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Note: Solve any 4 Cases Study’s
CASE: I Conceptualise and Get Sacked
HSS Ltd. is a leader in high-end textiles having headquarters in Bangalore.
The company records a turnover of Rs 1,000 cr. Plus a year. A year back, HSS set up a unit at Hassan (250 km away from Bangalore) to spin home textiles. The firm hired Maniyam as GM-HR and asked him to operationalise the Hassan unit.
Maniyam has a vision. Being a firm believer in affirmative actions, he plans to reach out to the rural areas and tap the potentials of teenaged girls with plus two educational background. Having completed their 12th standard, these girls are sitting at homes, idling their time, watching TV serials endlessly and probably dreaming about their marriages. Junior colleges are located in their respective villages and it is easy for these girls to get enrolled in them. But degree colleges are not nearby. The nearest degree college is minimum 10 km and no parents dare send their daughters on such long distances and that too for obtaining degrees, which would not guarantee them jobs but could make searching for suitable boys highly difficult.
These are the girls to whom Maniyam wants to reach out. How to go about hiring 1500 people from a large number who can be hired? And Karnataka is a big state with 27 districts. The GM-HR studies the geography of all the 27 districts and zeroes in on nine of them known for backwardness and industriousness.
Maniyam then thinks of the principals of Junior Colleges in all the nine districts as contact persons to identify potential candidates. This route is sure to ensure desirability and authenticity of the candidates. The girls are raw hands. Except the little educational background, they know nothing else. They need to be trained. Maniyam plans to set up a training centre at Hassan with hostel facilities for new hires. He even hires Anil, an MBA from UK, to head the training centre.
All is set. It is bright day in October 2006. MD and the newly hired VP-HR came to Hassan from Bangalore. 50 principals from different parts of the nine districts also came on invitation from Maniyam and Anil. Discussions, involving all, go on upto 2 PM. At that time, MD and VP-HR ask Maniyam to meet them at the guest house to discuss some confidential matter.
In this meeting, Maniyam is told that his style of functioning does not jell with the culture of HSS. He gets the shock of life. He responds on expected by submitting his papers.
Back in his room, Maniyam wonders what has gone wrong. Probably, the VP-HR being the same age as he is, is feeling jealous and insecure since the MD has all appreciation for the concept and the way things are happening. Maniyam does not have regrets. On the contrary he is happy that his concept is being followed though he has been sacked. After all, HSS has already hired 500 girls. With Rs 3,000 plus a month each, these girls and their parents now find it easy to find suitable boys.
Question:
1. What mad the MD change his mind and go against Maniyam? What role might the VP-HR have played in the episode?
2. If you were Maniyam, what would you do?
Attempt Any Four Case Study
CASE – 1 Dabur India Limited: Growing Big and Global
Dabur is among the top five FMCG companies in India and is positioned successfully on the specialist herbal platform. Dabur has proven its expertise in the fields of health care, personal care, homecare and foods.
The company was founded by Dr. S. K. Burman in 1884 as small pharmacy in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. And is now led by his great grandson Vivek C. Burman, who is the Chairman of Dabur India Limited and the senior most representative of the Burman family in the company. The company headquarters are in Ghaziabad, India, near the Indian capital New Delhi, where it is registered. The company has over 12 manufacturing units in India and abroad. The international facilities are located in Nepal, Dubai, Bangladesh, Egypt and Nigeria.
S.K. Burman, the founder of Dabur, was trained as a physician. His mission was to provide effective and affordable cure for ordinary people in far-flung villages. Soon, he started preparing natural remedies based on Ayurved for diseases such as Cholera, Plague and Malaria. Due to his cheap and effective remedies, he became to be known as ‘Daktar’ (Indianised version of ‘doctor’). And that is how his venture Dabur got its name—derived from Daktar Burman.
The company faces stiff competition from many multi national and domestic companies. In the Branded and Packaged Food and Beverages segment major companies that are active include Hindustan Lever, Nestle, Cadbury and Dabur. In case of Ayurvedic medicines and products, the major competitors are Baidyanath, Vicco, Jhandu, Himani and other pharmaceutical companies.
Vision, Mission and Objectives
Vision statement of Dabur says that the company is “dedicated to the health and well being of every household”. The objective is to “significantly accelerate profitable growth by providing comfort to others”. For achieving this objective Dabur aims to:
• Focus on growing core brands across categories, reaching out to new geographies, within and outside India, and improve operational efficiencies by leveraging technology.
• Be the preferred company to meet the health and personal grooming needs of target consumers with safe, efficacious, natural solutions by synthesising deep knowledge of ayurveda and herbs with modern science.
• Be a professionally managed employer of choice, attracting, developing and retaining quality personnel.
• Be responsible citizens with a commitment to environmental protection.
• Provide superior returns, relative to our peer group, to our shareholders.
Chairman of the company
Vivek C. Burman joined Dabur in 1954 after completing his graduation in Business Administration from the USA. In 1986 he was appointed Managing Director of Dabur and in 1998 he took over as Chairman of the Company.
Under Vivek Burman’s leadership, Dabur has grown and evolved as a multi-crore business house with a diverse product portfolio and a marketing network that traverses the whole of India and more than 50 countries across the world. As a strong and positive leader, Vivek C. Burman has motivated employees of Dabur to “do better than their best”—a credo that gives Dabur its status as India’s most trusted nature-based products company.
Leading brands
More than 300 diverse products in the FMCG, Healthcare and Ayurveda segments are in the product line of Dabur. List of products of the company include very successful brands like Vatika, Anmol, Hajmola, Dabur Amla Chyawanprash, Dabur Honey and Lal Dant Manjan with turnover of Rs.100 crores each.
Strategic positioning of Dabur Honey as food product, lead to market leadership with over 40% market share in branded honey market; Dabur Chyawanprash is the largest selling Ayurvedic medicine with over 65% market share. Dabur is a leader in herbal digestives with 90% market share. Hajmola tablets are in command with 75% market share of digestive tablets category. Dabur Lal Tail tops baby massage oil market with 35% of total share.
CHD (Consumer Health Division), dealing with classical Ayurvedic medicines has more than 250 products sold through prescription as well as over the counter. Proprietary Ayurvedic medicines developed by Dabur include Nature Care Isabgol, Madhuvaani and Trifgol.
However, some of the subsidiary units of Dabur have proved to be low margin business; like Dabur Finance Limited. The international units are also operating on low profit margin. The company also produces several “me – too” products. At the same time the company is very popular in the rural segment.
Questions
1. What is the objective of Dabur? Is it profit maximisation or growth maximisation? Discuss.
2. Do you think the growth of Dabur from a small pharmacy to a large multinational company is an indicator of the advantages of joint stock company against proprietorship form? Elaborate.
CASE : 01
COOKING LPG LTD
DETERMINATION OF WORKING CAPTIAL
Introduction
Cooking LPG Ltd, Gurgaon, is a private sector firm dealing in the bottling and supply of domestic LPG for household consumption since 1995. The firm has a network of distributors in the districts of Gurgaon and Faridabad. The bottling plant of the firm is located on National Highway – 8 (New Delhi – Jaipur), approx. 12 kms from Gurgaon. The firm has been consistently performing we.” and plans to expand its market to include the whole National Capital Region.
The production process of the plant consists of receipt of the bulk LPG through tank trucks, storage in tanks, bottling operations and distribution to dealers. During the bottling process, the cylinders are subjected to pressurized filling of LPG followed by quality control and safety checks such as weight, leakage and other defects. The cylinders passing through this process are sealed and dispatched to dealers through trucks. The supply and distribution section of the plant prepares the invoice which goes along with the truck to the distributor.
Statement of the Problem :
Mr. I. M. Smart, DGM(Finance) of the company, was analyzing the financial performance of the company during the current year. The various profitability ratios and parameters of the company indicated a very satisfactory performance. Still, Mr. Smart was not fully content-specially with the management of the working capital by the company. He could recall that during the past year, in spite of stable demand pattern, they had to, time and again, resort to bank overdrafts due to non-availability of cash for making various payments. He is aware that such aberrations in the finances have a cost and adversely affects the performance of the company. However, he was unable to pinpoint the cause of the problem.
He discussed the problem with Mr. U.R. Keenkumar, the new manager (Finance). After critically examining the details, Mr. Keenkumar realized that the working capital was hitherto estimated only as approximation by some rule of thumb without any proper computation based on sound financial policies and, therefore, suggested a reworking of the working capital (WC) requirement. Mr. Smart assigned the task of determination of WC to him.
Profile of Cooking LPG Ltd.
1) Purchases : The company purchases LPG in bulk from various importers ex-Mumbai and Kandla, @ Rs. 11,000 per MT. This is transported to its Bottling Plant at Gurgaon through 15 MT capacity tank trucks (called bullets), hired on annual contract basis. The average transportation cost per bullet ex-either location is Rs. 30,000. Normally, 2 bullets per day are received at the plant. The company make payments for bulk supplies once in a month, resulting in average time-lag of 15 days.
2) Storage and Bottling : The bulk storage capacity at the plant is 150 MT (2 x 75 MT storage tanks) and the plant is capable of filling 30 MT LPG in cylinders per day. The plant operates for 25 days per month on an average. The desired level of inventory at various stages is as under.
• LPG in bulk (tanks and pipeline quantity in the plant) – three days average production / sales.
• Filled Cylinders – 2 days average sales.
• Work-in Process inventory – zero.
3) Marketing : The LPG is supplied by the company in 12 kg cylinders, invoiced @ Rs. 250 per cylinder. The rate of applicable sales tax on the invoice is 4 per cent. A commission of Rs. 15 per cylinder is paid to the distributor on the invoice itself. The filled cylinders are delivered on company’s expense at the distributor’s godown, in exchange of equal number of empty cylinders. The deliveries are made in truck-loads only, the capacity of each truck being 250 cylinders. The distributors are required to pay for deliveries through bank draft. On receipt of the draft, the cylinders are normally dispatched on the same day. However, for every truck purchased on pre-paid basis, the company extends a credit of 7 days to the distributors on one truck-load.
4) Salaries and Wages : The following payments are made :
• Direct labour – Re. 0.75 per cylinder (Bottling expenses) – paid on last day of the month.
• Security agency – Rs. 30,000 per month paid on 10th of subsequent month.
• Administrative staff and managers – Rs. 3.75 lakh per annum, paid on monthly basis on the last working day.
5) Overheads :
• Administrative (staff, car, communication etc) – Rs. 25,000 per month – paid on the 10th of subsequent month.
• Power (including on DG set) – Rs. 1,00,000 per month paid on the 7th Subsequent month.
• Renewal of various licenses (pollution, factory, labour CCE etc.) – Rs. 15,000 per annum paid at the beginning of the year.
• Insurance – Rs. 5,00,000 per annum to be paid at the beginning of the year.
• Housekeeping etc – Rs. 10,000 per month paid on the 10th of the subsequent month.
• Regular maintenance of plant – Rs. 50,000 per month paid on the 10th of every month to the vendors. This includes expenditure on account of lubricants, spares and other stores.
• Regular maintenance of cylinders (statutory testing) – Rs. 5 lakh per annum – paid on monthly basis on the 15th of the subsequent month.
• All transportation charges as per contracts – paid on the 10th subsequent month.
• Sales tax as per applicable rates is deposited on the 7th of the subsequent month.
6) Sales : Average sales are 2,500 cylinders per day during the year. However, during the winter months (December to February), there is an incremental demand of 20 per cent.
7) Average Inventories : The average stocks maintained by the company as per its policy guidelines :
• Consumables (caps, ceiling material, valves etc) – Rs. 2 lakh. This amounts to 15 days consumption.
• Maintenance spares – Rs. 1 lakh
• Lubricants – Rs. 20,000
• Diesel (for DG sets and fire engines) – Rs. 15,000
• Other stores (stationary, safety items) – Rs. 20,000
8) Minimum cash balance including bank balance required is Rs. 5 lakh.
9) Additional Information for Calculating Incremental Working Capital During Winter.
• No increase in any inventories take place except in the inventory of bulk LPG, which increases in the same proportion as the increase of the demand. The actual requirements of LPG for additional supplies are procured under the same terms and conditions from the suppliers.
• The labour cost for additional production is paid at double the rate during wintes.
• No changes in other administrative overheads.
• The expenditure on power consumption during winter increased by 10 per cent. However, during other months the power consumption remains the same as the decrease owing to reduced production is offset by increased consumption on account of compressors /Acs.
• Additional amount of Rs. 3 lakh is kept as cash balance to meet exigencies during winter.
• No change in time schedules for any payables / receivables.
• The storage of finished goods inventory is restricted to a maximum 5,000 cylinders due to statutory requirements.
Suppose you are Mr.Keen Kumar, the new manager. What steps will you take for the growth of Cooking LPG Ltd.?
Case 1: Zip Zap Zoom Car Company
Zip Zap Zoom Company Ltd is into manufacturing cars in the small car (800 cc) segment. It was set up 15 years back and since its establishment it has seen a phenomenal growth in both its market and profitability. Its financial statements are shown in Exhibits 1 and 2 respectively.
The company enjoys the confidence of its shareholders who have been rewarded with growing dividends year after year. Last year, the company had announced 20 per cent dividend, which was the highest in the automobile sector. The company has never defaulted on its loan payments and enjoys a favorable face with its lenders, which include financial institutions, commercial banks and debenture holders.
The competition in the car industry has increased in the past few years and the company foresees further intensification of competition with the entry of several foreign car manufactures many of them being market leaders in their respective countries. The small car segment especially, will witness entry of foreign majors in the near future, with latest technology being offered to the Indian customer. The Zip Zap Zoom’s senior management realizes the need for large scale investment in up gradation of technology and improvement of manufacturing facilities to pre-empt competition.
Whereas on the one hand, the competition in the car industry has been intensifying, on the other hand, there has been a slowdown in the Indian economy, which has not only reduced the demand for cars, but has also led to adoption of price cutting strategies by various car manufactures. The industry indicators predict that the economy is gradually slipping into recession.
Exhibit 1 Balance sheet as at March 31,200 x
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Source of Funds
Share capital 350
Reserves and surplus 250 600
Loans :
Debentures (@ 14%) 50
Institutional borrowing (@ 10%) 100
Commercial loans (@ 12%) 250
Total debt 400
Current liabilities 200
1,200
Application of Funds
Fixed Assets
Gross block 1,000
Less : Depreciation 250
Net block 750
Capital WIP 190
Total Fixed Assets 940
Current assets :
Inventory 200
Sundry debtors 40
Cash and bank balance 10
Other current assets 10
Total current assets 260
-1200
Exhibit 2 Profit and Loss Account for the year ended March 31, 200x
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Sales revenue (80,000 units x Rs. 2,50,000) 2,000.0
Operating expenditure :
Variable cost :
Raw material and manufacturing expenses 1,300.0
Variable overheads 100.0
Total 1,400.0
Fixed cost :
R & D 20.0
Marketing and advertising 25.0
Depreciation 250.0
Personnel 70.0
Total 365.0
Total operating expenditure 1,765.0
Operating profits (EBIT) 235.0
Financial expense :
Interest on debentures 7.7
Interest on institutional borrowings 11.0
Interest on commercial loan 33.0 51.7
Earnings before tax (EBT) 183.3
Tax (@ 35%) 64.2
Earnings after tax (EAT) 119.1
Dividends 70.0
Debt redemption (sinking fund obligation)** 40.0
Contribution to reserves and surplus 9.1
* Includes the cost of inventory and work in process (W.P) which is dependent on demand (sales).
** The loans have to be retired in the next ten years and the firm redeems Rs. 40 crore every year.
The company is faced with the problem of deciding how much to invest in up
gradation of its plans and technology. Capital investment up to a maximum of Rs. 100
crore is required. The problem areas are three-fold.
• The company cannot forgo the capital investment as that could lead to reduction in its market share as technological competence in this industry is a must and customers would shift to manufactures providing latest in car technology.
• The company does not want to issue new equity shares and its retained earning are not enough for such a large investment. Thus, the only option is raising debt.
• The company wants to limit its additional debt to a level that it can service without taking undue risks. With the looming recession and uncertain market conditions, the company perceives that additional fixed obligations could become a cause of financial distress, and thus, wants to determine its additional debt capacity to meet the investment requirements.
Mr. Shortsighted, the company’s Finance Manager, is given the task of determining the additional debt that the firm can raise. He thinks that the firm can raise Rs. 100 crore worth debt and service it even in years of recession. The company can raise debt at 15 per cent from a financial institution. While working out the debt capacity. Mr. Shortsighted takes the following assumptions for the recession years.
a) A maximum of 10 percent reduction in sales volume will take place.
b) A maximum of 6 percent reduction in sales price of cars will take place.
Mr. Shorsighted prepares a projected income statement which is representative of the recession years. While doing so, he determines what he thinks are the “irreducible minimum” expenditures under
recessionary conditions. For him, risk of insolvency is the main concern while designing the capital structure. To support his view, he presents the income statement as shown in Exhibit 3.
Exhibit 3 projected Profit and Loss account
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Sales revenue (72,000 units x Rs. 2,35,000) 1,692.0
Operating expenditure
Variable cost :
Raw material and manufacturing expenses 1,170.0
Variable overheads 90.0
Total 1,260.0
Fixed cost :
R & D ---
Marketing and advertising 15.0
Depreciation 187.5
Personnel 70.0
Total 272.5
Total operating expenditure 1,532.5
EBIT 159.5
Financial expenses :
Interest on existing Debentures 7.0
Interest on existing institutional borrowings 10.0
Interest on commercial loan 30.0
Interest on additional debt 15.0 62.0
EBT 97.5
Tax (@ 35%) 34.1
EAT 63.4
Dividends --
Debt redemption (sinking fund obligation) 50.0*
Contribution to reserves and surplus 13.4
* Rs. 40 crore (existing debt) + Rs. 10 crore (additional debt)
Assumptions of Mr. Shorsighted
• R & D expenditure can be done away with till the economy picks up.
• Marketing and advertising expenditure can be reduced by 40 per cent.
• Keeping in mind the investor confidence that the company enjoys, he feels that the company can forgo paying dividends in the recession period.
He goes with his worked out statement to the Director Finance, Mr. Arthashatra, and advocates raising Rs. 100 crore of debt to finance the intended capital investment. Mr. Arthashatra does not feel comfortable with the statements and calls for the company’s financial analyst, Mr. Longsighted.
Mr. Longsighted carefully analyses Mr. Shortsighted’s assumptions and points out that insolvency should not be the sole criterion while determining the debt capacity of the firm. He points out the following :
• Apart from debt servicing, there are certain expenditures like those on R & D and marketing that need to be continued to ensure the long-term health of the firm.
• Certain management policies like those relating to dividend payout, send out important signals to the investors. The Zip Zap Zoom’s management has been paying regular dividends and discontinuing this practice (even though just for the recession phase) could raise serious doubts in the investor’s mind about the health of the firm. The firm should pay at least 10 per cent dividend in the recession years.
• Mr. Shortsighted has used the accounting profits to determine the amount available each year for servicing the debt obligations. This does not give the true picture. Net cash inflows should be used to determine the amount available for servicing the debt.
• Net Cash inflows are determined by an interplay of many variables and such a simplistic view should not be taken while determining the cash flows in recession. It is not possible to accurately predict the fall in any of the factors such as sales volume, sales price, marketing expenditure and so on. Probability distribution of variation of each of the factors that affect net cash inflow should be analyzed. From this analysis, the probability distribution of variation in net cash inflow should be analysed (the net cash inflows follow a normal probability distribution). This will give a true picture of how the company’s cash flows will behave in recession conditions.
The management recognizes that the alternative suggested by Mr. Longsighted rests on data, which are complex and require expenditure of time and effort to obtain and interpret. Considering the importance of capital structure design, the Finance Director asks Mr. Longsighted to carry out his analysis. Information on the behaviour of cash flows during the recession periods is taken into account.
The methodology undertaken is as follows :
(a) Important factors that affect cash flows (especially contraction of cash flows), like sales volume, sales price, raw materials expenditure, and so on, are identified and the analysis is carried out in terms of cash receipts and cash expenditures.
(b) Each factor’s behaviour (variation behaviour) in adverse conditions in the past is studied and future expectations are combined with past data, to describe limits (maximum favourable), most probable and maximum adverse) for all the factors.
(c) Once this information is generated for all the factors affecting the cash flows, Mr. Longsighted comes up with a range of estimates of the cash flow in future recession periods based on all possible combinations of the several factors. He also estimates the probability of occurrence of each estimate of cash flow.
Assuming a normal distribution of the expected behaviour, the mean expected
value of net cash inflow in adverse conditions came out to be Rs. 220.27 crore with standard deviation of Rs. 110 crore.
Keeping in mind the looming recession and the uncertainty of the recession behaviour, Mr. Arthashastra feels that the firm should factor a risk of cash inadequacy of around 5 per cent even in the most adverse industry conditions. Thus, the firm should take up only that amount of additional debt that it can service 95 per cent of the times, while maintaining cash adequacy.
To maintain an annual dividend of 10 per cent, an additional Rs. 35 crore has to be kept aside. Hence, the expected available net cash inflow is Rs. 185.27 crore (i.e. Rs. 220.27 – Rs. 35 crore)
Question:
Analyse the debt capacity of the company.
Attempt Any Four Case Study
Case Study 1 : Structuring global companies
As the chapter illustrates, to carry out their activities in pursuit of their objectives, virtually all organisations adopt some form of organisational structure. One traditional method of organisation is to group individuals by function or purpose, using a departmental structure to allocate individuals to their specialist areas (e.g. Marketing, HRM and so on ). Another is to group activities by product or service, with each product group normally responsible for providing its own functional requirements. A third is to combine the two in the form of a matrix structure with its vertical and horizontal flows of responsibility and authority, a method of organisation much favoured in university Business Schools.
What of companies with a global reach: how do they usually organise them-
selves?
Writing in the Financial Times in November 2000 Julian Birkinshaw, Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School, identifies four basic models of global company structure:
● The International Division - an arrangement in which the company establishes a
separate division to deal with business outside its own country. The
International Division would typically be concerned with tariff and trade issues,
foreign agents/partners and other aspects involved in selling overseas. Normally
the division does not make anything itself, it is simply responsible for interna-
tional sales. This arrangement tends to be found in medium-sized companies
with limited international sales.
The Global Product Division - a product-based structure with managers responsible
for their product line globally. The company is split into a number of global busi-
nesses arranged by product (or service) and usually overseen by their own
president. It has been a favoured structure among large global companies such as
BP, Siemens and 3M.
● The Area Division - a geographically based structure in which the major line of
authority lies with the country (e.g. Germany) or regional (e.g. Europe) manager who
is responsible for the different product offerings within her/his geographical area.
● The Global Matrix - as the name suggests a hybrid of the two previous structural
types. In the global matrix each business manager reports to two bosses, one
responsible for the global product and one for the country/region. As we indi-
cated in the previous edition of this book, this type of structure tends to come
into and go out of fashion. Ford, for example, adopted a matrix structure in the
later 1990s, while a number of other global companies were either streamlining
or dismantling theirs (e.g. Shell, BP, IBM).
As Professor Birkinshaw indicates, ultimately there is no perfect structure and organisations tend to change their approach over time according to changing circumstances, fads, the perceived needs of the senior executives or the predispositions of powerful individuals. This observation is no less true of universities than it is of traditional businesses.
Case study questions
1. Professor Birkinshaw’s article identifies the advantages and disadvantages of being a global business. What are his major arguments?
2. In your opinion what are likely to be the key factors determining how a global company will organise itself?
Case 2 : Resource prices
As we saw in Chapter 1, resources such as labour, technology and raw materials
constitute inputs into the production process that are utilised by organisations to
produce outputs. Apart from concerns over the quality, quantity and availability of
the different factors of production, businesses are also interested in the issue of
input prices since these represent costs to the organisation which ultimately have
to be met from revenues if the business is to survive. As in any other market, the
prices of economic resources can change over time for a variety of reasons, most, if
not all, of which are outside the direct control of business organisations. Such fluc-
tuations in input prices can be illustrated by the following examples:
● Rising labour costs - e.g. rises in wages or salaries and other labour-related costs
(such as pension contributions or healthcare schemes) that are not offset by
increases in productivity or changes in working practices. Labour costs could rise
for a variety of reasons including skills shortages, demographic pressures, the
introduction of a national minimum wage or workers seeking to maintain their
living standards in an inflationary period.
● Rising raw material costs - e.g. caused by increases in the demand for certain raw
materials and/or shortages (or bottlenecks) in supply. It can also be the result of
the need to switch to more expensive raw material sources because of customer
pressure, environmental considerations or lack of availability.
● Rising energy costs - e.g. caused by demand and/or supply problems as in the oil
market in recent years, with growth in India and China helping to push up
demand and coinciding with supply difficulties linked to events such as the war
in Iraq, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico or decisions by OPEC.
● Increases in the cost of purchasing new technology/capital equipment - e.g.
caused by the need to compete with rivals or to meet more stringent government
regulations in areas such as health and safety or the environment.
As the above examples illustrate, rising input prices can be the result of factors operating at both the micro and macro level and these can range from events which are linked to natural causes to developments of a political, social and/or economic kind. While many of these influences in the business environment are uncontrollable, there are steps business organisations can (and do) often take to address the issue of rising input prices that may threaten their competitiveness. Examples include the following:
● Seeking cheaper sources of labour (e.g. Dyson moved its production of vacuum
cleaners to the Far East).
● Abandoning salary-linked pension schemes or other fringe benefits (e.g. com-
pany cars, healthcare provisions, paid holidays).
● Outsourcing certain activities (e.g. using call centres to handle customer com-
plaints, or outsourcing services such as security, catering, cleaning, payroll, etc.). ● Switching raw materials or energy suppliers (e.g. to take advantage of discounts
by entering into longer agreements to purchase).
● Energy-saving measures (e.g. through better insulation, more regular servicing of
equipment, product and/or process redesign).
● Productivity gains (e.g. introducing incentive schemes).
In addition to measures such as these, some organisations seek cost savings through
divestment of parts of the business or alternatively through merger or takeover
activity. In the former case the aim tends to be to focus on the organisation’s core
products/services and to shed unprofitable and/or costly activities; in the latter the
objective is usually to take advantage of economies of scale, particularly those asso-
ciated with purchasing, marketing, administration and financing the business.
Case study questions
1. If a company is considering switching production to a country where wage costs
are lower, what other factors will it need to take into account before doing so?
2. Will increased environmental standards imposed by government on businesses
inevitably result in higher business costs?
Case 3 : Government and business - friend or foe?
As we have seen, governments intervene in the day-to-day working of the economy
in a variety of ways in the hope of improving the environment in which industrial
and commercial activity takes place. How far they are successful in achieving this
goal is open to question. Businesses, for example, frequently complain of over-
interference by governments and of the burdens imposed upon them by
government legislation and regulation. Ministers, in contrast, tend to stress how
they have helped to create an environment conducive to entrepreneurial activity
through the different policy initiatives and through a supportive legal and fiscal
regime. Who is right?
While there is no simple answer to this question, it is instructive to examine the
different surveys which are regularly undertaken of business attitudes and condi-
tions in different countries. One such survey by the European Commission - and
reported by Andrew Osborn in the Guardian on 20 November 2001 - claimed that
whereas countries such as Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and the Netherlands
tended to be regarded as business-friendly, the United Kingdom was perceived as
the most difficult and complicated country to do business with in the whole of
Europe. Foreign firms evidently claimed that the UK was harder to trade with than
other countries owing to its bureaucratic procedures and its tendency to rigidly
enforce business regulations. EU officials singled out Britain’s complex tax formali-
ties, employment regulations and product conformity rules as particular problems
for foreign companies - criticisms which echo those of the CBI and other represen-
tative bodies who have been complaining of the cost of over-regulation to UK firms
over a considerable number of years.
The news, however, is not all bad. The Competitive Alternatives study (2002) by
KPMG of costs in various cities in the G7 countries, Austria and the Netherlands
indicated that Britain is the second cheapest place in which to do business in the
nine industrial countries (see www.competitivealternatives.com). The survey, which
looked at a range of business costs - especially labour costs and taxation -, placed
the UK second behind Canada world-wide and in first place within Europe. The
country’s strong showing largely reflected its competitive labour costs, with manu-
facturing costs estimated to be 12.5 per cent lower than in Germany and 20 per
cent lower than many other countries in continental Europe. Since firms frequently
use this survey to identify the best places to locate their business, the data on rela-
tive costs are likely to provide the UK with a competitive advantage in the battle for
foreign inward investment (see Mini case, above).
Case study questions
1. How would you account for the difference in perspective between firms who often
complain of government over-interference in business matters and ministers who
claim that they have the interests of business at heart when taking decisions?
2. To what extent do you think that relative costs are the critical factor in determining
inward investment decisions?
CONTACT:
DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com
Note: Solve any 4 Cases Study’s
CASE: I Conceptualise and Get Sacked
HSS Ltd. is a leader in high-end textiles having headquarters in Bangalore.
The company records a turnover of Rs 1,000 cr. Plus a year. A year back, HSS set up a unit at Hassan (250 km away from Bangalore) to spin home textiles. The firm hired Maniyam as GM-HR and asked him to operationalise the Hassan unit.
Maniyam has a vision. Being a firm believer in affirmative actions, he plans to reach out to the rural areas and tap the potentials of teenaged girls with plus two educational background. Having completed their 12th standard, these girls are sitting at homes, idling their time, watching TV serials endlessly and probably dreaming about their marriages. Junior colleges are located in their respective villages and it is easy for these girls to get enrolled in them. But degree colleges are not nearby. The nearest degree college is minimum 10 km and no parents dare send their daughters on such long distances and that too for obtaining degrees, which would not guarantee them jobs but could make searching for suitable boys highly difficult.
These are the girls to whom Maniyam wants to reach out. How to go about hiring 1500 people from a large number who can be hired? And Karnataka is a big state with 27 districts. The GM-HR studies the geography of all the 27 districts and zeroes in on nine of them known for backwardness and industriousness.
Maniyam then thinks of the principals of Junior Colleges in all the nine districts as contact persons to identify potential candidates. This route is sure to ensure desirability and authenticity of the candidates. The girls are raw hands. Except the little educational background, they know nothing else. They need to be trained. Maniyam plans to set up a training centre at Hassan with hostel facilities for new hires. He even hires Anil, an MBA from UK, to head the training centre.
All is set. It is bright day in October 2006. MD and the newly hired VP-HR came to Hassan from Bangalore. 50 principals from different parts of the nine districts also came on invitation from Maniyam and Anil. Discussions, involving all, go on upto 2 PM. At that time, MD and VP-HR ask Maniyam to meet them at the guest house to discuss some confidential matter.
In this meeting, Maniyam is told that his style of functioning does not jell with the culture of HSS. He gets the shock of life. He responds on expected by submitting his papers.
Back in his room, Maniyam wonders what has gone wrong. Probably, the VP-HR being the same age as he is, is feeling jealous and insecure since the MD has all appreciation for the concept and the way things are happening. Maniyam does not have regrets. On the contrary he is happy that his concept is being followed though he has been sacked. After all, HSS has already hired 500 girls. With Rs 3,000 plus a month each, these girls and their parents now find it easy to find suitable boys.
Question:
1. What mad the MD change his mind and go against Maniyam? What role might the VP-HR have played in the episode?
2. If you were Maniyam, what would you do?
Attempt Any Four Case Study
CASE – 1 Dabur India Limited: Growing Big and Global
Dabur is among the top five FMCG companies in India and is positioned successfully on the specialist herbal platform. Dabur has proven its expertise in the fields of health care, personal care, homecare and foods.
The company was founded by Dr. S. K. Burman in 1884 as small pharmacy in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. And is now led by his great grandson Vivek C. Burman, who is the Chairman of Dabur India Limited and the senior most representative of the Burman family in the company. The company headquarters are in Ghaziabad, India, near the Indian capital New Delhi, where it is registered. The company has over 12 manufacturing units in India and abroad. The international facilities are located in Nepal, Dubai, Bangladesh, Egypt and Nigeria.
S.K. Burman, the founder of Dabur, was trained as a physician. His mission was to provide effective and affordable cure for ordinary people in far-flung villages. Soon, he started preparing natural remedies based on Ayurved for diseases such as Cholera, Plague and Malaria. Due to his cheap and effective remedies, he became to be known as ‘Daktar’ (Indianised version of ‘doctor’). And that is how his venture Dabur got its name—derived from Daktar Burman.
The company faces stiff competition from many multi national and domestic companies. In the Branded and Packaged Food and Beverages segment major companies that are active include Hindustan Lever, Nestle, Cadbury and Dabur. In case of Ayurvedic medicines and products, the major competitors are Baidyanath, Vicco, Jhandu, Himani and other pharmaceutical companies.
Vision, Mission and Objectives
Vision statement of Dabur says that the company is “dedicated to the health and well being of every household”. The objective is to “significantly accelerate profitable growth by providing comfort to others”. For achieving this objective Dabur aims to:
• Focus on growing core brands across categories, reaching out to new geographies, within and outside India, and improve operational efficiencies by leveraging technology.
• Be the preferred company to meet the health and personal grooming needs of target consumers with safe, efficacious, natural solutions by synthesising deep knowledge of ayurveda and herbs with modern science.
• Be a professionally managed employer of choice, attracting, developing and retaining quality personnel.
• Be responsible citizens with a commitment to environmental protection.
• Provide superior returns, relative to our peer group, to our shareholders.
Chairman of the company
Vivek C. Burman joined Dabur in 1954 after completing his graduation in Business Administration from the USA. In 1986 he was appointed Managing Director of Dabur and in 1998 he took over as Chairman of the Company.
Under Vivek Burman’s leadership, Dabur has grown and evolved as a multi-crore business house with a diverse product portfolio and a marketing network that traverses the whole of India and more than 50 countries across the world. As a strong and positive leader, Vivek C. Burman has motivated employees of Dabur to “do better than their best”—a credo that gives Dabur its status as India’s most trusted nature-based products company.
Leading brands
More than 300 diverse products in the FMCG, Healthcare and Ayurveda segments are in the product line of Dabur. List of products of the company include very successful brands like Vatika, Anmol, Hajmola, Dabur Amla Chyawanprash, Dabur Honey and Lal Dant Manjan with turnover of Rs.100 crores each.
Strategic positioning of Dabur Honey as food product, lead to market leadership with over 40% market share in branded honey market; Dabur Chyawanprash is the largest selling Ayurvedic medicine with over 65% market share. Dabur is a leader in herbal digestives with 90% market share. Hajmola tablets are in command with 75% market share of digestive tablets category. Dabur Lal Tail tops baby massage oil market with 35% of total share.
CHD (Consumer Health Division), dealing with classical Ayurvedic medicines has more than 250 products sold through prescription as well as over the counter. Proprietary Ayurvedic medicines developed by Dabur include Nature Care Isabgol, Madhuvaani and Trifgol.
However, some of the subsidiary units of Dabur have proved to be low margin business; like Dabur Finance Limited. The international units are also operating on low profit margin. The company also produces several “me – too” products. At the same time the company is very popular in the rural segment.
Questions
1. What is the objective of Dabur? Is it profit maximisation or growth maximisation? Discuss.
2. Do you think the growth of Dabur from a small pharmacy to a large multinational company is an indicator of the advantages of joint stock company against proprietorship form? Elaborate.
CASE : 01
COOKING LPG LTD
DETERMINATION OF WORKING CAPTIAL
Introduction
Cooking LPG Ltd, Gurgaon, is a private sector firm dealing in the bottling and supply of domestic LPG for household consumption since 1995. The firm has a network of distributors in the districts of Gurgaon and Faridabad. The bottling plant of the firm is located on National Highway – 8 (New Delhi – Jaipur), approx. 12 kms from Gurgaon. The firm has been consistently performing we.” and plans to expand its market to include the whole National Capital Region.
The production process of the plant consists of receipt of the bulk LPG through tank trucks, storage in tanks, bottling operations and distribution to dealers. During the bottling process, the cylinders are subjected to pressurized filling of LPG followed by quality control and safety checks such as weight, leakage and other defects. The cylinders passing through this process are sealed and dispatched to dealers through trucks. The supply and distribution section of the plant prepares the invoice which goes along with the truck to the distributor.
Statement of the Problem :
Mr. I. M. Smart, DGM(Finance) of the company, was analyzing the financial performance of the company during the current year. The various profitability ratios and parameters of the company indicated a very satisfactory performance. Still, Mr. Smart was not fully content-specially with the management of the working capital by the company. He could recall that during the past year, in spite of stable demand pattern, they had to, time and again, resort to bank overdrafts due to non-availability of cash for making various payments. He is aware that such aberrations in the finances have a cost and adversely affects the performance of the company. However, he was unable to pinpoint the cause of the problem.
He discussed the problem with Mr. U.R. Keenkumar, the new manager (Finance). After critically examining the details, Mr. Keenkumar realized that the working capital was hitherto estimated only as approximation by some rule of thumb without any proper computation based on sound financial policies and, therefore, suggested a reworking of the working capital (WC) requirement. Mr. Smart assigned the task of determination of WC to him.
Profile of Cooking LPG Ltd.
1) Purchases : The company purchases LPG in bulk from various importers ex-Mumbai and Kandla, @ Rs. 11,000 per MT. This is transported to its Bottling Plant at Gurgaon through 15 MT capacity tank trucks (called bullets), hired on annual contract basis. The average transportation cost per bullet ex-either location is Rs. 30,000. Normally, 2 bullets per day are received at the plant. The company make payments for bulk supplies once in a month, resulting in average time-lag of 15 days.
2) Storage and Bottling : The bulk storage capacity at the plant is 150 MT (2 x 75 MT storage tanks) and the plant is capable of filling 30 MT LPG in cylinders per day. The plant operates for 25 days per month on an average. The desired level of inventory at various stages is as under.
• LPG in bulk (tanks and pipeline quantity in the plant) – three days average production / sales.
• Filled Cylinders – 2 days average sales.
• Work-in Process inventory – zero.
3) Marketing : The LPG is supplied by the company in 12 kg cylinders, invoiced @ Rs. 250 per cylinder. The rate of applicable sales tax on the invoice is 4 per cent. A commission of Rs. 15 per cylinder is paid to the distributor on the invoice itself. The filled cylinders are delivered on company’s expense at the distributor’s godown, in exchange of equal number of empty cylinders. The deliveries are made in truck-loads only, the capacity of each truck being 250 cylinders. The distributors are required to pay for deliveries through bank draft. On receipt of the draft, the cylinders are normally dispatched on the same day. However, for every truck purchased on pre-paid basis, the company extends a credit of 7 days to the distributors on one truck-load.
4) Salaries and Wages : The following payments are made :
• Direct labour – Re. 0.75 per cylinder (Bottling expenses) – paid on last day of the month.
• Security agency – Rs. 30,000 per month paid on 10th of subsequent month.
• Administrative staff and managers – Rs. 3.75 lakh per annum, paid on monthly basis on the last working day.
5) Overheads :
• Administrative (staff, car, communication etc) – Rs. 25,000 per month – paid on the 10th of subsequent month.
• Power (including on DG set) – Rs. 1,00,000 per month paid on the 7th Subsequent month.
• Renewal of various licenses (pollution, factory, labour CCE etc.) – Rs. 15,000 per annum paid at the beginning of the year.
• Insurance – Rs. 5,00,000 per annum to be paid at the beginning of the year.
• Housekeeping etc – Rs. 10,000 per month paid on the 10th of the subsequent month.
• Regular maintenance of plant – Rs. 50,000 per month paid on the 10th of every month to the vendors. This includes expenditure on account of lubricants, spares and other stores.
• Regular maintenance of cylinders (statutory testing) – Rs. 5 lakh per annum – paid on monthly basis on the 15th of the subsequent month.
• All transportation charges as per contracts – paid on the 10th subsequent month.
• Sales tax as per applicable rates is deposited on the 7th of the subsequent month.
6) Sales : Average sales are 2,500 cylinders per day during the year. However, during the winter months (December to February), there is an incremental demand of 20 per cent.
7) Average Inventories : The average stocks maintained by the company as per its policy guidelines :
• Consumables (caps, ceiling material, valves etc) – Rs. 2 lakh. This amounts to 15 days consumption.
• Maintenance spares – Rs. 1 lakh
• Lubricants – Rs. 20,000
• Diesel (for DG sets and fire engines) – Rs. 15,000
• Other stores (stationary, safety items) – Rs. 20,000
8) Minimum cash balance including bank balance required is Rs. 5 lakh.
9) Additional Information for Calculating Incremental Working Capital During Winter.
• No increase in any inventories take place except in the inventory of bulk LPG, which increases in the same proportion as the increase of the demand. The actual requirements of LPG for additional supplies are procured under the same terms and conditions from the suppliers.
• The labour cost for additional production is paid at double the rate during wintes.
• No changes in other administrative overheads.
• The expenditure on power consumption during winter increased by 10 per cent. However, during other months the power consumption remains the same as the decrease owing to reduced production is offset by increased consumption on account of compressors /Acs.
• Additional amount of Rs. 3 lakh is kept as cash balance to meet exigencies during winter.
• No change in time schedules for any payables / receivables.
• The storage of finished goods inventory is restricted to a maximum 5,000 cylinders due to statutory requirements.
Suppose you are Mr.Keen Kumar, the new manager. What steps will you take for the growth of Cooking LPG Ltd.?
Case 1: Zip Zap Zoom Car Company
Zip Zap Zoom Company Ltd is into manufacturing cars in the small car (800 cc) segment. It was set up 15 years back and since its establishment it has seen a phenomenal growth in both its market and profitability. Its financial statements are shown in Exhibits 1 and 2 respectively.
The company enjoys the confidence of its shareholders who have been rewarded with growing dividends year after year. Last year, the company had announced 20 per cent dividend, which was the highest in the automobile sector. The company has never defaulted on its loan payments and enjoys a favorable face with its lenders, which include financial institutions, commercial banks and debenture holders.
The competition in the car industry has increased in the past few years and the company foresees further intensification of competition with the entry of several foreign car manufactures many of them being market leaders in their respective countries. The small car segment especially, will witness entry of foreign majors in the near future, with latest technology being offered to the Indian customer. The Zip Zap Zoom’s senior management realizes the need for large scale investment in up gradation of technology and improvement of manufacturing facilities to pre-empt competition.
Whereas on the one hand, the competition in the car industry has been intensifying, on the other hand, there has been a slowdown in the Indian economy, which has not only reduced the demand for cars, but has also led to adoption of price cutting strategies by various car manufactures. The industry indicators predict that the economy is gradually slipping into recession.
Exhibit 1 Balance sheet as at March 31,200 x
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Source of Funds
Share capital 350
Reserves and surplus 250 600
Loans :
Debentures (@ 14%) 50
Institutional borrowing (@ 10%) 100
Commercial loans (@ 12%) 250
Total debt 400
Current liabilities 200
1,200
Application of Funds
Fixed Assets
Gross block 1,000
Less : Depreciation 250
Net block 750
Capital WIP 190
Total Fixed Assets 940
Current assets :
Inventory 200
Sundry debtors 40
Cash and bank balance 10
Other current assets 10
Total current assets 260
-1200
Exhibit 2 Profit and Loss Account for the year ended March 31, 200x
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Sales revenue (80,000 units x Rs. 2,50,000) 2,000.0
Operating expenditure :
Variable cost :
Raw material and manufacturing expenses 1,300.0
Variable overheads 100.0
Total 1,400.0
Fixed cost :
R & D 20.0
Marketing and advertising 25.0
Depreciation 250.0
Personnel 70.0
Total 365.0
Total operating expenditure 1,765.0
Operating profits (EBIT) 235.0
Financial expense :
Interest on debentures 7.7
Interest on institutional borrowings 11.0
Interest on commercial loan 33.0 51.7
Earnings before tax (EBT) 183.3
Tax (@ 35%) 64.2
Earnings after tax (EAT) 119.1
Dividends 70.0
Debt redemption (sinking fund obligation)** 40.0
Contribution to reserves and surplus 9.1
* Includes the cost of inventory and work in process (W.P) which is dependent on demand (sales).
** The loans have to be retired in the next ten years and the firm redeems Rs. 40 crore every year.
The company is faced with the problem of deciding how much to invest in up
gradation of its plans and technology. Capital investment up to a maximum of Rs. 100
crore is required. The problem areas are three-fold.
• The company cannot forgo the capital investment as that could lead to reduction in its market share as technological competence in this industry is a must and customers would shift to manufactures providing latest in car technology.
• The company does not want to issue new equity shares and its retained earning are not enough for such a large investment. Thus, the only option is raising debt.
• The company wants to limit its additional debt to a level that it can service without taking undue risks. With the looming recession and uncertain market conditions, the company perceives that additional fixed obligations could become a cause of financial distress, and thus, wants to determine its additional debt capacity to meet the investment requirements.
Mr. Shortsighted, the company’s Finance Manager, is given the task of determining the additional debt that the firm can raise. He thinks that the firm can raise Rs. 100 crore worth debt and service it even in years of recession. The company can raise debt at 15 per cent from a financial institution. While working out the debt capacity. Mr. Shortsighted takes the following assumptions for the recession years.
a) A maximum of 10 percent reduction in sales volume will take place.
b) A maximum of 6 percent reduction in sales price of cars will take place.
Mr. Shorsighted prepares a projected income statement which is representative of the recession years. While doing so, he determines what he thinks are the “irreducible minimum” expenditures under
recessionary conditions. For him, risk of insolvency is the main concern while designing the capital structure. To support his view, he presents the income statement as shown in Exhibit 3.
Exhibit 3 projected Profit and Loss account
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Sales revenue (72,000 units x Rs. 2,35,000) 1,692.0
Operating expenditure
Variable cost :
Raw material and manufacturing expenses 1,170.0
Variable overheads 90.0
Total 1,260.0
Fixed cost :
R & D ---
Marketing and advertising 15.0
Depreciation 187.5
Personnel 70.0
Total 272.5
Total operating expenditure 1,532.5
EBIT 159.5
Financial expenses :
Interest on existing Debentures 7.0
Interest on existing institutional borrowings 10.0
Interest on commercial loan 30.0
Interest on additional debt 15.0 62.0
EBT 97.5
Tax (@ 35%) 34.1
EAT 63.4
Dividends --
Debt redemption (sinking fund obligation) 50.0*
Contribution to reserves and surplus 13.4
* Rs. 40 crore (existing debt) + Rs. 10 crore (additional debt)
Assumptions of Mr. Shorsighted
• R & D expenditure can be done away with till the economy picks up.
• Marketing and advertising expenditure can be reduced by 40 per cent.
• Keeping in mind the investor confidence that the company enjoys, he feels that the company can forgo paying dividends in the recession period.
He goes with his worked out statement to the Director Finance, Mr. Arthashatra, and advocates raising Rs. 100 crore of debt to finance the intended capital investment. Mr. Arthashatra does not feel comfortable with the statements and calls for the company’s financial analyst, Mr. Longsighted.
Mr. Longsighted carefully analyses Mr. Shortsighted’s assumptions and points out that insolvency should not be the sole criterion while determining the debt capacity of the firm. He points out the following :
• Apart from debt servicing, there are certain expenditures like those on R & D and marketing that need to be continued to ensure the long-term health of the firm.
• Certain management policies like those relating to dividend payout, send out important signals to the investors. The Zip Zap Zoom’s management has been paying regular dividends and discontinuing this practice (even though just for the recession phase) could raise serious doubts in the investor’s mind about the health of the firm. The firm should pay at least 10 per cent dividend in the recession years.
• Mr. Shortsighted has used the accounting profits to determine the amount available each year for servicing the debt obligations. This does not give the true picture. Net cash inflows should be used to determine the amount available for servicing the debt.
• Net Cash inflows are determined by an interplay of many variables and such a simplistic view should not be taken while determining the cash flows in recession. It is not possible to accurately predict the fall in any of the factors such as sales volume, sales price, marketing expenditure and so on. Probability distribution of variation of each of the factors that affect net cash inflow should be analyzed. From this analysis, the probability distribution of variation in net cash inflow should be analysed (the net cash inflows follow a normal probability distribution). This will give a true picture of how the company’s cash flows will behave in recession conditions.
The management recognizes that the alternative suggested by Mr. Longsighted rests on data, which are complex and require expenditure of time and effort to obtain and interpret. Considering the importance of capital structure design, the Finance Director asks Mr. Longsighted to carry out his analysis. Information on the behaviour of cash flows during the recession periods is taken into account.
The methodology undertaken is as follows :
(a) Important factors that affect cash flows (especially contraction of cash flows), like sales volume, sales price, raw materials expenditure, and so on, are identified and the analysis is carried out in terms of cash receipts and cash expenditures.
(b) Each factor’s behaviour (variation behaviour) in adverse conditions in the past is studied and future expectations are combined with past data, to describe limits (maximum favourable), most probable and maximum adverse) for all the factors.
(c) Once this information is generated for all the factors affecting the cash flows, Mr. Longsighted comes up with a range of estimates of the cash flow in future recession periods based on all possible combinations of the several factors. He also estimates the probability of occurrence of each estimate of cash flow.
Assuming a normal distribution of the expected behaviour, the mean expected
value of net cash inflow in adverse conditions came out to be Rs. 220.27 crore with standard deviation of Rs. 110 crore.
Keeping in mind the looming recession and the uncertainty of the recession behaviour, Mr. Arthashastra feels that the firm should factor a risk of cash inadequacy of around 5 per cent even in the most adverse industry conditions. Thus, the firm should take up only that amount of additional debt that it can service 95 per cent of the times, while maintaining cash adequacy.
To maintain an annual dividend of 10 per cent, an additional Rs. 35 crore has to be kept aside. Hence, the expected available net cash inflow is Rs. 185.27 crore (i.e. Rs. 220.27 – Rs. 35 crore)
Question:
Analyse the debt capacity of the company.
Attempt Any Four Case Study
Case Study 1 : Structuring global companies
As the chapter illustrates, to carry out their activities in pursuit of their objectives, virtually all organisations adopt some form of organisational structure. One traditional method of organisation is to group individuals by function or purpose, using a departmental structure to allocate individuals to their specialist areas (e.g. Marketing, HRM and so on ). Another is to group activities by product or service, with each product group normally responsible for providing its own functional requirements. A third is to combine the two in the form of a matrix structure with its vertical and horizontal flows of responsibility and authority, a method of organisation much favoured in university Business Schools.
What of companies with a global reach: how do they usually organise them-
selves?
Writing in the Financial Times in November 2000 Julian Birkinshaw, Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School, identifies four basic models of global company structure:
● The International Division - an arrangement in which the company establishes a
separate division to deal with business outside its own country. The
International Division would typically be concerned with tariff and trade issues,
foreign agents/partners and other aspects involved in selling overseas. Normally
the division does not make anything itself, it is simply responsible for interna-
tional sales. This arrangement tends to be found in medium-sized companies
with limited international sales.
The Global Product Division - a product-based structure with managers responsible
for their product line globally. The company is split into a number of global busi-
nesses arranged by product (or service) and usually overseen by their own
president. It has been a favoured structure among large global companies such as
BP, Siemens and 3M.
● The Area Division - a geographically based structure in which the major line of
authority lies with the country (e.g. Germany) or regional (e.g. Europe) manager who
is responsible for the different product offerings within her/his geographical area.
● The Global Matrix - as the name suggests a hybrid of the two previous structural
types. In the global matrix each business manager reports to two bosses, one
responsible for the global product and one for the country/region. As we indi-
cated in the previous edition of this book, this type of structure tends to come
into and go out of fashion. Ford, for example, adopted a matrix structure in the
later 1990s, while a number of other global companies were either streamlining
or dismantling theirs (e.g. Shell, BP, IBM).
As Professor Birkinshaw indicates, ultimately there is no perfect structure and organisations tend to change their approach over time according to changing circumstances, fads, the perceived needs of the senior executives or the predispositions of powerful individuals. This observation is no less true of universities than it is of traditional businesses.
Case study questions
1. Professor Birkinshaw’s article identifies the advantages and disadvantages of being a global business. What are his major arguments?
2. In your opinion what are likely to be the key factors determining how a global company will organise itself?
Case 2 : Resource prices
As we saw in Chapter 1, resources such as labour, technology and raw materials
constitute inputs into the production process that are utilised by organisations to
produce outputs. Apart from concerns over the quality, quantity and availability of
the different factors of production, businesses are also interested in the issue of
input prices since these represent costs to the organisation which ultimately have
to be met from revenues if the business is to survive. As in any other market, the
prices of economic resources can change over time for a variety of reasons, most, if
not all, of which are outside the direct control of business organisations. Such fluc-
tuations in input prices can be illustrated by the following examples:
● Rising labour costs - e.g. rises in wages or salaries and other labour-related costs
(such as pension contributions or healthcare schemes) that are not offset by
increases in productivity or changes in working practices. Labour costs could rise
for a variety of reasons including skills shortages, demographic pressures, the
introduction of a national minimum wage or workers seeking to maintain their
living standards in an inflationary period.
● Rising raw material costs - e.g. caused by increases in the demand for certain raw
materials and/or shortages (or bottlenecks) in supply. It can also be the result of
the need to switch to more expensive raw material sources because of customer
pressure, environmental considerations or lack of availability.
● Rising energy costs - e.g. caused by demand and/or supply problems as in the oil
market in recent years, with growth in India and China helping to push up
demand and coinciding with supply difficulties linked to events such as the war
in Iraq, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico or decisions by OPEC.
● Increases in the cost of purchasing new technology/capital equipment - e.g.
caused by the need to compete with rivals or to meet more stringent government
regulations in areas such as health and safety or the environment.
As the above examples illustrate, rising input prices can be the result of factors operating at both the micro and macro level and these can range from events which are linked to natural causes to developments of a political, social and/or economic kind. While many of these influences in the business environment are uncontrollable, there are steps business organisations can (and do) often take to address the issue of rising input prices that may threaten their competitiveness. Examples include the following:
● Seeking cheaper sources of labour (e.g. Dyson moved its production of vacuum
cleaners to the Far East).
● Abandoning salary-linked pension schemes or other fringe benefits (e.g. com-
pany cars, healthcare provisions, paid holidays).
● Outsourcing certain activities (e.g. using call centres to handle customer com-
plaints, or outsourcing services such as security, catering, cleaning, payroll, etc.). ● Switching raw materials or energy suppliers (e.g. to take advantage of discounts
by entering into longer agreements to purchase).
● Energy-saving measures (e.g. through better insulation, more regular servicing of
equipment, product and/or process redesign).
● Productivity gains (e.g. introducing incentive schemes).
In addition to measures such as these, some organisations seek cost savings through
divestment of parts of the business or alternatively through merger or takeover
activity. In the former case the aim tends to be to focus on the organisation’s core
products/services and to shed unprofitable and/or costly activities; in the latter the
objective is usually to take advantage of economies of scale, particularly those asso-
ciated with purchasing, marketing, administration and financing the business.
Case study questions
1. If a company is considering switching production to a country where wage costs
are lower, what other factors will it need to take into account before doing so?
2. Will increased environmental standards imposed by government on businesses
inevitably result in higher business costs?
Case 3 : Government and business - friend or foe?
As we have seen, governments intervene in the day-to-day working of the economy
in a variety of ways in the hope of improving the environment in which industrial
and commercial activity takes place. How far they are successful in achieving this
goal is open to question. Businesses, for example, frequently complain of over-
interference by governments and of the burdens imposed upon them by
government legislation and regulation. Ministers, in contrast, tend to stress how
they have helped to create an environment conducive to entrepreneurial activity
through the different policy initiatives and through a supportive legal and fiscal
regime. Who is right?
While there is no simple answer to this question, it is instructive to examine the
different surveys which are regularly undertaken of business attitudes and condi-
tions in different countries. One such survey by the European Commission - and
reported by Andrew Osborn in the Guardian on 20 November 2001 - claimed that
whereas countries such as Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and the Netherlands
tended to be regarded as business-friendly, the United Kingdom was perceived as
the most difficult and complicated country to do business with in the whole of
Europe. Foreign firms evidently claimed that the UK was harder to trade with than
other countries owing to its bureaucratic procedures and its tendency to rigidly
enforce business regulations. EU officials singled out Britain’s complex tax formali-
ties, employment regulations and product conformity rules as particular problems
for foreign companies - criticisms which echo those of the CBI and other represen-
tative bodies who have been complaining of the cost of over-regulation to UK firms
over a considerable number of years.
The news, however, is not all bad. The Competitive Alternatives study (2002) by
KPMG of costs in various cities in the G7 countries, Austria and the Netherlands
indicated that Britain is the second cheapest place in which to do business in the
nine industrial countries (see www.competitivealternatives.com). The survey, which
looked at a range of business costs - especially labour costs and taxation -, placed
the UK second behind Canada world-wide and in first place within Europe. The
country’s strong showing largely reflected its competitive labour costs, with manu-
facturing costs estimated to be 12.5 per cent lower than in Germany and 20 per
cent lower than many other countries in continental Europe. Since firms frequently
use this survey to identify the best places to locate their business, the data on rela-
tive costs are likely to provide the UK with a competitive advantage in the battle for
foreign inward investment (see Mini case, above).
Case study questions
1. How would you account for the difference in perspective between firms who often
complain of government over-interference in business matters and ministers who
claim that they have the interests of business at heart when taking decisions?
2. To what extent do you think that relative costs are the critical factor in determining
inward investment decisions?
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