Thursday 28 February 2019

MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION MBA ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558


MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION MBA ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com




ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
M.B.A. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
FIRST YEAR
Academic Year 2018 - 2019
ASSIGNMENT TOPICS
This booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write the
assignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission : 28-02-2019
Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2019
NOTE:
1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2019 will not be evaluated.
2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned
and not type-written or printed or photocopied.
3. Assignments should be written on A4 paper on one side only.
4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand
corner on all pages) should be put in an envelope with superscription “MBA
Assignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,
Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.
5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in with
Enrolment Number and the Title of the papers.
6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partial
assignments will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For
each topic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries
25 marks (2 topics).
DR. M. ARUL
DIRECTOR
2
1.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
1. Management can be defined as " A process of bringing about improvement in
knowledge, skill, habit and attitudes of the employees in an organization".
Discuss.
2. "Decision making is the most critical managerial task." Discuss the above
statement in light of decision-making process.
3. Select a business or political leader whom you admire, and identify his or her
style of leading by applying the managerial grid or the continuum-of-behaviour
model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
4. ‟The only planning tool we need in the company is the budget. If everyone meets
his or her budget, we need nothing else, and management by objectives would
be an unnecessary frill”. – Comment.
1.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT
1. Explain the recent trends in marketing concepts, also discuss the factors that a
marketing manager must take into account while developing the marketing mix
for the below mentioned products. 1. Female Cosmetics, 2. Children Health
Drinks and 3. Adult Bike.
2. ‘Every change in the political and legal environment creates an adjustment
problem for the marketers’ – As a budding manager what is your opinion about
this statement and suggest a suitable strategy to adopt successful and smooth
running of your business.
3. In designing an advertising campaign for a soft drink, which would you find
more useful; information about consumer demographics or information about
consumer life style? Give an example of how would you use each type of
information.
4. Suggest a successful way to segment the market for the following products
a) Detergent soap b) Designer Jewellery c) Breakfast Cereals.
1.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1. It is usual to declare good dividends when the company is making good
profit. It is profitable for companies not to declare any dividend even when
they are making good profits? What will be the reaction of the shareholder?
Discuss.
2. If you are working as a financial manager in an organization, what are your
policies to make profit for the organization?
3. Assume that you are new entrepreneur to start the business, which financial
resources you opt? Justify with your views.
4. “The success of a business concern depends upon the way in which it
earnings are computed, distributed and retained”. – Comment on this
statement.
1.4 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare step by step Supply Chain network layout for any manufacturing
company.
2. List the various factors to be considered for locating Atomic Power plant.
3. Prepare PERT network for assembling a Motor Bike.
3
4. Visit any production plant and list various Material Handling devices with
photographs. Explain its advantages and disadvantages.
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1."HR outsourcing has become a common practice throughout the world"-Discuss
the implications of HR outsourcing functions.
2. Identify the Paramount barriers for effective training programme in IT field and
how to crush them". Explain with real life examples.
3. What type of interview techniques do you adopt for selecting an Executive in a
FMCG company for the post of Marketing Manager?
4. Assume that you are responsible for evaluating the employees’ performance in
the public sector manufacturing company. Discuss the appraisal process. Also
explain techniques you apply for various levels and give reasons.
1.6 STATISTICS FOR MANAGERS
1. Which measure of central tendency would be most useful in each of the
following instances?
(a) The production manager for a manufacturer of glass jars, who is concerned
about the proper jar size to manufacture, has sample data on jar sizes
ordered by customers. Would the mean, median, or modal jar size be of
most value to the manager?
(b) The sales manager for a quality furniture manufacturer is interested in
selecting the regions most likely to purchase his firm’s products. Would he
be most interested in the mean or median of family income in prospective
sales areas?
(c) A security analyst is interested in describing the daily market price change of
the common stock of a manufacturing company. Rarely the market price of
the stock changes by more than one point, but occasionally the price will
change by as many as four points in one day. Should the security analyst
describe the daily price change of the stock in terms of mean, median, or
mode of the daily market price change?
2. Late payment of medical claims can add to the cost of health care. An article
reported that the mean time from the date of service to the date of payment for
one insurance company was 41.4 days during a recent period. Suppose that a
sample of 100 medical claims is selected during the latest time period. The
sample mean time from the date of service to the date of payment was 39.6
days, and the sample standard deviation was 7.4 days.
a. Using the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence that the population
mean has changed from 41.4 days?
b. What is your answer in (a) if you use the 0.01 level of significance?
c. What is your answer in (a) if the sample mean is 38.2 days and the sample
standard deviation is 10.7 days?
3. La Quinta Motor Inns developed a computer model to predict the profitability of
sites that are being considered as locations for new hotels. If the computer
model predicts large profits, La Quinta buys the proposed site and builds a new
hotel. If the computer model predicts small or moderate profits, La Quinta
chooses not to proceed. This decision-making procedure can be expressed in the
hypothesis-testing framework. The null hypothesis is that the site is not a
4
profitable location. The alternative hypothesis is that the site is a profitable
location.
a. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type I error in this case.
b. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type II error in this case.
c. Which type of error do you think the executives at La Quinta Motor Inns are
trying hard to avoid? Explain.
4. The chair of the accounting department wants to develop a regression model to
predict the grade point average in accounting for graduating accounting majors,
based on the students’ SAT score and whether the student received a grade of
B or higher in the introductory statistics course (0 = no and 1 = yes).
a. Explain the steps involved in developing a regression model for these data.
Be sure to indicate the particular models you need to evaluate and compare.
b. Suppose the regression coefficient for the variable of whether the student
received a grade of B or higher in the introductory statistics course is +0.30,
how do you interpret this result?
1.7 MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION
1. Assuming you are a Chief Personnel Manager of a leading MNC, draft a letter
calling a candidate for an interview in reply to his application for the position of
Chief Financial Executive.
2. Assume yourself as a Customer Relationship Manager of a bank. You have received
a letter from your customers who have complained to you about the rude
behaviour of a computer clerk. Since the customer is an important person, write a
letter to convince the customer.
3. Communication is lifeblood of an organization and without it organization cannot
exists. Discuss this statement.
4. The problem of communication arises because there are various obstacles which
may entirely prevent a communication or filter part of it, or present it incorrect.
Comment and discuss.
1.8 ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGERS
1. What are the significant assumptions we make while comparing financial ratio
of various companies in the same industry? Discuss the implications of the
above assumptions for a user of financial ratios.
2. Suppose you are the co-owner and manager of a retail store that sells and
repairs mountain bikes. Provide one example of a financial accounting report
that would be useful to you and your co-owner. Provide two examples of
managerial accounting reports that would be useful to you as the manager.
3. Discuss how internal rate of return (IRR) method differs from the net present
value method (NPV). Be sure to include an explanation of what the IRR method
is and what the NPV method is.
4. Imagine that, you are the owner of a business. Pass journal entries with 20
different transactions. Prepare a position statement after every transaction. Did
your firm earn profit or made a loss at the end of all transaction? Make a small
comment on your firm’s position at the end.
M.B.A. [F.M.] – 1ST YEAR – Assignment- UAP/551/C-1200
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018 -2019

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
M.B.A. E-BUSINESS
FIRST YEAR
Academic Year 2018 – 2019
ASSIGNMENT TOPICS
This booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write the
assignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission : 28-02-2019
Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2019
NOTE:
1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2019 will not be evaluated.
2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned and
not type-written or printed or photocopied.
3. Assignments should be written on A4 paper on one side only.
4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand corner on
all pages) should be put in an envelop with superscription “MBA Assignments” and
sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education, Annamalai University,
Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.
5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in with
Enrolment Number and the Title of the papers.
6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partial assignments
will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For each
topic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries 25 marks
(2 topics).
DR. M. ARUL
DIRECTOR
2
1.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
1. Management can be defined as " A process of bringing about improvement in
knowledge, skill, habit and attitudes of the employees in an organization".
Discuss.
2. "Decision making is the most critical managerial task." Discuss the above
statement in light of decision-making process.
3. Select a business or political leader whom you admire, and identify his or her
style of leading by applying the managerial grid or the continuum-of-behaviour
model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
4. ‟The only planning tool we need in the company is the budget. If everyone meets
his or her budget, we need nothing else, and management by objectives would
be an unnecessary frill”. Comment.
1.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT
1. Explain the recent trends in marketing concepts, also discuss the factors that a
marketing manager must take into account while developing the marketing mix
for the below mentioned products. I. Female cosmetics, II. Children health
drinks and III. Adult bike.
2. ‘Every change in the political and legal environment creates an adjustment
problem for the marketers’ – as a budding manager what is your opinion about
this statement and suggest a suitable strategy to adopt successful and smooth
running of your business.
3. In designing an advertising campaign for a soft drink, which would you find
more useful; information about consumer demographics or information about
consumer life style? Give an example of how would you use each type of
information.
4. Suggest a successful way to segment the market for the following products
a) Detergent soap b) Designer Jewellery c) Breakfast Cereals.
1.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1. It is usual to declare good dividends when the company is making good
profit. It is profitable for companies not to declare any dividend even when
they are making good profits? What will be the reaction of the shareholder?
Discuss.
2. If you are working as a financial manager in an organization, what are your
policies to make profit for the organization?
3. Assume that you are new entrepreneur to start the business, which financial
resources you opt? Justify with your views.
4. “The success of a business concern depends upon the way in which it
earnings are computed, distributed and retained”- comment on this
statement.
3
1.4 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
1. What are the ACID properties? Define atomicity, Consistency, isolation, and
durability and illustrate them through examples?
2. How to write programs that manipulate a network database—including such
tasks as searching for and retrieving records from the database; inserting,
deleting, and modifying records; and connecting and disconnecting records from
set occurrences.
3. Consider the following relations: BRANCH (branch _name, branch _city, assets),
ACCOUNT (accno, branch _ name, balance), DEPOSITOR (customer _ name.
accno, Customer_ Street, customer city). Write the SQL statements for the
following:
a) List all the customers who have at least two accounts at the branch.
b) List all the accno whose accounts are in a branch _name where an asset is
maximum.
c) List all the customers whose account balance is minimum.
d) List all the customers who have an account at all the branches located in a
specific city.
e) Demonstrate how you delete all account tuples at every branch located in
specific city.
4. Draw the various schemes of banking system and explain the involvement of
view levels of data abstraction.
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1."HR outsourcing has become a common practice throughout the world"-Discuss
the implications of HR outsourcing functions.
2. Identify the Paramount barriers for effective training programme in IT field and
how to crush them". Explain with real life examples.
3. What type of interview techniques do you adopt for selecting an Executive in a
FMCG company for the post of Marketing Manager?
4. Assume that you are responsible for evaluating the employees’ performance in
the public sector manufacturing company. Discuss the appraisal process. Also
explain techniques you apply for various levels and give reasons.
1.6 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
1. How can information Technology support a company’s business processes and
Decision Making, and give it a Competitive Advantage? Illustrate your answer.
2. Why do you think there have been so many business failures among “dot-com”
companies that were devoted only to retail e-commerce?
4
3. Explain the management information system in various marketing strategy
which are adopted by various company. Explain with examples.
4. Discuss the executive information system and executive support system in
various marketing organisation.
1.7 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
1. Company has the plan to implant software applications to manage its inverting
function.
a) Identify the options available towards providing inverting solutions. Narrate
the comparative advantage and disadvantages of each option.
2. Identify the organization providing software solutions for retail applications
a) Develop the project network diagram that can support the implementation
scheme for such retail solutions.
3. Bring out the organization involved in implementing software solutions.
a) Narrate the role of project support office for such organizations.
4. Identify the key deliverables in core banking solutions.
1.8 FINANCIAL AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
1. What are the significant assumptions we make while comparing financial ratio
of various companies in the same industry? Discuss the implications of the
above assumptions for a user of financial ratios.
2. Suppose you are the co-owner and manager of a retail store that sells and
repairs mountain bikes. Provide one example of a financial accounting report
that would be useful to you and your co-owner. Provide two examples of
managerial accounting reports that would be useful to you as the manager.
3. Discuss how internal rate of return (IRR) method differs from the net present
value method (NPV). Be sure to include an explanation of what the IRR method
is and what the NPV method is.
4. Imagine that, you are the owner of a business. Pass journal entries with 20
different transactions. Prepare a position statement after every transaction. Did
your firm earn profit or made a loss at the end of all transaction? Make a small
comment on your firm’s position at the end.

M.B.A. [E.B.] 1ST YR – Assignment - AUP/551/C-200
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018 -2019

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
M.B.A. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
FIRST YEAR
Academic Year 2018 - 2019
ASSIGNMENT TOPICS
This booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write the
assignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission : 28-02-2019
Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2019
NOTE:
1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2019 will not be evaluated.
2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned and
not type-written or printed or photocopied.
3. Assignments should be written on A4 paper on one side only.
4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand corner
on all pages) should be put in an envelop with superscription “MBA
Assignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,
Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.
5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in with
Enrolment Number and the Title of the papers.
6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partial
assignments will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For each
topic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries 25 marks
(2 topics).
DR. M. ARUL
DIRECTOR
2
1.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
1. Management can be defined as "a process of bringing about improvement in
knowledge, skill, habit and attitudes of the employees in an organization".
Discuss.
2. "Decision making is the most critical managerial task." Discuss the above
statement in light of decision-making process.
3. Select a business or political leader whom you admire, and identify his or her
style of leading by applying the managerial grid or the continuum-of-behaviour
model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
4. ‟The only planning tool we need in the company is the budget .If everyone meets
his or her budget, we need nothing else, and management by objectives would
be an unnecessary frill”. Comment.
1.2 INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING
1. “All of us know that the total of the both sides of the Trail balance and Balance
sheet are must be matched, however in many occasions total of the two sides of
the statements may not be matched because of several reasons.” Discuss.
2. “Cost – Volume Profit (CVP) analysis is well known as well as most useful
analytical tool for assessing and comparing the benefits derived by the user of
the product or service against what they are paying.” Comment.
3. “Preparation of cash budget is helpful to resolve many systematic questions of an
organization, however in very few occasions the cash budget is failed to detect
uneven cash flows.” why and how?– Discuss.
4. “As a financial analyst, how would you address and resolve the various issues
involved in international financial statements analysis?” – Explain.
1.3 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
1. Discuss India’s balance of payment position since 2000 and adjustments
mechanism adopted by India.
2. Explain the theory of customs union on its relevance to developing countries.
3. Critically discuss the monetary approach to the balance of payment problem.
4. Discuss the methods adopted for foreign exchange control.
1.4 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
1. Why do Firms go International? Discuss the Problems Faced by MNC’S in
introducing new Product.
2. Do you think that study of international business environment is relevant for the
manager? If yes (or) No, Justify your views and Discuss the economic and
financial environment of international business.
3
3. Judge how the business and cultural environment shape the behavior of a
organization of your choice.
4. Is your firm home-region oriented, Bi-region oriented or host-region oriented or
global, according to Vugman and Verdeke’s criteria? Show how you reach your
conclusion.
1.5 FOREIGN POLICY OF INDIA
1. What are some of the major factors that have influenced the yen/dollar
exchange rate in the past decade? Have different factors become more important
at different times? It so, which ones?
2. “Major global powers influenced the foreign policy of India – New India is
gradually gaining momentum to influence the foreign polices of major powers”
Elucidate.
3. India’s role in the development of Bangladesh and Srilanka is noteworthy. But
their attitude towards India is not encouraging. What goes wrong? How such
problems can be solved?
4. Analyze the following issues related to India’s foreign policy.
A. China – India Border Issue.
B. Pakistan – India Border issue.
C. India’s claim for permanent seat in the UN Security Council..
1.6 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND E-COMMERCE
1. Information technology is moving towards maturity? Do you agree or disagree?
Justify your views.
2. Give some examples of IT dependencies that are likely to be found in a strategy
but cannot be resolved through the iterative process. How can the effects of
dependencies external to the firm are mitigated.
3. Assume you are the manager of a department in which each of your employees
has a workstation interconnected to all other in the department through a LAN.
The LAN itself is connected to the firm’s central processing facility. Discuss the
important factors that would be involved in the recovery management process
for your department.
4. System control and availability must across the boundary dividing manual and
automated processes. Using the account payable program as an example.
Discuss the shift in responsibility at the interface.
4
1.7 COMMUNICATION FOR GLOBAL MANAGERS
1. “Ineffective communication is the fault of the sender.” Do you agree or disagree?
Discuss. Explain how ineffective communication disturb doing business globally.
2. Narrate the features of different types of reports. Present the structure of
scientific report. Prepare a report to highlight the ever increasing rate of attrition
in the organization.
3. Draft a speech on “Business Ethics” to be delivered in a meeting of Chamber of
Commerce and industry at Chennai.
4. Make out a new report concerning untapped potentials in the handicrafts sector
of your country thought which there will be a scope to mobilize Foreign
Currency reserves.
1.8 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
1. Understanding the basic concepts of Organizational Behaviour prepare a
Behavioural frame work for a newly established IT company in Chennai. –
Student can imagine the size and turnover of the industry.
2. To understand the importance of the concepts personality, perception, and
attitude of employees in an organization, prepare an interview schedule,
conduct an interview with 2-3 executives of any one organization and present
the results.
3. After listing out the qualities and theories of leadership, have a discussion with
one or two world leaders of your choice and present the outcome.
4. Identify a suitable case to understand Organizational Culture, analyze the case
and present it with issues and strategies.

M.B.A.[I.B.] – 1ST YEAR – Assignment - AUP/551/C-350
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018 -2019

ADVERTISING XIBMS ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558


ADVERTISING XIBMS ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com


Advertising


_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PART – A  (10 x 5 = 50)
Answer Any FIVE Questions
1. What is Advertising? Discuss its objectives and point out the problems of advertising in India.

2. How is Advertising effectiveness tested?

3. What are the important features of an Advertisement Copy?

4. Discuss the essential features of a sound advertising policy.

5. Mention the functions of an advertising agency.

6. Examine the function to be considered in the selection of Media for advertising.

7. What is sales promotion? Why it is importance in marketing industrial product?

8. Distinguish between Coupon and Sampling.

9. What are the factors governing basic Promotional strategy?

10. Outline the different methods of providing discounts in the selling process.

PART – B  (2 x 15 = 30)
Answer Any TWO Questions
11. “Advertising Sells Product”. Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons and explain the functions performed by advertising.

12. “The success of Advertisement campaign depends on proper selection of Media” –   Discuss.

13. “Advertising brings long-term benefits but Sales promotion is for quicker result”. Explain with an example.

14. Analyze the distinctive features of various elements of the Promotional mix. Illustrate with a suitable example.

15. Outline the different methods of providing discounts in the selling process.


 Brand Management            
                                                                Maximum Marks: 80         
                             

Question No. 1 is compulsory and is for 16 Marks. Please attempt any 4 questions from question number 2 to 9.



1. Case Study : (Compulsory)
BURNOL

Burnol has been around for six decades as a yellow burns-relief ointment.  It has almost become a generic brand.  Its yellow colour reminds one of turmeric, the traditional burns-relief remedy.
The brand has been recently acquired by Dr. Morepen (a subsidiary of Morepen Laboratories Ltd.) from Reckit Piramal.  The brand has high recall value.  Morepen is the brand’s third owner (Boots is the first, Pirmal second).
Burnol’s position in the mind space of the consumer is that of the burns ointment.  It is open to marketers to reposition the brand.  But sometimes the brand does not budge from its original position.  Burnol is a typical example.  It is so strong as anti-burn ointment that it has become intractable.
Burnol introduced by Boots started domestic manufacturing in 1948. JWT handled the account.  Formerly, it was sold on prescription.  In 1960 it became over-the counter (OTC) product.
As Indian housewives depended upon kerosene or wood-fed stoves, Burnol became an integral part of the household.  In 1967, Burnol’s application was far widened, to include antiseptic properties against cuts and other wounds. But it did not succeed and Boots reverted to its original anti-burns position.  In 1972, Shield was launched by SKF as a competitive brand.  It was followed by Medigard by J.L. Morison.  But they could not affect Burnol.
In 1980, a commercial on DD showed a daughter entering kitchen and getting burns due to oil splash. The mother uses Burnol and the VO says “Haath jal gaya? Shukar hai ghar mein Burnol jo hai”.
Kitchen became safer in 85s after the switch-over to LPG-based cooking and the use of gas-lighter instead of the match boxes.  Burnol started stagnating.
Though the product had high recall, the actual reality was that households did not keep the product handy.  Plain water was being recommended to treat burns.  Turmeric, as it causes stains, was becoming a liability.  The product composition was changed by changing colour from deep yellow to non-staining light yellow.  People were coaxed to keep the product within easy reach, Sales showed some improvement.
In 1995, again it was repositioned as antiseptic for multiple usages. The colour was made even lighter. It was given a new perfume.  But the brand failed to compete with other antiseptic creams such as Boroline and Dettol. The brand could not be moved from its ‘burns’ spot in the consumer mind. It’s becoming generic as a burns remedy proved to be its cause for stagnation.
In 2000, Burnol was sold to Reckitt Pirmal for 12.5 crore.  It became Burnol Plus.  It was positioned as ‘first aid cream’.  It registered a turnover of ` 6.2 crore in 2002. As Reckit Pirmal joint venture came apart, Burnol was sold to Dr. Morepen in 2003.  It is being relaunched in April 2004.



Burns market including dressings stand as ` 39 crore. Antiseptic market stands at ` 210 crore.  The old need is passing into history. The strategy should be to retain its original uniqueness, and still broad-base it.  There are new dangers such as geysers, irons, ovens and so on.  Burnol can become a cream that ensures safety if present. Burnol should be promoted as brand that cares.
Burnol is now marketed by Dr. Morepen Lab as protective cream which should be kept handy always.

Question:
As a Management consultant give your comments on Burnol as a brand.


2. What do you understand by the concept of a Brand?  Describe the characteristics of Brands.
   
3. a. Define the Brand Image. Explain the dimensions of Brand Image.
b. What is meant by Brand Identity? Explain the different elements of Brand                         Identity.

4. Discuss in detail the different stages of brand building process.

5. a. What is Brand Audit?  Explain its importance.
b. Describe the two steps in brand audit. 

6. “Positioning is an outcome of our perceptions about the brand relative to the competing brands” – Discuss with examples.

7. How do consumers perceive and choose brands? Discuss. 

8. What are the different phases of strategic brand management process?

9. Discuss the “TEN COMMANDMENTS” of Global Branding.


Human Resource Management
Total Marks - 80
(1) Answer any five questions.
(2) All questions carry equal marks.
(3) Draw diagrams / sketch wherever necessary.

Q.1) Define the term Human Resource Management. State its objectives and
What the challenges of HRM in today’s scenario?

Q.2) (A) Explain Process of Human Resource Planning.
(B) What are the various Sources of Recruitment?

Q.3) (A) Explain need and importance of Training.
(B) What are the different methods of Training Programme?

Q.4) What is Performance Appraisal? Explain its various methods.

Q.5) (A) Define Exit Policy and also state its procedure.
(B) Explain effects of Excess Manpower on an Organisation.

Q.6) (A) Explain Concept of Absenteeism. What are the various Causes of
Labour Absenteeism?
(B) State various effects of Labour Absenteeism on Labour Turnover.

Q.7) Write short notes: (Any Four)
(a) Role of HR Manager
(b) Personnel Audit
(c) Dismissal
(d) Significance of Record
(e) Transfer Policy
(f) HR Accounting

Information Technology

SECTION - A ( 5 × 3  = 15)
Answer any FIVE  questions.
All questions carry equal marks.
1. Describe B2B.
2. What do you mean by services?
3. Need for ERP.
4. Describe B2C.
5. What is E.RC Diagram?
6. What do you mean by system specification?
7. Describe database.
8. Define knowledge management.
SECTION - B (3 × 5 = 15)
Answer any THREE questions.
All questions carry equal marks.
1. What a note on operating systems.
2. Describe system specification with example.
3. How to choose a right package of ERP?
4. Write a note on business process re-engineering.
SECTION - C (2 × 5 = 10)
Answer any TWO questions.
All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain database management with example.
2. Explain the phases of moving the company from products to services.
3. Explain business process re-engineering and design.
4. Explain the implications of on-line shopping in new economy.

SECTION - D (12 × 5 = 60)
Answer any FIVE questions.
1. (a) Write short notes on Communication System.
    (b) Explain the elements of a computer and communication System.

2. (a) Discuss application software.
   (b) What is the use of interface and other basic features? Explain.

3. (a) Write short notes on internet web browsers.
    (b) Explain in detail about desktop accessories.

4. (a) Explain in detail about cable modems.
   (b) Write short notes on cyberethics.

5. (a) How to use a micro computer for Communication? Explain.
   (b) Discuss about the facilities of multimedia.

6. (a) What are the types of database organization? Explain.
    (b) Explain secondary storage devices.

7. (a) Write short notes on accuracy and privacy of using database.
    (b) List out the different phases of system analysis and design and explain.

8. (a) Explain object oriented and visual programming.
   (b) Write the features of HTML and XML.
9.(a) Explain the characteristics of information.
   (b) Explain the issues of IT management.

10.(a) Explain the role of corporate strategy in IT.
     (b) Explain the role of IT in international business.

11.(a) Explain the working of processor in detail.
   (b) Differentiate CISC versus RISC.

12.(a) What is an operating system? Explain the function of OS.
     (b) Give the objectives of programming languages.

13.(a) Discuss in detail any one processing package.
     (b) What is a Data base management system? Explain.

14.(a) Explain client server model in detail.
    (b) Explain the strategies for acquiring systems and services.

15.(a) Explain transmission modes and transmission protocols.
     (b) Discuss various types of networks with examples.

16.(a) Discuss LAN Architecture model.
    (b) Explain the concept of E-Com. Give some applications of E-Com in Business.
     (c) Write short note on www.


BUSINESS COMMUNICATION ISBM ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION ISBM ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com



Business Communication
Answer the following question.
Q1. What is Communication policy? What are its Specifications (10 marks)
Q2. Give Do’s for a GD (10 marks)
Q3. What is group discussion? How is it Evaluated? And what is the techniques of GD (10 marks)
Q4. Mention Checklist for interview preparation (10 marks)
Q5. Write notes on Bargaining Strategies (10 marks)
Q6. Why do listening barriers succeed? (10 marks)
Q7. Write notes on General Barriers (10 marks)
Q8. Explain two way process of Communication with diagrammatical representation (10 marks)



 International Business
Answer the following question.
Q1. What are the functions performed by an export house in India? Discuss the reasons for the recent growth of export
houses?
(10
marks)
Q2. What documents are involved in exports ? (10
marks)
Q3. Explain the offshore markets. (10
marks)
Q4. What are the disadvantages of globalisation ? (10
marks)
Q5. How the rupee value is determined in foreign exchange market? Examine the effects of undervaluation and
overvaluation of Current on trade and investments flows of a country?
(10
marks)
Q6. Describe the factors which are affecting the growth of International business. (10
marks)
Q7. The changes taking place in socio-cultural environment in India is a boon for business –Discuss. (10
marks)
Q8. What are the functions of WTO? (10
marks)

Organizational Behaviour
Answer the following question.
Q1. What do you understand by Effectiveness & efficiency? How these are related to OB? (10
marks)
Q2. Define Stress and describe a work or study related situation that you found stressful (10
marks)
Q3. According to Rousseau’s social cognition theory, how are psychological contracts established? How effective is her
explanation?
(10
marks)
Q4. Can temporary workers develop relational contracts with the host organizaton? Provide an informed and
constructively critical social psychological justification for your answer.
(10
marks)
Q5. What are defensive behaviors? (10
marks)
Q6. What are the objectives of OD? (10
marks)
Q7. What are the barriers in communication? Explain the Startegies for improving organizational communication (10
marks)
Q8. Define leadership. Explain the measure that can be taken for developing leadership ability of managers. (10
marks)

Principles and Practice of Management
Answer the following question.
Q1. Explain the various techniques used in selection process. (10 marks)
Q2. Briefly describe the 7-S framework. How it can be used to evaluate criteria for organizational success? (10 marks)
Q3. What is decentralization? (10 marks)
Q4. What are the scopes or areas of control? (10 marks)
Q5. Discuss principles, types & techniques of direction. (10 marks)
Q6. Principles of personnel motivation. (10 marks)
Q7. What are the subordinate among barrier? (10 marks)
Q8. What are the determinants of organizational culture? (10 marks)


 Shipping Management
Answer the following question.
Q1. Describe the Sustainable transport Mode? (10
marks)
Q2. Explain Impact of Competition on rates? (10
marks)
Q3. Explain the following in brief? a. Bulk Cargo market. b. Iron Ore trade. c. Coal trade. d. Shipping Demand Forecast. (10
marks)
Q4. Explain Financial Management with the help of the following points. a. Shipping Business. b. Buying and selling of
ships. c. Foreign Exchange transactions d. Diversification.
(10
marks)
Q5. Explain the Following a. Second line of defense b. Changing Technology c. Shipping Weakness and threats d. Ship
disposal
(10
marks)
Q6. Who are the actors in shipping? (10
marks)
Q7. What are quality Management Systems? (10
marks)
Q8. Describe the complete structure of shipping Operations? (10
marks)

MBA FIRST YEAR ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT ANSWER PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

MBA FIRST YEAR ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT ANSWER PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com


ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
M.B.A. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
FIRST YEAR
Academic Year 2018 - 2019
ASSIGNMENT TOPICS
This booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write the
assignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission: 28-02-2019
Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2019
NOTE:
1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2019 will not be evaluated.
2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned and
not type-written or printed or photocopied.
3. Assignments should be written on A4 paper on one side only.
4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand corner
on all pages) should be put in an envelop with superscription “MBA
Assignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,
Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.
5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in with
Enrolment Number and the Title of the papers.
6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partial
assignments will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For each
topic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries 25 marks
(2 topics).
DR. M. ARUL
DIRECTOR
2
1.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
1. Management can be defined as " A process of bringing about improvement in
knowledge, skill, habit and attitudes of the employees in an organization".
Discuss.
2. "Decision making is the most critical managerial task." Discuss the above
statement in light of decision-making process.
3. Select a business or political leader whom you admire, and identify his or her
style of leading by applying the managerial grid or the continuum-of-behaviour
model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
4. ‟The only planning tool we need in the company is the budget. If everyone meets
his or her budget, we need nothing else, and management by objectives would
be an unnecessary frill”. Comment.
1.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT
1. Explain the recent trends in marketing concepts, also discuss the factors that a
marketing manager must take into account while developing the marketing mix
for the below mentioned products. I. Female cosmetics, II. Children health
drinks and III. Adult bike.
2. ‘Every change in the political and legal environment creates an adjustment
problem for the marketers’ – as a budding manager what is your opinion about
this statement and suggest a suitable strategy to adopt successful and smooth
running of your business.
3. In designing an advertising campaign for a soft drink, which would you find
more useful; information about consumer demographics or information about
consumer life style? Give an example of how would you use each type of
information.
4. Suggest a successful way to segment the market for the following products
a) Detergent soap b) Designer Jewellery c) Breakfast Cereals.
1.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1. It is usual to declare good dividends when the company is making good
profit. It is profitable for companies not to declare any dividend even when
they are making good profits? What will be the reaction of the shareholder?
Discuss.
2. If you are working as a financial manager in an organization, what are your
policies to make profit for the organization?
3. Assume that you are new entrepreneur to start the business, which financial
resources you opt? Justify with your views.
4. “The success of a business concern depends upon the way in which it
earnings are computed, distributed and retained”- Comment on this
statement.
1.4 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare step by step Supply Chain network layout for any manufacturing
company.
2. List the various factors to be considered for locating Atomic Power plant.
3. Prepare PERT network for assembling a Motor Bike.
4. Visit any production plant and list various Material Handling devices with
photographs. Explain its advantages and disadvantages.
3
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1."HR outsourcing has become a common practice throughout the world"-Discuss
the implications of HR outsourcing functions.
2. Identify the Paramount barriers for effective training programme in IT field and
how to crush them". Explain with real life examples.
3. What type of interview techniques do you adopt for selecting an Executive in a
FMCG company for the post of Marketing Manager?
4. Assume that you are responsible for evaluating the employees’ performance in
the public sector manufacturing company. Discuss the appraisal process. Also
explain techniques you apply for various levels and give reasons.
1.6 STATISTICS FOR MANAGERS
1. Which measure of central tendency would be most useful in each of the
following instances?
(a) The production manager for a manufacturer of glass jars, who is concerned
about the proper jar size to manufacture, has sample data on jar sizes
ordered by customers. Would the mean, median, or modal jar size be of
most value to the manager?
(b) The sales manager for a quality furniture manufacturer is interested in
selecting the region’s most likely to purchase his firm’s products. Would he
be most interested in the mean or median of family income in prospective
sales areas?
(c) A security analyst is interested in describing the daily market price change of
the common stock of a manufacturing company. Rarely the market price of
the stock changes by more than one point, but occasionally the price will
change by as many as four points in one day. Should the security analyst
describe the daily price change of the stock in terms of mean, median, or
mode of the daily market price change?
2. Late payment of medical claims can add to the cost of health care. An article
reported that the mean time from the date of service to the date of payment for
one insurance company was 41.4 days during a recent period. Suppose that a
sample of 100 medical claims is selected during the latest time period. The
sample mean time from the date of service to the date of payment was 39.6
days, and the sample standard deviation was 7.4 days.
a. Using the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence that the population
mean has changed from 41.4 days?
b. What is your answer in (a) if you use the 0.01 level of significance?
c. What is your answer in (a) if the sample mean is 38.2 days and the sample
standard deviation is 10.7 days?
3. La Quinta Motor Inns developed a computer model to predict the profitability of
sites that are being considered as locations for new hotels. If the computer
model predicts large profits, La Quinta buys the proposed site and builds a new
hotel. If the computer model predicts small or moderate profits, La Quinta
chooses not to proceed. This decision-making procedure can be expressed in the
hypothesis-testing framework. The null hypothesis is that the site is not a
4
profitable location. The alternative hypothesis is that the site is a profitable
location.
a. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type I error in this case.
b. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type II error in this case.
c. Which type of error do you think the executives at La Quinta Motor Inns are
trying hard to avoid? Explain.
4. The chair of the accounting department wants to develop a regression model to
predict the grade point average in accounting for graduating accounting majors,
based on the students’ SAT score and whether the student received a grade of B
or higher in the introductory statistics course (0 = no and 1 = yes).
a. Explain the steps involved in developing a regression model for these data.
Be sure to indicate the particular models you need to evaluate and
compare.
b. Suppose the regression coefficient for the variable of whether the student
received a grade of B or higher in the introductory statistics course
is +0.30, how do you interpret this result?
1.7 MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION
1. Assuming you are a Chief Personnel Manager of a leading MNC, draft a letter
calling a candidate for an interview in reply to his application for the position of
Chief Financial Executive.
2. Assume yourself as a Customer Relationship Manager of a bank. You have received
a letter from your customers who have complained to you about the rude
behaviour of a computer clerk. Since the customer is an important person, write a
letter to convince the customer.
3. Communication is lifeblood of an organization and without it organization cannot
exists. Discuss this statement.
4. The problem of communication arises because there are various obstacles which
may entirely prevent a communication or filter part of it, or present it incorrect.
Comment and discuss.
1.8 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
1. Understanding the basic concepts of Organizational Behaviour prepare a
Behavioural frame work for a newly established IT company in Chennai. –
Student can imagine the size and turnover of the industry.
2. To understand the importance of the concepts personality, perception, and
attitude of employees in an organization, prepare an interview schedule, conduct
an interview with 2-3 executives of any one organization and present the results.
3. After listing out the qualities and theories of leadership, have a discussion with
one or two real world leaders of your choice and present the outcome.
4. Identify a suitable case to understand Organizational Culture, analyze the case
and present it with issues and strategies.

M.B.A. [HRM] – 1ST YEAR – Assignment - UAP/551/C-2000
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018 -2019


ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
M.B.A. MARKETING MANAGEMENT
FIRST YEAR
Academic Year 2018 - 2019
ASSIGNMENT TOPICS
This booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write the
assignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission : 28-02-2019
Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2019
NOTE:
1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2019 will not be evaluated.
2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned and
not type-written or printed or photocopied.
3. Assignments should be written on A4 paper on one side only.
4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand corner
on all pages) should be put in an envelope with superscription “MBA
Assignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,
Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.
5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in with
Enrolment Number and the Title of the papers.
6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partial
assignments will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For each
topic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries 25 marks
(2 topics).
DR. M. ARUL
DIRECTOR
2
1.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
1. Management can be defined as " A process of bringing about improvement in
knowledge, skill habit and attitudes of the employees in an organization".
Discuss.
2. "Decision making is the most critical managerial task." Discuss the above
statement in light of decision-making Process.
3. Select a business or political leader whom you admire, and identify his or her
style of leading by applying the managerial grid or the continuum-of-behaviour
model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
4. ‟The only planning tool we need in the company is the budget. If everyone meets
his or her budget, we need nothing else, and management by objectives would
be an unnecessary frill”. Comment.
1.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT
1. Explain the recent trends in marketing concepts, also discuss the factors that a
marketing manager must take into account while developing the marketing mix
for the below mentioned products. I. Female Cosmetics, II. Children Health
Drinks and III. Adult Bike.
2. ‘Every change in the political and legal environment creates an adjustment
problem for the marketers’ – as a budding manager what is your opinion about
this statement and suggest a suitable strategy to adopt successful and smooth
running of your business.
3. In designing an advertising campaign for a soft drink, which would you find
more useful; information about consumer demographics or information about
consumer life style? Give an example of how would you use each type of
information.
4. Suggest a successful way to segment the market for the following products
a) Detergent soap b) Designer Jewellery c) Breakfast Cereals.
1.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1. It is usual to declare good dividends when the company is making good
profit. It is profitable for companies not to declare any dividend even when
they are making good profits? What will be the reaction of the shareholder?
Discuss.
2. If you are working as a financial manager in an organization, what are your
policies to make profit for the organization?
3. Assume that you are new entrepreneur to start the business, which financial
resources you opt? Justify with your views.
4. “The success of a business concern depends upon the way in which it
earnings are computed, distributed and retained”- Comment on this
statement.
1.4 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare step by step Supply Chain network layout for any manufacturing
company.
2. List the various factors to be considered for locating Atomic Power plant.
3
3. Prepare PERT network for assembling a Motor Bike.
4. Visit any production plant and list various Material Handling devices with
photographs. Explain its advantages and disadvantages.
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1."HR outsourcing has become a common practice throughout the world"-Discuss
the implications of HR outsourcing functions.
2. Identify the Paramount barriers for effective training programme in IT field and
how to crush them". Explain with real life examples.
3. What type of interview techniques do you adopt for selecting an Executive in a
FMCG company for the post of Marketing Manager?
4. Assume that you are responsible for evaluating the employees’ performance in
the public sector manufacturing company. Discuss the appraisal process. Also
explain techniques you apply for various levels and give reasons.
1.6 STATISTICS FOR MANAGERS
1. Which measure of central tendency would be most useful in each of the
following instances?
(a) The production manager for a manufacturer of glass jars, who is concerned
about the proper jar size to manufacture, has sample data on jar sizes
ordered by customers. Would the mean, median, or modal jar size be of
most value to the manager?
(b) The sales manager for a quality furniture manufacturer is interested in
selecting the regions most likely to purchase his firm’s products. Would he
be most interested in the mean or median of family income in prospective
sales areas?
(c) A security analyst is interested in describing the daily market price change of
the common stock of a manufacturing company. Rarely the market price of
the stock changes by more than one point, but occasionally the price will
change by as many as four points in one day. Should the security analyst
describe the daily price change of the stock in terms of the mean, median, or
mode of daily market price change?
2. Late payment of medical claims can add to the cost of health care. An article
reported that the mean time from the date of service to the date of payment for
one insurance company was 41.4 days during a recent period. Suppose that a
sample of 100 medical claims is selected during the latest time period. The
sample mean time from the date of service to the date of payment was 39.6
days, and the sample standard deviation was 7.4 days.
a. Using the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence that the population
mean has changed from 41.4 days?
b. What is your answer in (a) if you use the 0.01 level of significance?
c. What is your answer in (a) if the sample mean is 38.2 days and the sample
standard deviation is 10.7 days?
3. La Quinta Motor Inns developed a computer model to predict the profitability of
sites that are being considered as locations for new hotels. If the computer
model predicts large profits, La Quinta buys the proposed site and builds a new
4
hotel. If the computer model predicts small or moderate profits, La Quinta
chooses not to proceed. This decision-making procedure can be expressed in the
hypothesis-testing framework. The null hypothesis is that the site is not a
profitable location. The alternative hypothesis is that the site is a profitable
location.
a. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type I error in this case.
b. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type II error in this case.
c. Which type of error do you think the executives at La Quinta Motor Inns are
trying hard to avoid? Explain.
4. The chair of the accounting department wants to develop a regression model to
predict the grade point average in accounting for graduating accounting majors,
based on the students’ SAT score and whether the student received a grade of
B or higher in the introductory statistics course (0 = no and 1 = yes).
a. Explain the steps involved in developing a regression model for these data. Be
sure to indicate the particular models you need to evaluate and compare.
b. Suppose the regression coefficient for the variable of whether the student
received a grade of B or higher in the introductory statistics course is +0.30,
how do you interpret this result?
1.7 MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION
1. Assuming you are a Chief Personnel Manager of a leading MNC, draft a letter
calling a candidate for an interview in reply to his application for the position of
Chief Financial Executive.
2. Assume yourself as a Customer Relationship Manager of a bank. You have received
a letter from your customers who have complained to you about the rude
behaviour of a computer clerk. Since the customer is an important person, write a
letter to convince the customer.
3. Communication is lifeblood of an organization and without it organization cannot
exists. Discuss this statement.
4. The problem of communication arises because there are various obstacles which
may entirely prevent a communication or filter part of it, or present it incorrect.
Comment and discuss.
1.8 ADVERTISING AND SALES PROMOTION
1. “Advertising increases competition and improve life -style by helping to bring new
product to the consumer”. –Do you agree or not? Substantiate your views.
2. Persuasive advertising is the most obvious kind of advertising- Do you agree?
Elaborate the reasons.
3. It is said that advertising is a waste of scarce resources in a developing country
like India. Do you agree? Substantiate your arguments with appropriate
examples.
4. Give examples of consumer behaviour concepts applied to sales promotion.

M.B.A.[M.M.]– 1STYear – Assignment- UAP/551/C-600
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018 -2019

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
M.B.A. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
FIRST YEAR
Academic Year 2018 - 2019
ASSIGNMENT TOPICS
This booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write the
assignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission : 28-02-2019
Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2019
NOTE:
1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2019 will not be evaluated.
2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned
and not type-written or printed or photocopied.
3. Assignments should be written on A4 paper on one side only.
4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand
corner on all pages) should be put in an envelope with superscription “MBA
Assignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,
Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.
5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in with
Enrolment Number and the Title of the papers.
6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partial
assignments will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Write assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For
each topic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries
25 marks (2 topics).
DR. M. ARUL
DIRECTOR
2
1.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
1. Management can be defined as " A process of bringing about improvement in
knowledge, skill, habit and attitudes of the employees in an organization".
Discuss.
2. "Decision making is the most critical managerial task." Discuss the above
statement in light of decision-making process.
3. Select a business or political leader whom you admire, and identify his or her
style of leading by applying the managerial grid or the continuum-of-behaviour
model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
4. ‟The only planning tool we need in the company is the budget. If everyone meets
his or her budget, we need nothing else, and management by objectives would
be an unnecessary frill”. – Comment.
1.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT
1. Explain the recent trends in marketing concepts, also discuss the factors that a
marketing manager must take into account while developing the marketing mix
for the below mentioned products. 1. Female Cosmetics, 2. Children Health
Drinks and 3. Adult Bike.
2. ‘Every change in the political and legal environment creates an adjustment
problem for the marketers’ – As a budding manager what is your opinion about
this statement and suggest a suitable strategy to adopt successful and smooth
running of your business.
3. In designing an advertising campaign for a soft drink, which would you find
more useful; information about consumer demographics or information about
consumer life style? Give an example of how would you use each type of
information.
4. Suggest a successful way to segment the market for the following products
a) Detergent soap b) Designer Jewellery c) Breakfast Cereals.
1.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1. It is usual to declare good dividends when the company is making good
profit. It is profitable for companies not to declare any dividend even when
they are making good profits? What will be the reaction of the shareholder?
Discuss.
2. If you are working as a financial manager in an organization, what are your
policies to make profit for the organization?
3. Assume that you are new entrepreneur to start the business, which financial
resources you opt? Justify with your views.
4. “The success of a business concern depends upon the way in which it
earnings are computed, distributed and retained”. – Comment on this
statement.
1.4 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare step by step Supply Chain network layout for any manufacturing
company.
2. List the various factors to be considered for locating Atomic Power plant.
3. Prepare PERT network for assembling a Motor Bike.
3
4. Visit any production plant and list various Material Handling devices with
photographs. Explain its advantages and disadvantages.
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1."HR outsourcing has become a common practice throughout the world"-Discuss
the implications of HR outsourcing functions.
2. Identify the Paramount barriers for effective training programme in IT field and
how to crush them". Explain with real life examples.
3. What type of interview techniques do you adopt for selecting an Executive in a
FMCG company for the post of Marketing Manager?
4. Assume that you are responsible for evaluating the employees’ performance in
the public sector manufacturing company. Discuss the appraisal process. Also
explain techniques you apply for various levels and give reasons.
1.6 STATISTICS FOR MANAGERS
1. Which measure of central tendency would be most useful in each of the
following instances?
(a) The production manager for a manufacturer of glass jars, who is concerned
about the proper jar size to manufacture, has sample data on jar sizes
ordered by customers. Would the mean, median, or modal jar size be of
most value to the manager?
(b) The sales manager for a quality furniture manufacturer is interested in
selecting the regions most likely to purchase his firm’s products. Would he
be most interested in the mean or median of family income in prospective
sales areas?
(c) A security analyst is interested in describing the daily market price change of
the common stock of a manufacturing company. Rarely the market price of
the stock changes by more than one point, but occasionally the price will
change by as many as four points in one day. Should the security analyst
describe the daily price change of the stock in terms of mean, median, or
mode of the daily market price change?
2. Late payment of medical claims can add to the cost of health care. An article
reported that the mean time from the date of service to the date of payment for
one insurance company was 41.4 days during a recent period. Suppose that a
sample of 100 medical claims is selected during the latest time period. The
sample mean time from the date of service to the date of payment was 39.6
days, and the sample standard deviation was 7.4 days.
a. Using the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence that the population
mean has changed from 41.4 days?
b. What is your answer in (a) if you use the 0.01 level of significance?
c. What is your answer in (a) if the sample mean is 38.2 days and the sample
standard deviation is 10.7 days?
3. La Quinta Motor Inns developed a computer model to predict the profitability of
sites that are being considered as locations for new hotels. If the computer
model predicts large profits, La Quinta buys the proposed site and builds a new
hotel. If the computer model predicts small or moderate profits, La Quinta
chooses not to proceed. This decision-making procedure can be expressed in the
hypothesis-testing framework. The null hypothesis is that the site is not a
4
profitable location. The alternative hypothesis is that the site is a profitable
location.
a. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type I error in this case.
b. Explain the risks associated with committing a Type II error in this case.
c. Which type of error do you think the executives at La Quinta Motor Inns are
trying hard to avoid? Explain.
4. The chair of the accounting department wants to develop a regression model to
predict the grade point average in accounting for graduating accounting majors,
based on the students’ SAT score and whether the student received a grade of
B or higher in the introductory statistics course (0 = no and 1 = yes).
a. Explain the steps involved in developing a regression model for these data.
Be sure to indicate the particular models you need to evaluate and compare.
b. Suppose the regression coefficient for the variable of whether the student
received a grade of B or higher in the introductory statistics course is +0.30,
how do you interpret this result?
1.7 MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION
1. Assuming you are a Chief Personnel Manager of a leading MNC, draft a letter
calling a candidate for an interview in reply to his application for the position of
Chief Financial Executive.
2. Assume yourself as a Customer Relationship Manager of a bank. You have received
a letter from your customers who have complained to you about the rude
behaviour of a computer clerk. Since the customer is an important person, write a
letter to convince the customer.
3. Communication is lifeblood of an organization and without it organization cannot
exists. Discuss this statement.
4. The problem of communication arises because there are various obstacles which
may entirely prevent a communication or filter part of it, or present it incorrect.
Comment and discuss.
1.8 ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGERS
1. What are the significant assumptions we make while comparing financial ratio
of various companies in the same industry? Discuss the implications of the
above assumptions for a user of financial ratios.
2. Suppose you are the co-owner and manager of a retail store that sells and
repairs mountain bikes. Provide one example of a financial accounting report
that would be useful to you and your co-owner. Provide two examples of
managerial accounting reports that would be useful to you as the manager.
3. Discuss how internal rate of return (IRR) method differs from the net present
value method (NPV). Be sure to include an explanation of what the IRR method
is and what the NPV method is.
4. Imagine that, you are the owner of a business. Pass journal entries with 20
different transactions. Prepare a position statement after every transaction. Did
your firm earn profit or made a loss at the end of all transaction? Make a small
comment on your firm’s position at the end.
M.B.A. [F.M.] – 1ST YEAR – Assignment- UAP/551/C-1200
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018 -2019

Saturday 23 February 2019

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IIBMS ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IIBMS ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com


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?


Attempt Any Four Case Studies
Case I
PROVIDE ADVICE TO AN ENTREPRENEUR ABOUT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION

Locked doors and a security system protect your equipment, inventory and payroll. But what protects your business’s most valuable possessions? IP laws can protect your trade secrets, trademarks and product design, provided you take the proper steps. Chicago attorney Kara E.F. Cenar of Welsh and Katz, an IP firm, contends that businesses should start thinking about these issues earlier than most do. “Small businesses tend to delay securing IP protection because of the expense,” Cenar says. “They tend not to see the value of IP until a competitor infringes.” But a business that hasn’t applied for copyrights or patents and actively defended tem will likely have trouble making its case in court.

One reason many business owners don’t protect their intellectual property is that they don’t recognize the value of the intangibles they own. Cenar advises business owners to take their business plans to an experienced IP attorney and discuss how to deal with these issues. Spending money upfront for legal help can save a great deal later by giving you strong copyright or trademark rights, which can deter competitors from infringing and avoid litigation later.

Once you’ve figured out what’s worth protecting, you have to decide how to protect it. That isn’t always obvious. Traditionally, patents prohibit others from copying new devices and processes, while copyrights do the same for creative endeavors such as books, music and software. In many cases, though, the categories overlap. Likewise, trademark law now extends to such distinctive elements as a product’s color and shape. Trade dress laws concerns how the product is packaged and advertised. You might be able to choose what kind of protection to seek.
For instance, one of Welsh & Katz’s clients is Ty Inc., maker of plush toys. Before launching the Beanie Baby line, Cenar explains, the owners brought in business and marketing plans to discuss IP issues. The plan was for a limited number of toys in a variety of styles, and no advertising except word-of-mouth. Getting a patent on a plush toy might have been impossible and would have taken several years, too long for easily copied toys. Trademark and trade dress protection wouldn’t help much, because the company planned a variety of styles. But copyrights are available for sculptural art, and they’re inexpensive and easy to obtain. The company chose to register copyrights and defend them vigorously. Cenar’s firm has fended off numerous knockoffs.

That’s the next step: monitoring the market-place for knockoffs and trademark infringement, and taking increasingly firm steps to enforce your rights. Efforts typically begin with a letter of warning and could end with a court-ordered cease-and-desist order or even an award of damages. “If you don’t take the time to enforce [your trademark], it becomes a very weak mark,” Cenar says. But a strong mark deters infringement, wins lawsuits and gets people to settle early.” Sleep on your rights, and you’’’ lose them. Be proactive, and you’ll protect them – and save money in the long run.
An inventor with a newly invented technology comes to you for advice on the following matters:

Questions:

1. In running this new venture, I need to invest al available resources in producing the products and attracting customers. How important is it for me to divert money from those efforts to protect my intellectual property?

2. I have sufficient resources to obtain intellectual property protection, but how effective is that protection without a large stock of resources to invest in going after those that infringe on my rights? If I do not have the resources to defend a patent, is it worth obtaining one in the first place?

3. Are there circumstances when it is better for me not to be an innovator but rather produce “knock-offs” of other innovations?



Attempt Any Four Case Study

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 – 1   Your Job and Your Passion—You Can Pursue Both!

The 21st century offers many challenges to every one of us. As more firms go global, as more economies interconnect, and as the Web blasts away boundaries to communication, we become more informed citizens. This interconnectedness means that the organizations you work for will require you to develop both general and specialized knowledge—such as speaking multiple languages, using various software applications, or understanding details of financial transactions. You will have to develop general management skills to foster your ability to be self-reliant and thrive in a changing market-place. And here’s the exciting part: As you build both types of knowledge, you may be able to integrate your growing expertise with the causes or activities you care most about. Or, your career adventure may lead you to a new passion. 
Former presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton are well known for combining their management skills—running a country—with their passion for helping people around the world. Together they have raised funds to assist disaster victims, those with HIV/AIDS, and others in need. Jake Burton turned his love of snow sports into an entire industry when he founded Burton Snowboards. Annie Withey poured her business and marketing knowledge into her two famous business ventures: Smartfood and Annie’s Homegrown. Both products were the result of her passion for healthful foods made from organic ingredients.
As you enter the workforce, you may have no idea where your career path will lead. You may be asking yourself, “How will I fit in?” “Where will I live?” “How much will I earn?” “Where will my business and personal careers evolve as the world continuous to change at such a fast pace?” If you are feeling nervous because you don’t know the answers to these questions yet, relax. A career is a journey, not a single destination. You may have one type of career or several. It is likely you will work for several organisations, or you may run one or more businesses of your own.
As you ask yourself what you want to do and where you want to be, take a few minutes to review the chapter and its main topics. Think about your personality, what you like and dislike, what you know and what you want to learn, what you fear and what you dream. Then try the following exercise.

Questions

1. Create a three-column chart in which the first column lists nonmanagement skills you have. Are you good at travel? Do you know how to build furniture? Are you a whiz at sports statistics? Are you an innovative cook? Do you play video games for hours? In the second column, list the causes or activities about which you are passionate. These may dovetail with the first list, but they might not.

2. Once you have you two columns complete, draw lines between entries that seem compatible. If you are good at building furniture, you might have also listed a concern about families who are homeless. Remember that not all entries will find a match—the idea is to begin finding some connections.

3. In the third column, generate a list of firms or organizations you know about that reflect your interests. If you are good at building furniture, you might be interested working for the Habitat for Humanity organization, or you might find yourself gravitating towards a furniture retailer like Ikea or Ethan Allen. You can do further research on organizations via Internet or business publications. 


Note: Solve any 4 Cases Study’s

CASE: I    Enterprise Builds On People

When most people think of car-rental firms, the names of Hertz and Avis usually come to mind. But in the last few years, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has overtaken both of these industry giants, and today it stands as both the largest and the most profitable business in the car-rental industry. In 2001, for instance, the firm had sales in excess of $6.3 billion and employed over 50,000 people.
Jack Taylor started Enterprise in St. Louis in 1957. Taylor had a unique strategy in mind for Enterprise, and that strategy played a key role in the firm’s initial success. Most car-rental firms like Hertz and Avis base most of their locations in or near airports, train stations, and other transportation hubs. These firms see their customers as business travellers and people who fly for vacation and then need transportation at the end of their flight. But Enterprise went after a different customer. It sought to rent cars to individuals whose own cars are being repaired or who are taking a driving vacation.
The firm got its start by working with insurance companies. A standard feature in many automobile insurance policies is the provision of a rental car when one’s personal car has been in an accident or has been stolen. Firms like Hertz and Avis charge relatively high daily rates because their customers need the convenience of being near an airport and/or they are having their expenses paid by their employer. These rates are often higher than insurance companies are willing to pay, so customers who these firms end up paying part of the rental bills themselves. In addition, their locations are also often inconvenient for people seeking a replacement car while theirs is in the shop.
But Enterprise located stores in downtown and suburban areas, where local residents actually live. The firm also provides local pickup and delivery service in most areas. It also negotiates exclusive contract arrangements with local insurance agents. They get the agent’s referral business while guaranteeing lower rates that are more in line with what insurance covers.
In recent years, Enterprise has started to expand its market base by pursuing a two-pronged growth strategy. First, the firm has started opening  airport locations to compete with Hertz and Avis more directly. But their target is still the occasional renter than the frequent business traveller. Second, the firm also began to expand into international markets and today has rental offices in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany.
Another key to Enterprise’s success has been its human resource strategy. The firm targets a certain kind of individual to hire; its preferred new employee is a college graduate from bottom half of graduating class, and preferably one who was an athlete or who was otherwise actively involved in campus social activities. The rationale for this unusual academic standard is actually quite simple. Enterprise managers do not believe that especially high levels of achievements are necessary to perform well in the car-rental industry, but having a college degree nevertheless demonstrates intelligence and motivation. In addition, since interpersonal relations are important to its business, Enterprise wants people who were social directors or high-ranking officers of social organisations such as fraternities or sororities. Athletes are also desirable because of their competitiveness.
Once hired, new employees at Enterprise are often shocked at the performance expectations placed on them by the firm. They generally work long, grueling hours for relatively low pay.

And all Enterprise managers are expected to jump in and help wash or vacuum cars when a rental agency gets backed up. All Enterprise managers must wear coordinated dress shirts and ties and can have facial hair only when “medically necessary”. And women must wear skirts no shorter than two inches above their knees or creased pants.

So what are the incentives for working at Enterprise? For one thing, it’s an unfortunate fact of life that college graduates with low grades often struggle to find work. Thus, a job at Enterprise is still better than no job at all. The firm does not hire outsiders—every position is filled by promoting someone already inside the company. Thus, Enterprise employees know that if they work hard and do their best, they may very well succeed in moving higher up the corporate ladder at a growing and successful firm.


Question:

1. Would Enterprise’s approach human resource management work in other industries?

2. Does Enterprise face any risks from its human resource strategy?

3. Would you want to work for Enterprise? Why or why not?



Attempt All Case Study

Case 1 - HOW GENERAL MOTORS IS COLLABORATING ONLINE

The Problem
Designing a car is a complex and lengthy task. Take, for example, General Motors (GM). Each model created needs to go through a frontal crash test. So the company builds prototypes that cost about one million dollars for each car and tests how they react to frontal crash. GM crashes these cars, makes improvements, then makes new prototypes and crashes them again. There are other tests and more crashes. Even as late as the 1990s, GM crashed as many as 70 cars for each new model.

The information regarding a new design and its various tests, collected in these crashes and other tests, has to be shared among close to 20,000 designers and engineers in hundreds of divisions and departments at 14 GM design labs, some of which are located in different countries. In addition, communication and collaboration is needed with design engineers of the more than 1,000 key suppliers. All of these necessary communications slowed the design process and increased its cost. It took over four years to get a new model to the market.

The Solution
GM, like its competitors, has been transforming itself into an e-business. This gradual transformation has been going on since the mid-1990s, when Internet band width increased sufficiently to allow Web collaboration. The first task was to examine over 7,000 existing legacy IT systems, reducing them to about 3,000, and making them Web-enabled. The EC system is centered on a computer-aided design (CAD) program from EDS (a large IT company, subsidiary of GM). This system, known as Unigraphics, allows 3-D design documents to be shared online by both the internal and external designers and engineers, all of whom are hooked up with the EDS software. In addition. Collaborative and Web-conferencing software tools, including Microsoft’s NetMeeting and EDS’s eVis, were added to enhance teamwork. These tools have radically changed the vehicle-review process.
To see how GM now collaborates with a supplier, take as an example a needed cost reduction of a new seat frame made by Johnson Control GM electronically sends its specifications for the seat to the vendor’s product data system. Johnson Control’s collaboration systems (eMatrix) is integrated with EDS’s In graphics. This integration allows joint searching, designing. Tooling, and testing of the seat frame in real time, expediting the process and cutting costs by more than 10 percent.
Another area of collaboration is that of crashing cars. Here designers need close collaboration with the test engineers. Using simulation, mathematical modeling, and a Web-based review process. GM is able now to electronically “Crash” cars rather than to do it physically.

The Results
Now it takes less than 18 months to bring a new car to market, compared to 4 or more years before, and at a much lower design cost. For example, 60 cars are now “Crashed” electronically, and only 10 are crashed physically. The shorter cycle time enables more new car models, providing GM with a competitive edge. All this has translated into profit. Despite the economic show down. GM’s revenues increased more than 6 percent in 2002. while its earnings in the second quarter of 2002 doubled that of 2001.

Questions:

1. Why did it take GM over four years to design a new car?
2. Who collaborated with whom to reduce the time-to-market?
3. How has IT helped to cut the time-to-market? 


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.


Note: Solve any 4 Cases Study’s

CASE: I    Managing the Guinness brand in the face of consumers’ changing tastes

1997 saw the US$19 billion merger of Guinness and GrandMet to form Diageo, the world’s largest drinks company. Guinness was the group’s top-selling beverage after Smirnoff vodka, and the group’s third most profitable brand, with an estimated global value of US$1.2 billion. More than 10 million glasses of the popular stout were sold every day, predominantly in Guinness’s top markets: respectively, the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, the USA and Cameroon.

However, the famous dark stout with the white, creamy head was causing some strategic concerns for Diageo. In 1999, for the first time in the 241-year of Guinness, sales fell. In early 2002 Diageo CEO Paul Walsh announced to the group’s concerned shareholders that global volume growth of Guinness was down 4 per cent in the last six months of 2001 and, more alarmingly, sales were also down 4 per cent in its home market, Ireland. How should Diageo address falling sales in the centuries-old brand shrouded in Irish mystique and tradition?

The changing face of the Irish beer market

The Irish were very fond of beer and even fonder of Guinness. With close to 200 litres per capita drunk each year—the equivalent of one pint per person per day—Ireland ranked top in worldwide per capita beer consumption, ahead of the Czech Republic and Germany.

Beer accounted for two-thirds of all alcohol bought in Ireland in 2001. Stout led the way in volume sales and accounted for 40 per cent of all beer value sales. Guinness, first brewed in 1759 in Dublin by Arthur Guinness, enjoyed legendary status in Ireland, a national symbol as respected as the green, white and gold flag. It was by far the most popular alcoholic drink in Ireland, accounting for nearly one of every two pints of beer sold. Its nearest competitors were Budweiser and Heineken, which held 13 per cent and 12 per cent of the market respectively.

However, the spectacular economic growth of the Irish economy since the mid-1990s had opened up the traditional drinking market to new cultures and influences, and encouraged the travel-friendly Irish to try other drinks. Beer and in particular stout were losing popularity compared with wine or the recently launched RTDs (ready-to-drinks) or FABs (flavoured alcoholic beverages), which the younger generation of drinkers considered trendier and ‘healthier’. As a Euromonitor report explained: Younger consumers consider dark beers and stout to be old fashioned drinks, with the perceived stout or ale drinker being an old, slightly overweight man and thus not in tune with image conscious youth culture.

Beer sales, which once accounted for 75 per cent of all alcohol bought in Ireland, were expected to drop to close to 50 per cent by 2006, while stout sales were forecast to decrease by 12 per cent between 2002 and 2006.

Giving Guinness a boost in its home market

With Guinness alone accounting for 37 per cent of Diageo’s volume in the market, Guinness/UDV Ireland was one of the first to feel the pain caused by the declining popularity of beer and in particular stout. A Euromonitor report in February 2002 explained how the profile of the Guinness drinker, typically men aged 21-plus, was affected: The average age of Guinness drinkers is rising and this is bringing about the worrying fact that the size of the Guinness target audience is falling. The rate of decline is likely to quicken as the number of less brand loyal, non-stout drinking younger consumers increases.
The report continued:
In Ireland, in particular, the consumer base for Guinness is shrinking as the majority of 18 to 24 year olds consistently reject stout as a product relevant to their generation, opting instead to consume lager or spirits.
Effectively, one-third of young Irish men and half of young Irish women had reportedly never tried Guinness. A Guinness employee provided another explanation. Guinness is similar to coffee in that when you’re young you drink it [coffee] with sugar, but when you’re older you drink it without. It’s got a similar acquired taste and once you’re over the initial hurdle, you’ll fall in love with it.
In an attempt to lure young drinkers to the somewhat ‘acquired’ Guinness taste (40 per cent of the Irish population was under the age of 24) Diageo had invested millions in developing product innovations and brand building in Ireland’s 10,000 pubs, clubs and supermarkets.

Product innovation

Until the mid-1990s most Guinness in Ireland was drunk in a pint glass in the local pub. The launch of product innovations in the form of a new cooling mechanism for draft Guinness and the ‘widget’ technology applied to cans and bottles attempted to modernize the brand’s image and respond to increasing competition from other local and imported stouts and lagers.

‘A perfect head’ for canned Guinness
In 1989, and at a cost of more than £10 million, Guinness developed an ingenious ‘widget’ device for its canned draft stout sold in ‘off-trade’ outlets such as supermarkets and off-licences. The widget, placed in the bottom of the can, released a gas that replicated the draft effect.
Although over 90 per cent of beer in Ireland was sold in ‘on-trade’ pubs and bars, sale of beer in the cheaper ‘off-trade’ channel were slowly gaining in importance. The Guinness brand manager at the time, John O’Keeffe, explained how home drinkers could now enjoy a smoother, creamier head similar to the one obtained in a pub thanks to the new widget technology:
When the can is opened, the pressure causes the nitrogen to be released as the widget moves through the beer, creating the classic draft Guinness surge.

Nearly 10 years later, in 1997, the ‘floating widget’ was introduced, which improved the effectiveness of the device.

A colder pint
In 1997 Guinness Draft Extra Cold was launched in Ireland. An additional chilled tap system could be added to the standard barrel in pubs, allowing the Guinness to be served at 4ºC rather than the normal 6ºC. By serving Guinness at a cooler temperature, Guinness/UDV hoped to mute the bitter taste of the stout and make it more palatable for younger adults, who were increasingly accustomed to drinking chilled lager, particularly in the summer

A cooler image for Guinness
In October 1999 the widget technology was applied to long-stemmed bottles of Guinness. The launch was supported by a US$2 million TV and outdoor board campaign. The packaging—with a clear, shiny plastic wrap, designed to look like a pint complete with creamy head—was quite a departure from the traditional Guinness look.

The objective was to reposition Guinness alongside certain similarly packaged lagers and RTDs and offer younger adults a more fashionable way to drink Guinness: straight from the bottle. It also gave Guinness easier access to the growing number of clubs and bars that were less likely to serve traditional draft Guinness easier access to the growing number of clubs and bars that were less likely to serve traditional draft Guinness, which could be kept for only six to eight weeks and took two minutes to pour. The RTDs, by contrast, had a shelf-life of more than a year and were drunk straight from the bottle.

 However, financial analyst remained sceptical about the Guinness product innovations, which had no significant positive impact on sales or profitability:

The last news about the success of the recently introduced innovations suggests that they have not had a notably material impact on Guinness brand performance.

Brand building

Euromonitor estimates that, in 2000, Diageo invested between US$230 and US$250 million worldwide in Guinness advertising and promotions. However, with a cost-cutting objective, the company reduced marketing expenses in both Ireland and the UK up to 10 per cent in 2001 and the number of global Guinness agencies from six to two.

Nevertheless, Guinness remained one of the most advertised brands in Ireland. It was the leading cinema advertiser and, in terms of advertising, was second only to the national telecoms provider, Eircom. Guinness was also heavily promoted at leading sporting and music events, in particular those that were popular with the younger age groups.

The ultimate tribute to the brand was the opening of the new Guinness Storehouse in Dublin in late 2000, a sort of Mecca for all Guinness fans. The Storehouse was also a fashionable visitor centre with an art gallery and restaurants, and regularly hosted evening events. The company’s design brief highlighted another key objective:
To use an ultramodern facility to breathe life into an ageing brand, to reconnect an old company with young (sceptical) customers.
As the Storehouse’s design firm’s director, Ralph Ardill, explained:

Guinness Storehouse had become the top tourist destination in Ireland, attracting more than half a million people and hosting 45,000 people for special events and training.
The Storehouse also had training facilities for Guinness’s bartenders and 3000 Irish employees. The quality of the Guinness pint remained a high priority for the company, which not only developed pub-like classrooms at the Storehouse but also employed teams of draft technicians to teach barmen how to pour a proper pint. The process involved two steps—the pour and the top-up—and took a total of 119.5 seconds. Barmen also needed to learn how to check that the pressure gauges were properly set and that the proportion of nitrogen to carbon dioxide in the gas was correct.




The uncertain future of the Guinness brand in Ireland

Despite Guinness/DUV’s attempt to appeal to the younger generation of drinkers and boost its fading image, rumours persisted in Ireland about the brand future. The country’s leading and respected newspaper, the Irish times, reported in an article in July 2001:
The uncertainty over its future all adds to the air of crisis that is building around Guinness Ireland Group four months ago…The review is not complete and the assumption is that there is more bad news to come.
In the pubs across Ireland, the traditional Guinness drinkers looked on anxiously as the younger generation drank Bacardi Breezers, Smirnoff Ices or Californian wines. Could the goliath Guinness survive another two centuries? Was the preference for these new drinks just a fad or fashion, or did Diageo need to seriously reconsider how it marketed Guinness?

A quick solution?

In late February 2002, Diageo CEO Paul Walsh revealed that the company was testing technology to cut the waiting time for a pint of Guinness from 1 minute 59 seconds to 15-25 seconds. Ultrasound could release bubbles in the stout and form the head instantly, making a pint of Guinness that would be indistinguishable from one produced by the slower, traditional method.
‘A two-minute pour is not relevant to our customers today,’ Walsh said. A Guinness spokeswoman continued, ‘We have got to move with the times and the brand must evolve. We must take all the opportunities that we can. In outlets where it is really busy, if you walk in after nine o’clock in the evening there will be a cloth over the Guinness pump because it takes longer to pour than other drinks. Aware that some consumers might not be attracted by the innovation, she added ‘It wouldn’t be put everywhere—only where people want a quick pint with no effect on the quality.’

Although still being tested, the ‘quick-pour pint’ was a popular topic of conversation in Dublin pubs, among barmen and customers alike. There were rumours that it would be introduced in Britain only; others thought it would be released worldwide.

Some market commentators viewed the quick-pour pint as an innovative way to appeal to the younger, less patient segment in which Guinness had under-performed. Others feared that the young would be unconvinced by the introduction, and loyal customers would be turned off by what they characterized as a ‘marketing u-turn’.


Question:

1. From a marketing perspective, what has Guinness done to ensure its longevity?

2. How would you characterize the Guinness brand?

3. What could Guinness do to attract younger drinkers? And to retain its older loyal customer base? Can both be done at the same time?


Attempt All Case Study
CASE – 1
The Indian Railways' ambitious Kashmir Railway Project. This was one of its most important and difficult projects as it aimed to build a railroad connection through the Himalayan foothills linking Kashmir with the rest of India. The main objective of this project was to provide an alternative and more reliable mode of transportation system to the people of Kashmir than the existing mode of travel by road. Officially, this track was named as the Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Qazigund-Baramulla link (JUSBRL). The unique features of this line, according to observers, were the presence of a major earthquake zone, extreme environmental conditions in terms of temperature, and the most extreme geological profile throughout the entire terrain.

Some experts lauded the Indian Railway's initiatives and how it had overcome some of the challenges associated with the project and said that once accomplished it would be an engineering miracle. However, it was also criticized on many fronts and some experts believed that the project had been bungled at the planning stage itself.
Question:
» Understand issues and challenges in executing a large infrastructure project by studying the ambitious Kashmir Railway Project which once accomplished would be an engineering miracle.
» Appreciate the difficulties before the project managers due to the fragile geology and steep topography - presence of a major earthquake zone, extreme environmental conditions in terms of temperature, etc.
» Appreciate the difficulties involved in the execution of large infrastructure projects in developing countries, and how these can be overcome.
CASE – 2
Spain-based Mango MNG Holding SL (Mango), the flagship of a group of companies involved in design, manufacture, and distribution of garments and fashion accessories, sold garments for men and women and accessories through exclusive stores. The company was started in 1984 in Spain, and expanded rapidly to more than 107 countries across the world by 2012. Mango went on to become the second largest textile exporter in Spain. Mango was one of the pioneers of fast fashion. The company was able to design the garments and send them to the stores within a span of three months.
It could also bring designs with slight modifications within just two weeks. The case discusses Mango’s business model under which it retained some of the core activities of its value chain in-house while outsourcing the rest of the activities. Important activities like design and distribution were managed completely by the company, while manufacturing, which was a labor-intensive task, was outsourced. The company retailed through its own outlets as well as through franchisees. This business model helped the company expand rapidly and also minimize the risks.

Question:
» Analyze Mango's business model.
» Study the design, production, distribution, and store management processes at Mango.
» Evaluate Mango's core and non-core activities.
» Understand which processes can be managed in-house and which ones can be outsourced..




CASE – 1    MANAGING HINDUSTAN UNILEVER STRATEGICALLY

Unilever is one of the world’s oldest multinational companies. Its origin goes back to the 19th century when a group of companies operating independently, produced soaps and margarine. In 1930, the companies merged to form Unilever that diversified into food products in 1940s. Through the next five decades, it emerged as a major fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) multinational operating in several businesses. In 2004, the Unilever 2010 strategic plan was put into action with the mission to ‘bring vitality to life’ and ‘to meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good, and get more out of life’. The corporate strategy is of focusing on bore businesses of food, home care and personal care. Unilever operates in more than 100 countries, has a turnover of € 39.6 billion and net profit of € 3.685 billion in 2006 and derives 41 per cent of its income from the developing and emerging economies around the world. It has 179,000 employees and is a culturally-diverse organisation with its top management coming from 24 nations. Internationalisation is based on the principle of local roots with global scale aimed at becoming a ‘multi-local multinational’.
The genesis of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in India, goes back to 1888 when Unilever exported Sunlight soap to India. Three Indian, subsidiaries came into existence in the period 1931-1935 that merged to form Hindustan Lever in 1956. Mergers and acquisitions of Lipton (1972), Brooke Bond (1984), Ponds (1986), TOMCO (1993), Lakme (1998) and Modern Foods (2002) have resulted in an organisation that is a conglomerate of several businesses that have been continually restructured over the years.
HUL is one of the largest FMCG company in India with total sales of Rs. 12,295 crore and net profit of 1855crore in 2006. There are over 15000 employees, including more than 1300 managers. The present corporate strategy of HUL is to focus on core businesses. These core businesses are in home and personal care and food. There are 20 different consumer categories in these two businesses. For instance, home and personal care is made up of personal wash, laundry, skin care, hair care, oral care, deodorants, colour cosmetics and ayurvedic personal and health care, while food businesses have tea, coffee, ice creams and processed food brands. Apart from the two product divisions, there are separate departments for specialty exports and new ventures.
Strategic management at HUL is the responsibility of the board of directors headed by a chairman. There are five independent and five whole-time directors. The operational management is looked after by a management committee comprising of Vice Chairman, CEO and managing director and executive directors of the two business divisions and functional areas. The divisions have a lot of autonomy with dedicated assets and resources. A divisional committee having the executive director and heads of functions of sales, commercial and manufacturing looks after the business level decision-making. The functional-level management is the responsibility of the functional head. For instance, a marketing manager has a team of brand managers looking after the individual brands. Besides the decentralised divisional structure, HUL has centralised some functions such as finance, human resource management, research, technology, information technology and corporate and legal affairs.
Unilever globally and HUL nationally, operate in the highly competitive FMCG markets. The consumer markets for FMCG products are finicky: it’s difficult to create customers and much more difficult to retain them. Price is often the central concern in a consumer purchase decision requiring producers to be on continual guard against cost increases. Sales and distribution are critical functions organisationally. HUL operates in such a milieu. It has strong competitors such as the multinationals Procter & Gamble, Nivea or L’Oreal and formidable local companies such as, Amul, Nirma or the Tata


FMCG companies to contend with. Rivals have copied HUL’s strategies and tactics, especially in the area of marketing and distribution. Its innovations such as new style packaging or distribution through women entrepreneurs are much valued but also copied relentlessly, hurting its competitive advantage.
HUL is identified closely with India. There is a ring of truth to its vision statement: ‘to earn the love and respect of India by making a real difference to every Indian’. It has an impeccable record in corporate social responsibility. There is an element of nostalgia associated with brands like Lifebuoy (introduced in 1895) and Dalda (1937) for senior citizens in India. Consequently Indians have always perceived HUL as an Indian company rather than a multinational. HUL has attempted to align its strategies in the past to the special needs of Indian business environment. Be it marketing or human resource management, HUL has experimented with new ideas suited to the local context. For instance, HUL is known for its capabilities in rural marketing, effective distribution systems and human resource development. But this focus on India seems to be changing. This might indicate a change in the strategic posture as well as recognition that Indian markets have matured to the extent that they can be dealt with by the global strategies of Unilever. At the corporate level, it could also be an attempt to leverage global scale while retaining local responsiveness to some extent.
In line with the shift in corporate strategy, the focus of strategic decision-making seems to have moved from the subsidiary to the headquarters. Unilever has formulated a new global realignment under which it will develop brands and streamline product offerings across the world and the subsidiaries will sell the products. Other subtle indications of the shift of decision-making authority could be the appointment of a British CEO after nearly forty years during which there were Indian CEOs, the changed focus on a limited number of international brands rather than a large range of local brands developed over the years and the name-change from Hindustan Lever to Hindustan Unilever.
The shift in the strategic decision-making power from the subsidiary to headquarters could however, prove to be double-edged sword. An example could be of HUL adopting Unilever’s global strategy of focussing on a limited number of products, called the 30 power brands in 2002. That seemed a perfectly sensible strategic decision aimed at focusing managerial attention to a limited set of high-potential products. But one consequence of that was the HUL’s strong position in the niche soap and detergent markets suffering owing to neglect and the competitors were quick to take advantage of the opportunity. Then there are the statistics to deal with: HUL has nearly 80 per cent of sales and 85 per cent of net profits from the home and personal care businesses. Globally, Unilever derives half its revenues from food business. HUL does not have a strong position in the food business in India though the food processing industry remains quite attractive both in terms of local consumption as well as export markets. HUL’s own strategy of offering low-price, competitive products may also suffer at the cost of Unilever’s emphasis on premium priced, high end products sold through modern outlets.
There are some dark clouds on the horizon. HUL’s latest financials are not satisfactory. Net profit is down, sales are sluggish, input costs have been rising and new food products introduced in the market have yet to pick up. All this while, in one market segment after another, a competitor pushes ahead. In a company of such a big size and over-powering presence, these might still be minor events developments in a long history that needs to be taken in stride. But, pessimistically, they could also be pointers to what may come.

Questions:

1. State the strategy of Hindustan Unilever in your own words.
2. At what different levels is strategy formulated in HUL?
3. Comment on the strategic decision-making at HUL.
4. Give your opinion on whether the shift in strategic decision-making from India to Unilever’s headquarters could prove to be advantageous to HUL or not.