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Xaviers Institute
of Business Management Studies
MARKS : 80
SUB: Marketing Management
N. B. : 1) Attempt all Four
Case studies
2) All questions carry equal marks.
Case
study 1
Case Study on
Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning
Profiles
Group is a leading interior decorator and designer in the country. Mr. Neerav
Gupta, one of the partners in the group has invested a good amount of money in
the business. The other two partners namely Mr. Pratham Gupta who is a distant
cousin of Neerav and Mr. Dev Suri are mainly into managing the firm’s country wide operations. Mr.
Stanley Pereira, who is more of a sleeping partner, looks after the
administrative and financial aspects of the firm.
Profiles
Group has around 44 service centers in the country including state capitals and
several developing cities. Since the firm’s inception in 1998, its progress
has been unstoppable. The clients include many reputed companies, hotel chains,
popular celebrities and even hospitals and commercial banks.
A
brief background of the Partners:
Neerav
Gupta had a family owned business that was into manufacturing wooden furniture
but Neerav‟s interest was more
into decorating. So, after completing a Master’s course in interior designing
from a reputed college abroad, he decided to start his own interior design
services. Meanwhile, the furniture manufacturing business was handed over to
Pratham Gupta due to property and family settlement issues. But, Pratham
decided to join Neerav and they both started a partnership firm.
Dev
Suri, a friend of Neerav who had been living abroad, sold out his real estate
business and had decided to settle on the Indian soil itself. He offered help
by providing additional capital and his knowledge of real estates did help the
firm although in a small way. Stanley Pereira, an experienced teacher and
consultant, had worked previously in leading interior designing colleges and
was instrumental in making required changes in syllabus structure and interior
designing courses. He has also written many books and articles on the topic. He
had retired early due to family commitments but landed up in Profiles Group as
a Partner through mutual contacts.
The
conversation:
All
the four partners are comfortably sitting face to face on a peach colored
cushioned sofa which is situated near the window corner inside Neerav’s well-structured office.
Pratham
Gupta feels that since their firm has invested large funds, they must enter into
more market segments especially the smaller ones. And, regarding this issue, a
professional conversation takes place among the partners. The talks are as
follows:
Pratham:
“So, what do you think about expanding our market segments to smaller more ordinary
markets?”
Pratham:
“Listen guys, right now, we have 44 centers and competent people to work under
us, but when we see our customer base, it looks small and limited. What I mean
to say is that we also need to have those individual household customers who
are looking for service expertise in this field. Most household customers don’t get the necessary information
as to how to go about the interiors or how to decorate their home/offices etc.”
Neerav:
“I agree with your points Pratham, but don‟t you think if we have to reach
the smaller segments of the market, we need a different approach to cater to
their needs. We would have to advertise and communicate to these segments in a customised
way. This will increase the promotion budget and our focus on the existing
customers may be compromised.” Dev: “I think we need to get a balance here.
Pratham‟s points are valid
enough and it will make Profiles group more productive. If need be, we may have
to take help of a service consultancy in order to penetrate deeper markets.”
Pratham:
“What is that problem you are talking about, Stanley
Neerav:
“I do understand that point... But, that’s always the case in our
business. Interior decorations and designs are usually considered one-time
expenditure by household customers.... and as a matter of fact, that has not
affected the way we do our business or on our returns.”
Pratham:
“See, even otherwise it should not affect our firm because individual customer
segments are willing to pay or spend on interiors. If they need a good,
comfortable home along with a neat set of furniture then why don’t we cater to that need, even if
it’s a one time demand
from a particular customer? This is exactly what I meant earlier when I said,
given the expertise we have, why don’t we use it to expand
our customer base? Of course, we may have to develop suitable pricing
strategies, promotion strategies for these market segments which is according
to me, not a big thing to do.”
Dev:
“Let’s first consult with
our marketing hero and ask their opinion or suggestions as well”
Dev
takes out his cell phone to dial Mr. Sunil’s number and he immediately gets
the connection. Sunil is the head of the marketing section and he is very
efficient in his job. He also has an acceptable humour quotient. Dev asks Sunil
to come over to Neerav’s office.
Sunil
enters the office:
Sunil:
“What’s up, Bosses?”
Dev
gives a brief explanation to Sunil about the potential market.
Sunil:
“that’s a welcome sign
actually... we have the necessary resources and we are available to any customer
at any given point... So, I think it‟s a good idea that we
update our customer profiles also... Only thing is we have to make sure we are
targeting and positioning our customer segment in the way they feel comfortable
to approach us...”
Pratham:
“Nicely said Sunil... You are our man in this task.... We rely on you to make
our markets bigger and customer segments broader...”
Sunil:
“Always thinking in the interests of Profiles Group, Mr. Gupta... Not to
worry... You tell me the confirmed plans and leave the execution on me...”
Neerav:
“Well, what can I say? If we are sure about managing the newer segments which
is existing out there, then our work is just to target them and position our
product as per the given requirements”
Dev:
“There is one important suggestion I would like to present here.... We need to
ensure that we properly differentiate our existing customers from the newer
ones so that we are not overriding one another or our customers don’t feel compromised at any point.”
Sunil:
“Me too... Mr. Suri has stated an absolute theory... But, it’s not that we can’t take the benefits from the two
and use it for our purpose... Somewhere, we can link the newer segments with
the existing ones and gradually Profiles Group will mean the same to every one.
That is however applicable in the long term... For now, we need to attend our
customer base on a one-to-one basis... So, we do it slow and steady”
Neerav:
“Sunil, I don’t understand, but
whenever you speak you visualize the big picture as well... I admire your
quality and also that you are very loyal to Profiles Group”
Sunil:
“Anytime Mr. Gupta, I am at your service....Just give the command and it will
be done”
All
of them laugh at that comment and decide to have an official meeting regarding
the Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning strategies for the potential market.
Within a month, the scheduled meeting is done with the involvement of key
people and various points are noted down for implementation.
The
marketing team after a brainstorming session also comes up with a collective
idea about introducing Re-decorating and re-designing to be offered as a
part of Profile’s group’s services. This meant that
clients or customers can think about re-designing or re-decorating their
homes/offices with the already available possessions and existing furniture.
This also meant less cost to the clients. This idea was taken up seriously and
plans to implement such services were already underway.
The
Progress:
The
next six months in the Profiles Group has made everyone busy with different
tasks and agendas to be accomplished. Sunil is the busiest person around and he
is actively engaged in marketing activities related to the targeting and
positioning of their product to the new customer base.
Very
soon, the results are noticeable in the Profiles Group. After a considerable
amount of planning and hard work, the subsequent months showed positive results
as given below:
The markets are segmented based
on the income level of the household customers
Their needs, wants and demands
are analyzed
These markets are targeted
based on their desire, willingness and capabilities to attain the required
interiors and furnishings.
Sunil headed a separate section
namely Re-designing and Re-decorating Services at the firm’s main office. Sunil was
immediately involved in making special centers for Re-designing and
re-decorating services in different parts of the country.
Marketing section was taken
over by a competent person - Ms. Sneha Agarwal who has over 8 years of
experience in interior designing. She was chosen on the recommendation of
Stanley Pereira as Sneha had been a merit student previously and Stanley
Neerav had even managed to get
some MNC‟s as the firm’s clients.
Positioning of Profiles Group’s product and services was done
in three ways –
For the already existing
customer base which include the corporate and business houses, film industry
and celebrities and other big units who spend huge amounts on the interior
decorations.
For the newer segments also
termed as the individual household segments who have limited spending abilities
but have a desire for elegant interiors at reasonable rates.
For the collective market –
re-design and re-decor services were offered.
The structure of the firm’s web-site was made more
user-friendly and included several videos showing how proper layout and
interiors increased efficiency, easy movement, allowed more lighting and
ventilation and created a feeling of well-being and comfort.
A CD was also launched which included these videos and the necessary
information of the Profile’s firm with the
contact addresses and numbers. The CD also included interview with certain
well-known clients who were highly satisfied with the firm’s services. This established
trust and good communication in the market.
Soon enough, the firm launches
into environmental friendly interiors and develops „Go Green‟ initiatives that uses more
re-cycled and renewable substances.
There was a plan to begin annual contests and games which involved household
customer segments to give their ideas or suggestions for a well laid out
interiors using eco-friendly materials and “Go-Green‟ initiatives.
The
Partners and the interview:
It’s been two years now since
Profile’s Group had moved into
individual household segments.
All
four partners are seated on the sofa inside Neerav‟s office except this time the
sofa is of cream shade and a press reporter namely Namitha Goel is sitting on a
single sofa across them. Namitha Goel had scheduled this interview and later
will be published in the “Living Designs”, a new monthly magazine that
deals with interiors. She begins with a direct question to Neerav –
Namitha:
“Mr. Neerav Gupta, do you think the reason for the substantial increase in your
customer base is due to the Redesign and re-decoration services?
Neerav:
“Well, to a considerable extent, I believe it is so. Re-design is not about my
taste or your taste. It’s about working with
what the client owns and making them happy. Most people are good in
re-arranging their stuff but they don’t have time or energy
to do it. So, we offer them this assistance.”
Namitha:
“How come you got this thought about making these household segments as your
customers? I mean, your firm is associated with the influential clientele base
and considering that, why did you feel that these household segments would
prove to be a lucrative market for you?”
Neerav:
“The entire credit for making individual household segments as our customers
goes to my business partners here, my workforce and their efforts. Around two
and a half years back, we had just got into a conversation in this very same
office and Pratham suggested about tapping these markets with our available
resources. Let me clarify that we decided to target this segment not for
profits but we felt they too would benefit from our expertise in this field.”
Namitha:
“According to the market survey, it seems that there is no close competitor for
you in this business. So, your firm stands at the top like it’s been from a long time. What do
you say in this matter?”
Neerav
is about to answer but his cell phone rings and he attends to it quickly.
Neerav:
“Excuse me, Ms. Namitha.., I have urgent business call that can’t wait..., Carry on with your
questions and my team mates will answer. I have to go now.” He addresses his
partners and leaves the office in a hurry.
The
interview proceeds and remaining partners contribute their views. The interview
takes another 45 minutes and Namitha Goel is satisfied with her work as a press
reporter. She leaves the Profile’s Group office with a
sense of achievement.
The
next month’s issue of “Living
Designs” carries
the cover story of the Profiles Group with the partners‟ exclusive interview placed in
the shaded column of the magazine pages.
Questions: 1 Examine the progress of Profile’s Group as a leading interior
designer and decorator.
Questions: 2 What kind
of change was observed in the STP strategy of the firm and how was it useful?
Questions: 3 Evaluate the working of Profile’s group with respect to the
Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning of markets. Do you have any suggestions
for the firm?
Case
study 2
Determining the
Marketing 4 P’s
Any
business organization in order to be successful needs to have a clear picture
about the 4 P’s of marketing. This forms the basis on which business
functioning takes place. What are these 4 P’s and why are they important? Let’s
assume that we are interested to start up a small business enterprise and for
that we have the necessary capital, skills and people. And now, since we are in
the initial stage of enterprise formation, we need to answer the previous
question.
Marketing
mix comprises of the four basic elements or components which are termed
together as 4 P’s of marketing. They are:
Product:
what is it that we have to offer to the market? What can it include? In what
ways can it be modified, changed, expanded, diversified etc.? Will our products
be accepted in the market? If not, how do we create a market for our products?
Price:
at what value should the products be offered in the market? What should be the
returns? Will it be worth to the buyers? What variations, differences and
strategies can we adopt in order to earn a fair margin and also gain customer
satisfaction?
Place:
where must be our products available? How soon it’s demanded in the market? How
quick we can deliver it to the consumption points? Who do we need to involve in
the distribution of our products? How much will they charge for their services?
Promotion:
why do we need to promote our products? Will people be aware of our products if
we don’t do any promotion? If we need to promote our products, what kind of
message we should convey to the market? In what ways and methods we can carry
out the promotion?
Unless
we know the answers to the above questions, we cannot make our business
function. Therefore, after considering the strengths and weakness of our likely
enterprise and studying the market opportunities, we decide to manufacture wax
crayons.
The
main reason behind this decision is –
1. We can come up with an
effective 4 P’s either by marketing the crayons ourselves and if not, we can
take orders by being the suppliers to our clients.
2. We know that our market mainly
comprises of educational institutions, drawing and painting classes/centers,
artistes, even big companies use crayons extensively.
3. We realize the potential of
wax crayons as we can offer variety in sizes, quality, colors, price ranges,
wholesale and retail prices etc. We can even venture into related areas such as
wax artic rafts, wax candles, oil colors, paint etc.
4. We can have direct contact
with our clients and in the long term we can even engage an agency to market
the crayons.
5.
We know that promotion strategies can be based on the type of our customer
segment and we could easily do it through advertising on Television,
newspapers, children’s comics, notebooks, school notice boards, etc. We can
even sponsor or conduct drawing competitions, art exhibitions or we can have
contractual agreements with the stationery outlets, art schools etc. However,
we are still apprehensive about our marketing mix. We are yet to confirm about
our marketing mix and until then we are unable to finalize on our decisions or
start with the implementation process.
Question
1.How will you determine the marketing mix for our enterprise?
Question
2.Do you have any ideas to make our enterprise successful particularly by
enhancing or improving the marketing mix?
Question
3.What do you think will be the challenges in making an effective marketing mix
since our enterprise is a new one?
Case
study 3
Good Publicity
vs. Bad Publicity
Roger Twain walked as usual with a pleasant aura and
at a leisurely pace to his office. Roger is a PR Manager in one of the top FMCG
companies of the world. His office along with the PR staff was recently shifted
from sixth floor to the second floor of the building. The reason was simple
enough. Top management did not want external parties to wander around the whole
building in the excuse of meeting PR staff or the PR manager. Roger Twain in
fact, welcomed this shift and was glad that he didn’t have to wait for the lift
as he could now very well use the staircase. Roger has around 15 years of
experience in PR and handling Publicity related issues. He had worked with
several companies as well as non-business organisations and institutes.
Roger currently in his 53rd year has achieved lot of
success in his career as a professional expert in the field of PR and Publicity
handling. Although his plans to start his own PR Consultancy firm didn’t work
out the way he wanted, he was actively involved in several worldwide workshops,
seminars and presentations. He even wrote articles on PR strategies and
published some books on PR. Roger’s ideologies as a PR professional was –
“No News is not
good news… You have to be in the news – good or bad. And, the objective should
be to convert bad news
into good news.”
“You cannot
create bad news about your company. At the same time, you cannot create a good
one. You can only communicate it in good or bad way.”
“PR is about
being in the news – time and date don’t matter much.”
“It’s not about
being right or wrong – it’s about being clear and sticking to the truth and
using it positively.”
“Everyone has a
right to express… But, a PR person should consider it as a righteous Duty”
“Your Company can show only performance. PR has
to talk about it.”
A few of his career achievements in the different
organizations that he worked for are as follows:
Problem Situation 1: Some of the cosmetic
products of Jasper Ltd. were selling in the market beyond its expiry
date. A media report exposed and presented this story to the public that Jasper
Ltd. was desperate to increase its sales and did not consider consumers’
interests or their well-being. This led to decrease in sales volume even in the
other product categories of the company. Due to incorrect operations of some
channel members and retail outlets, old stock was sold to the consumers after
the expiry dates. The outcome was Jasper Ltd.’s low profit margins.
Challenge: Roger’s challenge was
to make consumers more aware and responsible while purchasing the company’s
products without ruining the distribution channel relations and at the same
time making the company socially responsible.
Solution: Roger suggested to the
advertising department to create a public awareness ad regarding the importance
of checking product expiry dates before buying. He advised the management to
take back old stock from the retail outlets and distributors by offering a
reasonable price and also prescribing the time limit within which those
products should reach the company. Roger’s view was that distributors will
mostly see their benefit and continue to sell the old stock. If they sell it
back to the company itself for a price, they would definitely make an effort to
get the new stock and sell those to the consumers. Roger’s logic was “it is
better to spend some money on getting back the old stock than let it sell in
the market at the risk of company’s reputation.” Meanwhile, consumers will
also be aware about expiry dates of cosmetics when they buy it.
Problem situation 2: Acorn Seeds
Company’s assistant
finance manager was involved in some fraudulent activity and was accused of
misappropriation of funds. This news became public and soon enough, company’s
investors and stakeholders began to question the integrity and trustworthiness
of the company. Company found it difficult to convince people that one person’s
immoral intentions does not mean that everyone in the company is beyond trust
and moral obligations. Furthermore, company’s products and services got
severely affected and consumers started opting for competing products. There
was bad publicity all around. Sales declined and situation got worse when
finance manager unable to handle pressure resigned. Even though finance manager
was not involved with his assistant, he was linked with him and given a bad
treatment from outsiders even including some of the employees. Media
accelerated this issue and created more hype than was necessary.
Challenge: Roger’s challenges in
this situation was handling bad press, dealing with media people with patience
and uplift the company’s integrity with good reputation. He also needed to make
the financial department integrated with other departments and boost the
employee morale. At the same time he had to take care that company’s products
do not suffer in the situation.
Solution: Roger suggested to the
top management to issue a public message in the newspapers/magazines and also
at the end of the Company’s product ads on TV. The message was - “We value
your trust in us as you value our commitment towards you.” Roger’s view was
that once the fraud was committed and was out in the open, there was nothing
much to be done but to move on accepting that such incident occurred and will
not happen again. Roger also advised for just one press conference regarding
this issue to put an end to this matter. The assistant finance manager had
confessed and was told to resign instead of being fired. Soon enough, people
forgave and forgot this issue, sales improved and company was on the track once
again.
Problem Situation 3: One of the women’s
facial creams produced by Jasper Ltd. was severely criticised by media
and women. The belief was that the product contained acidic substance causing
harmful chemical reactions on the skin. This belief was created when some women
claimed that their skin discoloured/scalded after using this facial cream.
Media reports provided some facts related to the product that made women who
were using this cream more alert. As a result sales dropped drastically.
Challenge: First of all, Roger
had to study the product and know its constituents. Secondly, he discussed with
product research team as to why such claims could be targeted towards the
product. Next, he had to face the media and women consumers addressing the
claims and product’s safety.
Solution: Roger collected those
facts provided in the media reports and sent them for verification with the
skin specialists, research team and for laboratory testing. It was verified and
proved that facts provided were immaterial in causing damaged skin. It was also
proved that the cream contained no acidic substance or any sort of harmful
chemical. Secondly, those women who claimed skin damage were questioned about
their application of the skin cream. Two women confessed that they combined
several other beauty products along with cream’s application. Others confessed
that they were interested in making some quick money if company provided any
compensation. Roger arranged a special press meet and provided all the relevant
facts and information regarding this issue.
Problem Situation 4: Homely
Anchor, a
charitable organisation that mainly looked after elderly people in several old
age homes was having a problem with its donations. There were anonymous
donations coming from several places that it was difficult to track the funds
and its allocation. The members of the organisation were themselves confused
with the amount collected and amount spent since proper records were not
maintained. There were gaps in the accuracy of the information and its updates.
Somehow, a magazine columnist/writer got to know about this state of affairs
and without much investigation published a small article in the magazine. The
article stated how Homely Anchor was unable to manage funds and money received
through anonymous donations remained anonymous. Although the article was not
accusing of fraud, it hinted the readers in that direction. Within a few months
of the article publication, some social activist groups and media started
questioning Homely Anchor. There were questions raised on who were the
anonymous fund raisers, amount of donations and what and how much was being
spent where.
Challenge: Since Roger was
working as a part-time Public Relations officer in Homely Anchor, he had to
face the social activists and media on behalf of the organisation. He had to
protect the privacy of anonymous donation givers and assure them as well as old
age homes that funds are raised, managed and used for good intentions.
Solution: He merely gave open
statements telling that a proper system will soon be in place that would ensure
the accuracy and safety of records related to donations and fund raising.
Shortly, he arranged for a small conference consisting of prominent social
activists, charitable workers and media representatives to discuss and debate
on the implementation of proper systems in charitable organisations. This
conference gained lot of popularity and free publicity for Homely Anchor which
resulted in more donations. An appropriate system was also implemented to
record the transactions.
Problem Situation 5: The research and
production team at Sparkly Company had designed a new and innovative
technology of purifying water in their product – “Sparkler water purifiers”.
This system was tested and proved that it was safe and that it purified water
without destroying its minerals. Once it was approved, production plants were
ready to manufacture water purifiers in the newly designed way. But,
information had leaked to the rival competitor “Visor” Ltd. who immediately
took advantage of the opportunity. Visor Ltd. issued statements in the press
about this new technology of purifying water and that soon they will be marketing
these products. There was a commotion in Sparkly Company due to this. Research
and production teams began to accuse each other on the information leakage.
Somehow, management was not able to control the situation. News spread about
the rivalry issues and information leakage. Media was too interested in finding
out which company would come out with the product first.
Challenge: Roger too found this
situation difficult to handle. There was definitely an information leakage
regarding the new method implemented in water purifiers. Roger’s immediate
tasks were to find how information was leaked out and who would have done it.
He knew the commitment levels of the company’s employees were not questionable.
Second, he had to ensure that Sparkling Company was the first to introduce this
technique and at the same time he could not accuse Visor Ltd. openly in public.
Solution: Since acquiring
patents (exclusive rights) to the new technique in water purifiers was in
process, Roger decided not to talk about it. He then released a statement in
the press as “Sparkly Company’s dedicated effort towards manufacturing
Sparkler Water purifiers with new technology was a long time process. It
involved continuous research and lab experiments by the team. This technology
shows our expertise and we will never compromise on our products.” After an
internal investigation, Roger found that company’s certain e-mails were hacked
and through that, information had leaked to Visor Ltd. So, systems and networks
were made more secure. Roger made it clear in his public appearance in the
media that crucial information did leak out due to the insecure network and
computer systems. But, he was careful not to mention names or make any
accusations. Media turned their attention to Visor Ltd. questioning its
integrity, ethical and business values.
Questions:
1) Identify the qualities of Roger as a PR
professional and analyse his role in the companies that he worked for.
2) In the above problem situations, was there any
other approach that Roger could have adopted? If yes, suggest some approaches.
If no, why do you agree with Roger’s approach?
3) List the PR tools and strategies that were
adopted by Roger in dealing with the problem situations.
Case
study 4
Personal
Selling – Professional approach
Background Information:
“Keep Fit” is a medium-sized outlet exclusively dealing in exercising
equipments/machines and fitness accessories and sometimes in sports equipments
also. It has 27 sales persons employed under it. Owners of the outlet – an
active middle-aged couple have several contacts abroad through which they place
orders for the necessary and required equipments. Once an order is placed for
particular equipment, it takes atleast 2 weeks for the equipment to reach the
outlet. Secondly, the sales force is involved in cold calls, constantly
checking upon new orders from the existing customers and getting new customers
to place orders for these equipments from in and around the city. Sometimes,
they travel to other nearby cities seeking orders and new customers.
Some of the equipments that Keep Fit sells are –
Cardio equipments
such as Treadmills, Stair climbers, Steppers, Bikes, Ellipticals, Rowers, so
on.
Strength equipments
such as Weight benches, Power racks and varieties, different kinds of Weight
machines which is supplied as per customer’s requirements, lifting accessories,
home gym systems, and other machines.
Fitness accessories
such as pedometers, ankle and wrist weights, jump ropes, stretch mats, hand
grips, exercise balls, pull and push up bars, so on.
Sports accessories
such as soccer balls, volleyballs, basketballs, poles, boxing gloves, track
pants and such other stuff if at all there is customer demand or they have
placed such orders.
The owners have already realized the growth
potential of these equipments/machines after analyzing the following:
a) Since most people
are becoming health and fitness conscious, there is lot of demand but supply is
comparatively low.
b) Due to heavy work
pressures and IT related jobs that require people to sit in front of their
computer systems for long, it has resulted into high demand for creating and
maintenance of gyms in the companies and at the workplaces.
c) The affluent class
or groups especially celebrities and sports stars don’t mind purchasing and
owning these equipments in their homes, the objective being creation of a
personal gym at home.
d) Fitness centers,
gymnasiums and sports clubs are increasing in number and so is the demand for
the exercising equipments and machines.
e) Encouragement given to different sports
requires the sports men and women to use such equipments and therefore, they
have to be provided with such resources so as to participate in national or
international sports events like Olympics.
Two more salespersons were recently recruited
and selected by the owners. After the training and several exposures to the
sales practices adopted by experienced salespersons, these two salespersons
were ready for the actual job.
The first salesperson namely Mr. Jagan Das is
hard-working and efficient in his work. It was observed in the training
programme that he was alert to the situations and environment around him. But,
at the same time he had a weakness of listening a lot to other people’s
opinions and not contributing his thoughts or ideas. However, he was enrolled
in a short-term communication course to improve his language skills and
expressing his thoughts. The second salesperson namely Mr. Tarun Mehra is an
enthusiastic and determined chap. He likes to share ideas and given the time,
he would talk his way out. In the training programme, he asked lot of questions
and after receiving answers would again question about why and how of things.
His only weakness was his tendency to get over-enthusiastic about things and
situations that he would forget about existing situation or problem.
In the first few months, Jagan and Tarun were
getting along fine as they were assigned the same sales territory. Sometimes,
they would go together to collect orders and even dispatch orders to the
customers. Together, they were able to deal with complicated clients and
achieve higher sales targets than what was assigned to them.
Lately, the owners observed small fights
happening between Jagan and Tarun. They were not sure as to what caused the
disagreements that led to fights but eventually, the couple decided that the
salesmen needed to sort it out by themselves. On Jagan’s request, their sales
territories were separated and now, Jagan and Tarun had to deal with different
customers at different locations.
After Reading the Background Information, analyse the following two situations and answer
the questions given at the end:-
Situation 1:
Jagan is at the outlet’s veranda listening to
how another sales person handled a customer’s complaint. He receives a call
from one of the old customers of the outlet. The telephonic conversation goes
as follows:
Customer: “From “Shape-up” Gym, I am Raghav
speaking... Two months back, I purchased this treadmill from you for our
gymnasium located at the city’s east and now it is causing some problem... till
now whatever gym equipments we purchased from you had no problems of any kind”
Jagan: “Please tell me your problem Sir...”
Customer: “See, actually I can fix the
problem... I know some people who can do it very easily... but that’s not my
point... I need to know why the machine caused problem.”
Jagan: “You tell me your problem Sir, and then
we will fix it for free...”
Customer: “I am not having a problem; your
machine has a problem”
Jagan: “I will come at your place Sir, tell me
your exact problem so I can note it down and solve it as soon as possible”
Customer: “I can solve the problem... I need to
know whether the treadmill comes with a guarantee period and why a brand new
machine is causing this problem”
Jagan: “I will come over there Sir and if it’s
possible, I will bring a technical member from my team along with me...”
Customer: “No Thanks for your help... I will
speak to your Boss about the treadmill’s inefficiency!”
Jagan: “Wait... let me know what I can do for...
...”
The call is dropped and Jagan is unclear as to
what he must do next. Should he call back the customer on the same number as
appearing on his mobile or should he find out if he can trace the customer
information from the sales records of the last two months or should his
superior know about this incident? The customer appeared to be in a hurry and
didn’t even tell about the problem. Jagan also wondered about how Tarun would
react to this kind of call.
Situation 2:
Tarun is busy entering some information into the
sales records. He is asked to pick up a call from the superior’s office and
following conversation takes place:
Customer: “Is this Keep Fit?”
Tarun: “Good evening Sir, yes it is... May I
know your name Sir?”
Customer: “Who am I speaking to? ... I am
Jonathan from Lance Sports Club”
Tarun: “Mr. Jonathan, this is Tarun and I am a
sales executive at Keep Fit... you can tell me your concern Sir,”
Customer: “I had placed an order for 7 pairs of
weight plates, 6 pairs of dumbbells, and 2 exercising bikes – one upright and
also 2 treadmills and volleyball”
Tarun: “I am listening Mr. Jonathan”
Customer: “Yes, good, now according to
price-list, it says 3 treadmills, 3 exercising bikes, 6 pairs or weight plates,
6 pairs of dumbbells.... the thing is number of items mentioned in the bill are
completely wrong”
Tarun: “Just tell me the Bill Number and I will
get back to you Jonathan... But, how many items have you received in actual
numbers?”
Jonathan: “Well, that’s the problem... I have
received the same numbers as I placed in the order... but, the bill and the
list says wrong numbers... and only that volleyball is not received”
Tarun: “Okay.... Just see on the top left of
your list... you will find the Bill Number... please tell me that...”
Jonathan: “There is no Bill number in this...”
Tarun: “Please check it once again... there is a
bill number mentioned at the top left or top right or somewhere at the top...
Okay... tell me the date of the bill and your order placement date atleast”
Jonathan: “No, it’s alright, there must be a
mistake... we will sort it out during the payment”
Tarun: “Mr. Jonathan... Please co-operate and
tell me the bill number or the date so that I can verify it in the sales
records and check the invoices also”
Jonathan: “No, that’s okay... do not bother
about it... we will confirm later...”
Tarun: “Listen Mr. Jonathan, I can just.... ...”
But, before Tarun tells anything more, the customer has cut off the call. Tarun
feels uneasy about the conversation. He was being so helpful and wanted to
clarify the figures but it looked like the customer was not interested to do
so. Should he follow up on the customer after finding out the necessary details
or should he just keep quiet till the customer raises the issue once again?
Should he tell this to his superior? He tried to imagine Jagan’s way of
tackling these types of customers.
Note:
In both the situations, the salespersons have
not met the customers personally. In Situation 1, Jagan is dealing for
the first time with one of the old customers of the outlet. In Situation 2,
Tarun had spoken to some other member of the sports club previously.
Questions:
Question 1:- Identify the approach (plus points
and negative points) of the two salespersons in the above situations and make a
comparative analysis.
Question 2:- In both the situations, were the
customers satisfied with how the salespersons handled their queries? Analyse
the sales person’s and customer’s interactions in the above situations.
Question 3:- If you were a salesperson, how
would you have handled the above two situations? Do you have any suggestions
for Jagan and Tarun?
Operations
Management
Total
Marks - 80
Section A: 5
Marks Each (Attempt any 3)
1. Discuss
the nature and scope of operations management in terms of production decisions.
2. Explain the product selection and stages
involved therein.
3. What
are the various kinds of production systems? Discuss the nature of Mass
Production.
4. Discuss in brief how do you organise value
engineering function in an electronic industry?
5. Define .Purchase Systems. What are the common
objectives of the purchasing function?
Section B: 5 Marks Each (Attempt any
3)
1. Design an assembly line for a cycle time of 10
minutes for the following 10 work elements:
Elements : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Immediate predecessor : 0 1 2 2.3 4 5 6 5 7.9 9
Duration in minutes : 5 10 5 2 10 7 5 2 5 7
Elements : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Immediate predecessor : 0 1 2 2.3 4 5 6 5 7.9 9
Duration in minutes : 5 10 5 2 10 7 5 2 5 7
2. Discuss how a quality-management program can
affect productivity.
3. Select three service companies or
organizations you are familiar with and indicate how
process control charts could be used in each.
process control charts could be used in each.
4. Explain the various factors that are to be
taken into account for plant location. Discuss
in connection with setting up an Automobile industry.
in connection with setting up an Automobile industry.
5. Explain the term 'Break-even analysis'. Draw
imaginary BEP chart and briefly describe
its merits and demerits.
its merits and demerits.
Section C: 10 Marks Each (Attempt any
3)
1. (a) Explain what you understand by the term "Total Quality
Management", paying particular attention to the following terms :quality, supplier-customer interfaces, and process.
(b) Define Productivity. List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways in which productivity can be improved.
2. (a) Give two examples (with supporting details) of the impact of technology in product and service design, in the context of service and manufacturing firms.
(b) A firm uses simple exponential smoothing with α = 0.1 to forecast demand. The forecast for the first week of February was 500 units, whereas actual demand turned out to be 450 units.
(i) Forecast the demand for the second week of February.
(ii) Assume that the actual demand during the second week of February turned out to be 505 units. Forecast the demand for the third week of February.
3. (a) Bloomsday Outfitters produces T-shirts for road races. They need to acquire some new stamping machines to produce 30,000 good T-shirts per month. Their plant operates 200 hours per month, but the new machines will be used for T-shirts only 60 percent of the time and the output usually includes 5 percent that are "seconds" and unusable. The stamping operation takes 1 minute per T-shirt, and the stamping machines are expected to have 90 percent efficiency considering adjustments, changeover of patterns, and unavoidable downtime. How many stamping machines are required ?
(b) Give an example of a business that would use a push and one that would use a pull operations control system. Explain your choice and briefly describe how the system works.
4. (a) What are the various methods of judgemental forecasting ? Comment on possible errors that are associated with judgemental forecasting.
(b) A time study of a restaurant activity yielded a cycle time of 2.00 minutes, and the waitress was rated at PR = 96 percent. The restaurant chain has a 20 percent allowance factor, Find the standard time.
5. (a) What are the advantages of having a company-wide data-bank ? Show how different functions e.g. cost accounting, sales, inventory, manufacturing can be integrated with a data-bank.
(b) A contractor has to supply 10,000 bearings per day to an automobile manufacturer. He finds that, when he starts a production run, he can produce 25,000 bearings per day. The cost of holding a bearing in stock for one year is Rs. 2 and the set-up cost of a production run is Rs. 1,800. How frequently should production runs be made ? (Assume 300 working days in a gear)
Section D: 20 Marks
1. Write short notes on any five of the following:
(b) ISO 9000
(c) Fish-bone Diagram
(d) AGVS
(e) Cross Impact Matrix
(f) Benchmarking
(g) CIM
(h) Job Enlargement
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