mba case study answewrs

Thursday 20 March 2014

Semester  1 Examination Paper




IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester-1                                   Examination Paper                                            MM.100

Human Resource Management

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)
     This section consists of Multiple Choices & Short Notes type questions

     Answer all the questions.

     Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part Two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple choices:

1) Name the program which makes supervisor more alert, as it is his responsibility to rate his Subordinates

1.      Periodic appraisal
2.      Yearly appraisal
3.      Monthly appraisal
4.      Weekly appraisal

2) The HRD programmes fail due

1.      Crime factor
2.      Social justice
3.      Inflation

4.      Poverty

3)  Name the recruitment process which is said to be a costly affair

1.      Internal
2.      External
3.      International

4.      National

4)  In resent times, which department and head of the same usually initiates the manpower plan.

1.      Operation department
2.      production department

3.      H R department
4.      Logistics department






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5)  The job evaluation programme once installed must be continued on a ________ basis.

1.      Permanent
2.      Unplanned

3.      Planned
4.      Daily

6)  The process of 360 Degree appraisal is broken into two stages - planning and _________.

1.      Succession
2.      Implementation

3.      Non planning
4.      Action planning

7)  Human resource management is responsible for getting the best people, training and providing mechanism to achieve organization ____________.

1.      Goal
2.      Target

3.      loss
4.      profit

8)  The process of analyzing jobs from which job descriptions are developed are called ________.

1.      Company analysis
2.      Job Analysis

3.      Appraisal
4.      Job enrichment

9)  Which is not the method of performance appraisal ?

1.  Straight ranking method

2.  Grading method

3.  Group Appraisal

4.  Circle Method

10)  MBO Means

1.  Management by Operation

2.  Management by Organization

3.  Management by Objectives

4.  All the above








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Part Two:

Q. 1 Explain the importance of Career Planning in industry.

Q. 2 Explain the nature of Human Resource Development. Examine its scope and nature.

Q. 3 Discuss the various Methods of Performance Appraisals?

Q. 4  Explain On-Job and Off Job Training.

END OF SECTION A


Section B: Caselets (40 marks)
        This section consists of Caselets.
        Answer all the questions.
        Each caselet carries 20 marks.

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

Caselet 1

India Tele Linkages (ITL) was one of the pioneers to enter the telecom business in India in the private sector. India T.L. was the only company to have brand recognition with its popular Tulip range of telephones. ITL had restructured itself into a multi product/ service group by diversifying into other telecom and non-telecom services like healthcare too. Its service venture included Chennai operations, ITL cellular and the cellular licensee in Andhra territory. After distributing different areas among different groups of companies, ITL also ventured into manufacturing of transmission equipments. In fact, ITL was the first company to get ISO 9002 accreditation in India. In the year 2000, it entered into a tie-up with LDC Telecom, Oman to manufacture SDH, digital control multiplier and some network access products. The company registered total sales of RS. 76 crores in 1995-96, a 22% growth over previous year’s figure of Rs.62.4 crores. The net profit was Rs. 9.14 crores, a growth of 67.7% over the previous year’s figure of Rs. 5.45 crores. ITL had forged an alliance with the global giant German Telecom for a complete range of office automation products. The company had started distributing ISDN handsets and terminal adapters. The company had also set up a joint venture with Tkahami Ltd., Japan to manufacture pagers.ITL had chosen a strategy of building brands whether it was Tulip in telephone instruments or Spacetel in cellular services. As the third step in the growth of India Tele linkages, it was granted license to provide basic telephone services in telecom circle of the state of Tamil Nadu by the Ministry of Communications, Government of India on April 18, 1998. On August 4, 1999 India Tele Linkages set up its first private line at Coimbatore with its head office at Chennai and five regional offices at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhuwaneshwar, Trivandram and Coimbatore. Initially, the company was the only private player and did not perceive any threat from the sole player in public sector. It had managed to get a net customer base of more than 1 lakh in the state of Tamil Nadu alone. Now, in the quickly expanding telecom sector new players were entering in the industry and some of them were well established, widely diversified and financially secure companies.

The various functional areas of ITL were: Operations, sales and Marketing, Technical, Finance and Accounts, Human Resources, IT, Materials, Limited mobility and quantity. The company




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had a very tall structure (Appendix I) wherein there were 14 levels with the first 9 level at every regional office and the other corporate level positions were at the corporate head office. The Coimbatore region was headed by Kamal Kumar, a 56 year old engineer from an army background who had taken VRS from the army to join the corporate sector. He had joined India Teletel after a short stint at Moray Enterprise as a branch head. ITL at Coimbatore had the departments of operations, sales, marketing, technical, finance and accounts which were headed by HOD of manager level. Human resources was headed by Rakesh Sharma, Deputy Manager- HR, a 34 year old MBA with HR specialization. He was with the company since 1997 and reported to regional head, Kamal Kumar at Coimbatore and Sushil Kumar, Manager HR corporate office, Chennai. The Coimbatore office had hardcore (technical) functions with employees in the average age 29 years and representing all parts of the country. The male-female ratio was 90:10.ITL requited people on the basis of employee’s suitability vis-à-vis the job requirement or competencies required to do the job effectively. A detailed competency mapping exercise was undertaken for all the positions and each individual’s competencies were identified and mapped against the desirable ones. All this was document in the Role Description Directory, listing individual’s job responsibilities (KRAs) competencies needed, performance areas and measurement parameters. This exercise was done rigorously and updated at regular intervals. For this, the company would hire some international consultancy firm every time. Individual employee’s performance, irrespective of the level was monitored and feedback was given on the basis of the task assigned (as per individual’s KRAs) and task completed (measurement parameters). For middle and higher levels, the feedback was given after every six months and for junior levels it was given quarterly. This formed an essential part of the Annual Performance Appraisal System. 360-degree appraisal system was followed for the higher levels, whereas for lower levels it did not apply. The data generated out of this exercise was solely used for the employee development. The promotion in the company was performance-based. The high performers were identified and given fast track career growth in the company. The performance assessment was an exhaustive process to be carried out in five steps. The first step was that an individual would fill in the self-assessment from followed by his rating by his HOD on the five point scale in terms of outstanding, very good, good, average, below average. In the third step, the employee after discussing with his HOD, would sign the form and it was then sent to a normalization committee which was constituted of HODs of all the departments. The committee would ensure that the disagreements would be settled while maintaining the bell curve in performance reports. The decision of the committee was passed on the HR. The last step was releasing of promotional/ increment letters. In order to motivate employees for higher performance, Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) were also introduced. The PLI parameters with the corresponding weightage factors were decided at the beginning of the year and depending upon the fulfillment of the target set in the PLI parameters, rewards for good work done (monthly), performer of the quarter (POQ), CEO performer of the award was given to the employees to recognize their contribution towards the growth of the organization. For good work done, two lunch coupons worth Rs. 50 were given to people from every functional area and for performer of the year, Rs. 1500/- was given to people from every functional area and for performer of the year, Rs. 10,000/- was awarded which could be given to just two or three people in the whole organization.

The company had also introduced a unique 6-sigma system to encourage creative and innovative culture in the organization. The employees would register their suggestions on daily, weekly and monthly basis and earn credit points for each suggestion if accepted and implemented. These points were accumulated in the sigma system and the person earning the highest number of points in the mid-term evaluation would be awarded a cash prize of Rs.30,000/-.In addition to this, salary benchmarking was also done after two years to reduce disparity between the existing salary structure of the company and the salary structure of the leading companies in the telecom industry after reviewing the figures that would appear in the business bulletins. The company had n also introduced the accident insurance, personal insurance, benevolent fund for the employee’s family in case of natural death, insurance for spouse and family members, subject to the limit of designation




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and the premium being reimbursed by the company. The company also had the practice of celebrating birthdays, monthly fun days and breakfast meetings for the employees. For employees’ wives, there was Teletel Wives Welfare Association that would arrange tours, meals, Porting, get-togethers and various contents to build a culture in the organization, wherein fun would be an intrinsic part while not losing the business head’s wives. All the expenses were borne by the company.ITL company had a strong belief in continuous employee development and therefore, gave a lot emphasis on training every focus. The President, who would be CEO’s wife, headed this association and all secretaries were regional employee was required undergo at least 11 Mondays training in a year in the key result area. Training needs assessment and evaluation of training effectiveness were also the important components of the training program. An individual was required to fill in the need assessment from himself and performance assessment was also taken into consideration while nominating an employee for training. There was a CEO development program too, at top management levels. Technical training was conducted in-house whereas for behavioral training, external consultants were hired. The company had a tie-up with three international agencies for EDPs in quality and motivation. It gave weightage to various customer touch points and identified and framed specific training modules. The company had also framed a policy of conducting open-house at various levels. The CEO was supposed to have it once in six months at different regional offices, the Vice President once in three months and the Regional Head once in a month. Mostly, this exercise could not be rigorously followed due to hectic schedules of the managers. Kamal Kumar, the Regional Head and Rakesh Sharma HRD head at Coimbatore felt that the company had open culture as they followed an open door communication policy. Moreover, low panel walls and open cabins would further help the employees to have free and informal interactions. In spite of this the company had a very high employee turnover. There was poaching from other players in the fast growing telecommunication industry. Rakesh Sharma attributed this turnover to the lucrative packages offered by their competitors and Kamal Kumar was losing sleep over the loss of trained employees to the competitors. The competitors being well diversified and financially sound could bear the burnt of losses whereas India Teletel could not afford loss.


1.   How far do you think that that HR strategies are in alignment with the corporate strategy of the company?

2.      Had you been Kamal Kumar, what steps would you to minimize the employee turnover?


Caselet 2

Dr. K.K. Chauhan was basically a research scholar and master in his field. He had a dream of becoming an entrepreneur. His dream came true in 1966 when he started a small pharmaceutical bulk drug-manufacturing unit named Kusum laboratories at Industrial Estate of Indore (M.P.), India. Soon, other renowned scientists and scientists and scholars in the area of chemistry joined him. The team researched and developed better and economic ways to manufacture bulk drugs like, Niacinamide, Thiacetazone, Isoniazid, Probenecid and Chloroquine Phosphate.The products of Kusum laboratories, by virtue of its quality and price became very popular and soon the list of customers included big brands like Bayer, Merck & others. The company grew in name, fame and size and very soon had a workforce of about 40 workers, 9 chemists and a factory manager to look after the production. The high demand and completion of process called for 24 hours running of the factory and thus it was run in three shifts giving an output of 3.5 metric tons per month. The workers were treated as family members and Dr. Chauhan personally used to enquire about the welfare of the workers. The




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laboratory increased in size day-by-day and new departments like administration, accounts, stores and personal were formed. This changed the entire scenario and by 1987, the factory had a production workforce of 60 workers, 12 chemists and a factory manager giving a production of 60 MT/annum.

From the year 1996 to 1998, Kusum laboratories had come a long way. Things had changed at all levels and Dr. Chauhan was no execution. His earlier modest thinking that he was only a part of the institution’s success had now yielded to an arrogant belief that success was due to him alone. This myopic vision started reflecting in the output of the organization and the production level stopped improving. To improve the production, the personnel manager appointed a few musclemen to supervise the workers. This increased the production, but the joy was short-lived. Soon the musclemen recognized their importance and the focus shifted from obtaining planned production to self-attention. The workers were busy in favoring their supervisors and completely distracted from the work they were hired for. The situation started deteriorating in all departments and as a result the company was sold to ASV labs in 1988.ASV took an aggressive stand fired the so-called supervisors, but paid little attention towards the workers. Though the fear of musclemen was no longer there but the workers felt themselves neglected and de-motivated and thus, the production did not improve over 10MT/ month, and the company was taken over by KBCL in September 1994. KBCL was a renowned name Indian pharmaceutical industry and was the brand leader in a couple of formulations. It had multilocational production facilities with state-of-the-art plants at Aurangabad, Mahad, Dombivali, and Ratlam.KBCL was brand leader in Chloroquine Phosphate formulations in India and their in house requirement was more than the production output. The entry of China into bulk drugs however changed the equations. The cost of imported Chloroquine Phosphate was quite low and the competitors started using imported raw material in their formulations instead of buying indigenous material, giving them a leverage of price. To defend the brand position with limitations in increasing price in the market, KBCL had no choice but to reduce the cost of production of its Chloroquine or to use imported raw material. The top management had a brainstorming session on whether to continue production at Indore or to close the unit. After much deliberations, Suyash Modi, Vice President of Aurangabad plant was given the responsibility to head the Indore unit. Suyash immediately worked on modifying the processes and upgraded the plant. However, Suyash realized very soon that he would not be able to achieve the production goals with de-motivated workers. He announced various welfare programs for the workers like wage hike, in-house inter-department contests, acknowledging the ideas and contributions of workers etc. This slightly motivated the workers, and they started responding by increasing the production from 10 MT/ month to 36 MT/month. Plant Supervisor Syriac was wondering why the workers, in spite of so many announcements, were not responding the way he envisaged. Suyash asked Syriac to have patience. He said that let the workers feel that the new team was their well-wisher and did not have the sole motto of profit. The workers though listening to Suyash, still had their reservations in believing him. Suyash continued practicing what he preached. He welcomed suggestions and ideas from the workers and also started converting ideas into projects asking the ideas generator to become the leader, choose a team of his choice and complete the projects. On successful completion of the project the impact of the project was evaluated and then local or multi-location implementation was done. He began acknowledging the successful efforts and ideas of the workers by classifying the ideas according their importance in five categories ranging from one star to five star. Then, according to their weightage and applicability, single star idea got a cash price of Rs. 75/- per head and five star idea was rewarded with a cash price of Rs. 500/- per head and a dinner along with his family with the M.D.Suyash also introduced Total Quality Management (TQM) and started appraising the production batches on the parameters of yield and quality. The standards were laid down and targets were given on a monthly basis. He then announced that extra production than the standardized yield would be evaluated at 60% of manufacturing cost. The evaluated money then would be divided equally amongst the entire staff from workers to the Vice President, provided the assigned targets were achieved. This had a tremendous positive effect on the thinking process of the workers. This not only increased accountability and involvement, but also integrated the entire team. The wastages and manufacturing losses were dramatically controlled.




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KBCL now was not an organization with departments but a unified team working for a common goal. When asked about the success, Suyash commented that workers and management in KBCL were not two different levels but they were a synergistic combination. This was obvious from the yield which had touched the unbelievable records of 70 MT/month. This made KBCL the world’s largest Chloroquine phosphate manufacturing unit. 60% of in-house production was being used for domestic market and the company began exporting the rest to South Africa, Pakistan, CIS, and the Gulf countries.


1.    What additional compensation and reward system would you suggest apart from the ones mentioned in the case?

2.    If you had been in the place of Suyash, what measures would have recommended overcoming the Chinese threat?

END OF SECTION B



Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)
        This section consists of Long Questions.
        Answer all the questions.
        Each question carries 15 marks.

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




1)      What is manpower planning? Explain the various steps involved in the manpower planning. Discuss its objectives.

2)      What are Quality Circles? Examine the process involved in Quality Circles and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of quality circles.



Semester 1 Examination paper


IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester-1                                          Examination Paper                                          MM.100

Managerial Economics

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)
        This section consists of multiple choice questions and Short notes.

        Answer all the questions.

        Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part Two questions carry 5 marks each.


Part one:

Multiple choices:

1)      Economists have classified input as

a.       Timeless

b.      landless

c.       labourless

d.      all the above

2)      ∑Pi=………where Pi is the probability of certain task.

a.       Not defined

b.      1

c.       0
d.      It will depend on the number of Pi values we are taking for summation.

3)      Slope at x=2 for the given curve y=3x3+2x be

a.       26
b.      38

c.       36

d.      18

4)      For a vertical demand curve the elasticity will be
a.       0

b.      1

c.       Between 0 and 1
d.     

5)      The difference between price and average variable cost is defined as

a.       Loss contribution

b.      Profit contribution

c.       Expectations

d.      Market contribution








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6)      For an industry with ‘n’ firms the total equilibrium o/p for a Cournot oligopoly with Q0 as o/p from perfect competitive market, is given by

a.       Q0(n+1)/n

b.      Q0n/(n+1)
c.       (n+1)n/Q0
d.      (n+1)/(nQ0)

7)      Game theory was designed

a.       To create situation where individual and organization have conflicting objectives for competitive growth.

b.      To create situation where organization and organization have conflicting objectives
c.       To evaluate the condition of the market

d.      To evaluate situations where individual and organization have conflicting objectives.

8)      The firms may be able to escape from ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ if the action is
a.       Repetitive

b.      Non repetitive
c.       Sequential
d.      No dependence on the type of action

9)      Which is not the Property of Indifference curve

a.       Convex to the origin

b.      Have positive slope
c.       Indicate lower level of satisfaction

d.      Do not intersect nor are they tangent to one another

10)  Standard deviation is a measure of

a.       Sink of price
b.      Rise of price

c.       Slope of demand curve

d.      Risk


Part Two:

1.      Define ‘Arc Elasticity’.

2.      Explain the law of ‘Diminishing marginal returns’.

3.      What is ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’, a non cooperative game?

4.      What is ‘Third degree Discrimation’?


END OF SECTION A








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Section B: Caselets (40 marks)
        This section consists of Caselets.

        Answer all the questions.
        Each caselet carries 20 marks.

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

Caselet 1

Mukand Limited, suffered a heavy setback during the first half of 1996 (April-September), on account of the sluggishness in the international and domestic markets. Further, the heavy interest burden and the depressed rupee in terms of the dollar put pressure on the bottomline. It is interesting to see whether the Company will maintain the growth rate achieved during the year 1995-96 in the year 1996-97 and pay the same dividend to its shareholders. Considering the financial results for the first half, the continuation of the liquidity crunch as well as the adverse market conditions will have an impact on the working. It will be difficult for the Company management to announce the same returns to the equity holders on an increased equity capital during the year 1996-97.The net profit of the Company dropped by 40 percent to Rs 9.64 crores for the half year ending September 30, 1996, from Rs 16.11 crores owing to the planned production cuts as well as the higher finance costs. The sales also declined by nearly 14 percent to Rs 417.21 crores from Rs 483.33 crores earlier. The lower sales helped the Company save on its operational costs by nearly one percent. The interest costs, however, were higher at Rs 28.30 crores (Rs 24.41 crores) which led to the gross profit dipping by 22.34 percent to Rs 18.56 crores (Rs 23.90 crores).The Company made a marginally higher depreciation provision of Rs 8.92 crores (Rs 7.79 crores) but, like the earlier period, did not make the tax provisions and the tax liability would be determined at the end of the year.

The turnover of the steel plant had reduced due to the sluggishness in the international and domestic markets. The massive increase in the power tariff, increase in the cost of inputs and the relatively higher interest rates put further pressure on the profit margins. The Company has now decided to curtail the production of the low margin products to improve its profitability. The performance of the MKL for the 12-months period that ended in March 1996, was also the Company managed to record a 21.56 per cent improvement in turnover at Rs 109.25 crores. The contributions from the steel foundry of the company, the machine building and the machine tools division were almost stagnant. The high operational costs, the increasing costs of the imported inputs, the depreciation of the India rupee and other incremental cost of the imported inputs, the depreciation of the operational level. The operating margins dipped from 9.73 percent to 8.8 percent. The net profit at Rs 44.09 crores increased by 25 percent compared with Rs 35.15 crores for the corresponding 12 months last year. The sales value of the rolled products was Rs 743.70 crores as against Rs 597 crores in the previous year. The output of the rolled products for the year 1995-96 was 212698 tonnes as against the output of the previous year, of 197651 tonnes, the increase being mainly on account of the larger production from the wire rod mill.

The sales of the steel foundry during the year 1995-96 were Rs 45.6 crores as against Rs 33.4 crores in the previous year. The production of steel and alloy casting was 8657 tonnes as against 7767 tonnes in the previous year. The capacity utilization continued to be low due to the stoppage of direct purchases of bogies and couplers by the Indian Railways. According to the new policy, the Railways has started procuring complete wagons stock from the wagon builders who have started placing the placing the orders for bogies and couplers in the latter part of the year. The exports-direct, indirect




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and deemed of the Company and the other income in foreign exchange were worth Rs 160.9 crores as against Rs 84 crores in the year 1994-95 an increase of 90 percent. The company had set an export target of Rs 125 crores, and surpassed it by 28 percent. The foreign exchange outgo during the year 1995-96 was Rs 227.3 crores compared to Rs 213 crores in the previous year to Rs 66.4 crores during the year on account of a substantial increase in the exports and import substitutions. During the year 1995-96, loans and advances of the Mukand have also increased by about 66.73 percent. It has given loans worth Rs 15.25 to its two subsidiaries, Mukand Global Finance and Mukand McNaily Wellman. MKL has also taken a credit of Rs 29.50 crores, which is yet to be received for the part sale of its property in Kurla, for which the Company is involved in a dispute with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Besides, it has Rs 6.1 crores locked up in the Bombay Forgings a company which has been referred to the BIFR.

According to the rehabilitation scheme drawn up by the BIFR, Mukand is required to fund the sick unit for a gross amount of Rs 7.5 crores, which, interestingly, cannot be recovered without the approval of some of the financial institutions. At the last Annual General Meeting, the promoters of Mukand have sought an idenfinite extension from the Board of the Company to make the balance payment of Rs 41.26 crores on the 22.59 lakh preferential shares issued to them in the year 1994. The last date for making the payment was August 1996. The extension sought was due to the falling prices of the Company scrips in the stock market and the tight liquidity situation faced by the promoters. The company made a private placement of the equity shares, chiefly to the foreign institutional investors in late 1994 to garner over Rs 100 crores. To neutralize the equity dilution from the private placement, the company issued 22.59 lakhs warrants to the prompters, which were to be converted into the fully paid up shares of Rs 10 each by August 1996, at a premium of Rs 233.50 per share. The steep fall in the share price of the company in the last six months and the huge difference created thereby between the allotment price of Rs 243.50 per share and the market price seem to have precipitated the decision by the promoters.

Mukand was also in talks with some Japanese Companies for equity and technical know how participation in the 1.25 million tonne Karnataka Steel project. Mukand will hold 25 to 30 percent equity in the Joint Venture Company implementing this project. For the future, a lack of captive raw material sources could continue to put pressure on the margins. Besides, the spinning off the Machine Building Division could also result in lower revenues for the financial year 1996-97.


1.      Are the problems faced by the Company periodic in nature, and when would the bad period over the problems cease to persist?

2.   Is there a case for shifting the business focus from the Indian market to export to foreign countries?

3.      Is there a case for restructuring and the business process re-engineering so that certain problems and its impact are under control?

4.      What would you recommend as a mission and goal to the Company?

Caselet 2

The high cost of television receivers is mainly due to scale of production and cost of the input raw materials. The degree of automation and efficiency and technology are additional factors which determine the cost of components. In India, the input materials are subject to very high customers duties. Because of the split up of licences presumably with a view to avoiding a monopoly situation, the scale of operation are far lower in India than in countries overseas. Small volume of production has engendered the use of manual techniques of production which pushes up costs.



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Though wages may be comparatively lower in India than in Western countries, the industry in India is plagued with lower productivity, labour unrest and power shortage. These factors push up the cost substantially. The electronic components industry, in general, and the picture tube industry, in particular, will need protection by way of import duties. The protection being given to the electronic components industry is in no way different from the treatment according to other engineering industry. It would be impossible to grow in India an indigenous electronic components industry without protection unless all inputs are available at international prices and unless production is geared to international levels of operation. As electronic components are the building blocks of the electronics industry, such growth should be nurtured. A 51-cm TV receiver is available in the Western markets at about US $90. The cost of components in a set would be of the order of US $60, including the cost of the picture tube. Balance of US $30 covers assembly, testing, marketing, financing and profit. In India, the build-up of the costs is as follows: Price of components including the picture tube (Rs. 1,285 + Rs. 80 towards freight and mortality) = Rs. 1,365,00; cost of manufacture and marketing including profit Rs. 235.00; Dealer’s commission is Rs. 200; Excise on Rs. 1,600 is Rs. 84; Sales Tax (10 percent ) is Rs. 184.40; total Rs. 2,072.40. This represents the cheaper model available today. In Western countries the cost of assembly, testing, financing and profit. Including dealer’s commission, amount to only US $30 or approximately Rs. 250. The cost of similar operation in India escalates to Rs. 435 in spite of the so-called cheap labour. A cost comparison of components available to the television industry in India as against what television manufacturers in Western countries are able to obtain is given in the Table below:

CASES AND SHORT CASES

Item
Western
Indian


Difference



Prices
prices




Rs.
Rs.




Picture Tube
$18.00 (Rs. 162.00)
405.00
243.00
Tuner
$ 4.00
(Rs. 36.00)
125.00
89.00
Cabinet
$ 5.00
(Rs. 45.00)
125.00
80.00
Deflection Components
$ 3.50 (Rs.31.50)
100.00
68.50
Semi-conductors
$ 6.00
(Rs. 54.00)
250.00
195600
Passive components
$ 20.00
(Rs. 180.00)
180.00
-
Other components
$ 8.00
(Rs. 72.00)
100.00
28.00





Total
$ 64.00
(Rs. 580.50)
1,285.00
704.50







Notes: 1. Assumed US $ 1 =Rs.9.

2. Accessories like antenna and installation are extra and cost nearly Rs. 200 in India.




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It will be seen that apart from the picture tube the other components are also expensive.

A mass produced plastic cabinet will be available in western countries to the TV receivers industry at about US $ 5 whereas a wooden cabinet produced in India costs as much as Rs. 125. There is a feeling that as the wooden cabinets are made by the small-scale industry, it would be advisable to stick to this approach. Cost reduction would be difficult with such approaches. Again, in the case of tuners and deflection components, the Indian price is nearly 3 to 4 times the price of similar components available overseas. Semi-conductors are also expensive. Therefore, it is stated that it would not be appropriate to single out the picture tube as the main culprit leading to the high cost of components for a television set. It would be necessary to look at the cost structure of the electronic components industry in general for the answer. It should be possible to product a moulded cabinet in India provided all the manufacturers join together as a consortium set up the necessary facilities or an MNC who has considerable experience in the field is asked to produce the cabinets for supply to the rest of the industry. If we stick to the wooden cabinet, it may protect the small-scale industry at the expense of the consumers. Unless the scales of operations for the other components increase and unless input raw materials are made available at international prices, it would be difficult for the electronic components industry to bring down the price to international level.

One may argue why a high cost electronic components industry should be supported in India, and take the view that it may be advisable to import the components. The suggestion may be valid when we are flush with foreign exchange. The situation was quite different a few years back. In any case, for the healthy growth of the electronics industry it is essential that the building bricks-electronic components – are made in the country. Industry’s attempt should be towards a policy which enables components to be made economically and it is essential that all steps are taken to look into the difficulties of the electronic components industry and remedy the same. The glass shell for the picture tube is being imported and the current c.i.f. price is about Rs. 80. An import duty of 75 percent pushes up the cost to Rs. 140. Taking damage in transit into account, the price per glass shell comes to Rs. 150. There is a freight element of Rs. 23 in the c.i.f. cost of Rs. 80. Duty is payable on freight and the element of freight cost plus duty amounts to Rs. 40 out of the total cost of Rs. 150.

1.      How long can an industry sustain on protection?

2.      What is the impact of incidental services like assembly, testing, marketing, etc. on the total cost?

3.      Would you agree to the suggestion for a complete changeover to wooden cabinet?

4.      Would it be desirable to import the components rather than make them in India?







END OF SECTION B












IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)
        This section consists of Long Questions.

        Answer all the questions.
        Each question carries 15 marks.

        Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).
1)      Free trade promotes a mutually profitable regional division of labour, greatly enhances the potential real national product of all nations and makes possible higher standards of living all

over the globe.”Explain and critically examine the statements.

2)      What role does a decision tree play in business decision-making? Illustrate the choice between two investment projects with help of a decision tree assuming hypothetical conditions about the states of nature, probability distribution, and corresponding pay-offs.

Semester 1 Examination paper


IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester-1                                 Examination Paper                                         MM.100

Marketing Management

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)
        This section consists of Multiple choice questions and Short Notes type questions.

        Answer all the questions.

        Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part Two questions carry 4 marks each.


Part one :

Multiple choices:

1.      FICCI stands for

a)      Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
b)      Federation of International Chamber of Commerce and Industry

c)      Federation of Indian Chamber of Cost and Inventory

d)     Federation of International Chamber of Cost and Inventory

2.       Market ________ is more prevalent than Mass marketing

a)       place

b)       Segmentation

c)       Circle

d)       Area

3.      What is product concept?

a)      Detailed summery about the product
b)      Detailed version of idea stated in consumer terms
c)      product that satisfy consumer demand

d)     Consumer's perception of an actual product

4.      Economists call all human resources as
a)      Hands
b)      Labor
c)      Employees

d)     Employers


5.      A centralized inventory means

a)      Slow delivery to customer
b)      Fast delivery to customers

c)      Building and stocking one warehouse
d)     Item store





IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


6.      ________ of physical distribution activities increases it's productivity as well as of manufacturer.

a)      Termination
b)      Automation

c)      Distribution
d)     Maximization

7.      What involves review of projected sales, costs and profits.

a)      Business Report
b)      Business analysis

c)      corporate statistics
d)     Sales Budget Report


8.      Product means the ________ and services the company offers the target market.
a)      Items
b)      Goods
c)      Machines

d)     power

9.      Customers are brand, style and type conscious when buying ________ products.

a)        Special
b)      Basic

c)      Consumer
d)     Inferior

10.     Product, price, place and ___________are the 4p's of marketing

a)      Prestige
b)      Percentage
c)      Peace

d)     promotion

Part Two:

1.      Write a note on importance of consumer Behavior for a business firm?

2.      Define the term price?

3.      Distinguish between Marketing Concept and selling Concept?

4.      What are the new trends in advertisement?













IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


5.      Explain the following :

a)      Socio –culture environment
b)      Marketing environment interface.


END OF SECTION A


Section B: Caselets (40 marks)
        This section consists of Caselets.

        Answer all the questions.
        Each caselet carries 20 marks.

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

Caselet 1

NBC Industries had pioneered the battery technology in India for over 75 years. It was formally known as NBC Chloride Industries, a subsidary of FKS, U.S. It had been a leader in packaged power technology and was India’s largest storage battery company with internationally reputed brands. Till 1995, NSC’s major brand Suraksha had been the market leader in the automotive segment but was a niche player in the segment. Fifty percent of its sales came from OEM and only fifteen percent came from the replacement sales. The remaining thirty five percent came from industries, motorbikes and exports. NBC was forced to follow the downturn in the automotive sector. It was increasingly felt that the company needs to expand its market base and in an effort to do so, it decided to increase its penetration in the industrial segment. It went in for a technical collaboration with a leading industrial battery manufacturer, whose brand Pickwick, enjoyed a dominant market share in the industrial segment. It also acquired the production capacity of Pickwick. Thus, after the technical collaboration Pickwick which was a competing brand became a partner brand for Suraksha. Another advantage of industrial segment was that they were generally high capacity batteries, which gave higher profit margins to the firm. The technical collaboration , required NBC to sell the industrial batteries under the brand name of Pickwick. Since, NBC was able to capture a good market share in industrial market.

Product

The NBC had a product range covering a capacity of 2.5 Ah to 15,000 Ah. Using the latest technology, NBC now manufactured industrial battery for power, telecom, computer industries, railways, mining and defence. Suraksha and Pickwick were the major brands of the firm and catered to both the automotive and the industrial segment. The industrial segment had been showing growth and NBC had capitalized on this growth. The total turnover of NBC was 30 crores. Suraksha, NBC’s original brand, enjoyed an image of reliability and trustworthiness while, Pickwick continued to enjoy its heritage of being a Japanese brand.









IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


Pricing

As the two brands were technically identical, the company policy was to keep the MRP for both the same but the margin to the dealer for Pickwick was five percent more.

Distribution

After the technical collaboration, the company had four regional officers and twenty five branch officers. Currently, Pickwick had 1000 authorised and 500 sub-dealers. Suraksha on the other hand, had 1500 authorised dealers and 700 sub-dealers . Battery up to 20 Ah were sold through the dealer network and those upto 20 Ah and more were sold directly by the product managers (Exhibit 1). Thus a branch office took care of the industrial batteries upto 200Ah capacity and the replacement market of the automotive segment. For the automotive sales, the company had separate sales personal for Pickwick and Suraksha as the volume were generally very large. The same sales personal handled industrial sales of both Pickwick and Suraksha.

Consumer

The buyer of battery was generally known to be loyal to the brand in the replacement market but in the industrial sales a committee took the purchase decision and therefore there was a time lag between inquiry and purchase. The NBC policy was generally not to convert the Pickwick users to Suraksha unless the demanded brand was not in stock. There were times when the branch manager would push Suraksha when his opinion was sought as it offered more profit to the company.

Competition

In the industrial segment NBC was facing competition from its unbranded imported products as well as the Indian manufacturers. Anti dumping duties were put on imported products but batteries from SAARC countries like Bangladesh and Thailand continued to enter the Indian markets. The unbranded batteries were forty percent cheaper and were maintenance free and offered tough competition to the branded products but gave no guarantee. Ajay Bhandari had recently joined NBC company as the branch manager at Nagpur. He was reviewing the monthly sales report for Suraksha and Pickwick batteries. He found that the Pickwicks sales were slipping continuously while, sales of Suraksha remained constant and this pattern seemed to be similar nationally. Taking concern of the matter, chief executive officer (marketing) had called for a meeting of all the branch managers and regional managers to evaluate the reasons for the same and call for their suggestions. Ajay Bhandari knew that the two brands have to be promoted simultaneously as it was evident that the sales of Suraksha brand increased at the cost of Pickwick and achieving the Pickwick target was going to be difficult.

After a lot of pondering,, Bhandari put forth the following alternatives in the meeting.

        Separate executives should sell the brands even in the industrial segment. This would increase the overhead cost but the commitment to one brand may help the sales executive to sell the product more convincingly.

        Secondly, the two brands should be positioned differently in the industrial market and thus, ensuring that they were not competing with each other in the market and no selling efforts were wasted. Although, this needed to be taken up the regional level because two similar brands in the same segment appeared meaningless.







IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


        Promotion could be used to create perceptual difference between the brands but this would require substantial promotional expenditure over a long period before any thing could be achieved.

1.      Do you feel that Suraksha is cannibalising the Pickwick Brand?

2.      What are the problems generally faced by the companies going for multibranding?



Caselet 2

Rajesh Kasliwal, a young and dynamic entrepreneur was born in 1956. He was a medical graduate from M.G.M medical College, Indore. He hailed from a business class family and had his private practice as a physician, but a thought kept on tormenting his mind, to enhance the diagnosis services. Thus , Kasliwal started a diagnostic centre with a small set up in 1980. To grow further, he started Apollo Medical Investigation Centre in Late 80s’. The center had an immaculate track record of delivering the best in diagnostics. Rajesh realized that Indore market needs a state-of-the-art diagnostics center and thus, Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions came into existence in August 2003 and was located in the heart of the city near Geeta Bhawan, Indore (M.P). the objectives of the centre was to enhance the quality of patient care. Kasliwal always believed in providing best quality services for which he imported a Multislices CT Scanner, a highly advanced MRI Machine and Colour

Doppler’s. The centre had a tie-up with leading doctors of the city who visited the centre
from time
to time to treat the patients of O.P.D. prices were not based on updation rather
it was based on
information provided by the examiners. The centre
had collaboration with
Sahayata, an
NGO, to
tap the price sensitive customer who were given
50%  reduction in the price. The
marketing
executives with a graduate degree and experience in Pharmacy interacted
with doctors, hospitals,
banks and insurance companies, and informed them
about the latest services rendered by the centre,
the PR executives interacted with the Top Executives/Corporate Heads regarding their health check-
ups. The diagnostic centre included  good seating space, well-designed interiors,
good
cafeteria,
centrally air conditioned floors, high level of cleanliness, which evoked the customers’ feelings. The

management emphasized on happiness of the clients, confidence and reliability of the customers and the doctors and believed in providing the ultimate solutions. Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions had six departments, which included Radiology, Mammography, Sonography, Dispatch and Customer Care Cell . Each department had their own process owner, who briefed the patients about the various tests and procedures. The centre believed in maintaining the punctuality by delivering reports on time. By this time the Centre had reached a turnover of Rs. 4,86,45,865 crores and the customer base had increased from 25 to 200 customers per day. Rajesh Kasliwal was never complacent with whatever he had achieved. He had decided to diversify into the hospital business with a world class Operation Theatre, Intensive Care Unit, Special Ward that would include Trauma Section, Nephrology section and General Ward.

Rajesh Kasliwal, a 48 year old, enterprising, and dynamic entrepreneur was born in 1956. He was a medical graduate from M.G.M Medical College, Indore. He hailed from a business class family, which dealt in the business of scientific equipments. In a company like India there were

diagnostic centres But a need was felt for a
complete centre, which would provide ultimate
solutions to the ailments. The initial step in this
direction was taken up by Pioneer Laboratories in the
year 1950, but it had a limited set up for the
requirement of the patients with the changing time.

Rajesh Kasliwal had his private practice as a physician but the idea of enhancing the diagnostic services to centre to the needs of his patients constantly occupied his mind. Thus, with the zeal to do something in the field of diagnosis, Kasliwal started a diagnostic centre with a small set-up in 1980 at Chetak Centre near RNT Marg, Indore (Madhya Pradesh).



IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


To grow further in this field, he shifted his investigation centre at Palasia Square, a centrally located commercial place in late 80s’ by the name Apollo Medical Investigation Centre. This departed from the traditional of all pathology labs by bringing a CT Scanner first time in the Indore city. The centre was promoted by the undisputed leaders the very best in diagnostics. It enjoyed an enviable position in the industry and had been the front-runner on technology absorption. By this time, the Indian market saw a revolution in diagnostic business, as hospitals in Indore began to using more on the basic hospital facilities pertaining to patients, rather than the diagnostic aspect.This was the time when Rajesh realized that Indore market needed a state-of-the-art diagnostic centre, and it motivated him to survey the hospitals and diagnostic centres within the country as well as abroad. With an aim to provide complete diagnostic solutions and to resolve diagnostic dilemma, Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions came into existence in August 203, spreading over 3,4000 sq. feet an independent four storied building, the largest stand alone diagnostic facility in the country. It was created with the vision “On what matters most, were patient and the diagnosis”. This was supported by intelligent technology, increased speed and innovative applications and the year April 2006, they came up with an OPD division.

Profile

Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions, a project of Rs. 32 crores was an initiative to brought in the latest medical technologies and breakthrough in the field of diagnostics in Indore. The principal aim of the centre was to provide single window solutions for investigations ranging from simple pathological tests to complex imaging problems combining multiple devices. It was ensured that every delivered service met the clinical needs in the most perfect fashion. The objective of Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions was to enhance the quality of patient care. The state-of-the art technology worked in synergy with global expertise for accurate and timely diagnosis. Its promoter always believed in professional ethics and values. It recognized and appreciated the attitude that a noble professional must posses i.e. an attitude of care and concern. The virtue of management was reflected even in a routine procedure by a paramedic or examination by a specialist.

Product

Rajesh Kasliwal always believed in providing best quality services for which he imported a Multislices CT Scanner, which was the third in the country and had the facility of navigating the human body at 38 slices per second, a highly advanced MRI Machine which was among very few machines in the country. With the capability of conducting all routine MRI studies in virtually no time, the machine also facilitated special investigations like MR Spectroscopy, MRI Angiographies and high quality Abdominal and Pelvic Imaging. Two types of colour Doppler’s were brought to Vishesh, one was Radiology Colour Doppler and the other was Accuson Sequoia, one of the best Cardiac Colour Doppler available internationally. It was very powerful and highly useful in the case of obese patients. For various routine tests, special tests and hormonal studies Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions, had a well equipped and advanced pathology lab, which was constituted of auto-analyzers, automatic cell counter, elisa readers and numerous other equipments.

Place

The Diagnostic Centre was located in the heart of the city near Geeta Bhawan A.B Road Indore (M.P). The place was near the Medical College and surrounded by leading hospitals like Suyash hospital, CHL Apollo, M.Y Hospital, Gokuldas Hospital, S N G Hospital, to name a few. This enabled better accessibility and connectivity to the center. In order to reach the customer at the earliest and provided them prompt services the centre provided the patients with a mobile van.




IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


Promotion

To reach the customer better, Vishesh diagnostics solutions organized various camps on nominal basis like Mammography check-up on Women’s Day, Lipid Profile check-up on World Heart Day, free health check-up for children in association with Nai Duniya, a Hindi daily newspaper, wheres the mothers educated about obesity related ailments and remedial measures. Apart from this the centre conducted CME’s (Continue Medical Education) programmes for doctors by its Radiologists who provided knowledge about new equipments and facilities. The doctors were invited to these programmes according to their specializations after every fifteen days. The centre had a tie-up with leading doctors of the city who visited the centre from time to time to treat the pre-registered patients of O.P.D. For such programmes the patient paid Rs.30/- per check-up and the Centre paid the doctor Rs. 50/- per visit.

Price

Vishesh Diagnostics Solutions followed a competitive pricing strategy, because in a service industry it is difficult to price a product against the industry norms. Prices were not based on updation rather it was based om information provided by the examiners. They followed two types of pricing strategies; one helped in building business volumes and was cost effective, the other was customized according to the information provided. Apart from that, Vishesh Diagnostics Solutions used innovative patient centric approach and a solution based approach for general health checkups, which included disease specific, organ specific and individual specific packages, which was value-based (Annexure 1). The centre had collaboration with Sahayata, an NGO, to tap the price sensitive customer base and was given 50% reduction in the price of the various services. This helped in bringing volumes as this customer base comprised of 35% of the total clientele.

People

Vishesh interactions, an autonomous body promoted interactive intelligence in imaging, a unique gesture they envisaged right forum of discussion and deliberations among experts, specialists and academicians, who adored innovation. The varied packages introduced by the centre comprised of categories of people right from senior citizens to children, from housewives to working women, from employees to self-employed professionals, from stressed out individuals to physically healthy ones. The centre also believed that employee satisfaction would lead to customer satisfaction therefore, marketing executives who had a graduate degree and experience preferably in Pharmacy,

were selected and thereafter
they were imparted
with a minimum of six months on the job training.
The  training programmes
were  manned  by
highly qualified,  trained and dedicated team of

professionals. The executives interacted with doctors, hospitals, banks like Canara Bank, Union bank and State Bank of Indore and insurance companies like Max New York Life, Aviva, ING Vyasya etc. and informed them about the latest services rendered by the centre once a month or fifteen days, depending upon the customer profile. The PR executives on other hand, directly interacted with the Top-Executives/Corporate Heads regarding the executive health check-ups, which included annual health check-ups and pre-employment check-ups.

Physical Evidence

The basic characteristic of service is that it is insurmountable in nature. The centre had made special efforts to create ambience in which the customers felt comfortable and relaxed. In order to make the services reachable to the customers the various amenities were supported by promotional material and brochures. The diagnostic centre included good seating space, well designed interiors inclusive of proper signage boards, appearance of the people, designed service facilities, good cafeteria, pleasantly



IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper


decorated corridors, centrally air conditioned floors, high level of cleanliness, abundant parking space, evoking the customers’ feelings. It also enhanced credibility perception and increased satisfaction with the service experience. The management emphasized on happiness of the clients, confidence and reliability of the customers and the doctors and believed in providing the ultimate solutions.

Process

Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions had six departments which included Radiology, Mammography, Sonography, Pathology, Dispatch and Customer Care Cell. As services are intangible in nature therefore, the centre gave special attention to the patients. In the front office, the process owner received the customers and treated them as their guests. After the preliminary formalities the process owner escorted the patients to the respective departments. Each department had their own process owner, i.e department’s coordinators who briefed the patients about the various testes and procedures besides carrying on the diagnostics tests. The process owner later on took the patient to the dispatch department where he was briefed about the date and the time when he could receive the reports. The centre believed in maintaining the punctuality by delivering reports on time.

Future Ahead

By this time the Centre had reached a turnover of Rs. 4, 86,45,865 crores and the customer base had increased from 25 to 20 customers per day within a three year span. However, it was felt that 60% of the machines were under-utilized as the doctors were unaware of the advanced technology. According to Kamlesh Pare, CEO of Vishesh Diagnostic Solutions, Rajesh Kasliwal was never complacent with whatever he had achieved. With his maverick temper of moving ahead and with eagerness to do something different, he had decided to diversify into the hospital business with a world class Operation Theatre, Intensive Care unit, special Ward that would include Trauma Section, Nephrology section, and General ward with Auto Clave Construction, which would enable proper maintenance. In order to provide exclusive patient care services, doctors would also be called from across the globe.


1.      What were the various strategies adopted by Vishesh Diagnostic Center. Discuss them in light of seven Ps of service marketing.

2.      What do you understand by service quality; explain what parameters of service quality are listed in the case?

3.      How would you visualize the success of Vishesh Diagnostic Centre after diversification?

4.      If you were Rajesh Kasliwal what necessary steps you would have taken to enhance the performance of the Centre?




END OF SECTION B








IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester 1 Examination paper




Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)
        This section consists of Long Questions.

        Answer all the questions.
        Each question carries 15 marks.

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


1)      What is meant by sales promotion? Describe briefly the various methods of sales promotional tools used by business organizations to boost the sales. Explain any four methods of sales promotion?

2)      Write notes on the fowling :
a)      Explain right to safety.
b)      What is right to consumer protection?

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