is not that interested in horsepower. And to pay $9,000 more for the hybrid than the four-cylinder made sense to

very few customers. Honda thought that the car would sell itself since it gets so much sales and showroom traffic for Accord

anyway. The Accord has been the second best selling passenger car in the US for some time. Honda did no discernible marketing

or public relations promotion for the Accord hybrid. It's not easy distinguishing any of the hybrids in the market today from the

Toyota Prius. Honda needs to review all of its marketing.

Questions:

1. Was the decision on keeping standard advertising decisions across the globe justified? How could they have done better in

increasing and promoting awareness?

2. What do you think are the reasons for the failure of the company to achieve its targets, specially considering the competitor's

success?

3. What were the shortcomings in the market research conducted by Honda while launching a hybrid product in the US markets?

International Marketing

Q1. In International Marketing it is imperative to create a relationship that holds value for the customers and for organization

Discuss.

Q2. Write short note on IMF

Q3. How does international environment play a role in International Trade? What are the International Environment Segments?

Q4. Define factors determining the effectiveness of a political system

Q5. Please help a new entrepreneur in analyzing markets for entry in a new marke

PART – B

Q1. Define Quota. What are the various types of Quota

Q2. What do you understand by International Marketing Research? And types of International Marketing Research

Q3. The main objective of all business is survival .How does a product strategy help in International business what are product

design strategie

Q4. What role does pricing play in International Business? Explain factors affecting international pricing.

Q5. Channel selections depend on distribution structure and choice of specific channel members. Elaborate with suitable

example

PART – C

Q1. Adopting the right kind of promotional strategies is the most crucial issue of entering markets in many countries. DiscussQ2.

Outline major issues in the New Export Import Policy in force

Q3. Define a letter of credit .What are the contents of letter of credit

Q4. Explain in detail the procedure of conducting a export transaction

Q5. Explain the major commercial documents used in export transaction

CASE STUDY – I

THE CASE OF VENDOR IMPROVEMEN

The rays of the late afternoon sun filtered in through the sheer glass that was south-western wall of Indo-Wichitas boardroom. It

cast three long shadows on the whiteboard that stood in the opposite corner, the diagrams on it from the last meeting only halfobliterated.

The presence of just three people made the room seem larger than it was. Gautam Niyogi, at three inches above 5

feet, was the smallest, but he had die word CEO written all over him. Rajeev Kshirsagar - at 38, he was 10 years younger than his

boss - was more casual; The third person, Arnab Roychowdhury, was trying hard to look older than his 30 years, which was I

exactly the average age of senior consultants at Beninger Darkman.

QUESTIONS

1. Is an initiative like the VIT the right approach in helping vendors improve their processes and their output? Should it be linked

to the vendor's strategy? Or to the original equipment manufacturer‘s strategy?

2. Should something like the VIT be pursued continuously, or as a one-off programme? Should its coverage be extended to.

include non-manufacturing activities? Should it now be improved, or discarded? or should it be integrated into Indo-Nichita‘s

regular vendor-development strategy ?

CASE STUDY - I

THE STORY OF A START?UP

March 2000, Dotcom days. CEOs are chucking their jobs in hordes to become entrepreneurs. So much so that such CEO-toentrepreneur

stories are hardly news' anymore. Yet... a handful of journalists huddle together in a small room at the Oberoi in

Delhi for an early morning press conference. The story is the same: A company's CEO quits his cushy job to start his own outfit;

venture capitalists back him; some prominent names on the Board; high hopes; tall projections..

QUESTIONS

1. Why has the crash of dotcoms and the economic slowdown in the US hit India's software firms badly ?

2. How can Wipro help in leveraging Daksh and EXL?

3. Can Wipro fulfil the BPO requirements for Spectramind, which can feature as a natural choice of a vendor?

Export Finance & Documentation

PART – A

Q1. What is Production Management? What is Operations Management? ‗Production is the heart of an organization‘ Comment.

Q2. Explain how the following factors help improve the competitiveness of a manufacturing organization.

1. Low production costs

2. Fast delivery of products/Services.

3. On-time deliveries

4. High quality products/services

5. Flexibility

Q3. Bring out the stages in the development of a new product. Explain each stage in brief. How QFD technique helps in product

and process design.

Q4. What is process selection? Why is it essential for a successful organization? Explain Criteria for process selection?

Q5. a). Steps in process design.

b). Product-process matrix.

PART – B

Q1. Define location. Discuss the factors which determine the location of a plant .How is location for a plant selected? Discuss

simple median model for selected plant location with and example.

Q2. What is layout planning? What are its objectives. In brief give the relevance of group technology in plant layout in todays

situation .Under what conditions is G.T. layout appropriate .

Q3. Compare product and process layouts and under what circumstances product and process layouts can be used. Explain with

the help of an example how travel chart method helps in selecting the best layout among several alternatives?

Q4. Define the term capacity planning. How plant capacity is related with plant layout , process design and equipment selection ?

Q5. The processing time and due dates for 5 jobs A,B,C,D and E are given in the table below :

Job Processing Time (days) Due date (days from now)

A 10 18

B 8 22

C 6 27

D 12 17

E 7 42

Sequence these jobs according to EDD Evaluating Sequencing Rules and Calculate .

a) Total Completion Time

b) Total Flow Time

c) Average Flow Time

d) Average number of jobs in the system.

e) Average job lateness

PART – C

Q1. What is master production Schedule and what are its inputs? Describe the process of preparing a MPS. How MPS differ

between produce-to-stock and produce-to-order firms.

Q2. Describe the various phases in a ‗project life cycle‘ .What is a network diagram? Distinguish between PERT and CPM and state

where they are used .Explain steps in network crashing?

Q3. What is Quality? How it is insured? Explain Quality control techniques. Bring out the famous Deming principles of Quality.

How far Quality circles ensure workers participation?

Q4. What are the trends in maintenance management? Outline the various types of maintenance. What is predictive maintenance?

What is its advantages .Explain the ‗bath tub curve‘?

Q5. Define the terms ‗Inventory‘ and ‗Inventory management‘ Why are inventories held in business? Explain the various

techniques of inventory control a factory uses

CASE STUDY – I

ABC Company Ltd, a manufacturer of floppy disks, inspects a sample of 50 disks from each day's output. A quality inspector of

the company decides on the acceptability or otherwise of the disks based on a variety of attributes.

Date

No of

Date

No of

Date

No of

Defectives Defectives Defectives

18.02.2010 3 25.02.2010 7 03.03.2010 7

19.02.2010 10 26.02.2010 18 04.03.2010 6

20.02.2010 13 27.02.2010 1 05.03.2010 19

Data

relating to

the

number of

defectives

in the

sample

over the

past 20 days are given above.

The production manager suspects that the variation in quality was due to deputing an inexperienced substitute operator instead

of a regular one, on three days during the period. With the use of a fraction defective chart, specifying the upper and lower

control Limits or otherwise, determine the days of poor quality which can be traced or assigned to the inexperienced operator. Do

the number of such days, match the number of points indicating out of control situations.

CASE STUDY – II

The activities of a project and their time estimates are given below :

Activity

Estimated duration of activity (in weeks)

Optimistic time (to) Molst likely time (tm) Pessimistic time (tp)

1-2 2 5 8

1-4 4 19 28

1-5 5 11 17

2-3 3 9 27

2-6 3 6 15

3-6 2 5 14

4-6 3 6 15

5-7 1 4 7

5-8 2 5 14

6-8 6 12 30

7-8 2 5 8

21.02.2010 4 28.02.2010 0 06.03.2010 3

22.02.2010 12 29.02.2010 4 07.03.2010 9

23.02.2010 14 01.03.2010 9 08.03.2010 7

24.02.2010 08 02.03.2010 22

a) Draw the PERT network Diagram

b) Determine the mean time and standard deviation of each activity

c) Determine the critical path and the standard deviation for the critical path

d) Calculate the slack for the events

e) Calculate the total float, free float and independent float for each activity .

Export Finance & Documentation

PART – A

Q1. Explain the role export credit plays in export promotion in India How is the export credit delivery system in India

implemented

Q2. Outline various risks covered under standard policy

Q3. Explain FERA TO FEMA Transition .What do you understand by current account and capital account convertibility

Q4. How is a letter of credit transacted? Explain in detail various types of letter of credit

Q5. Does Cargo Insurance play a role in Export Transaction? Explain difference between Marine and cargo insurance

PART – B

Q1. Outline in detail the claims procedure for a export cargo

Q2. As goods exported are in foreign countries, highlight the major standard clauses of export order

Q3. The Indian Exporters are given certain foreign exchange facilities outline the same

Q4. What do you understand by foreign exchange .Explain different types of possible exchange rate regimes?

Q5. Outline the factors affecting exchange rate

PART –

Q1. Export finance is important to be competitive do you agree with this statement. What are the means of short term financing?

Q2. Outline need of export documentation Explain major shipping documents needed in export transaction

Q3. Explain major steps required in custom clearance of export shipment

Q4. What is the role of clearing and forwarding agents in international trade

Q5. Explain in detail major Inco terms used in export transaction

CASE STUDY – I

FEMA ALLOWS DEALERS TO MAKE REMITTANCES FOR GENUINE DEALS

FEMA, the improved version of FERA, which has come into effect from June, does not do away with exchange controls as such.

Nonetheless, it puts an end to the archaic system of sending businessmen and managers to jail for civil offences.

The substitute of financial penalties is better even though the quantum of penalty does not reflect the low national cost of

generating foreign exchange. Welcoming the new Act, Fieo Chief, Navratan Samdria, has said that the new Act recognises the

export contract. There are no artificial limits in the law for agency commission or buyer claims. The actual incidence of these is

left to market forces. Agency commission in the case of rupee trade is, however, not allowed.

The invoice value is no longer sacrosanct; it is a mere reflection of the consignment at the time of drawing upJhe bill. The actual

value of goods is a function of time and place, the actual sale proceeds depend upon the market situation. However, the new

thinking should be reflected in bank procedures and also the mindsets of the customs and DGFT officials. They are fixed to the

invoice values and bank realisation certificates and do not wish to hear anything else.

In the new FEMA rules, business travellers can now avail of. minimum of $5,000 forex with minimum documentation and

paperwork. The limit has been raised from the current level of $3,000.

There is new GR/PP form, which should be used in all export documentation. As of now, the RBI has asked exporters to continue

with the old forms after modifying them for the FEMA undertakings. The new set of GR/PP forms will be provided to exporters

shortly.

On the import side, authorised dealers have been given permission to make remittances for all genuine transactions. In case of

doubts on the authenticity' of the transaction, dealers have the right to refuse to deal with the importers, provided they do so in

writing.

Exceptions to the general permissions for import remittances are under Schedule II and Schedule II! of the FEMA rules, which

cover cases requiring permission from union government as well as situations where monetary ceilings are prescribed.

The important point in exchange control on imports is that RBI approval is required for supplier credit beyond 180 days. For

credit below 180 days, no permission is required and the dealer can straight away send out the amount. Similarly, all cases of

buyer's credit, which means advance payment for the goods in some form or the other, also require a RBI clearance.

The RBI has withdrawn itself from the task of prescribing documents for each transaction. The decision is left to the authorised

dealer who must deal with each situation according to the ground level facts and circumstances. The intention is to control the

transaction on the basis of undertakings and declarations rather than conducting another customs clearance at the banking

stage.

Agriculture trade: The IIFT and the department of agricultural research and cooperation held a daylong meeting of agriculture

experts recently. The well-researched backgrounder from NCAER showed up negative subsidies on most agriculture commodities,

rice led the field at over minus 40 per cent. The state government representatives felt that imports were responsible for

depressed agriculture prices.

Economists said that rise in state minimum support prices and the consequent difficulties in disposing the expensive purchases is

bad for agriculture. Concerns of good security were topmost in the minds of the commerce ministry negotiators. They are looking

for ideal tariff rate, which meets the interests of the Indian producers and consumers without compromising food security.

The commerce ministry is on a transparency spree, the main discussion papers on both the agriculture and services negotiations

at WTO reflecting the tentative position of the" Indian government on the Internet along with other related material.

Anybody can visit the site in the nic.inserver; one click on the commerce button is all that is required to download the material.

Suggestions and views can be sent on the Internet at the Webmaster address. Given the limitations of the negotiations, cogent

reactions will strengthen India's case at the WTO forum. The views will also build the consensus on reform in agriculture.

Furnace Oil. The DCFT notified Rs 780 per tonne as the industry rate of drawback on furnace oil supplied to 100 per cent EOUs

and export processing zones. The measure reimburses the duties suffered by the deemed export on the fast track route. The

brand rate alternative requires verification of the actual duty paid. The DCFT action is especially welcome because the duties

suffered are rarely reimbursed by the export promotion system.

Sodium Cyanide. The revenue department has slapped a stiff anti-dumping duty on sodium cyanide imports. The final duty is Rs

68.025 per kg on all imports from US, EU, Czech Republic and Korea. The 16 per cent countervailing duty to compensate for the

excise duty suffered by domestic goods must also be paid on the anti-dumping duty. In other words, another Rs 10.88 per kg

must be paid as countervailing duty due to the anti-dumping duty of Rs 68.025 per kg. The short paid provisional duties will also

be recovered as the customs shoot the demand letter out.

Questions

1. Does FEMA allows better flexibility of all export and import Transactions .

2. What Role does agriculture trade play in International Trade and Negotiations with WTO.

Indian Foreign Trade

PART - A

Q1. What are the major steps which are announced by India to accelerate export growth rate of the country? Discuss in reference

to EX-IM Policy (2002-2007).

Q2. Describe the major shifts in global trade over the last ten years. What are the implications of these shifts in influencing the

Indian foreign trade?

Q3. What do you understand by capital account transactions? How do these transactions differ from balance of payments on

current account? What are the major items of current accounts .Discuss in reference to current scenario of Indian foreign Trade?

Q4. How India's commitment with WTO does influence its trade policy objectives? Discuss by citing some relevant examples in

support of your answer.

Q5. Explain why governments of developing countries are usually hesitant to undertake trade policy reforms to achieve out-ward

oriented strategies.

PART - B

Q1. Explain the process of Dumping? What are the major dumped items in India over the last few years? What measures can the

government of importing countries take to guard against this process? Discuss.

Q2. What are the various instruments of trade policy? What combination of these instruments would you suggest for a country

aiming at rapid economic growth?

Q3. What are the major exporting items from India? How the destinations of India's exports have changed in last few years?

Discuss.

Q4. What are the major services areas, which are having good export potentials? Cite these and discuss their performance over

the last few years.

Q5. Identify some important goods and services from the point of view of export opportunities in coming years. Discuss, what are

the major steps must be taken by India to accelerate their growth rate?

PART - C

Q1. What are the major areas of infrastructure in Indian Economy, which require Direct Foreign Investment? Discuss.

Q2. Discuss the emerging scenario of joint venture in India. The approach and policy in your opinion is good enough to motivate

companies to enter in to joint venture alliance. Discuss.

Q3. What you mean by "Special Economic Zones"? What are its benefits? Discuss the significance of special economic zones in

making Indian Economy globalised.

Q4. Discuss the roles of various export councils in promoting exports from India.

Q5. Select any five major players of Software - Industry. Discuss their strategies for accelerating the software exports from India.

CASE STUDY - 1

In his famous Report on Manufactures (1791), Alexander Hamilton proposed to encourage the growth of manufacturing by

protecting youthful industries from foreign competition. According to this doctrine, which received the cautious support of freetrade

economists like John Stuart Mill and Alfred Marshall, there are lines of production in which a country could have a

comparative advantage if only they could get started.

Questions:

1. What exactly do you understand by the term 'infant industry'?

2. Analyse the infant industry argument for tariffs. What is its relation to comparative advantage?

3. In this age of liberalization and free trade, does the argument of infant industry protection have any relevance? Is it possible for

the governments to adopt policy measures to support infant industries?

CASE STUDY - 2

WHY NATIONS TRADE

While many countries may be able to clean self-sufficiency from the standpoint of foodstuffs, very few, if any, are able to provide

all the goods necessary for a "modem" standard of living.

Questions:

1. Why Breton Woods conference of 1944 is so important in International Economy?

2. In this era of Globalization how has interdependence between nations increased?

3. Discuss the business opportunities and business challenges in the context of international trade.

International Trade

PART – A

Q1. With the help of examples describe the gains from international trade.

Q2. What are the recent trends in world trade?

Q3. Discuss the reasons for the increase in international trade in developing regions.

Q4. Explain the comparative advantage theory of international trade.

Q5. Briefly describe the mercantilism theory of international trade

PART – B

Q1. Critically examine the Heckscher–Ohlin theory of international trade.

Q2. Explain the non-tariff barriers of international trade.

Q3. Briefly describe Raymond Vernon‘s theory of international product life cycle and international trade.

Q4. What are the benefits and lessons of trade liberalization in India?

Q5. What role is played by MNCs in the host country? Explain with reference to the Indian economy.

PART – C

Q1. What are the benefits of use of letter of credit in international transactions? Explain the steps and parties involved in the

operation of letter of credit.

Q2. What are the reasons for disequilibrium in balance of payments? State the methods to adjust the deficit.

Q3. State the significance for compilation of the balance of payments by a country.

Q4. How does IMF help in promotion of international trade?

Q5. What is the role of SAPTA in promotion of trade in the region?

CASE STUDY – I

New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) is an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, opened in 1984 and

closed in 2010. NUMMI was established at the site of a former GM site that had been closed two years earlier. The factory which

NUMMI took over was built by General Motors (GM) and operated by them from 1962 to 1982. GM and Toyota reopened the

factory as a joint venture in 1984 to manufacture vehicles to be sold under both brands.

Questions

1. Why did Toyota prefer joint venture rather than exporting, to enter US market? What were the reasons for GM to enter into the

joint venture and finally to discontinue it?

2. Why did GM select Fremont, California, automobile manufacturing plant for NUMMI?

3. What are the other modes of entry that Toyota could have selected to enter US market?

CASE STUDY – II

Unfair Protection and Valid Defens

―Mexico Widens Anti-Dumping Measure … Steel at the Core of US-Japan Trade Tensions … Competitors in other Countries Are

Destroying an American Success Story … It must be Stopped‖, scream the headlines around the world. International trade theories

argue that nations should open their doors to trade. Conventional free trade wisdom says that by trading with others, a country

can offer its citizens a greater volume of goods at cheaper prices than it could in the absence of it. Nevertheless, truly free trade

still does not exist because national governments intervene. Despite the efforts of the World Trade organization (WTO) and

smaller group of nations governments seem to be crying foul in the trade game now more than ever before.

Questions

1. WTO cannot punish individual companies for dumping and can only take actions against individual countries. Is this a wise

policy? Why or why not?

2. Why is protectionism on the rise in recent years?

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM /

NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU /

ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL

GARUDA / HIMALAYA / IMT / SMU

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in

www.questionanswers.in

www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 - 09902787224

CASE STUDY ANSWERS

ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS

PROJECT REPORTS AND THESIS

ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM

SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / PSBM / NSBM / ISM / IGNOU / IICT / ISBS / LPU / ISM&RC/ LPU / NMIMS / ISBS / MANIPAL  / GARUDA / HIMALAYA

MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB

DMS - DBM - PGDM - DBM – DBA - PGDM

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

www.casestudysolution.in

www.casestudyanswers.in www.questionanswers.in www.onlineprojectreport.com

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

ARAVIND

09901366442 – 09902787224