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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT I

a. Supply Chain Management

b. Facility Layout

c. Operations Planning

d. Materials Management

e. Purchase Management

f. Scheduling Techniques

ASSIGNMENT II

A Case Study on Enterprise Resource Planning

ENROLLMENT NUMBER : ___________________________

M.B.A. (General )1s t Year 2nd SEMESTER Assignments

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY 2023– 25

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ASSIGNMENT I

a.

Sources of Long-Term Project Finance

b. Project Implementation

c. Administration Agencies for Project Approval

d. Project Planning Tools Used in Project Management

e. Entrepreneurship Development

f. Entrepreneurship

ASSIGNMENT II

A New or Existing Business Plan

ENROLLMENT NUMBER : ___________________________

M.B.A. (General )1s t Year 2nd SEMESTER Assignments

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY 2023– 25

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT I

a.

Strategy and Strategic Management

b. Cash Management Global Strategies, Customization, Standardization, and Strategic Alliances

c. Business Portfolio Analysis-BCG Matrix, GE Business Screen

d. Equity and preference Shares

e. Space Matrix-Directional Policy Matrix

f. Core Competency and Competitive advantage

ASSIGNMENT II

McKinsey & Company Report Insights:

What to expect from medtech in 2024

What to expect from medtech in 2024 | McKinsey

(Report is shared in Telegram Channel https://t.me/s346mba)

ENROLLMENT NUMBER : ___________________________

M.B.A. (General )1s t Year 2nd SEMESTER Assignments

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY 2023– 25

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND STATISTICS

ASSIGNMENT I

a.

Research Process – Seven steps

b. Measurement and Scaling Techniques

c. Sampling and sample size determination

d. Hypothesis Testing for ANOVA

e. Measure of Relationship – Correlation and Regression

f. Structural Equation Modeling

ASSIGNMENT II

Building Better Future – 2023 Global Impact Report:

Business, Environment, Social & Governance

Deloitte 2023 Global Impact Report

(Report is shared in Telegram Channel https://t.me/s346mba)

ENROLLMENT NUMBER : ___________________________

M.B.A. (General )1s t Year 2nd SEMESTER Assignments

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY 2023– 25

LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS

ASSIGNMENT I

a.

Performance of Contract

b. Negotiable Instruments Act of 1881

c. Sale of Goods Act – II & Value Added Tax

d. Companies Act 2013

e. Essential Commodities Act, 1955

ASSIGNMENT II

Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) of Consumer Protection Act, (1986) 2019.

DARPG Hackathon 2024 | Event Data.Gov.in

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Examination Paper of Business Communication

IIBM Institute of Business Management

• This section consists of multiple choices and Short Notes type questions.

• Answer all the questions.

• Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Subject Code-B109

Examination Paper Business Communication

MM.100

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

Part one:

Multiple choice:

I.The most important goal of business communication is_________. (1)

a) favorable relationship between sender and receiver

b) organizational goodwill

c) receiver response

d) receiver understanding

II. Down ward communication flows from_________ to_________. (1)

e) Upper to lower

f) Lower to upper

g) Horizontal

h) Diagonal

III. Horizontal communication takes place

between_________. (1)

a. superior to subordinate

b. subordinate to superior

c. employees with same status

d. none of these

IV. The study of communication through touch is_________. (1)

a. chronemics

b. haptics

c. proxemics

d. semantic

V._____________ channel of communication is known as grapevine (1)

a. Formal

b. Informal

c. Horizontal

d. Vertical

VI. The following is (are) the most effective ways of communication. (1) a. Verbal b. Non verbal c. Written d. All of the above

Examination Paper of Business Communication

IIBM Institute of Business Management

END OF SECTION A

• This section consists of Caselets.

• Answer all the questions.

• Each Caselet carries 20marks.

• Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

VII. The handshake that conveys confidence is (1)

a. Limp

b. Firm

c. Loose

d. Double

VIII. ________ of the letter consists of main message. (1)

a. Heading

b. Body

c. Greeting

d. Closing

IX. Body of a letter is divided into ________

parts. (1)

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

X. X. A persuasive message will fail if_____ (1)

a. it does not focus on what is in it for the reader

b. it only lists facts

c. it moves too slowly

d. all of the above

Part Two:

1. Brief Grapevine communication? (5)

2. List the 7 C’s of Communication? (5)

3. Describe the various barriers of communication? (5)

4. Write the negotiation process. (5)

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

Caselet 1

Barry and Communication Barriers Effective Communication as a Motivator One common complaint employees voice about supervisors is inconsistent messages – meaning one supervisor tells them one thing and another tells them something different. Imagine you are the supervisor/manager for each of the employees described below. As you read their case, give

Examination Paper of Business Communication

IIBM Institute of Business Management

consideration to how you might help communicate with the employee to remedy the conflict. Answer the critical thinking questions at the end of the case then compare your answers to the Notes to Supplement Answers section. Barry is a 27-year old who is a foodservice manager at a casual dining restaurant. Barry is responsible for supervising and managing all employees in the back of the house. Employees working in the back of the house range in age from 16 years old to 55 years old. In addition, the employees come from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. For many, English is not their primary language. Barry is Serv Safe® certified and tries his best to keep up with food safety issues in the kitchen but he admits it’s not easy. Employees receive “on the job training” about food safety basics (for example, appropriate hygiene and hand washing, time/temperature, and cleaning and sanitizing). But with high turnover of employees, training is often rushed and some new employees are put right into the job without training if it is a busy day. Eventually, most employees get some kind of food safety training. The owners of the restaurant are supportive of Barry in his food safety efforts because they know if a food safety outbreak were ever linked to their restaurant; it would likely put them out of business. Still, the owners note there are additional costs for training and making sure food is handled safely. One day Barry comes to work and is rather upset even before he steps into the restaurant. Things haven’t been going well at home and he was lucky to rummage through some of the dirty laundry and find a relatively clean outfit to wear for work. He admits he needs a haircut and a good hand scrubbing, especially after working on his car last evening. When he walks into the kitchen he notices several trays of uncooked meat sitting out in the kitchen area. It appears these have been sitting at room temperature for quite some time. Barry is frustrated and doesn’t know what to do. He feels like he is beating his head against a brick wall when it comes to getting employees to practice food safety. Barry has taken many efforts to get employees to be safe in how they handle food. He has huge signs posted all over the kitchen with these words: KEEP HOT FOOD HOT AND COLD FOOD COLD and WASH YOUR HANDS ALWAYS AND OFTEN. All employees are given a thermometer when they start so that they can temp food. Hand sinks, soap, and paper towels are available for employees so that they are encouraged to wash their hands frequently.

Questions

1. What are the communication challenges and barriers Barry faces? (10)

2. What solutions might Barry consider in addressing each of these challenges and barriers? (10)

Caselet 2

Mr. Dutta, newly appointed president of century Airlines, knew the company’s survival depended on customer service, which in turn depended on motivated employees. So he created the Century Spirit program to build team spirit by encouraging employee participation, individual initiative, and open communication. Among the program’s early successes was newspaper started by a group of flight attendants. The plane truth published information about benefits and work conditions as well as feature stories and humorous articles. It quickly became popular not only with flight attendant but with pilot, machinists, and baggage handlers.

As time went on, though, the plane truth began to run articles critical of the company. When management cut back worker’s hours, the, newspaper questioned what sacrifices the executive were making. When the technical services department releases figures showing long turnaround times, the paper questioned the machinist’s work ethic. Worried that customer might see the newspaper; Mr. Dutta wanted to cancel it. The president of the flight attendants union also wanted to see it was stirring up trouble with the machinists.

Examination Paper of Business Communication

IIBM Institute of Business Management

• This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

• Answer all the questions.

• Each question carries 15marks.

• Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

END OF SECTION C

Ms. Rachel, Century’s human resource director, was asked to stop the publication. But she hesitated. She knew the employee morale was on the brink, but she did not know whether the newspaper was venting worker’s frustrations and reinforcing team spirit or stirring up old animosities and bringing the whole company down. Was it creating more tension than unity or vice-versa?

Questions

1. What Communication issues are involved at Century Airlines? (10)

2. What Communication Channels are being Utilized (10)

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

1. Explain the various non verbal communications with an example in business

Scenario? (15)

2. Delineate the types of parts of business report writing? (15)

S-2-010619

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

SubjectCode-B108 Examination Paper

Strategic Management

MM.100

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

Part one:

Multiple choice:

I. Horizontal integration is concerned with

(1)

a) Production

b) Quality

c) Product planning

d) All of the above

II. It refers to formal and informal rules, regulations and procedures that complement the company structure (1)

a) Strategy

b) Systems

c) Environment

d) All of the above

III. Strategic management is mainly the responsibility of (1)

a. Lower management

b. Middle management

c. Top management

d. All of the above

IV. Formal systems are adopted to bring ________ & amalgamation of decentralized units into product groups.

(1)

a. Manpower

b. Co-ordination

c. Production

d. All of the above

 This section consists of multiple choices and Short Notes type questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IV.Like roots of a tree, ________of organization is hidden from direct view. (1)

a. Performance

b. Strategy

c. Core competence

d. All of the above

V. The actual performance deviates positively over the budgeted performance. This is an indication of ……….. Performance. (1) a. Superior b. Inferior c. Constant d. Any of the above

VI. Criteria for making an evaluation is (are)

(1)

a. Consistency with goals

b. Consistency with environment

c. Money

d. All of the above

VII. Changes in company ………. also necessitates changes in the systems in various degrees (1)

a. structure

b. system

c. strategy

d. turnover

VIII. Micro environment is the ………. environment of a company. (1)

a. Working

b. Human

c. External

d. Internal

X Techniques used in environmental appraisal are (1)

a.Single-variable

extrapolation/multivariable

interaction analysis

b.Structured/ unstructured

expert/inexpert opinion

c.Dynamic modes and mapping

d.All of the above

Part Two:

1. Distinguish between a strategy and tactics. (5)

2. Give an outline of relation between ‘Strategy and Customer’ in brief? (5)

3. Explain in brief the concept of strategic thinking? (5)

4. What are the basic elements of planning? (5)

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

END OF SECTION A

 This section consists of Caselets.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each Caselet carries 20marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

Caselet 1

Apple’s profitable but risky strategy

When Apple’s Chief Executive – Steven Jobs – launched the Apple iPod in 2001 and the iPhone in 2007, he made a significant shift in the company’s strategy from the relatively safe market of innovative, premium-priced computers into the highly competitive markets of consumer electronics. This case explores this profitable but risky strategy.

Early beginnings

To understand any company’s strategy, it is helpful to begin by looking back at its roots. Founded in 1976, Apple built its early reputation on innovative personal computers that were particularly easy for customers to use and as a result was priced higher than those of competitors. The inspiration for this strategy came from a visit by the founders of the company – Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniack – to the Palo Alto research laboratories of the Xerox Company in 1979. They observed that Xerox had developed an early version of a computer interface screen with the drop-down menus that are widely used today on all personal computers. Most computers in the late 1970s still used complicated technical interfaces for even simple tasks like typing – still called ‘word-processing’ at the time.

Jobs and Wozniack took the concept back to Apple and developed their own computer – the Apple Macintosh (Mac) – that used this consumer-friendly interface. The Macintosh was launched in 1984. However, Apple did not sell to, or share the software with, rival companies. Over the next few years, this non-co-operation strategy turned out to be a major weakness for Apple.

Battle with Microsoft

Although the Mac had some initial success, its software was threatened by the introduction of Windows 1.0 from the rival company Microsoft, whose chief executive was the well-known Bill Gates. Microsoft’s strategy was to make this software widely available to other computer manufacturers for a license fee – quite unlike Apple. A legal dispute arose between Apple and Microsoft because Windows had many on-screen similarities to the Apple product. Eventually, Microsoft signed an agreement with Apple saying that it would not use Mac technology in Windows 1.0. Microsoft retained the right to develop its own interface software similar to the original Xerox concept.

Coupled with Microsoft’s willingness to distribute Windows freely to computer manufacturers, the legal agreement allowed Microsoft to develop alternative technology that had the same on-screen result. The result is history. By 1990, Microsoft had developed and distributed a version of Windows that would run on virtually all IBM-compatible personal computers – see Case 1.2. Apple’s strategy of keeping its software exclusive was a major strategic mistake. The company was determined to avoid the same error when it

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

came to the launch of the iPod and, in a more subtle way, with the later introduction of the iPhone.

Apple’s innovative products

Unlike Microsoft with its focus on a software-only strategy, Apple remained a full-line computer manufacturer from that time, supplying both the hardware and the software. Apple continued to develop various innovative computers and related products. Early successes included the Mac2 and PowerBooks along with the world’s first desktop publishing program – PageMaker. This latter remains today the leading program of its kind. It is widely used around the world in publishing and fashion houses. It remains exclusive to Apple and means that the company has a specialist market where it has real competitive advantage and can charge higher prices.

Not all Apple’s new products were successful – the Newton personal digital assistant did not sell well. Apple’s high price policy for its products and difficulties in manufacturing also meant that innovative products like the iBook had trouble competing in the personal computer market place.

Apple’s move into consumer electronics

Around the year 2000, Apple identified a new strategic management opportunity to exploit the growing worldwide market in personal electronic devices – CD players, MP3 music players, digital cameras, etc. It would launch its own Apple versions of these products to add high-value, user-friendly software. Resulting products included iMovie for digital cameras and I DVD for DVD-players. But the product that really took off was the iPod – the personal music player that stored hundreds of CDs. And unlike the launch of its first personal computer, Apple sought industry co-operation rather than keeping the product to itself.

Launched in late 2001, the iPod was followed by the iTunes Music Store in 2003 in the USA and 2004 in Europe – the Music Store being a most important and innovatory development. iTune was essentially an agreement with the world’s five leading record companies to allow legal downloading of music tracks using the internet for 99 cents each. This was a major coup for Apple – it had persuaded the record companies to adopt a different approach to the problem of music piracy. At the time, this revolutionary agreement was unique to Apple and was due to the negotiating skills of Steve Jobs, the Apple Chief Executive, and his network of contacts in the industry. Apple’s new strategy was beginning to pay off. The iPod was the biggest single sales contributor in the Apple portfolio of products.

In 2007, Apple followed up the launch of the iPod with the iPhone, a mobile telephone that had the same user-friendly design characteristics as its music machine. To make the iPhone widely available and, at the same time, to keep control, Apple entered into an exclusive contract with only one national mobile telephone carrier in each major country – for example, AT&T in the USA and O2 in the UK. Its mobile phone was premium priced – for

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

example, US$599 in North America. However, in order to hit its volume targets, Apple later reduced its phone prices, though they still remained at the high end of the market. This was consistent with Apple’s long-term, high-price, high-quality strategy. But the company was moving into the massive and still-expanding global mobile telephone market where competition had been fierce for many years.

And the leader in mobile telephones – Finland’s Nokia – was about to hit back at Apple, though with mixed results. But other companies, notably the Korean company Samsung and the Taiwanese company, HTC, were to have more success later.

So, why was the Apple strategy risky?

By 2007, Apple’s music player – the iPod – was the premium-priced, stylish market leader with around 60 per cent of world sales and the largest single contributor to Apple’s turnover. Its iTune download software had been re-developed to allow it to work with all Windows-compatible computers (about 90 percent of all PCs) and it had around 75 percent of the world music download market, the market being worth around US$1000 million per annum. Although this was only some 6 percent of the total recorded music market, it was growing fast. The rest of the market consisted of sales of CDs and DVDs direct from the leading recording companies.

In 2007, Apple’s mobile telephone – the iPhone – had only just been launched. The sales objective was to sell 10 million phones in the first year: this needed to be compared with the annual mobile sales of the global market leader, Nokia, of around 350 million handsets. However, Apple had achieved what some commentators regarded as a significant technical breakthrough: the touch screen. This made the iPhone different in that its screen was no longer limited by the fixed buttons and small screens that applied to competitive handsets. As readers will be aware, the iPhone went on to beat these earlier sales estimates and was followed by a new design, the iPhone 4 in 2010.

The world market leader responded by launching its own phones with touch screens. In addition, Nokia also launched a complete download music service. Referring to the new download service, Rob Wells, senior Vice President for digital music at Universal commented: ‘This is a giant leap toward where we believe the industry will end up in three or four years’ time, where the consumer will have access to the celestial jukebox through any number of devices.’ Equally, an industry commentator explained: ‘[For Nokia] it could be short-term pain for long-term gain. It will steal some of the thunder from the iPhone and tie users into the Nokia service.’ Readers will read this comment with some amazement given the subsequent history of Nokia’s smart phones that is described in Case 9.2.

‘Nokia is going to be an internet company. It is definitely a mobile company and it is making good progress to becoming an internet company as well,’ explained Olli PekkaKollasvuo, Chief Executive of Nokia. There also were hints from commentators that Nokia was likely to make a loss on its new download music service. But the company was determined to ensure that Apple was given real competition in this new and unpredictable market.

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

Here lay the strategic risk for Apple. Apart from the classy, iconic styles of the iPod and the iPhone, there is nothing that rivals cannot match over time. By 2007, all the major consumer electronics companies – like Sony, Philips and Panasonic – and the mobile phone manufacturers – like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola – were catching up fast with new launches that were just as stylish, cheaper and with more capacity. In addition, Apple’s competitors were reaching agreements with the record companies to provide legal downloads of music from websites.

Apple’s competitive reaction

As a short term measure, Apple hit back by negotiating supply contracts for flash memory for its iPod that were cheaper than its rivals. Moreover, it launched a new model, the iPhone 4 that made further technology advances. Apple was still the market leader and was able to demonstrate major increases in sales and profits from the development of the iPod and iTunes. To follow up this development, Apple launched the Apple Tablet in 2010 – again an element of risk because no one really knew how well such a product would be received or what its function really was. The second generation Apple tablet was then launched in 2011 after the success of the initial model. But there was no denying that the first Apple tablet carried some initial risks for the company.

All during this period, Apple’s strategic difficulty was that other powerful companies had also recognized the importance of innovation and flexibility in the response to the new markets that Apple itself had developed. For example, Nokia itself was arguing that the markets for mobile telephones and recorded music would converge over the next five years. Nokia’s Chief Executive explained that much greater strategic flexibility was needed as a result: ‘Five or ten years ago, you would set your strategy and then start following it. That does not work anymore. Now you have to be alert every day, week and month to renew your strategy.’

If the Nokia view was correct, then the problem for Apple was that it could find its market-leading position in recorded music being overtaken by a more flexible rival – perhaps leading to a repeat of the Apple failure 20 years earlier to win against Microsoft. But at the time of updating this case, that looked unlikely. Apple had at last found the best, if risky, strategy.

Questions

1. using the concepts in this chapter undertake a competitive analysis of both Apple and Nokia – who is stronger? (10)

2. What are the problems with predicting how the market and the competition will change over the next few years? What are the implications for strategy development? (10)

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

Caselet 2

Mr. Ashwin is the marketing manager of the cosmetics. division of the Medwin Drug Company. The company was well known as a leader in new proprietary drug and toiletry products and had a good record of profitability. The cosmetics division had been especially successful in women's toiletries and .1/4.-o..,unctitk.:s and in the introduction of new products, It always based its new-product development on market research respect to what Would appeal to women and, after almost invariably test marketing a new product in a few almost invarariably test marketing a new product in selected cities, launched it with a heavy advertising and sales promotion program. It had hoped in this way not only to get a large initial share of the markets but also to become so well entrenched that competitors. who soon copy a successful product would not dislodge it from its market share.

After being cautioned by the president of Medwin Drug about the necessity for watching costs more carefully, the division manager became increasingly concerned with two opposing factors in his marketing strategy: ( 1) test marketing of new products (offering them for sale first in a few test cities with area advertising and sales programs) tended increasingly to give competitors advance information on new products, and certain competitors had been able to copy a product almost as soon as Medwin could offer it nationally and profited thereby from Medwin's advertising; and (2) national advertising and sales promotion expenses were rising so fast that a single major product failure would have an important impact on division profits, on which his annual bonus was primarily determined. On the one hand, he recognized the wisdom of test marketing, but he disliked the costs and dangers involved. On the other hand, he hardly wished to take an unknown risk of embarking on a national program until a test showed that the product did in fact have a good market demand. Yet, he wondered whether all products should be test marketed.

Mr. Ashwin was asked to put this problem to his marketing department subordinates and ask them what should be done. To give the strategy some meaning, he used as a case at point the company's new hair conditioner which had been developed on the basis of promising, although preliminary, market research. He asked his sales manager whether he thought the product would succeed and what he thought his "best estimate" of sales would be. He also asked his advertising manager to give some cost estimates on launching the product.

Mr. Kiran, division sales manager, thought a while, then said he was convinced that the product was a winner and that his best estimate would be sales of Rs. 5 crores per year for at least five years. Mr. Desai, the advertising manager, said that the company could launch the product for a cost of Rs. 1 crore the first year and some Rs. 25 lakhs per year thereafter. He also pointed out that the test-marketing program would cost Rs. 15 lakhs, of which half would be saved if these test cities were merely a part of a national program, and that the testing program would delay the national program for six months. But he warned Mr. Ashwin that test marketing would save the gamble of so much money on the national promotion program. At this point, Mr. Sachdev, the new marketing research manager, suggested that the group might come to a better decision if they used a proper decision-making technique.

Question:

1. Which decision-making technique can be used in this situation? Why? (20)

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Strategic Management

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

1. What are the main characteristics of strategic decisions? (15)

2. What specific entrepreneurial aspects include the strategy formation process? (15)

S-2-010619

 This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each question carries 15marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

END OF SECTION C

END OF SECTION B

Examination Paper of Production and Operations Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Subject Code-B107 Examination Paper

Production and Operations Management

MM.100

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

Part one:

Multiple choice:

I.The purpose of the transportation approach for locational analysis is to minimize (1)

a) Total costs

b) Total shipping costs

c) Total variable costs

d) Total fixed costs

II. Which of the following would not generally be a motive for a firm to hold inventories? To (1)

e) Take advantage of quantity discounts

f) Minimize holding costs

g) Reduce stock out risks

h) Decouple production from distribution

III. Which of the following are assignable cause? (1)

a. Large variations in hardness of material

b. Tool wear

c. Errors in setting

d. All of the above

IV. Like roots of a tree, ________of organization is hidden from direct view.

(1)

a. Goodwill

b. Core competence

c. Higher management

d. Capital investment

 This section consists of multiple choices and Short Notes type questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Examination Paper of Production and Operations Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

V.Inadequate production capacity ultimately leads to (1)

a. Poor quality

b. Poor Customer Service

c. Poor inventory control

d. All of the above

VI. Limitations of Traditional cost accounting are (1) a. Assumes factory as an isolated entity b. It measures only the cost of producing c. Both (A) and (B) d. None of the above

VII. Business is rated on which dimensions

(1)

a. Market attractiveness

b. Business strength

c. Both (A) and (B)

d. None of the above

VIII. How does ‘structure’ reduce external uncertainty arising out of human behavior (1)

a. Research and planning

b. Forecasting

c. Both (A) and (B)

d. None of the above

IX. Objective of Work Study is to improve _______ (1)

a. Cycle time

b. Productivity

c. Production

d. All of the above

X. Which of the following are activities of corrective maintenance? (1)

a. Overhauling

b. Emergency repairs

c. Modifications and improvements

d. All of the above

Part Two:

1. What are the dimensions of quality? (5)

2. What is Quality? (5)

3. What is Materials Planning? (5)

4. Need for Inventory Management - Why do Companies hold inventories? (5)

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

END OF SECTION A

 This section consists of Caselets.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each Caselet carries 20marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Production and Operations Management

Caselet 1

The pizza business did well and by 1965, Thomas was able to open two more stores in the town -Pizza King and Pizza from the Prop. Within a year, Varti opened a pizza store in a neighborhood town with the same name, DomiNick's Pizza. Thomas decided to change the name of his first store, DomiNick's Pizza, and one of his employees suggested the name Domino's Pizza(Domino's). The advantage of this name Thomas felt was that it would be listed after DomiNick in the directory. Domino's philosophy rested on two principles - limited menu and delivering hot and fresh pizzas within half-an-hour. In 1967, it opened the first franchise store in Ypsilanti, and in 1968, a franchise store in Burlington, Vermont. However, the company ran into problems when its headquarters (the first store) and commissary were destroyed by fire. In the early 1970s, the company faced problems again when it was sued by Amstar, the parent company of Domino Sugar for trademark infringement. Thomas started looking for a new name and came up with Red Domino's and Pizza's Dispatch. However, there wasn't any need for it because Domino's won the lawsuit in 1980.In 1982, Domino's Pizza established Domino's Pizza International (DPI) that was made responsible for opening Domino's stores internationally. The first store was opened in Winnipeg, Canada. Within a year, DPI spread to more than 50 countries and in 1983, it inaugurated its1000th store. Around the same time, new pizza chains like Pizza Hut and Little Caesar established themselves in the USA. Domino's Pizza faced intense competition because it had not changed its menu of traditional hand-tossed pizza. The other pizza chains offered low-priced breadsticks, salads and other fast food apart from pizzas. Domino's faced tough competition from Pizza Hut in the home delivery segment also. Little Caesar was eating into Domino's market share with its innovative marketing strategies. By 1989, Domino's sales had reduced significantly and cash flows were affected due to the acquisition of assets. In 1993, Thomas took measures to expand Domino's product line, in an attempt to revive the company and tackle competition. The company introduced pan pizza and bread sticks in the USA. In late 1993, Domino's introduced the Ultimate Deep Dish Pizza and Crunchy Thin Crust Pizza. In 1994, it rolled out another non-pizza dish - Buffalo wings. Though Domino's did not experiment with its menu for many years, the company adopted innovative ways in managing a pizza store. Thomas gave about 90% of the franchisee agreements in the USA to people who had worked as drivers with Domino's. The company gave ownership to qualified people, after they had successfully managed a pizza store for a year and had completed a training course. Domino's also gave franchises to candidates recommended by existing franchisees. Outside the USA, most of Domino's stores were franchise-owned. Domino's was also credited for many innovations in the pizza industry and setting standards for other pizza companies. It has developed dough trays, corrugated pizza boxes, insulated bags for delivering pizzas, and conveyor ovens.

In 1993, Domino's withdrew the guarantee of delivering pizzas within 30-minutes of order andstarted emphasizing on Total Satisfaction Guarantee (TSG) which read: "If for any reason, you are dissatisfied with your Domino's Pizza dining experience, we will re-make your pizza or refund your money." Domino's entered India in 1996 through a franchise agreement with VamBhartia Corp in Delhi. With the overwhelming success of the first outlet, the company opened another outlet in Delhi. By 2000, Domino's had outlets in all major cities in India. When

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Production and Operations Management

Domino's entered India, the concept of home delivery was still in its nascent stages. It existed only in some major cities and was restricted to delivery by the friendly neighborhood fast food outlets. Eating out at 'branded' restaurants was more common. To penetrate the Indian market, Domino's introduced an integrated home delivery system from a network of company outlets within 30 minutes of the order. Goutham Advani (Advani), Chief of Marketing, Domino's Pizza India, said, "What really worked its way into the Indian mind set was the promised 30-minute delivery." Domino's also offered compensation: Rs.30/- off the price tag if there was a delay in delivery. For the first 4 years in India, Domino's concentrated on its 'Delivery' strategy.

Domino's Logistics Model

Analysts felt that Domino's took a cue from McDonald's supply chain model. However, they opined that the level of complexity in McDonald's system in India was not as high as that of Domino's. Commented Bhatia ,"McDonald's operations are not as spread out as ours. They are in four cities while we are in 16.Centralizing wouldn't work on such a geographical scale”. The logistics model adopted by Domino's offered some obvious benefits including lower transportation costs, cheaper procurement and economies of scale. Domino's had already cut out the duplication in procurement and processing of raw materials across each of the three commissaries. The old model of self-contained commissaries had another disadvantage: adding new outlets did not translate into greater economies of scale. Bhatia planned to extend the model to other parts of the country as well. The commissary was to be located near the largest market in that region. Bhatia said, "Our roll-out began only after we mapped out our procurement strategy." Based on the agricultural map of India, Domino's looked McDonald's had one of the best logistics models in India. To maintain consistency and quality of its products, McDonald's shipped all the raw materials lettuce, patties et al to a cold storage close to the main market. Based on a daily demand schedule that was prepared a day in advance, the required amount of raw material was transported to individual outlets to get the best product at the lowest cost.

Thus, tomatoes would come from Bhubaneswar, spices from the south, baby corn from Nepal (where it's 40% cheaper than in India) and vegetables from Sri Lanka. Similarly, Domino's India planned to extend its operations to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Dhaka. The company planned to establish a commissary in Sri Lanka. Domino's also identified specialty crops in each region. The commissary in that region was entrusted with the task of processing that specialty crop. For instance, the commissary for the eastern region in Kolkata was responsible for buying tomatoes, processing them and then sending them to all the other commissaries. Similarly, the northern commissary had to deliver pizza bases. This way, Domino's minimized duplication as well as the dangers of perish ability. Once the new model was formalized, Bhatia planned to use Domino's 25 refrigerated trucks to transport products for other companies on the same route. For instance, if an operator in Kochi(Kerala) needed to transport specialty cheese, he could use the Domino's fleet to transport his products. Said Bhatia, "Not too many people have refrigerated trucks in the country. And we can offer them quality service because we will be giving them standards we use for ourselves." Company sources said that enquiries from clients for such transport facilities had started coming in. Bhatia said he was in the process of selecting a person to head the logistics operation, which would be spun off as a separate profit centre. Bhatia seemed confident that the profit centre had the potential to bring in Rs 10 by 2006. However, he said the profit center would not be allowed to impede the growth of the pizza

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Production and Operations Management

business, Domino's core operation. Only those deliveries that did not delay or deroute the truck would be considered

Questions

1. Describe about the Article for Logistics and Operations Management Domino’s Pizza’s Process Technology (20)

Caselet 2

ABC Ltd. is the country’s largest manufacturer of spun yarn with well-established market. ABC Ltd. has good reputation for quality and service. Their marketing department identified that the potential for global market is expanding rapidly and hence the company undertook exercise for expansion of the capacity for export market. The company formed team of Marketing and Materials department to study the global logistics possibilities. After extensive study, the team came up with a report on global logistics and submitted that global logistics is essentially same as domestic due to following similarities: • The conceptual logistics framework of linking supply sources, plants, warehouses and customers is the same. • Both systems involve managing the movement and storage of products. • Information is critical to effective provision of customer service, management of inventory, vendor product and cost control. • The functional processes of inventory management, warehousing, order processing, carrier selection, procurement, and vendor payment are required for both. • Economic and safety regulations exist for transportation. The company had very economical and reliable transportation system in existence. For exports as well they decided to evaluate capabilities of their existing transporter and entrusted them with the job of transport till port. For customs formalities they engaged a good CHA after proper cost evaluation and entered into contract for freight with shipping company agent. The response for company’s export was very good and the company could get as many as 15 customers within first two months and reached to a level of USD 250,000 per month by the end of first half of the year. Based on this response the export volumes were expected to grow to a level of USD 400,000 per month by the end of the year. When the review was made at the end of the year, company found that export volumes had in fact come down to the level of USD 120,000 which was much lower than it had reached in the first half of the year. The managing committee had an emergency meeting to discuss this and the export manager was entrusted with the task of identifying the reasons for this decline. Mr. Ganesh decided to visit the customers for getting the first hand information. When he discussed the matter with the customers, the feedback on the quality and price were good but the customers were very upset on the logistic services due to delayed shipments, frequent changes in shipping schedules, improper documentation, improper identifications, package sizes, losses due to transit damages etc. After coming back, the export manager checked the dispatch schedules and found that production and ex-works schedules were all proper. Then he studied the logistics systems and found that the logistics cost was very high and all the logistics people were demotivated due to the overwork and were complaining of total lack of co-ordination and the system had become totally disorganized.

Questions

1. Explain the problems experienced by ABC Ltd. What is the main cause of these problems? (20)

END OF SECTION B

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Production and Operations Management

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

1. The Advantages & Disadvantages of Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)? (15)

2. Distinguish between just-in-time and just-in-case as stock management systems?(15)

S-2-010619

 This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each question carries 15marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

END OF SECTION C

Examination Paper of Management Information Systems

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

SubjectCode-B110

Examination Paper

Management Information Systems

MM.100

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

Part one:

Multiple choice:

I.A person machine-system and a highly integrated grouping of information-processing functions designed to provide management with a comprehensive picture of specific operation is called (1)

a) DSSB

b) MISC

c) IISD

II. Which one of the following is not an important characteristic of useful and effective information? (1)

a) Accuracy

b) Timelines

c) Completeness

d) Economy

d) All of the above

III. The most important reason for failure of MIS is (1)

a) Use of improper tools for design

b) Noninvolvement of end-user

c) Improper specification

d) None of the above

IV. Top level Managers use (1)

a) Strategic information

b) Tactical information

c) Operational information

d) None of these

V.System is an important factor of MIS. There are various types of systems. Which one of the following is not a system? (1)

a) Physical system

b) Integrated system

c) Open system

d) Open system

VI. Which one of the following is not an approach for development of MIS? (1) a) Hierarchical approach b) Integrative approach c) Modular approach d) Elective approach

 This section consists of multiple choices and Short Notes type questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Examination Paper of Management Information Systems

IIBM Institute of Business Management

VII. Management is linked to information by (1)

a. Decisions

b. Data

c. Both [A] And [B]

d. None Of The Above

VIII. Which pattern reflects a pure executive form of management?

(1)

a. Functional

b. Line

c. Line and Staff

d. Committee

IX. The term financial engineering is related to (1)

a) Cost of production

b) Financial restructuring

c) Product planning

d) Capital issue

X. The goal of financial management is to (1)

a) Maximize the wealth of preference share holders

b) Maximize the wealth of debenture holders

c) Maximize the wealth of equity share holders

d) All of the above

Part Two:

1. What is purpose of information system from a business perspective? (5)

2. What are Enterprise System? How do they benefit businesses? (5)

3. Differentiate DSS from MIS. (5)

4. What do you mean by Data visualizations? (5)

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

END OF SECTION A

 This section consists of Caselets.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each Caselet carries 20marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Management Information System

Caselet -1

A waiter takes an order at a table, and then enters it online via one of the six terminals located in the restaurant dining room. The order is routed to a printer in the appropriate preparation area: the cold item printer if it is a salad, the hot-item printer if it is a hot sandwich or the bar printer if it is a drink. A customer’s meal check-listing (bill) the items ordered and the respective prices are automatically generated. This ordering system eliminates the old three-carbon-copy guest check system as well as any problems caused by a waiter’s handwriting. When the kitchen runs out of a food item, the cooks send out an ‘out of stock’ message, which will be displayed on the dining room terminals when waiters try to order that item. This gives the waiters faster feedback, enabling them to give better service to the customers. Other system features aid management in the planning and control of their restaurant business. The system provides up-to-the-minute information on the food items ordered and breaks out percentages showing sales of each item versus total sales. This helps management plan menus according to customers’ tastes. The system also compares the weekly sales totals versus food costs, allowing planning for tighter cost controls. In addition, whenever an order is voided, the reasons for the void are keyed in. This may help later in management decisions, especially if the voids consistently related to food or service. Acceptance of the system by the users is exceptionally high since the waiters and waitresses were involved in the selection and design process. All potential users were asked to give their impressions and ideas about the various systems available before one was chosen.

Questions

1. What would make the system a more complete MIS rather than just doing transaction processing? (10)

2. Explain the probable effects that making the system more formal would have on the customers and the management? (10)

Caselet 2

The Company is considered to be a leader in the design and production of industrial and commercial air-conditioning equipment. While most of the products were standard items, a considerable number involving large sales volume were specially designed for installation in big office buildings and factories. Besides being an innovator in product design and having an exceptionally good customer service department, the company is well known for its high-quality products and its ability to satisfy the customer requirements promptly.

Because of its rapid growth, the company had to be careful with its cash requirements, especially for accounts receivable and for inventories. For many years, the company had kept inventories under close control at a level equal to 1.7 times the monthly sales, or a turnover of nearly 6 times per year. But, all of a sudden, inventories soared to triple monthly sales, and the company found itself with Rs.30 crores of inventories above a normal level. Calculating a cost of carrying inventory at 30 percent of the value of

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper of Management Information System

inventories (including the cost of money, storage and handling, and obsolescence), it was estimated that this excess inventory was costing the company Rs.9 crores per year in profits before taxes. In addition, it forced the to call on its bank for more loans than had company been expected.

Mr. Dcepak Mehra, president of Connair, was understandably worried and incensed when this matter came to his attention. He was told that the primary reasons for this rise in inventory were excessive buying of raw materials in advance because of anticipated shortages and the failure of a new computer software, with the result the people in the production and purchasing departments were not having complete information as to what was happening to inventory for several months.

Mr. Mehra, taking the stand that no company should let something like this surplus inventory occur without advance notice and that no manager can be expected to control a business on the basis of history, instructed his vice-president for finance to come up with a program to get better control of inventories in the future.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What do you find wrong with Connair's controls? (10)

2. Are there any other techniques or approaches to control that you would suggest? (10)

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

1. List and describe the information systems serving each of the major functional areas of business? (15)

2. What are the characteristics of MIS? How MIS do differs from TPS? (15)

S-2-010619

 This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

 Answer all the questions.

 Each question carries 15marks.

 Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

END OF SECTION C

END OF SECTION B

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          Marks:   80

 

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

 

Attempt all questions

 

 

1.    Discuss how the environment acts does as a stimulant to business.  Analyze why business often does little for the   preservation of physical environment despite the fact that it is significant for business activity.                                                                                 (10 Marks)

 

2.    Explain the relevance of ecological issues to business environment                      (10 Marks)

 

 

3.    What do you understand by Business Social Responsibility ( B S R ). How this can be used to improve the Business Environment.                    (10 Marks)

 

4.    Explain how the business in an organization can be regulated with regard to the Organization’s Basic Objectives.                                           (10 Marks)

 

 

5.    Describe in detail the different role played by the Government towards enriching the business Environment.                                          (10 Marks)

 

6.    In the Business Environment context, explain how the Political and legal Environment of business plays a vital role. Justify by bringing in suitable examples.                                                                                            (10 Marks)

 

 

7.    Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of FDI. What is your opinion on the role of FDI in the Retail Sector? Justify your views with India's experience in this sector.                                                                    (20 Marks)

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BUSINESS STRATEGY

Marks: 100
NOTE:
I. Answer ANY FIVE questions.
II. All questions carry 20 marks each.
III. Total numbers of questions are EIGHT.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Q.1. Write short notes on ANY TWO of the following
a. Globalization
b. Task and processes in formulating business strategy
c. TQM Philosophy
d. Characteristics of well formulated corporate objectives

Q.2. Describe Vision and Mission statements with suitable illustrations. What is the difference between vision and mission? How does business definition help in articulating the Mission statement?

Q.3. Describe Porter’s five forces model to analyse competition with reference to light commercial vehicle industry.

Q.4. Describe the GE multifactor portfolio matrix and state how the GE matrix is superior tool Vis a Vis the BCG matrix.

Q.5. a) Describe Ansoff’s matrix
b) What is the difference between market penetration and market development? Illustrate with suitable examples.

Q.6. What is “Best cost provider” strategy? What are the risks in pursuing this strategy?

Q.7. What strategic options a firm could follow when the firm is operating in a maturing industry?

Q.8. Describe the role of strategy supportive reward system with suitable illustrations.

Xaviers Institute of Business Management Studies

 

 

                                          MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS

 

Marks: 80

 

Note: Attempt any five questions. All questions carry equal marks.

1. Explain the various components of control systems.

2. Explain the following models and highlight their usefulness in formulating business unit strategies:
(a) The BCG Model
(b) General Electric (GE) Planning Model

3. Explain the boundary conditions in the context of profit centre. Also explain the process of performance measurement of profit centers.

4. What do you understand by Investment Centres? Explain the methods used for measuring investment centre performance.

5. What do you mean by budgetary control system? Explain the process of budgetary control in an organization.

6. Describe the criteria on which the incentives of business unit managers are decided.

7. What are the various special control issues faced by Multi National Corporations?

8. What are the characteristics of a project organization? Explain how these characteristics affect the control system design of a project.

 

Xaviers Institute of Business Management Studies

                                                              MARKS : 80

                                                                                                

SUB:  Marketing Management  

 

                N. B. :      1)     Attempt all Four Case studies

                                2)     All questions carry equal marks.

 

Case study 1

 

Case Study on Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning

 

Profiles Group is a leading interior decorator and designer in the country. Mr. Neerav Gupta, one of the partners in the group has invested a good amount of money in the business. The other two partners namely Mr. Pratham Gupta who is a distant cousin of Neerav and Mr. Dev Suri are mainly into managing the firm’s country wide operations. Mr. Stanley Pereira, who is more of a sleeping partner, looks after the administrative and financial aspects of the firm.

Profiles Group has around 44 service centers in the country including state capitals and several developing cities. Since the firm’s inception in 1998, its progress has been unstoppable. The clients include many reputed companies, hotel chains, popular celebrities and even hospitals and commercial banks.

 

A brief background of the Partners:

Neerav Gupta had a family owned business that was into manufacturing wooden furniture but Neerav‟s interest was more into decorating. So, after completing a Master’s course in interior designing from a reputed college abroad, he decided to start his own interior design services. Meanwhile, the furniture manufacturing business was handed over to Pratham Gupta due to property and family settlement issues. But, Pratham decided to join Neerav and they both started a partnership firm.

Dev Suri, a friend of Neerav who had been living abroad, sold out his real estate business and had decided to settle on the Indian soil itself. He offered help by providing additional capital and his knowledge of real estates did help the firm although in a small way. Stanley Pereira, an experienced teacher and consultant, had worked previously in leading interior designing colleges and was instrumental in making required changes in syllabus structure and interior designing courses. He has also written many books and articles on the topic. He had retired early due to family commitments but landed up in Profiles Group as a Partner through mutual contacts.

 

The conversation:

All the four partners are comfortably sitting face to face on a peach colored cushioned sofa which is situated near the window corner inside Neerav’s well-structured office.

Pratham Gupta feels that since their firm has invested large funds, they must enter into more market segments especially the smaller ones. And, regarding this issue, a professional conversation takes place among the partners. The talks are as follows:

Pratham: “So, what do you think about expanding our market segments to smaller more ordinary markets?”

Stanley: “What are you exactly trying to say, Pratham? Will you explain it?”

Pratham: “Listen guys, right now, we have 44 centers and competent people to work under us, but when we see our customer base, it looks small and limited. What I mean to say is that we also need to have those individual household customers who are looking for service expertise in this field. Most household customers don’t get the necessary information as to how to go about the interiors or how to decorate their home/offices etc.”

Neerav: “I agree with your points Pratham, but don‟t you think if we have to reach the smaller segments of the market, we need a different approach to cater to their needs. We would have to advertise and communicate to these segments in a customised way. This will increase the promotion budget and our focus on the existing customers may be compromised.” Dev: “I think we need to get a balance here. Pratham‟s points are valid enough and it will make Profiles group more productive. If need be, we may have to take help of a service consultancy in order to penetrate deeper markets.”

Stanley: “Okay... so, even if we allocate these segments, we need to target them in a way where we will know the immediate impact of these segments. We have to position in such manner that we get this customer base to keep moving towards us... however, the problem lies in the demand for our product in these segments!”

Pratham: “What is that problem you are talking about, Stanley?”

Stanley: “I will tell the problem, we know our product... but these individual customer segments will see our product as a one time purchase... Interiors and designing is done by a household customer at one point... very rarely, he will seek for a change or improvement. So, is it acceptable that we cater to their one time need and then let go?”

Neerav: “I do understand that point... But, that’s always the case in our business. Interior decorations and designs are usually considered one-time expenditure by household customers.... and as a matter of fact, that has not affected the way we do our business or on our returns.”

Pratham: “See, even otherwise it should not affect our firm because individual customer segments are willing to pay or spend on interiors. If they need a good, comfortable home along with a neat set of furniture then why don’t we cater to that need, even if it’s a one time demand from a particular customer? This is exactly what I meant earlier when I said, given the expertise we have, why don’t we use it to expand our customer base? Of course, we may have to develop suitable pricing strategies, promotion strategies for these market segments which is according to me, not a big thing to do.”

Dev: “Let’s first consult with our marketing hero and ask their opinion or suggestions as well”

Dev takes out his cell phone to dial Mr. Sunil’s number and he immediately gets the connection. Sunil is the head of the marketing section and he is very efficient in his job. He also has an acceptable humour quotient. Dev asks Sunil to come over to Neerav’s office.

 

Sunil enters the office:

Sunil: “What’s up, Bosses?”

Dev gives a brief explanation to Sunil about the potential market.

Sunil: “that’s a welcome sign actually... we have the necessary resources and we are available to any customer at any given point... So, I think it‟s a good idea that we update our customer profiles also... Only thing is we have to make sure we are targeting and positioning our customer segment in the way they feel comfortable to approach us...”

Pratham: “Nicely said Sunil... You are our man in this task.... We rely on you to make our markets bigger and customer segments broader...”

Sunil: “Always thinking in the interests of Profiles Group, Mr. Gupta... Not to worry... You tell me the confirmed plans and leave the execution on me...”

Neerav: “Well, what can I say? If we are sure about managing the newer segments which is existing out there, then our work is just to target them and position our product as per the given requirements”

Dev: “There is one important suggestion I would like to present here.... We need to ensure that we properly differentiate our existing customers from the newer ones so that we are not overriding one another or our customers don’t feel compromised at any point.”

Stanley: “That’s a really valuable suggestion, Dev... I completely agree with this point”

Sunil: “Me too... Mr. Suri has stated an absolute theory... But, it’s not that we can’t take the benefits from the two and use it for our purpose... Somewhere, we can link the newer segments with the existing ones and gradually Profiles Group will mean the same to every one. That is however applicable in the long term... For now, we need to attend our customer base on a one-to-one basis... So, we do it slow and steady”

Neerav: “Sunil, I don’t understand, but whenever you speak you visualize the big picture as well... I admire your quality and also that you are very loyal to Profiles Group”

Sunil: “Anytime Mr. Gupta, I am at your service....Just give the command and it will be done”

All of them laugh at that comment and decide to have an official meeting regarding the Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning strategies for the potential market. Within a month, the scheduled meeting is done with the involvement of key people and various points are noted down for implementation.

The marketing team after a brainstorming session also comes up with a collective idea about introducing Re-decorating and re-designing to be offered as a part of Profile’s group’s services. This meant that clients or customers can think about re-designing or re-decorating their homes/offices with the already available possessions and existing furniture. This also meant less cost to the clients. This idea was taken up seriously and plans to implement such services were already underway.

 

The Progress:

The next six months in the Profiles Group has made everyone busy with different tasks and agendas to be accomplished. Sunil is the busiest person around and he is actively engaged in marketing activities related to the targeting and positioning of their product to the new customer base.

Very soon, the results are noticeable in the Profiles Group. After a considerable amount of planning and hard work, the subsequent months showed positive results as given below:

 The markets are segmented based on the income level of the household customers

 Their needs, wants and demands are analyzed

 These markets are targeted based on their desire, willingness and capabilities to attain the required interiors and furnishings.

 Sunil headed a separate section namely Re-designing and Re-decorating Services at the firm’s main office. Sunil was immediately involved in making special centers for Re-designing and re-decorating services in different parts of the country.

 Marketing section was taken over by a competent person - Ms. Sneha Agarwal who has over 8 years of experience in interior designing. She was chosen on the recommendation of Stanley Pereira as Sneha had been a merit student previously and Stanley had been her teacher.

 Neerav had even managed to get some MNC‟s as the firm’s clients.

 Positioning of Profiles Group’s product and services was done in three ways –

 For the already existing customer base which include the corporate and business houses, film industry and celebrities and other big units who spend huge amounts on the interior decorations.

 For the newer segments also termed as the individual household segments who have limited spending abilities but have a desire for elegant interiors at reasonable rates.

 For the collective market – re-design and re-decor services were offered.

 The structure of the firm’s web-site was made more user-friendly and included several videos showing how proper layout and interiors increased efficiency, easy movement, allowed more lighting and ventilation and created a feeling of well-being and comfort.

 A CD was also launched which included these videos and the necessary information of the Profile’s firm with the contact addresses and numbers. The CD also included interview with certain well-known clients who were highly satisfied with the firm’s services. This established trust and good communication in the market.

 Soon enough, the firm launches into environmental friendly interiors and develops „Go Green‟ initiatives that uses more re-cycled and renewable substances.

 There was a plan to begin annual contests and games which involved household customer segments to give their ideas or suggestions for a well laid out interiors using eco-friendly materials and “Go-Green‟ initiatives.

 

The Partners and the interview:

It’s been two years now since Profile’s Group had moved into individual household segments.

All four partners are seated on the sofa inside Neerav‟s office except this time the sofa is of cream shade and a press reporter namely Namitha Goel is sitting on a single sofa across them. Namitha Goel had scheduled this interview and later will be published in the “Living Designs”, a new monthly magazine that deals with interiors. She begins with a direct question to Neerav –

Namitha: “Mr. Neerav Gupta, do you think the reason for the substantial increase in your customer base is due to the Redesign and re-decoration services?

Neerav: “Well, to a considerable extent, I believe it is so. Re-design is not about my taste or your taste. It’s about working with what the client owns and making them happy. Most people are good in re-arranging their stuff but they don’t have time or energy to do it. So, we offer them this assistance.”

Namitha: “How come you got this thought about making these household segments as your customers? I mean, your firm is associated with the influential clientele base and considering that, why did you feel that these household segments would prove to be a lucrative market for you?”

Neerav: “The entire credit for making individual household segments as our customers goes to my business partners here, my workforce and their efforts. Around two and a half years back, we had just got into a conversation in this very same office and Pratham suggested about tapping these markets with our available resources. Let me clarify that we decided to target this segment not for profits but we felt they too would benefit from our expertise in this field.”

Namitha: “According to the market survey, it seems that there is no close competitor for you in this business. So, your firm stands at the top like it’s been from a long time. What do you say in this matter?”

Neerav is about to answer but his cell phone rings and he attends to it quickly.

Neerav: “Excuse me, Ms. Namitha.., I have urgent business call that can’t wait..., Carry on with your questions and my team mates will answer. I have to go now.” He addresses his partners and leaves the office in a hurry.

The interview proceeds and remaining partners contribute their views. The interview takes another 45 minutes and Namitha Goel is satisfied with her work as a press reporter. She leaves the Profile’s Group office with a sense of achievement.

The next month’s issue of “Living Designs” carries the cover story of the Profiles Group with the partners‟ exclusive interview placed in the shaded column of the magazine pages.

 

Questions: 1 Examine the progress of Profile’s Group as a leading interior designer and decorator.

Questions:  2 What kind of change was observed in the STP strategy of the firm and how was it useful?

Questions: 3 Evaluate the working of Profile’s group with respect to the Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning of markets. Do you have any suggestions for the firm?

 

 

 

 

Case study 2

Determining the Marketing 4 P’s

 

Any business organization in order to be successful needs to have a clear picture about the 4 P’s of marketing. This forms the basis on which business functioning takes place. What are these 4 P’s and why are they important? Let’s assume that we are interested to start up a small business enterprise and for that we have the necessary capital, skills and people. And now, since we are in the initial stage of enterprise formation, we need to answer the previous question.

Marketing mix comprises of the four basic elements or components which are termed together as 4 P’s of marketing. They are:

Product: what is it that we have to offer to the market? What can it include? In what ways can it be modified, changed, expanded, diversified etc.? Will our products be accepted in the market? If not, how do we create a market for our products?

Price: at what value should the products be offered in the market? What should be the returns? Will it be worth to the buyers? What variations, differences and strategies can we adopt in order to earn a fair margin and also gain customer satisfaction?

Place: where must be our products available? How soon it’s demanded in the market? How quick we can deliver it to the consumption points? Who do we need to involve in the distribution of our products? How much will they charge for their services?

Promotion: why do we need to promote our products? Will people be aware of our products if we don’t do any promotion? If we need to promote our products, what kind of message we should convey to the market? In what ways and methods we can carry out the promotion?

Unless we know the answers to the above questions, we cannot make our business function. Therefore, after considering the strengths and weakness of our likely enterprise and studying the market opportunities, we decide to manufacture wax crayons.

 

The main reason behind this decision is –

1. We can come up with an effective 4 P’s either by marketing the crayons ourselves and if not, we can take orders by being the suppliers to our clients.

2. We know that our market mainly comprises of educational institutions, drawing and painting classes/centers, artistes, even big companies use crayons extensively.

3. We realize the potential of wax crayons as we can offer variety in sizes, quality, colors, price ranges, wholesale and retail prices etc. We can even venture into related areas such as wax artic rafts, wax candles, oil colors, paint etc.

4. We can have direct contact with our clients and in the long term we can even engage an agency to market the crayons.

5. We know that promotion strategies can be based on the type of our customer segment and we could easily do it through advertising on Television, newspapers, children’s comics, notebooks, school notice boards, etc. We can even sponsor or conduct drawing competitions, art exhibitions or we can have contractual agreements with the stationery outlets, art schools etc. However, we are still apprehensive about our marketing mix. We are yet to confirm about our marketing mix and until then we are unable to finalize on our decisions or start with the implementation process.

 

 

Question 1.How will you determine the marketing mix for our enterprise?

Question 2.Do you have any ideas to make our enterprise successful particularly by enhancing or improving the marketing mix?

Question 3.What do you think will be the challenges in making an effective marketing mix since our enterprise is a new one?

 

Case study 3

 

Good Publicity vs. Bad Publicity

 

Roger Twain walked as usual with a pleasant aura and at a leisurely pace to his office. Roger is a PR Manager in one of the top FMCG companies of the world. His office along with the PR staff was recently shifted from sixth floor to the second floor of the building. The reason was simple enough. Top management did not want external parties to wander around the whole building in the excuse of meeting PR staff or the PR manager. Roger Twain in fact, welcomed this shift and was glad that he didn’t have to wait for the lift as he could now very well use the staircase. Roger has around 15 years of experience in PR and handling Publicity related issues. He had worked with several companies as well as non-business organisations and institutes.

Roger currently in his 53rd year has achieved lot of success in his career as a professional expert in the field of PR and Publicity handling. Although his plans to start his own PR Consultancy firm didn’t work out the way he wanted, he was actively involved in several worldwide workshops, seminars and presentations. He even wrote articles on PR strategies and published some books on PR. Roger’s ideologies as a PR professional was –

 

 “No News is not good news… You have to be in the news – good or bad. And, the objective should

be to convert bad news into good news.”

 “You cannot create bad news about your company. At the same time, you cannot create a good one. You can only communicate it in good or bad way.”

 “PR is about being in the news – time and date don’t matter much.”

 “It’s not about being right or wrong – it’s about being clear and sticking to the truth and using it positively.”

 “Everyone has a right to express… But, a PR person should consider it as a righteous Duty”

 “Your Company can show only performance. PR has to talk about it.”

 

A few of his career achievements in the different organizations that he worked for are as follows:

 

Problem Situation 1: Some of the cosmetic products of Jasper Ltd. were selling in the market beyond its expiry date. A media report exposed and presented this story to the public that Jasper Ltd. was desperate to increase its sales and did not consider consumers’ interests or their well-being. This led to decrease in sales volume even in the other product categories of the company. Due to incorrect operations of some channel members and retail outlets, old stock was sold to the consumers after the expiry dates. The outcome was Jasper Ltd.’s low profit margins.

Challenge: Roger’s challenge was to make consumers more aware and responsible while purchasing the company’s products without ruining the distribution channel relations and at the same time making the company socially responsible.

 

Solution: Roger suggested to the advertising department to create a public awareness ad regarding the importance of checking product expiry dates before buying. He advised the management to take back old stock from the retail outlets and distributors by offering a reasonable price and also prescribing the time limit within which those products should reach the company. Roger’s view was that distributors will mostly see their benefit and continue to sell the old stock. If they sell it back to the company itself for a price, they would definitely make an effort to get the new stock and sell those to the consumers. Roger’s logic was “it is better to spend some money on getting back the old stock than let it sell in the market at the risk of company’s reputation.” Meanwhile, consumers will also be aware about expiry dates of cosmetics when they buy it.

 

Problem situation 2: Acorn Seeds Company’s assistant finance manager was involved in some fraudulent activity and was accused of misappropriation of funds. This news became public and soon enough, company’s investors and stakeholders began to question the integrity and trustworthiness of the company. Company found it difficult to convince people that one person’s immoral intentions does not mean that everyone in the company is beyond trust and moral obligations. Furthermore, company’s products and services got severely affected and consumers started opting for competing products. There was bad publicity all around. Sales declined and situation got worse when finance manager unable to handle pressure resigned. Even though finance manager was not involved with his assistant, he was linked with him and given a bad treatment from outsiders even including some of the employees. Media accelerated this issue and created more hype than was necessary.

Challenge: Roger’s challenges in this situation was handling bad press, dealing with media people with patience and uplift the company’s integrity with good reputation. He also needed to make the financial department integrated with other departments and boost the employee morale. At the same time he had to take care that company’s products do not suffer in the situation.

Solution: Roger suggested to the top management to issue a public message in the newspapers/magazines and also at the end of the Company’s product ads on TV. The message was - “We value your trust in us as you value our commitment towards you.” Roger’s view was that once the fraud was committed and was out in the open, there was nothing much to be done but to move on accepting that such incident occurred and will not happen again. Roger also advised for just one press conference regarding this issue to put an end to this matter. The assistant finance manager had confessed and was told to resign instead of being fired. Soon enough, people forgave and forgot this issue, sales improved and company was on the track once again.

 

Problem Situation 3: One of the women’s facial creams produced by Jasper Ltd. was severely criticised by media and women. The belief was that the product contained acidic substance causing harmful chemical reactions on the skin. This belief was created when some women claimed that their skin discoloured/scalded after using this facial cream. Media reports provided some facts related to the product that made women who were using this cream more alert. As a result sales dropped drastically.

 

Challenge: First of all, Roger had to study the product and know its constituents. Secondly, he discussed with product research team as to why such claims could be targeted towards the product. Next, he had to face the media and women consumers addressing the claims and product’s safety.

 

Solution: Roger collected those facts provided in the media reports and sent them for verification with the skin specialists, research team and for laboratory testing. It was verified and proved that facts provided were immaterial in causing damaged skin. It was also proved that the cream contained no acidic substance or any sort of harmful chemical. Secondly, those women who claimed skin damage were questioned about their application of the skin cream. Two women confessed that they combined several other beauty products along with cream’s application. Others confessed that they were interested in making some quick money if company provided any compensation. Roger arranged a special press meet and provided all the relevant facts and information regarding this issue.

 

Problem Situation 4: Homely Anchor, a charitable organisation that mainly looked after elderly people in several old age homes was having a problem with its donations. There were anonymous donations coming from several places that it was difficult to track the funds and its allocation. The members of the organisation were themselves confused with the amount collected and amount spent since proper records were not maintained. There were gaps in the accuracy of the information and its updates. Somehow, a magazine columnist/writer got to know about this state of affairs and without much investigation published a small article in the magazine. The article stated how Homely Anchor was unable to manage funds and money received through anonymous donations remained anonymous. Although the article was not accusing of fraud, it hinted the readers in that direction. Within a few months of the article publication, some social activist groups and media started questioning Homely Anchor. There were questions raised on who were the anonymous fund raisers, amount of donations and what and how much was being spent where.

 

Challenge: Since Roger was working as a part-time Public Relations officer in Homely Anchor, he had to face the social activists and media on behalf of the organisation. He had to protect the privacy of anonymous donation givers and assure them as well as old age homes that funds are raised, managed and used for good intentions.

 

Solution: He merely gave open statements telling that a proper system will soon be in place that would ensure the accuracy and safety of records related to donations and fund raising. Shortly, he arranged for a small conference consisting of prominent social activists, charitable workers and media representatives to discuss and debate on the implementation of proper systems in charitable organisations. This conference gained lot of popularity and free publicity for Homely Anchor which resulted in more donations. An appropriate system was also implemented to record the transactions.

 

Problem Situation 5: The research and production team at Sparkly Company had designed a new and innovative technology of purifying water in their product – “Sparkler water purifiers”. This system was tested and proved that it was safe and that it purified water without destroying its minerals. Once it was approved, production plants were ready to manufacture water purifiers in the newly designed way. But, information had leaked to the rival competitor “Visor” Ltd. who immediately took advantage of the opportunity. Visor Ltd. issued statements in the press about this new technology of purifying water and that soon they will be marketing these products. There was a commotion in Sparkly Company due to this. Research and production teams began to accuse each other on the information leakage. Somehow, management was not able to control the situation. News spread about the rivalry issues and information leakage. Media was too interested in finding out which company would come out with the product first.

Challenge: Roger too found this situation difficult to handle. There was definitely an information leakage regarding the new method implemented in water purifiers. Roger’s immediate tasks were to find how information was leaked out and who would have done it. He knew the commitment levels of the company’s employees were not questionable. Second, he had to ensure that Sparkling Company was the first to introduce this technique and at the same time he could not accuse Visor Ltd. openly in public.

 

Solution: Since acquiring patents (exclusive rights) to the new technique in water purifiers was in process, Roger decided not to talk about it. He then released a statement in the press as “Sparkly Company’s dedicated effort towards manufacturing Sparkler Water purifiers with new technology was a long time process. It involved continuous research and lab experiments by the team. This technology shows our expertise and we will never compromise on our products.” After an internal investigation, Roger found that company’s certain e-mails were hacked and through that, information had leaked to Visor Ltd. So, systems and networks were made more secure. Roger made it clear in his public appearance in the media that crucial information did leak out due to the insecure network and computer systems. But, he was careful not to mention names or make any accusations. Media turned their attention to Visor Ltd. questioning its integrity, ethical and business values.

 

Questions:

1) Identify the qualities of Roger as a PR professional and analyse his role in the companies that he worked for.

 

2) In the above problem situations, was there any other approach that Roger could have adopted? If yes, suggest some approaches. If no, why do you agree with Roger’s approach?

 

3) List the PR tools and strategies that were adopted by Roger in dealing with the problem situations.

 

 

 

Case study 4

 

Personal Selling – Professional approach

 

Background Information:

 

“Keep Fit” is a medium-sized outlet exclusively dealing in exercising equipments/machines and fitness accessories and sometimes in sports equipments also. It has 27 sales persons employed under it. Owners of the outlet – an active middle-aged couple have several contacts abroad through which they place orders for the necessary and required equipments. Once an order is placed for particular equipment, it takes atleast 2 weeks for the equipment to reach the outlet. Secondly, the sales force is involved in cold calls, constantly checking upon new orders from the existing customers and getting new customers to place orders for these equipments from in and around the city. Sometimes, they travel to other nearby cities seeking orders and new customers.

Some of the equipments that Keep Fit sells are –

 

 Cardio equipments such as Treadmills, Stair climbers, Steppers, Bikes, Ellipticals, Rowers, so on.

 Strength equipments such as Weight benches, Power racks and varieties, different kinds of Weight machines which is supplied as per customer’s requirements, lifting accessories, home gym systems, and other machines.

 Fitness accessories such as pedometers, ankle and wrist weights, jump ropes, stretch mats, hand grips, exercise balls, pull and push up bars, so on.

 Sports accessories such as soccer balls, volleyballs, basketballs, poles, boxing gloves, track pants and such other stuff if at all there is customer demand or they have placed such orders.

 

The owners have already realized the growth potential of these equipments/machines after analyzing the following:

 

a) Since most people are becoming health and fitness conscious, there is lot of demand but supply is comparatively low.

b) Due to heavy work pressures and IT related jobs that require people to sit in front of their computer systems for long, it has resulted into high demand for creating and maintenance of gyms in the companies and at the workplaces.

c) The affluent class or groups especially celebrities and sports stars don’t mind purchasing and owning these equipments in their homes, the objective being creation of a personal gym at home.

d) Fitness centers, gymnasiums and sports clubs are increasing in number and so is the demand for the exercising equipments and machines.

e) Encouragement given to different sports requires the sports men and women to use such equipments and therefore, they have to be provided with such resources so as to participate in national or international sports events like Olympics.

 

Two more salespersons were recently recruited and selected by the owners. After the training and several exposures to the sales practices adopted by experienced salespersons, these two salespersons were ready for the actual job.

 

The first salesperson namely Mr. Jagan Das is hard-working and efficient in his work. It was observed in the training programme that he was alert to the situations and environment around him. But, at the same time he had a weakness of listening a lot to other people’s opinions and not contributing his thoughts or ideas. However, he was enrolled in a short-term communication course to improve his language skills and expressing his thoughts. The second salesperson namely Mr. Tarun Mehra is an enthusiastic and determined chap. He likes to share ideas and given the time, he would talk his way out. In the training programme, he asked lot of questions and after receiving answers would again question about why and how of things. His only weakness was his tendency to get over-enthusiastic about things and situations that he would forget about existing situation or problem.

In the first few months, Jagan and Tarun were getting along fine as they were assigned the same sales territory. Sometimes, they would go together to collect orders and even dispatch orders to the customers. Together, they were able to deal with complicated clients and achieve higher sales targets than what was assigned to them.

Lately, the owners observed small fights happening between Jagan and Tarun. They were not sure as to what caused the disagreements that led to fights but eventually, the couple decided that the salesmen needed to sort it out by themselves. On Jagan’s request, their sales territories were separated and now, Jagan and Tarun had to deal with different customers at different locations.

 

After Reading the Background Information, analyse the following two situations and answer the questions given at the end:-

 

Situation 1:

Jagan is at the outlet’s veranda listening to how another sales person handled a customer’s complaint. He receives a call from one of the old customers of the outlet. The telephonic conversation goes as follows:

Customer: “From “Shape-up” Gym, I am Raghav speaking... Two months back, I purchased this treadmill from you for our gymnasium located at the city’s east and now it is causing some problem... till now whatever gym equipments we purchased from you had no problems of any kind”

Jagan: “Please tell me your problem Sir...”

Customer: “See, actually I can fix the problem... I know some people who can do it very easily... but that’s not my point... I need to know why the machine caused problem.”

Jagan: “You tell me your problem Sir, and then we will fix it for free...”

Customer: “I am not having a problem; your machine has a problem”

Jagan: “I will come at your place Sir, tell me your exact problem so I can note it down and solve it as soon as possible”

Customer: “I can solve the problem... I need to know whether the treadmill comes with a guarantee period and why a brand new machine is causing this problem”

Jagan: “I will come over there Sir and if it’s possible, I will bring a technical member from my team along with me...”

Customer: “No Thanks for your help... I will speak to your Boss about the treadmill’s inefficiency!”

Jagan: “Wait... let me know what I can do for... ...”

The call is dropped and Jagan is unclear as to what he must do next. Should he call back the customer on the same number as appearing on his mobile or should he find out if he can trace the customer information from the sales records of the last two months or should his superior know about this incident? The customer appeared to be in a hurry and didn’t even tell about the problem. Jagan also wondered about how Tarun would react to this kind of call.

 

Situation 2:

Tarun is busy entering some information into the sales records. He is asked to pick up a call from the superior’s office and following conversation takes place:

Customer: “Is this Keep Fit?”

Tarun: “Good evening Sir, yes it is... May I know your name Sir?”

Customer: “Who am I speaking to? ... I am Jonathan from Lance Sports Club”

Tarun: “Mr. Jonathan, this is Tarun and I am a sales executive at Keep Fit... you can tell me your concern Sir,”

Customer: “I had placed an order for 7 pairs of weight plates, 6 pairs of dumbbells, and 2 exercising bikes – one upright and also 2 treadmills and volleyball”

Tarun: “I am listening Mr. Jonathan”

Customer: “Yes, good, now according to price-list, it says 3 treadmills, 3 exercising bikes, 6 pairs or weight plates, 6 pairs of dumbbells.... the thing is number of items mentioned in the bill are completely wrong”

Tarun: “Just tell me the Bill Number and I will get back to you Jonathan... But, how many items have you received in actual numbers?”

Jonathan: “Well, that’s the problem... I have received the same numbers as I placed in the order... but, the bill and the list says wrong numbers... and only that volleyball is not received”

Tarun: “Okay.... Just see on the top left of your list... you will find the Bill Number... please tell me that...”

Jonathan: “There is no Bill number in this...”

Tarun: “Please check it once again... there is a bill number mentioned at the top left or top right or somewhere at the top... Okay... tell me the date of the bill and your order placement date atleast”

Jonathan: “No, it’s alright, there must be a mistake... we will sort it out during the payment”

Tarun: “Mr. Jonathan... Please co-operate and tell me the bill number or the date so that I can verify it in the sales records and check the invoices also”

Jonathan: “No, that’s okay... do not bother about it... we will confirm later...”

Tarun: “Listen Mr. Jonathan, I can just.... ...” But, before Tarun tells anything more, the customer has cut off the call. Tarun feels uneasy about the conversation. He was being so helpful and wanted to clarify the figures but it looked like the customer was not interested to do so. Should he follow up on the customer after finding out the necessary details or should he just keep quiet till the customer raises the issue once again? Should he tell this to his superior? He tried to imagine Jagan’s way of tackling these types of customers.

 

Note:

In both the situations, the salespersons have not met the customers personally. In Situation 1, Jagan is dealing for the first time with one of the old customers of the outlet. In Situation 2, Tarun had spoken to some other member of the sports club previously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions:

 

Question 1:- Identify the approach (plus points and negative points) of the two salespersons in the above situations and make a comparative analysis.

 

Question 2:- In both the situations, were the customers satisfied with how the salespersons handled their queries? Analyse the sales person’s and customer’s interactions in the above situations.

 

Question 3:- If you were a salesperson, how would you have handled the above two situations? Do you have any suggestions for Jagan and Tarun?