Investment Analysis Management Posted on December 25, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE STUDY 1

Downloaded Data of Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank fromhttp://www.nseindia.com of last 11 years has been summarized as follows. You are required to analyze the data using appropriate statistical tools, interpret the results and provide necessary advice to the investors as research analyst.

Sr.No Date Symbol Close Price Symbol Sr.No Date

Close Price

1 1-Apr-97 BANKBARODA 56.75 HDFCBANK 1 1-Apr-97 46.45

2 1-Apr-98 BANKBARODA 108.35 HDFCBANK 2 1-Apr-98 72.8

3 1-Apr-99 BANKBARODA 45 HDFCBANK 3 1-Apr-99 67.6

4 3-Apr-00 BANKBARODA 47.4 HDFCBANK 4 3-Apr-00 247.15

5 30-Mar-01 BANKBARODA 60.45 HDFCBANK 5 2-Apr-01 223.15

6 1-Apr-02 BANKBARODA 50.45 HDFCBANK 6 1-Apr-02 233.65

7 1-Apr-03 BANKBARODA 86.45 HDFCBANK 7 1-Apr-03 234.3

8 1-Apr-04 BANKBARODA 250.45 HDFCBANK 8 1-Apr-04 384.35

9 1-Apr-05 BANKBARODA 221.85 HDFCBANK 9 1-Apr-05 551.55

10 3-Apr-06 BANKBARODA 232.95 HDFCBANK 10 3-Apr-06 773.85

11 30-Mar-07 BANKBARODA 215.05 HDFCBANK 11

30-Mar-07 954.15

CASE STUDY 2

Given below are the returns on the three stocks Supertex, Colourtex and Wivetex for a four year

period. Compute the average returns, variance and standard deviation if a portfolio is constructed

such that the stock has lowest standard deviation accounts for 50% of the funds, a stock having

the next lowest standard deviation accounting for 30% and the third stock accounting for 20% of

the funds.

Period ( Years)

Annual Returns (%)

Supertex Colourtex

Wivetex

1 10 11

8

2 12 9

12

3 14 13

9

4 16 17

15

CASE STUDY 3

Pruthvi Hardware Ltd. Invested on 1-04-2006 in equity shares as below:-

Company Number of Shares Cost (Rs.)

Mafatlal .Ltd. .1000 (Rs.100 Each) 2,00,000

Natraja Pencil Ltd. 500 (Rs.10 each) 1,50,000.

In September 2006, Mafatlal Ltd. Paid 10% dividend and in October, 2006 Nataraj Ltd. Paid 30% dividend. On 31-3-2007, market price of shares of Mafatlal Ltd. And Nataraj Ltd. Were Rs.220 and Rs.290 respectively. Pruthvi Hardware ltd. have been informed by their investment advisor that :- 1)

Dividend s from Mafatlal L Ltd. And Nataraj Ltd. For the year ending 31-03-2008 are

likely to be 20% and 35% respectively.

You are required to

1) Calculate the average return from the portfolio for the year ended 31-03-2007.

2) Advice P Ltd. Of the

comparative risk of two

investments by calculating the

standard deviation in each

case. CASE STUDY 4

A) The following table provides details

about three mutual fund portfolios. Find

out theSharpe, Treynor and Jensen

Index and rank them. What are your

suggestions to the investors?

Portfolio Return on

Standard Deviation Beta

Portfolio

Equity Fund 26 12 1.25

Mid Cap 40 10 0.80

Fund

Infra – Fund 24 14 1.40

Market Index 18

1.00

Risk Free Rate of Return : 6%

1. The beta of Equity fund is higher than the Beta of Mid Cap fund but the returns are higher in Mid Cap Fund than Equity Fund. Do you agree with

this statement? If yes, explain with reasonable examples. 2. The beta of Infra – Fund is the highest among all three fund but the returns is the lowest among all three fund. Explain with reasonable examples.

B) Share of HDFC and BANK of Baroda display the following returns over the past two

years:-

YEAR HDFC BANK OF BARODA

First Year 232 775

Second Year 215 955

1) What is the expected return on a portfolio made

up of 40% of Pepsi and 60% of Coca-Cola?

2) What is the standard deviation of each share?

3) What is the covariance of Share of Pepsi and Coca-Cola?

4) What is the correlation coefficient?

5) Interpret the results in each case and advice the investors for investment decision?

CASE STUDY 1

Downloaded Data of Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank fromhttp://www.nseindia.com of last 11 years has been summarized as follows. You are required to analyze the data using appropriate statistical tools, interpret the results and provide necessary advice to the investors as research analyst.

Sr.No Date Symbol Close Price Symbol Sr.No Date

Close Price

1 1-Apr-97 BANKBARODA 56.75 HDFCBANK 1 1-Apr-97 46.45

2 1-Apr-98 BANKBARODA 108.35 HDFCBANK 2 1-Apr-98 72.8

3 1-Apr-99 BANKBARODA 45 HDFCBANK 3 1-Apr-99 67.6

4 3-Apr-00 BANKBARODA 47.4 HDFCBANK 4 3-Apr-00 247.15

5 30-Mar-01 BANKBARODA 60.45 HDFCBANK 5 2-Apr-01 223.15

6 1-Apr-02 BANKBARODA 50.45 HDFCBANK 6 1-Apr-02 233.65

7 1-Apr-03 BANKBARODA 86.45 HDFCBANK 7 1-Apr-03 234.3

8 1-Apr-04 BANKBARODA 250.45 HDFCBANK 8 1-Apr-04 384.35

9 1-Apr-05 BANKBARODA 221.85 HDFCBANK 9 1-Apr-05 551.55

10 3-Apr-06 BANKBARODA 232.95 HDFCBANK 10 3-Apr-06 773.85

11 30-Mar-07 BANKBARODA 215.05 HDFCBANK 11

30-Mar-07 954.15

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International Finance Management Posted on December 25, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

1) What is exchange rate determination and forecasting?

2) Explain financial management in a global context.

3) Explain in detail:

a) Accounting implications of international activities

b) Tax implications of international activities

4) What is forwards, swaps and interest Parity?

5) Explain short-term financial management in a multinational corporation.

6) Explain long-term borrowing in the global capital markets.

7) What are different currency options?

8) Explain currency and interest rate futures.

9) Write a detailed note on the foreign exchange market in India

10) What is balance of payments?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged IFM, International Finance

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HRM – Human Resource

Management – 2 Posted on December 17, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE STUDY : 1

A policy is a plan of action. It is a statement of intention committing the management to

a general course of

action. When the management drafts a policy statement to cover some features of its

personnel programmes,

the statement may often contain an expression of philosophy and principle as well.

Although it is perfectly

legitimate for an organization to include its philosophy, principles and policy in one

policy expression.

1. Why organizations adopt

personnel policies explain the

benefits?

2. What are the sources and

content of personnel policies?

3. Explain few personnel policies?

4. Explain principles of personnel

policies?

CASE STUDY : 2

Recruitment is understood as the process of searching for and obtaining applicants for

jobs, from among

whom the rights people can be selected. Theoretically, recruitment process is said to

end with the receipt of

applications, in practice the activity extends to the screening of applications so as to

eliminate those who are

not qualified for the job. Recruitment refers to the process of receipt of applications from

job seekers. In reality, the term is used to describe the entire process of employee

hiring. These are recruitment boards for railways, banks and other organization.

1. Explain in detail the general

purpose of recruitment?

2. Explain factors governing

Recruitment?

3. Explain the Recruitment process

with diagram?

4. Explain Recruitment planning?

CASE STUDY : 3

Navin AGM materials, is fuming and fretting. He bumped into Kiran, GM Materials,

threw the resignation

letter on his table, shouted and walked out of the room swiftly.

Navin has reason for his sudden outburst. He has been driven to the wall. Perhaps

details of the story will

tell the reasons for Navin‘s bile and why he put in his papers, barely four months after

he took up his

assignment. The year was 2005 when Navin quit the prestigious Sail plant at Mumbai.

As a manager material Navin enjoyed the power. He could even place an order for

materials worth Rs 25 lakh. He needed nobody‘s prior

approval.

Navin joined a pulp making plant located at Pune as AGM Materials. The plant is owned

by a prestigious

business house in India. Obviously perks, designation and reputation of the

conglomerate lured Navin away

from the public sector. When he joined the pulp making company, little did Navin realize

that he needed prior approval to place an order for materials worth Rs 12 lakhs. He had

presumed that he had the authority to place an order by himself worth half the amount

of what he used to do at the mega steel maker. He placed the order material

arrived, were recived, accepted and used up in the plant. Trouble started when the bill

for Rs 12 lakh came from vendor. The accounts department withheld payment for the

reason that the bill was not endorsed by Kiran. Kiran rused to sign the bill as his

approval was not taken by Navin before placing the order. Navin felt fumigated and

cheated. A brief encounter with Kiran only aggrarated the problem. Navin was curtly told

that he should have known company rules before venturing. Navin decided to quit the

company.

1. Does the company have an

orientation programme?

2. If yes how effective is it?

3. How is formal Orientation

programme conducted?

4. If you were Navin what would

have you done?

CASE STUDY : 4

Bitter it may taste, shrill it may sound, and sleepless nights it may cause, but it is true. In

a major shake up

Airbus. The European aircraft manufacturers has thrown a big shock to its employees.

Before coming to the

details of the shock, a peep into the company‘s resume.

Name Airbus

Created 1970

President CEO : Vijay M.

Employees 57000

Turnover 26 Bn (Euro)

Total Aircraft sold (Feb 2007) 7187

Delivered 4598

Headquarters Paris (France)

Facilities 6

Rival Boeing

Airbus announced on February 27, 2007 that it would shed 10,000 jobs across four

European countries and

sell six of its unit. N the same day the helpless workers did what was expected of them

– downed tools and

staged protests. The protesting workers at Airbus‘s factory at Meaulte, northern France,

were seen picketing

outside the factory gate after holding up production a day earlier. To be fair to Airbus, its

management

entered talks with unions before the job loss and sale was formally announced. But the

talks did not mollify

the agitated workers. Job sheating and hiring of units are a part of Power and

restructuring plan unleashed by Airbus to save itself from increasing loss of its ground to

the arch rival, Boeing Co.

Airbus Power & Strategy was first mooted in October 2006 but sparkled a split between

France & Germany

over the distribution of job losses and the placement of future ones. Later the two

countries agreed to share

both job losses and new technology.

The power and plan, if finalized, would mean a 3 per cent reduction to Airbus‘s 55000

employee strength.

1. Why should Power and focus on

shedding jobs to save on cost?

2. Are there no alternative

strategies?

3. Will the proposed shedding of

jobs and scale of six units help airbus

survive the intense competition from

Boeing?

4. Comment on the whole issue?

If you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged HRM, Human Resource ManagementMBA

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Marketing Management Posted on December 17, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

1) Define term ―Marketing Management‖ discuss the elements of Market Environment?

2) Define the term Product Management? Explain how New Product Decisions are

made?

3) What is Customer relationship Management Explain its feature and nature?

4) Explain the nature and feature of Marketing research and Information Systems?

5) What is Market Measurement and Forecasting?

6) What is Segmenting and Targeting the Market?

7) What is Advertising Management? Explain the concept of Sales Promotion and

Personal Selling?

8) Write a short note

a) Brand Equity

b) Global Marketing

c) Direct Marketing

d) Pricing decisions

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Finance Management Posted on December 11, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

1).Mr. Nimish holds the following portfolio.

Share Beta Investment

Alpha 0.9 Rs.12, 00,000

Beta 1.5 Rs. 3, 50,000

Carrot 1.0 Rs. 1, 00,000

What is the expected rate of return on his portfolio, if the risk rate is 7 per cent and the

expected return on the market portfolio is 16 per cent?

2). A share is selling for Rs.60 on which a dividend of Rs.4 per share is expected at the

end of the year. The expected market price after dividend declaration is to be Rs.70.

Compute the following: -

(i) The return on investment ® in shares.

(ii) Dividend yield

(iii) Capital Gain Yield

3)

DIC Ltd. provides the following data:

Comparative trial balance

March 31 year 2

March 31 year 1 Increase(Decrease)

Debit Balance 20 10 10

Cash Rs.190 Rs. 90 Rs.100

Working capital (other than cash) 100 200 (100)

Investment (Long term) 500 400 100

Building and equipment 40 50 (10)

Total 850 750 100

Credit Accumulated Depreciation 200 160 40

Bonds 150 100 50

Reserves 350 350 —

Equity Shares 150 140 10

Total 850 750 100

Income Statement

For the period ending March 31, (Amount in Rs lakh)

year 2

Sales

Rs.1000 Cost of Goods Sold

500

Selling Expense

Rs.50 Administrative Expenses

50

100

Operating Income

400 Other charges

Gain on sale of building and equipment Rs 5

Loss on sale of investments

(10)

Interest

(6) Taxes

(189)

(200)

Net Income after taxes

200

Notes: (a) The depreciation charged for the year was Rs.60 Lakh

(b) The Book value of the building and equipment disposed was Rs 10 Lakh

Prepare a Cash Flow Statement (Based on AS-3)

4. (i) A. Ltd. produces a product which has a monthly demand of 4,000 units. The

product requires a component X which is purchased at Rs.20. For every finished

product one unit of component is required. The ordering cost is Rs.120 per order and

the holding cost is 10 per cent per annum.

You are required to calculate:

(i) Economic order quantity

(ii) If the minimum lot size to be supplied is 4, 000 units, what is the extra cost, the

company has to incur?

(iii) What is the minimum carrying cost, the company has to incur?

4. (ii). Master Tools Ltd. Is currently operating its business at 75% level, producing

38275 units of a tools component and proposes to increase capacity utilization in the

coming year by 33 1/3 % over the existing level of production.

The following data has been supplied:

(1)Unit cost structure of the product at current level:

Rs.

Raw Material 5

Wages 2

Overheads 3

Fixed Overhead 2

Profit 3

_____

15

(i) Raw Material will remain in stores for 1 month before issued for production. Material

will remain in process for further 1 month. Suppliers grant 4 months credit to the

company.

(ii) Finished goods remain in godown for 2 months

(iii) Debtors are allowed credit for 2 months.

(iv) Lag in wages and overheads payments in 1 month, and these expenses accrue

evenly throughout the production cycle.

(v) No increase either in cost of inputs or selling price is envisaged

You are required to prepare a Projected Profitability statement and the Working Capital

Requirement at new level, assuming that a minimum cash balance of Rs.20000 has to

be maintained.

5. A stock is currently trading for Rs.29. The risk less interest is 7 % p.a continuously

compounded. Estimate the value of European call option with a strike price of Rs.30

and a time of expiration of 4 months. The standard deviation of the stock‘s annual return

is 0.45. Apply BS model.

6.

Following is the EPS record of AB Ltd over the past 10 years.

Year EPS Year EPS

10 Rs.30 5 Rs.16

9 20 4 15

8 19 3 14

7 18 2 18

6 17 1 (12)

(i )Determine the annual dividend paid each year in the following cases: (a) If the firm’s dividend policy is

based on a constant dividend payout ratio of 40 per cent for all years

(b) If the firm pays at Rs 10 per share, and increases it to Rs 12 per share when earnings exceed Rs.14 per share for the previous 2 consecutive years.

(c) If the firm pays dividend at Rs 7 per share each except when EPS exceeds Rs 14 per share, when an extra dividend equal to 80 per centof earnings beyond Rs.14 would be paid.

(ii) Which type of dividend policy will you recommended to the company and why?

7. A US MNC has its subsidiary in India. The subsidiary has issued 15 pr cent preference

shares of the face value of Rs.100, to be redeemed at year-end 9. Flotation costs are

expected to be 5 per cent; these costs can be amortized for tax purpose during 8 years at a

uniform rate.The corporate tax rate is 35 per cent. Determine the costs of preference shares

from the perspective of the subsidiary

8. The US inflation rate is expected to be Rs.3 per cent annually and that of India is

expected to be 4.5 per cent annually. The current spot rate of US $ in India is

Rs.47.4060/US $. Find the expected rate of US $ in India after one year and after 5

years from now using purchase power theory of exchange rate.

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged Finance Management, MBA, MBA Case

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Corporate Law Posted on December 10, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

Q.1. In the following statements only one is correct statement. Explain Briefly?

i) An invitation to negotiate is a good offer.

ii) A quasi-contract is not a contract at all.

iii) An agreement to agree is a valid contract.

Q.2. A ship-owner agreed to carry to cargo of sugar belonging to A from Constanza to

Busrah. He knew

that there was a sugar market in Busrah and that A was a sugar merchant, but did not

know that he

intended to sell the cargo, immediately on its arrival. Owning to Shipment‘s default, the

voyage was delayed and sugar fetched a lower price than it would have done had it

arrived on time. A claimed compensation for the full loss suffered by him because of the

delay. Give your decision. Explain Briefly?

Q.3. The proprietors of a medical preparation called the ―Carbolic Smoke Ball‖

published in several

newspapers the following advertisement:- ―£ 1000 reward will be paid by the Carbolic

Smoke Ball Co. to any person who contracts the increasing epidemic influenza after

having used the Smoke Ball three times daily for two weeks according to printed

directions supplied with each ball. £ 1000 is deposited with the Alliance Bank

showing our sincerity in the matter. On the faith in this advertisement, the plaintiff

bought a Smoke Ball and used it as directed. She was attacked by influenza. She sued

the company for the reward. Will she succeed? Explain Briefly

Q.4. Fazal consigned four cases of Chinese crackers at Kanpur to be carried to

Allahabad on the 30th May,

1987. He intended to sell them at the Shabarat festival of 5th June 1987. The railway

discovered that the consignment could not be sent by passenger train and asked Fazal

either to remove them or authorize their dispatch by goods train. He took no action and

the goods arrived at Allahabad a month after they were booked.

Fazal filed a suit against Railways for damages due to late delivery of the goods which

deprived him of the special profits at the festival sale. Decide & explain briefly ?

Q.5. ‗Lifeoy‘ Soap company advertised that it would give a reward of Rs. 2000 who

contracted skin disease after using the ‗Lifeoy‘ soap of the company for a certain period

according to the printed directions. Mrs. Jacob purchased the advertised ‗Lifeboy‘ and

contracted skin disease inspite of using this soap according to the printed instructions.

She claimed reward of Rs. 2000. The claim is resisted by the company on the ground

that offer was not made to her and that in any case she had not communicated her

acceptance of the offer. Decide whether Mrs. Jacob can claim the reward or not. Give

reasons. Explain briefly?

Q.6. In each set of statements, only one is correct. State the correct statements &

Explain briefly?

a) i) A bailee has a general lien on the goods bailed.

ii) The ownership of goods pawned passes to the pawnee.

iii) A gratuitous bailment can be terminated by the bailor even

before the stated time.

b) i) A substituted agent is as good an agent of the agent as a subagent.

ii) An ostensible agency is as effective as an express agency.

iii) A principal can always revoke an agent‘s authority.

Q.7. A, an unpaid seller, sends goods to B by railway. B becomes insolvent And A

sends a telegram to Railway authorities not to deliver the goods to B. B. goes to the

Parcel office of Railway Yard and by presenting R. R. (Railway Receipt) takes delivery

of the goods and starts putting them in the cart. Meanwhile the Station Master comes

running with the telegram in hand and takes possession of the goods from B. Discuss

the rights of A and B to the goods in possession of Railway authorities.

Q.8. X needs Rs. 10,000 but cannot raise this amount because his credit is not good

enough. Y whose

credit is good accommodates. X by giving him a pronote made out in favour of X,

though Y owes no money to X. X endorses the pronote to Z for value received. Z who is

holder in due course the pronote to Z for value received. Z who is holder in due course

demands payment from Y. Can refuse and plead the arrangement between him and X

Explain briefly?

Q.9. Will C has the right of further negotiation in the following cases: (B signs the

endorsements)

Explain briefly?

i) ‗Pay C for my use‘

ii) ‗Pay C‘)

iv) ‗Pay C or order for the account of B‘

Q.10. A promissory note was made without mentioning any time for payment. The

holder added the

words‘ on demand on the face of the instrument. State whether it amounted to material

alteration

and explain the effect of such alteration. Explain briefly?

Q.11. State whether the following instruments are valid promissory notes:

i) I promise to pay Rs. 5000 to B on the dearth of ‗B‘s uncle provided that D in his will

gives

me a legacy sufficient for the promise of payment of the said sum.

ii) I hereby acknowledge that I owe X Rs. 5,000 on account of rent due and I agree that

the said

sum will be paid be me in regular installments.

iii) I acknowledge myself indebted to B in Rs. 5000 to be paid on demand for value

received.

Q.12. A Payee holder of a bill of exchange. He endorses it in blank and delivers it to B.

B endorses in full

to C or order. C without endorsement transfers the bill to D. State giving reasons

whether D as

bearer of the bill of exchange is entitled to recover the payment from A or B or C.

Explain briefly?

Q.13. Write a short note on the Doctrine of Indoor Management? Explain briefly?

Q.14. The shareholders at an annual general meeting passed a resolution for the

payment of dividend at a

rate higher than that recommended by the Board of Directors. Examine the validity of

the resolution.

Explain briefly?

Q.15. In a prospectus issued by a company the Managing Director stated that the

company had paid

dividend every year during 1921 – 27, which was a fact. However, the company had

sustained losses

during the relevant period and had paid dividends out of secret reserves accumulated in

the past.

Examine the consequences of the observation made by the Managing Director. Explain

briefly?

Q.16. A buys from B 400 shares in a company on the faith of a share certificate issued

by the company. A

tender to the company a transfer deed duly executed together with B‘s share certificate.

The

company discovers that the certificate in the name of B has been fraudulently obtained

and refuses to

register the transfer. Advise A. Explain briefly?

Q.17. A insured his house against fire. Later while insure, A killed his wife, severely

injured his only son,

set fire to the house and died in the fire. The son survived and sued the insurer for the

fire loss,

advice the insurer. Explain briefly?

Q.18. a) Satrang Singh admitted his only infant son in a private nursing home. As a

result of strong dose of

medicine administered by the nursing attendant, the child has become mentally

retarded. Satrang

Singh wants to make a complaint to the District Forum under the Consumer Protection

Act, 1986

seeking relief by way of compensation on the ground that there was deficiency in

service by the

nursing home. Does his complaint give rise to a consumer dispute? Who is the

consumer in the

instant case? Explain briefly?

b) Smart booked a motor vehicle through one of the dealers. He was informed

subsequently that the

procedure for purchasing the motor vehicle had changed and was called upon to make

further

payment to continue the booking before delivery. On being aggrieved, Smart filed a

complaint with

the State Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Will he succeed?

Explain briefly?

c) Brittle and Company, a small-scale industry, sought nursing and financing facilities

from its bankers

by means of grant of further advances and adequate margin money in anticipation of

good demand

for its products. In failing to obtain this and having become sick, it proceeds against its

bankers

under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Will it succeed? Explain briefly?

Q.20. X who was working as a truck driver had taken a general insurance policy to

cover the risk of

injuries for a period from 1.11.1998 to 30.11.1999. He renewed the policy for a further

period of one

year on 10.11.1999. On the same day, he met with an accident and suffered multiple

injuries

including fractures. X submitted the claim along with documents to the insurance

company. The

insurance company repudiated the claim on the ground that the premium for the

renewed policy was

received in the office only at 2.30 p.m. on 10.11.1999, while the accident had taken

place at 10.00

a.m. on that day and hence there was no policy at the time of accident. Will X succeed if

he files a

complaint against the insurance company for this claim? Explain briefly?

Q.19 Avinash booked his goods with Superfast Freight Carriers at Delhi for being

carried to Ferozabad.

The goods receipt note mentioned that all the disputes would be subject to jurisdiction

of the

Mumbai Court. Avinash lodged a complaint for certain deficiency in service against the

transporter

in the District Forum at Delhi. Superfast Carriers contested that District Forum at Delhi

had no

jurisdiction to entertain the complaint as the head office of the transporter was at

Mumbai and the

jurisdiction has been clearly stated in the goods receipt not. Is the contention of the

transporter

tenable? Explain briefly?

Q.20. With reference to the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, decide the

following giving

reasons in support of your answer.

i) Sukh Dukh Ltd. dispatched certain consignments of goods by road through Fastrack

Roadways Ltd.

The goods were unloaded and stored in a godown enroute on the suggestion of

consignee. A fire

broke out in the neighbouring godown spread to the godown and goods were destroyed.

The

Fastrack Roadways Ltd. claimed that there was neither negligence nor deficiency in

service on their

part and goods were being carried at ―Owner risk‖ and since no special premium was

paid, they were

not responsible for the loss caused by fire. Whether Fastrack Roadways Ltd. is liable to

pay

damages to consignor?

ii) Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) formulated a scheme called ‗salary saving scheme‘

under which

employees of an organisation could buy an insurance policy. Premium due on each

policy was

collected by the employer from the salary of the employees nor did it issue any premium

notice.

When the widow of the deceased employee made a claim to LIC on the death of her

husband, the

LIC repudiated the claim on the ground that four installments of premium had not been

paid. The

widow was approached the consumer forum for redressal. Is the LIC liable for

deficiency in service?

Explain?

iii) Raman booked a ticket from Delhi to New York by Lufthansa Airlines. The airport

authorities in

New Delhi did not find any fault in his visa and other documents. However, at Frankfurt

airport

authorities instituted proceedings of verification because of which Raman missed his

flight to New

York. After necessary verification, Raman was able to reach New York by the next flight.

The

airline authorities‘ tendered apology to Raman for the inconvenience caused to him and

also paid as

goodwill gesture a sum of Rs. 5,000. Raman intends to institute proceedings under the

Consumer

Protection Act, 1986 against Lufthansa Airlines for deficiency in service. Will he

succeed?

Q.21. With reference to the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, decide the

following giving

reasons in support of your answer.

i) Sohn sent all relevant documents in an envelope regarding consignment of goods to a

buyer in the

USA through Fast Service Couriers. The documents did not reach the buyer as a

consequence of

which the buyer could not take delivery of the goods. By the time the duplicate copies of

the

document had been received by the buyer, the season of the goods was over. He

claimed that he had

suffered a loss of US $ 5,000 as a result of the negligence of the courier. The State

Commission

ordered the payment to be made by the Fast Service Couriers, but the National

Commission in appeal

reversed the order and ordered payment of US $ 100 only as per the receipt issued by

the Fast

Service Courier to the consignor at the time of the dispatch of the latter. Advise Sohan.

ii) Mahesh purchased a machine from Astute Ltd. to operate it himself for earning his

liverhood. He

took the assistance of a person to assist him in operating the machine. The machine

developed fault

during the warranty period. He filed a claim in the consumer forum against the company

for

deficiency in service. Astute Ltd. alleged that Mahesh did not operate the machine

himself but had

appointed a person exclusively to operate the machine. Will Mahesh succeed?

iii) Pillai purchased a car by taking a loan from Kerala cooperative Bank Ltd. and gave

post-dated

cheques to the bank not only in respect of repayment of loan instalments but also of

premium of

insurance policy for two succeeding years. On the expiry of the policy. Pillai‘s car met

with an

accident. Will Pillai succeed in getting a claim against the Bank ?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged Corporate Law, MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA

Exercise | Leave a comment

Business Ethics Posted on December 9, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

Case Study 1

Joan, an employee of Great American Market, was warned about her excessive

absenteeism several

times, both verbally and in writing. The written warning included notice that ―further

violations will

result in disciplinary actions,‖ including suspension or discharge.

A short time after the written warning was issued, Joan called work to say she was not

going to be in

because her babysitter had called in sick and she had to stay home and care for her

young child. Joan‘s

supervisor, Sylvia, told her that she had already exceeded the allowed number of

absences and warned

that if she did not report to work, she could be suspended. When Joan did not report for

her shift,

Sylvia suspended her for fifteen days.

In a subsequent hearing, Joan argued that it was not her fault that the babysitter had

canceled, and

protested that she had no other choice but to stay home. Sylvia pointed out that Joan

had not made a

good faith effort to find an alternate babysitter, nor had she tried to swap shifts with a

co-worker.

Furthermore, Sylvia said that the lack of a babysitter was not a justifiable excuse for

being absent.

Questions:

1. Was the suspension fair?

2. Did Joan act responsibly?

3. Should she be fired?

Case Study 2

You own a cement company, and deal with most the local contractors for cement, sand,

etc. You have

a reputation of high quality products, and for good customer service with your

customers. Your

foreman has just run the standard quality control tests you have performed regularly on

your products.

When the test results are ready, you discover that the new batch of product is 9% less

durable than

your usual material. It is still well above all industry standards and meets all building

codes and

requirements for the purposes for which it is intended, but it is, nevertheless, not up to

your usual

standards. Throwing it away would cost your company many thousands of dollars.

You decide to sell the cement anyway.

Questions:

1) Should you tell your customers?

2) Should you discount the price?

3) Should you tell your employees, so they will be knowledgeable with the customers?

4) Would you use this cement on foundations for your own house?

Case Study 3

Fred, a 17-year employee with Sam‘s Sauna, was fired for poor job performance and

poor attendance,

after accruing five disciplinary penalties within a 12-month period under the company‘s

progressive

disciplinary policy. A week later, Fred told his former supervisor that he had a substance

abuse

problem.

Although there was no employee assistance program in place and the company had not

been aware of

Fred‘s condition, their personnel director assisted Fred in obtaining treatment by

allowing him to

continue receiving insurance benefits and approved his unemployment insurance claim.

Fred subsequently requested reinstatement, maintaining that he had been rehabilitated

since his

discharge and was fully capable of being a productive employee. He pointed to a letter

written by his

treatment counselor, which said that his prognosis for leading a ―clean, sober lifestyle‖

was a big

incentive for him. Fred pleaded for another chance, arguing that his past problems

resulted from drug

addiction and that Sam‘s Saunas should have recognized and provided treatment for

the problem.

Sam‘s Saunas countered that Fred should have notified his supervisor of his drug

problem, and that

everything possible had been done to help him receive treatment. Moreover, the

company stressed that

the employee had been fired for poor performance and absenteeism. Use of the

progressive discipline

policy had been necessary because the employee had committed a string of offenses

over the course of

a year, including careless workmanship, distracting others, wasting time, and

disregarding safety rules.

Questions:

1) Should Fred be reinstated?

2) Was the company fair to Fred in helping him receive treatment?

3) Did the personnel director behave ethically toward Fred?

4) Did he act ethically for his company?

5) Would it be fair to other employees to reinstate Fred?

Caste Study 4

In January of last year, the S.S. Vulgass, an oil tanker of the Big Dirty Oil Company ran

around in the

area just north of Vancouver, spilling millions of gallons of crude into the waters and

onto the beaches

of British Columbia and southern Alaska. The damage to the beaches and wildlife and

consequently to

the tourist industry, the ecology and the quality of life of the local residents is

incalculable, but in any

case will require many millions of dollars for even the most minimal clean-up.

The ship struck a small atoll, well-marked on the navigational maps, but it was a dark

night and the

boat was well off course. On further investigation, it was discovered that the Captain of

the Vulgass,

Mr. Slosh, had been drinking heavily. Leaving the navigation of the ship to his first mate,

Mr. Mudd,

he retired to his cabin, to ―sleep it off.‖ Mr. Mudd had never taken charge of the ship

before, and it is

now clear that he misread the maps, misjudged the waters, maintained a speed that

was inappropriate

and the accident occurred. Subsequent inquiries showed that Captain Slosh had been

arrested on two

drunk driving convictions within months of the accident. The Vulgass itself, a double-

hulled tanker,

was long due for renovation and, it was suggested, would not have cracked up if the hull

had been

trebly reinforced, as some current tankers were. R. U. Rich, the Chief Executive Officer

of Big Dirty Oil declared the accident a ―tragedy‖ and offered two million dollars to aid in

the clean up. The Premier of British Columbia was outraged. Environmental groups

began a consumer campaign against Big Dirty Oil, urging customers to cut up

and send in their Big Dirty Oil credit cards in protest. In a meeting to the shareholders

just last month,

CEO Rich proudly announced the largest quarterly profit in the history of the Big Dirty

Oil Company.

He dismissed the protests as ―the outpourings of Greenies and other fanatics‖ and

assured the

shareholders that his obligation was, and would always be, to assure the highest profits

possible in the

turmoil of today‘s market.

Questions:

1) The question is, who is responsible?

2) Against whom should criminal charges be leveled?

3) What should be done, if anything, to punish the corporation itself?

4) What about the CEO?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged Business Ethics, MBA, MBA Case

Studies, MBA Exercise | Leave a comment

Girl is proposing a boy Posted on October 26, 2012 by Eskay

Girl is proposing a Boy… Boy is not responding to her proposal but asking some

formal questions… How sad..!!! at last the pretty girl was disappointed…

Posted in Misc | Tagged boy girl praposing, boy reaction after a

praposal, dating, girls, love failure,relationships, sad girl, teen prapose | Leave a

comment

Do friends have bonds? Posted on October 26, 2012 by pabbuprashanthgoud

From the childhood we come across many friends some will be dear ones some will be

casual friends and the other close friends, why do people differentiate the friends into

different categories………The thing behind all these is that there is a bond between

every friend with you. Few of the examples are ..If his characteristic are involved till 10%

of thoughts they are just friends and if thoughts match 30% they are good friends if

there thoughts are 50 % matched they are best friends if they are same as you in

thinking close friends.100% trust an opposite sex person then they call it love. Every

friend has some or the other category related to your

habits/wishes/colors/likes/actions/thoughts/characteristics or any other sort. If they do

not match they never become your friends. Even an enemy is a friend that you

hate………Every person need friends to share there thoughts and wishes for

encouragement or console…But a friend is a friend and nothing replaces the

position…..

- PPG

Posted in Friendship | Tagged best friends, close friends, friend, friend

category, Friendship, friendship bondj, friendship quotes, teens | Leave a comment

Professional Life Posted on October 26, 2012 by Eskay

Every human enters into the professional field with an intention to earn money and work

for only the project but through experience he will come to know earning and daily job

roles are just for 8 hours and many other things are there to learn in the long way of life

-PPG

Posted in Misc | Tagged Professional Life, Professionalism | Leave a comment

Software Project Management – 2 Posted on September 27, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

Case Study 1

ACE is a premier real estate consultancy involved in real estate dealings for top notch

companies in the country. As ACE is growing, the support staff at ACE offices is

growing in numbers. The management at ACE realises the need for dedicated

collaboration across its different offices spread across the country. The human resource

department at ACE works in a distributed fashion. The Head Office of ACE has the core

HR team and the regional offices have supporting HR staff along with supporting staff

like site supervisors, accountants, legal executives and customer support. In all, there

are 500 ACE employees spread across the country with almost 1500 telephone lines

connecting them. The existing emailing system facilitates communication and

collaboration partially. Keeping in consideration the case above, the management at

ACE decides to get a software application developed to cater to the collaboration

requirement of ACE.

ACE head office has an in-house technical team who have been taking care of the IT

requirements till now. This team is known as the ‗Internal System‘ in ACE. Mr. Sharma,

one of the Vice Presidents in Senior Management chose Ms. Mary D‘Souza from the

Internal System team as the project manager for this assignment. Ms. Mary needs to

co-ordinate with all the regional offices in the country to develop the software. She

would need inputs from all offices to decide the functionalities of this application. This

application would integrate the existing email facility and ensure that there are many

more features which support the collaboration needs of the organisation.

Mr. Sharma briefs Ms.Mary of the above mentioned problem statement and the possible

solution. Followed by this, Ms.Mary is instructed to do the needful.

Based on the above case, answer the following questions:

1. Prepare a business case

2. Draft the feasibility report

3. Identify the stake holders

involved in this project with their

suitable role and responsibilities

4. Under what circumstances can

Ms.Mary outsource this work?

5. Identify few known quality

principles/policies that can be

implemented while developing this

project.

Case Study 2

Rakesh has been just assigned as the project manager to develop accounting software

for a firm based in a country which has been hostile for quite for sometime. Rakesh has

been deployed in the customer‘s country with an initial team consisting of three

members. Rakesh meets the customer Mr.David and starts the requirement gathering

process. Mr.David recommends a team of 10 people from his company to facilitate the

requirements gathering process. Rakesh with his three team members conducts the

requirements gathering phase and comes with a rough estimate of the development

time in weeks for the five modules that have been identified.

Module

Name

Development Time (in Person Weeks)

Pessimistic Optimistic

Most

Likely

A 7 3 4

B 4 2 3

C 8 6 7

D 15 5 13

E 20 1 16

Pretty soon Rakesh realises that he will need a bigger team to complete the project on

time. Rakesh raises this human resource requirement to his head office in India. Head

office suggests Rakesh that he needs to work with human resources from the local

country. Head office approves him to go ahead with hiring in the local country.

Based on the above data/information, do the following:

1. Calculate the weighted average

development time for each module

2. Standard deviation for each

module

3. Calculate the standard deviation

for the complete project and the

estimated time frame for completion?

4. Assuming Rakesh has to finish

this project 20 weeks. What is the

team strength he would need to do

it?

5. What are the possible issues

Rakesh may face while hiring Human

Resources from the local country?

Case Study 3

Stefan has been working on a computer simulation project to forecast about the

cyclones and storms. This project also involves understanding the impacts of these

natural calamities and predicting the estimated damage to human lives and property.

This project is sponsored jointly by 10 governments across the world. Stefan is the

project manager with a team of 20 people and their profiles are listed below.

Designation

Number

of

People Description

Programmers 12 Programming the modules based on

the designs supplied by the team

leaders.

Team leaders 3

Team leaders design the software

modules and give them to the

programmers for programming. Team

leaders are remotely based in the

geographical locations which are

cyclone and storm prone. They work

closely with the subject matter experts

who provide the technical details

about natural calamities. Team leaders

travel to cyclone/storm hit areas and

assist the subject matter experts.

Subject

Matter

Experts 3

Subject Matter Experts are people with

specialized knowledge and skills

related to storms and cyclones. These

people keep on travelling to various

locations for studies and provide the

development team with necessary data

and details.

Graphical

Designers 1

These people design the Graphical

User Interface for the software

modules developed by the

programmers.

Accountant 1

Accountant keeps track of the project

budgeting, costs and expenditures.

While the programmers are co-located in a relatively safe environment, the team

leaders and the subject matter experts travel in a hostile environment.

Based on the scenario described above, perform the following:

1. Based on assumptions, identify

minimum of five important risks

involved in the project

2. Perform a qualitative risk

analysis based on the answer for Q.

1 above

3. Perform a quantitative risk

analysis based on Q.1 and Q. 2

above. Assume numerical value

ranges for probability and impact

(Exposure) of risks

4. Prepare a sample risk register for

such a project

5. List out three positive risks in

such a project

Case Study 4

New Boston School is a reputed school in the city and has been in existence since last

75 years. With IT affecting all domains of life, the school has identified the need of a

web based school portal to connect the school, students and parents/guardians. This

will help the school maintain a transparency between its staff, students and parents.

The business case has been drafted and approved. D-Smart Infotech, a local software

development firm, has been awarded this project and Lillie has been identified as the

project manager for this project from D-Smart Infotech. Lillie has completed the

feasibility study for this project and D-Smart Infotech has decided to go ahead with the

project.

The project deadline is very crucial and ends after one year of awarding the project.

Since D-Smart Infotech is running short of human resources, it plans to outsource this

project again to a third party vendor. Since Lillie has been assigned as the project

manager, she has to identify, select and negotiate a vendor for this assignment. The

school has awarded this project to D-Smart Infotech on the firm condition that the

project should be completed within a year.

Based on the above scenario, answer the following:

1. Should a third party vendor be

selected to do this software project?

If yes, then what are the legal

formalities D-Smart Infotech need to

complete with New Boston School

and the selected vendor?

What are the high level risks associated in such a project?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA

Exercise, Software Project Management, SPM | 1 Comment

Principle and Practice of

Management – 2 Posted on September 27, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE STUDY : 1

International Case : Carrefour — Which Way to Go?

Wal-Mart‘s biggest global competitor is the big French retailer Carretour, a firm that has

hypermarkets, big stores offering a variety of goods. It has made large investments

around the globe in Latin America and China. But not all is well as competitors taking

market share its home market, for instance. There has been even speculation of a

takeover by Wal-Mart or Tesco, an English chain. Mr. Barnard has been ousted after

heading the company for 12 years; he was replaced by Jose Luis Durant who is of

German-Spanish descent. Although the global expansion is cited by some as success,

it may be even a big mistake. It withdrew from Japan and sold 29 hypermarkets in

Mexico. Carrefour also had problems competing with Tesco in Slovakia and the Czech

Republic. In Germany, the company faced tough competition from Aldi and Lidle, two

successful discounters. On the other hand, it bought stores in Poland, Italy, Turkey, and

opened new stores in China, South Korea, and Columbia. Carrefour has become more

careful in selecting markets. But. the company is eager to enter the Indian market, but

found out in late 2006 that Wal-Mart will do so as well.

In France, where Carrefour is well established, the company made the big mistake in its

pricing policy. It probably started with the 1999 merger with Promodes, the French

discount chain. Carrefour confused the French clientele by losing its low-cost image;

whether the image can be changed remains to be seen. Mr. Durant, the new CEO since

2005, embarked on the new strategy by offering 15 percent new products in its

hypermarkets and 10 percent in its supermarkets. Moreover, he wants to employ more

staff, extend the operating hours in certain hypermarkets, cutting prices, trying small

stores, and pushing down decision making. Mr. Durant aims to stay only in countries

where Carrefour is among the top retailers.

Questions:

1. How should Mr. Durant assess the opportunities in various countries around the

world?

2. Should Carrefour adopt Wal-Mart‘s strategy of ―low prices everyday‖? What would be

the advantage or disadvantage of such a strategy?

3. How could Carrefour differentiate itself from Wal-Mart?

4. Identify cultures in selected countries that need to be considered in order to be

successful?

CASE STUDY : 2

International Case : Reengineering the Business Process at Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble (P&G), a multinational corporation known for products such as

diapers, shampoo, soap, and toothpaste, was committed to improving value to the

customer. Its products were sold through various channels, such as grocery retailers,

wholesalers, mass merchandisers, and club stores. The flow of goods in the retail

grocery channel was from the factory‘s warehouse to the distributors‘ warehouses

before going to the grocery stores where customers selected the merchandise from the

shelves.

The improvement-driven company was not satisfied with its performance and developed

a variety of programs to improve its service and the efficiency of its operation. One such

program was electronic data interchange, which provided daily information from the

retail stores to P&G. The installation of the system resulted in better service, reduced

inventory levels, and labor-cost savings. Another approach, the continuous

replenishment program, provided additional benefits for P&G as well as for its retailer

customers. Eventually, the entire ordering system was redesigned, with the result of

dramatic performance improvements. The reengineering efforts also required

restructuring of the organization. P&G had been known for its brand management for

more than 50 years. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the brand management

approach pioneered by the company in the 1930s required rethinking and restructuring.

In a drive to improve efficiency and coordination, several brands were combined with

authority and responsibility given to category managers. Such a manager would

determine overall pricing and product policies. Moreover, the category managers had

the authority to withdraw weak brands, thus avoiding conflict between similar brands.

They were also held responsible for the profit of the product category they were

managing. The switch to category management required not only new skills but also a

new attitude.

Questions:

1) The reengineering efforts of P&G focused on the business process system. Do you

think other processes, such as the human system, or other managerial policies need to

be considered in a process redesign?

2) What do you think was the reaction of the brand managers, who may have worked

under the old system for many years, when the category management structure was

installed?

3) As a consultant, would you have recommended a top-down or a bottom-up approach,

or both, to process redesign and organizational change?

4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

CASE STUDY : 3

International Case : The Restructuring of Daimler-Benz

In a 1996 address to stockholders and friends of Daimler-Benz, CEO Jurgen Schrempp

reviewed the position of the diversified company. He started by saying ―1995 was a

dramatic year in the history of Daimler-Benz.‖ It was also a year that the board of

management made a major break with the past.

Daimler-Benz, with more than 300,000 employees worldwide, consisted of four major

groups: The first, by far the biggest and most successful group, was Mercedes-Benz

with about 200,000 employees. It is best known for its passenger cars and commercial

vehicles. The second was the AEG Daimler-Benz industries in the business of rail

systems, microelectronics, heavy diesel engines, energy systems technology, and

automation. The third was the Aerospace Group in the business of aircraft (the

company has a more than one-third interest in the Airbus consortium), space systems,

defense and civil systems, and propulsion systems. Finally, there was the Inter Services

Group consisting of systemshaus, financial services, insurance brokerage, trading,

marketing services, mobile communications services, and real

estate management.

Daimler-Benz went through various development phases. From 1985 to 1990, it

diversified into aerospace and electrical engineering. The aim was to become an

integrated high-tech group. This diversification was further consolidated in the next

phase that extended from 1990 to 1995. Under the leadership of Schrempp, the core

business was redefined and the strategy refocused.

A 1995-96 portfolio review showed the need for refocusing on what the company could

do best. Top management reevaluated its strategies and its core businesses based on

economic criteria and the strategic fit of the various activities. It became clear that the

company‘s strengths were in car manufacturing, the truck business, and the railroad

sector. Mercedes Benz, for example, had a strong competitive position with its cars and

trucks in Europe, North America, and Latin America. Vans were also relatively strong in

Europe, and buses had a good competitive position in Latin America. Based on this

analysis, the strategies for potential growth were through globalization and the

development of new product segments.

In 1996, top management reassessed the company‘s position and its 1995

unsatisfactory results from its operations. It was discovered that the company was

exposed to currency fluctuations that affected profitability. The company‘s image was

also blurred because of the ventures into many different kinds of industries. The

management board decided to cut its losses and chart a new direction for the company,

with greater emphasis on profitability. The organization structure was tightened and

certain businesses were divested. In fact, policy decision from an earlier period were

reversed. The unprofitable AEG Group and the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker did

not receive financial support. Since both the Dutch government and Daimler-Benz

withdrew support, Fokker filed for bankruptcy. Although these and other drastic

decisions helped reduce the 1995 financial losses, the company‘s goal was not to

emphasize maximizing short-term profitability but to work toward medium- and long-

term profitability.

A number of other managerial decisions were made to achieve the ambitious goals of

reducing costs and improving profitability. Employees close to the operations were

empowered to make decisions necessary to carry out their tasks. The organization

structure was simplified and decentralized so that organizational units could respond

faster to environmental changes. Moreover, the new organization structure was

designed to promote an entrepreneurial spirit. Control was exercised through a goal-

driven, performance-based reward system. At the same time, the new structure was

designed to promote cooperation. In 1997, the board of management restructured and

integrated the Mercedes-Benz Group into Daimler-Benz. Consequently,

Mercedes-Benz‘s chief, Helmut Werner, who had been given credit for a successful

model policy, resigned from the company.

Questions:

1) What is your assessment of Daimler-Benz‘s operations in many different fields?

2) Should the various groups operate autonomously? What kinds of activities should be

centralized?

3) Daimler-Benz is best known for its Mercedes-Benz cars. Why do you think Daimler

bought AEG in the first place and why did it venture into the Aerospace and Inter

Services businesses?

4) Given the apparent mistakes in acquiring non-automotive businesses, what should

Jurgen Schrempp do now?

CASE STUDY : 4

International Case : Global Car Industry

How the Lexus Was Born-and Continued Its Success in the United States, but will

Lexus Succeed in Japan?

One of the best examples of global competition is in the car industry. As the Japanese

gained market share in America, U.S. car makers required the Japanese to self-impose

quotas on cars exported to the United States. This encouraged Japanese firms not only

to establish their plants in the United States but also to build bigger and more luxurious

cars to compete against the higher-priced U.S. cars- and the expensive European cars

such as the Mercedes and the BMW.

One such Japanese car is the Lexus, by Toyota. This car is aimed at customers who

would like to buy a Mercedes or BMW but cannot afford either. With a sticker price of

$35,000, the Lexus is substantially less expensive than comparable European imports.

In 1983, Toyota set out to develop the best car in the world-measured against the

Mercedes and the BMW. The aim was to produce a quiet, comfortable, and safe car

that could travel at 150 miles per hour and still avoid the gas guzzler tax imposed on

cars getting less than 22.5 miles per gallon. This seemed to be an idea of

conflicting goals: cars being fast seemed irreconcilable with cars being at the same time

fuel-efficient. To meet these conflicting goals, each subsystem of the car had to be

carefully scrutinized, improved whenever possible, and integrated with the total design.

The first version of the 32-valve V-8 engine did not meet the fuel economy requirement.

The engineers applied a problem-solving technique called ―thoroughgoing

countermeasures at the source.‖ This means an attempt to improve every component

until the design objectives are achieved. Not only the engine but also the transmission

and other parts underwent close scrutiny to make the car meet U.S. fuel requirements.

Toyota‘s approach to achieving quality is different from that of German car

manufacturers. The latter use relatively labor-intensive production processes. In

contrast, Toyota‘s advanced manufacturing technology aims at high quality through

automation requiring only a fraction of the work force used by German car makers.

Indeed, this strategy, if successful, may be the secret weapon to gain market share in

the luxury car market.

Questions:

1) Prepare a profile of the potential buyer of the Lexus.

2) What should Mercedes and BMW do to counteract the Japanese threat in the United

States and Europe?

3) Why has the Lexus model been very successful in the U.S. but has not been

marketed in Japan? (Suggestion: Review the frequency of repair records of luxury

cars. Also talk to Lexus dealers or Lexus owners).

4) Do you think Lexus will succeed in Japan? Why or why not?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA

Exercise, PPM, Principle & Practice of Management, Principle and Practice of

Management | 4 Comments

E-Commerce Management Posted on September 25, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can go through them for your practice. If

you need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE NO. 1 - GM’s E-Business Strategy

INTRODUCTION

US-based General Motors (GM), the largest automobile company in the world, was in

trouble in the late 1990s. The company‘s market share in the US automobile market had

been steadily declining from a high of 50% in the late 1960s to a low of 28% by

1999.Analysts pointed out that GM had been in the grip of a vicious circle.

The company faced low demand for its automobiles as they were not developed in line

with the changing customer needs and preferences. However, GM continued producing

automobiles which did not met customer requirements, leading to excess inventories at

its factories and dealers.

The building up of inventory at the dealers made the company even more desperate,

and most often it resorted to higher dealer incentives which reduced the company‘s

profits significantly. This again forced GM to produce more cars to compensate for the

eroded profit margins. Commenting on the dilemma GM faced in the late 1990s, John

Paul MacDuffie, Professor, Wharton Business School, explained, ―That belief in volume,

and doing whatever it takes to keep volume, has driven a lot of their decisions.

GM‘s labor costs are fixed, meaning they remain the same regardless of what the

volume of sales is. GM wanted to keep factories open as much as possible. There was

some value in that strategy, but I think they overdid it.‖ Analysts added that the reason

for the decline in GM‘s US market share was that it had failed to introduce new models

that customers wanted in quick time. To address this challenge, GM made e-business a

strategic priority. It wanted to reinvent itself by embracing e-business across its value

chain.

In August 1999, after a year of research in collaboration with Forrester Research, GM

launched a business division called e-GM that was responsible for all of the company‘s

websites and its On Star communication system. Through this initiative, the company

planned to reduce costs, improve quality and boost demand for its products.

Ult also wanted to position itself as a provider of Internet-based information services

and a major player in the e-commerce arena. Commenting on this, Computerworld

magazine quoted, ―GM wants to be more than your car company. Think in-car, real-time

stock quotes, talking e-mail messages and video games.

Think satellite-based radio services and online car financing. Think of a multibillion-

dollar online trading exchange. These are just a few of the businesses in which GM is

making huge information technology investments. ―The philosophy that drove GM e-

projects was the ‗launch and learn‘ approach. The company launched e-business

projects, did pilot tests for them and then decided whether to abandon or continue them.

However, analysts expressed doubts whether GM would be able to successfully

implement its e-business strategy, and if it did, what the significance of this strategy for

the company would be.

Commenting on this, Derek Slater, Executive Editor of CIO Magazine said, ―Can e-

business make a difference for an old economy, big and slow manufacturer the way it

can for nimble, information-based businesses?‖ Raising similar doubts, an Internet

World magazine article queried, ―Will Internet hardware and services become GM‘S

best products? And this in turn raises this question: Will Internet services become GM‘s

core product some day?‖

NEED FOR E-BUSINESS STRATEGY

With the advent of the Internet wave in 1999, GM wanted to reposition itself

strategically. It wanted to make use of its vast customer base and huge assets to

emerge as a leading player in the new economy businesses of entertainment and e-

commerce. The 1999 annual report of GM stated: ―Besides mergers and acquisitions,

there is no bigger trend in business today than that towards electronic business.

Issues

1. What do you understand by the E-Business strategy implementation across an

organization‘s value chain?

2. What are the rationale and benefits associated with e-commerce initiatives in an

automobile company?

3. What are the Channel conflict arising from e-business initiative?

CASE NO. 2 - Marriott’s Customer – Focused E- Business Strategy

DELIGHTING CUSTOMERS

Headquartered at Washington in the US, Marriott International (Marriott) is a world

leader in the hospitality industry. In year 2003, it had a network in excess of 2,600

operating units in the US and a workforce of 145,000 employees, spread over 65

countries across the world. Marriott‘s diverse portfolio of popular hotel brands included

leading brands such as Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Ramada International,

Courtyard, Residence Inn, and The Ritz-Canton, among others.

Marriott became the first hospitality company to win the CIO – 100 award from CIO

magazine for four consecutive years (2000-03). The award was based on the

company‘s exceptional customer service and relationship capability. Reacting to the

receipt of award in 2003, Carl Wilson, Executive Vice President and Chief Information

Officer of Marriot said, ―This award is the result of a culture and commitment among

Marriott‘s information technology leadership team, associates and business partners to

create great value for our company.‖

Since its inception, Marriott has focused on providing excellent customer service. The

company offered personalized services to its clients, whom it referred to as its ‗guests.‘

It had introduced several innovative technologies and impIemented them even before its

competitors did. For instance, in the 1980‘s, the company launched Marriott Automated

Reservation System for Hotel Accommodation (MARSHA), a totally new concept of

hotel reservation in the hospitality industry at that time.

Marriott made continuous improvements in its business processes in its efforts to

‗delight‘ its customers. In 1998, the company adopted an e-business strategy to re-

orient itself to serve its customers better. The company was operationalizing a strategy

to switch over from a decentralized property-orientation to a centralized customer-

orientation in its services. The company invested $70 million (mn) over a two-year

period to implement a variety of IT applications in diverse functional disciplines such as

sales, accounting and personnel. A key component of Marriott‘s e-business system was

its CRM applications, developed in association with the leading CRM software company

– Siebel Systems. By installing eCRM applications, Marriott was able to offer several

new services that enhanced its hospitality services. The company‘s

website, http://www.marriott.com became one of the most frequently visited sites in

the hospitality industry, giving clients access to the services offered by the entire

Marriott chain of hotels and resorts. Il these initiatives boosted the company‘s ability to

serve its clients, and also contributed to its own strong financial performance. For the

financial year ending 2001-02, the company reported revenues of $84.41 billion (bn)

and a net profit of $2.77 bn.

BACKGROUND NOTE

In 1927, J. William Marriott (William) set-up a nine-seat root beer shop in Washington.

After some time, William started serving hot food along with root beer and named the

shop as The Hot Shoppe‘ In 1929, Hot Shoppe was officially incorporated as Hot

Shoppes, Inc. In 1937, Hot Shoppe ventured into airline catering at Washington airport,

serving the Eastern, American and Capital airlines. Over the next three decades, Hot

Shoppes diversified into other businesses including food services management by

starting a cafeteria at the US Treasury Building and Highway division. e-business

strategy and the time involved for implementation.

To execute e-business strategy successfully, organizations also require the best

network and systems management tools available. It is also important to develop a

framework for organizational alignment and decision-making and a more complex IT

management and governance structure. A clear framework that establishes who can

make which decisions, and where and how the e-business project will be managed is

required.

Issues

1. Bring out the facts of the case.

2. Identify the various E-business initiatives.

3. What are the strategies an organization to focus in order to excel in the E-business.

4. Apart from the facts provided in the case, what other initiatives you can project

keeping in mind the success of an organization towards E-business.

In 1966, the company ventured overseas, acquiring an airline catering kitchen in

Caracas, Venezuela. In November 1967, its name was changed to Marriott Corporation

(Marriott).

In 1982, Marriott acquired Host -International, a leading hospitality services provider in

the US, becoming the largest operator of airport terminal food, beverage and

merchandise facilities in the US. In the 1980s, Marriott acquired several companies

including American Resorts Corp. (vacation business, 1984), Gladieux Corporation

(food service company, 1985), Service Systems (contact food service company, 1985),

Howard Johnson Company (hotels & inns, 1985) and Residency Inn Company (1987).

With the acquisition of Saga Corporation, a diversified food service management

company in 1986, Marriott became the largest food service management company in

the US.

Issues

1. Taking out the facts of the case , Bring out the importance of a customer-focused e-

business strategy in the hospitality industry.

2. Establish the role of IT in integrating different business processes to make them more

customer-oriented based on your understanding of the case.

CASE NO. 3 - E-Strategies - Case Studies

In the e-business environment, organizations must focus on their core competencies

and should rely on external partners for all their non-core activities. The Internet enables

a significant reduction in the cost of inter-organizational coordination and transactions,

which fundamentally changes the nature of business relationships and encourages

greater use of business partners over internal departments. Business managers have

more choice to outsource business processes they require.

E-business strategies can significantly improve various organizational functions

including supply chain management (SCM), product development, marketing, HR and

so on. It will also enhance the benefits for organizations adopting e-business including

shortening of new product development cycle time, providing better information to

suppliers and vendors, reducing data integrity issues, significantly enhancing customer

experience and more. The e-SCM initiatives typically start with e-procurement with

answering questions such as whether there is a need for e-market places for

procurement and how to transform SCM from the organization driven inventory building

to customer driven order approach.

Another e-SCM initiative, e-sourcing is a cross-functional and cross-enterprise process

that aims at optimizing supply chain lifecycle performance through the Internet.

Organizations have to develop new partnerships, create new e-intermediaries (e-supply

network) and develop appropriate standards for data exchange and inter-organization

related processes. They also have to decide on what services they will source via the-

Internet and have to develop robust KM systems to improve internal efficiency, enable

faster decision-making and facilitate information and knowledge sharing.

E-Strategies have to be developed for the sell side of an organization

solving distribution related issues such as shall the organization serve directly to its

customers and how will the organization‘s existing channels react if it uses the web as a

new channel. Other sell side issues include how to manage customer relationships

online and online marketing and how to use online channels like B2B e-marketplaces,

online retailers and virtual distributors. One of the major hurdles to overcome includes

solving conflicts between old and new channel successfully.

Getting prices right on the web is one of the critical success factors for establishing an

e-business. However, few companies have been able to develop a right online pricing

strategy. Organizations must ensure that their e-pricing strategy should not conflict with

their core business principles and strategic objectives. They should employ the right

software tools and related skills to enhance their online pricing performance. Moreover,

the tools for optimizing e-pricing, for example, software for monitoring competitors‘

prices do not require much investment.

Organizations not only have to redefine their core business processes but non-core

processes such as human resources as well to derive the full potential of the Internet.

By developing effective Internet-based business-to-employee (B2E) systems,

organizations can persuade their employees to embrace change. The benefits of these

systems include reduced interaction costs, allowing employee self-service and mass

customization.

Online brand management is another issue that must be tackled by organizations. In

their rush to establish a presence on the Internet, most organizations have failed to

build strong, distinctive online brands. Questions such as if one branch of an

organization develops a website, will it not confuse customers of other branches of the

company and how to differentiate local and global brands on the Internet has to

answered.

After addressing all issues related to electronically enabling the functional areas

mentioned above, an organization is ready to manage the execution of its overall e-

business strategy. Organizations must also work out detailed estimates of costs

involved in implementing its

CASE NO. 4 – A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

INTRODUCTION

Dell is a premier provider of computer systems world-wide. Through its direct usiness

model, Dell designs, manufactures and customises products and services to customer

requirements.

DELL IRELAND

Dell‘s European manufacturing operation is located in Limerick with a European

Business Centre located at Cherrywood in Dublin. The company has been in Operation

in Ireland since 1990, and employs around 4,500 people. Dell is Ireland‘s largest

exporter, largest technology company and second largest company overall.

Dell‘s manufacturing facility operates a Just-in-Time manufacturing strategy. Dell‘s

suppliers deliver the required materials at regular intervals during the day and load them

onto the manufacturing line. The final product is boxed and loaded directly onto

transport trucks and shipped to supplier-owned merge centres. There, the monitor and

other requested peripherals are added before final shipment to the customer.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO STAKEHOLDERS

The need for a business to be responsible for its actions is widely accepted. Businesses

do not exist in isolation; they provide goods and services to people and make use of‘

materials and labour supplied by people. Businesses have responsibilities to

stakeholders to ensure their actions do not cause harm.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE COMPANY

Dell is committed to a culture of environmental sustainability and responsibility. It

continually reduces its impact on the environment through product design,

manufacturing, product ownership experience and product end-of-life solutions.

The characteristics of an environmentally responsible company include:

• Awareness — of how the company‘s policies can impact on stakeholders

• Sensitivity — to the requirements of local community and environment

• Honesty — about the actions of the company

• Consultation — with stakeholders prior to developing new policies or products

• Openness — transparency with stakeholders about company practices

Dell has developed a Code of Conduct, which correlates closely to the above

characteristics. It allows stakeholders to understand that they can believe what Dell

says and trust what it does.

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT

Socially responsible companies conduct environmental audits to assess the impact of

their businesses on the environment. Dell complies with all the environmental laws and

regulations, including ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, and manages its facilities with the

environment in mind. Dell designs products with up-to-date recyclable materials, using

the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle initiative at ts manufacturing site. It commits to taking back

old computer parts for recycling.

Dell continually explores all kinds of recycling options to rind the stateof-the-art best

practices for recycling of its old IT equipment.

CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS

Dell has identified corporate environmental goals to work towards in the future. This

environmental policy provides a framework designed to ensure sustainable practices

throughout the entire product life cycle.

Dell‘s vision is to create a company culture where environmental excellence is second

nature. The following environmental policy objectives have been established to achieve

its mission.

PRODUCT CONCEPT & DESIGN

Dell designs products with a focus on:

• Safe operation

• Extending product life span

• Reducing energy consumption

• Avoiding environmentally sensitive materials

• Promoting dematerialisation

• Using parts that can be recycled

In 2000, Dell began a programme called ‗Design for the Environment‘, which evaluates

the environmental performance of a product and the impact of its packaging, energy

and materials.

Many Dell systems (and virtually all Dell monitors) comply with the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star programme for energy efficient computers, which

reduces air pollution. The EPA estimates that offices can save 5O% of equipment

electricity costs by taking advantage of power management, where inactive computers

go into ―sleep mode‖. This decrease in electricity usage can reduce emissions of carbon

dioxide, which causes the greenhouse effect, and sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide

—, two primary causes of acid rain.

PREVENT WASTE & POLLUTION

Dell operates its facilities in a way that minimises harmful impacts on the environment. It

also places a high priority on reducing waste, recycling and reuse programmes and

pollution prevention.

100% of all boxing material, cardboard boxes and protective foam are recycled or

recovered through Dell‘s local recycling facilities.

In 2005, Dell developed a Forest Products Stewardship Model that established three

main goals with respect to paper products: protecting endangered forests, improving

forest practices and reducing demand on forests.

CONTINUALLY IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

Dell uses an Environmental Management System (EMS) to establish goals, implement

programmes, monitor technology and environmental management practices, evaluate

progress, and continually improve environmental performance. Dell also encourages a

culture of environmental responsibility among employees and management.

Dell-owned buildings are monitored and controlled by an automated building

management system, which monitors energy usage and controls temperature. By

monitoring building occupancy, energy consumption and cost per unit are reduced.

DEMONSTRATE RESPONSIBILITY TO STAKEHOLDERS

Dell acts in an environmentally responsible manner to ensure the health and safety of

its employees, neighbours and the environment.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW

Dell conducts business with integrity and complies with environmental laws and

regulations.

RECYCLING AND DONATING

As computers become more common in homes and businesses, there is a growing

concern about the environmental impact of old computers.

CONSUMER EQUIPMENT END-OF-LIFE STRATEGIES

As part of Dell‘s policy that ‗No Computer Should Go to Waste‘, Irish consumers can

recycle used computer systems, monitors or printers through the Dell website at no cost

with a new purchase.

BUSINESS EQUIPMENT END-OF-LIFE STRATEGIES

In November 2004, Dell Ireland launched recycling services for business and consumer

customers. The new service is part of Dell‘s global effort to increase product recovery

by 50% in 2005.

Dell offers business customers Dell Asset Recovery Services (ARS), which allows

customers to recycle or re-sell used computer equipment of any brand.

Reuse is also a critical element of the product life cycle and Dell also supports donation

as a responsible means of disposing of computers.

RECYCLE

In November 2004, Dell hosted a free recycling event in Limerick to raise awareness

among consumers and small businesses of the importance of electronics recycling.

More than 540 cars dropped off 19.1 tonnes of old computer equipment for recycling.

630 computers, 825 monitors, 330 printers and other peripherals filled three 40-foot

freight trucks.

At the event, Nicky Harterv, Vice President of Dell‘s Manufacturing and Business

Operations commented “As an environmentally responsible company, offering a whole

range of recycling services to both the consumer and business customer, it is important

that we help raise the awareness of the importance of recycling to the environment and

of the options available.”

DONATE

In January 2004, Dell was a partner in the Reuse Technology (RT) Centre, a scheme

that facilitates the reuse of computers by community and non-profit groups. Dell

customers are encouraged through Dell‘s website to donate used systems to the RT

Centre, who refurbish them, reload software and give them to suitable non-profit

organisations. This makes hundreds of used computers available to communities that

would not otherwise be able to afford them. Dell also contributes a percentage of its

own used computers to the RT Centre.

COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE

In March 2005, Dell called on all Irish consumers to ―Go Green‖ for St. Patrick‘s Day,

following research which highlighted a lack of awareness among consumers of the

computer recycle and reuse options. The study found while 85% of the public recycle

household waste at least once a month, only 9% plan to recycle their home computer.

Dell announced in June 2005 that Irish consumers are leading the way in the use of its

computer recycling services in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Irish

online recycling and computer donations accounted for over a quarter of Dell‘s total

EMEA numbers in the first quarter of 2005.

“Last year alone, Irish customers recycled over 22 tonnes of computer equipment

through Dell. These figures emphasise the importance of having these services

available,” said Jean Cox-Kearns, Dell‘s Senior Manager for Asset Recovery Services.

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

The costs to Dell of meeting its ethical and environmental responsibilities include:

• Resources for a take-back and recycling organisation.

• Promoting recycling and its benefits can incur costs (advertising, transportation,

sorting etc.).

The benefits include:

• A well managed company that understands its impact on the communities in which it

operates.

• Improved working conditions and higher motivation amongst employees.

• Meeting expectations of ―green‖ customers.

• Positive publicity for the corporation.

In December 2004, Business Ethics magazine presented Dell with its Environmental

Progress Award for the company‘s commitment to the environment and industry-leading

computer recycling initiatives.

CONCLUSION

Dell‘s success is based on its ability to meet and exceed the requirements of customers.

The same focus on business efficiencies and customer satisfaction helps Dell‘s

environmental programme to conserve product energy consumption, reduce or

eliminate materials for disposal, prolong product life span and provide effective and

convenient equipment recovery solutions. Dell‘s philosophy is that ―No computer should

go to waste‖ and key to meeting that goal is making customers aware that it provides

recycling services that are easy-to- use, safe and affordable.

ISSUES

1. Why does Dell treat its

stakeholders in a socially and

ethically responsible manner?

2. In your opinion, which of Dell‘s

strategies makes the most impact on

the environment? Explain your

answer.

3. Explain the importance of the

―Energy Star‖ program for consumers

and businesses.

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged e-commerce, e-commerce

management, MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA Exercise | Leave a comment

Organizational Behavior – 2 Posted on September 25, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the sample case studies. You can through them for your practice. If you

need any help or assistance you can reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE STUDY – 1

Introduction: XYZ -An Organizational Perspective

The Pre-OD Scenario: Our Strengths and Areas of Concern

In the years 1990-91 XYZ had grown into the largest Indian HARDWARE company

with revenues of over Rs. 1100 crores and racing towards achieving its vision of being

global top ten. As pioneers in the industry, XYZ‘s strengths included on time delivery,

premier position in the industry in terms of revenues, focus on training programs, quality

initiatives, use of good technical tools and procedures and encouragement of individual

excellence in performance.However, XYZ‘s was also, at that point in time, grappling

with a few areas of concern with regard to its operational paradigm.

Mounting revenue pressures: The pressure to retain its strong premier position led

the organization to tend towards short-term revenues, and relatively lesser efforts were

being put into medium and long-term markets and activities (such as products and

building up knowledge). Though XYZ‘s built relationships with individual customers,

Relationship Managers largely tended to focus on obtaining short-term projects – there

was lesser investment on aligning to long-term objectives of customers. The approach,

by and large, was of reactive project management and we were yet to espouse the

approach of architecting proactive solutions for the customer.

Selectivity in projects: There was a tangible tension at, XYZ‘s between generating

revenues and organizing strategically, on basis of technology and business areas,

impacting selectivity in projects accepted. Pressures from customers on schedules was

resulting in faster delivery and hence, snowballing into further pressure on future

schedules.

Focus on specialization: There was diffusion of expertise and we were yet to focus on

building strategic expertise in individual centers. Employees were rotated across

domains and skills in the interest of learn ability as well as for meeting requirements. In

a sense, there was heightened focus on Voice of the Customer, in comparison to the

Voice of Employee.

Efforts on Experimentation & Innovation: The management at XYZ‘s felt that by and

large, employees tended to go straight by the book. Though Dr. De Bono‘s techniques

were introduced and employees trained on these techniques to encourage innovation,

there was a need to scale up on perceived rewards for experimentation.

Rewards and Recognition’s: The reward structure at XYZ‘s was, at this point in time,

primarily focused on individual performance and we were yet to explore the

institutionalization of team based rewards at the organizational level.

Inter group co-ordination & knowledge sharing: Sharing of knowledge was very

centre-oriented, and although, informally, best practices spread by interaction and word

of mouth, we were yet to evolve a formal system which would capture these for ease of

replication across projects. Multiple centers and multiple projects within the same centre

ended up resolving the same sort of issues, resulting in avoidable rework.

Branding and PR: Image building endeavors were not yet an area of focus and, in a

subtle way, this affected the sense of pride of employees. Among educational

institutions, this meant greater difficulty in terms of attracting quality talent, which further

aggravated stress among the few key performers in the organization. By the year 2002,

management felt the conscious need to bring in changes in our approach to the

aforementioned areas, in order to align more closely with the customer, business and

market requirements at an organizational level.

Questions

1 List the various reasons in Organization xyz , which lead to its development?

2 If the organization had not invested in its employee, would they have developed?

3 Site few examples of Indian companies, similar to XYZ mentioned above?

4 What would have been the drawback of the XYZ Company prior to 1991?

CASE STUDY – 2

The Great US Meltdown: Privatization of Profits, Nationalization of Losses

AIG, Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae required government bail-outs.

Lehmann Brothers has filed for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch has been sold. Such grave

situation of affairs reflects immense failures in respect of management, leadership and

regulation of these firms. The government, like a knight-in-shining-armor, comes to the

rescue and lends bail-outs worth a trillion dollars to these companies. Consider the fact

that only 12 countries in this world have a GDP more than $ 1 Trillion and a country of

more than 1 Billion joined this elite club only last year. This act of bailing-out using

taxpayer‘s money has been rightly called ―The Bail-out of all Bail-outs‖. Also this raises

serious questions on the way money has been used to protect private companies, which

was supposed to be used for benefits of the society by large.

These bail-outs would certainly be a bitter pill to swallow for all those who argued that

free market capitalism was the best, and there should be no regulations at all in an

unfettered market. And this idea has been most certainly put to rest in the last few days

with the US government curbing short-selling and offering guarantees to money market

mutual funds on 19th of last month, as it attempted to bail-out hundreds of billions of

dollars mortgage debts. This follows the bail-out of three financial giants early last

month. The stocks soared in response to these actions. Though this certainly re-affirms

the requirement for regulations, but the question arises as to what extent this marks a

shift towards more interventions.

It is a fact supported by many leading economists that history suggests that policy

makers demand de-regulation during good times and bailing out in a big way at the

times of crisis.

The present action does address the short-term problems of liquidity crisis and mid-term

problem of dealing with bad assets, but on the longer term regulatory issue, there is no

strategic plan in place and that is really problematic. What is required is a complete

overhaul of present regulations and not just more regulations. Moreover, the

government rushed to rescue these firms without trying many of the private sector

solutions.

Questions

1 Is it fine to privatize profits and nationalize losses, is it right for organizational

development ?

2 Was this a result of failure of leadership of these firms?

CASE STUDY – 3

Tata Cummins Limited (TCL) is a 50-50 joint venture between Tata Motors and

Cummins Engine Co., Inc., USA. Tata Motors is the largest manufacturer of commercial

vehicles in India, and Cummins Engine Co. is the largest 200+ HP diesel engine

manufacturer in the world. The Joint Venture was incorporated in October 1993 and

commercial production commenced on January 1, 1996.

The vision of TCL is to be widely acknowledged and bench-marked as one of the best

companies in the world. The company, thus, abides by the following core values: -

Care for customers

Obsession for quality

Care deeply about people

Do what‘s right and not what‘s

convenient

Guarantee product leadership

Responsible citizenship

Relentless improvement

TCL is a QS 9000 company. TCL Jamshedpur boasts of state-of-the-art, fully air-

conditioned diesel engine plant, with a computerized Building Management System for

safety and energy conservation. The plant has five major components manufacturing

lines for Cylinder Block, Cylinder Head, Connecting Rod, Crankshaft & Camshaft, with

the best measuring and gauging instruments to assure Consistent Quality. TCL has

very strong systems and IT infrastructure for controlling and facilitating its operations.

To further increase overall efficiency and visibility of information, Oracle Applications

and a web-based Supply Chain Management System have been implemented in June

2000.

Products

The low emission Diesel Engines manufactured by Tata Cummins are for use in a new

generation of Tata Motors Ltd‘s Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles. The engines

conform to EURO-I, EURO-II & EURO-III standards for emissions. The 78 to 235

Horsepower engines have a high power to weight ratio and will enable Tata Motors Ltd.

access new markets worldwide with its advantage of emissions, power, oil consumption

and durability.

Plant

Tata Cummins has a modern manufacturing facility located adjacent to Tata Motors

Ltd., designed by Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo Associates of USA and C. P. Kukreja

Associates of Delhi. The unique plant comprises a fully air-conditioned 182 x 186 m

building with pre-cast concrete coffer roofing and 15 x 15 m bays.

The North and South walls are of glazed curtain glass. Features such as a PLC

controlled Fire Detection / Suppression System, Skylights and Building Management

System ensures high levels of Safety and Energy efficiency.

Organizational Strategy

At Tata Cummins, the organizational strategy is designed by the leadership team which

includes the top management and the department heads. The department goals are

then formulated in accordance with the organizational goals. These goals are reflected

in a document called ‗Goal-Tree‘. The tree also contains the action plan, the schedule

for achieving the goals, and the persons responsible for achieving them.

As per the Goal-Tree, the three organizational goals for 2005 are: -

Grow Sales to 853 crores

Improve PBIT by 10% over last

year and achieve 25% ROANA

Achieve and Sustain the respect

of all Stake Holders

The organizational goals are broken down to the strategies. The initiatives for

implementing the strategies are then identified. The responsibility for implementing

these initiatives is then assigned to respective departments. Further, the tentative

deadlines are also reflected. The targets are reviewed quarterly.

Questions

1 Do the core values, really influence and have a impact on organizational

development ?Explain.

2 Is organizational development depended internally on employees and externally

influenced by customers? Discuss

CASE STUDY – 4

Benchmarking Performance

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics deemed essential to understanding

operational health. Measuring performance allows an organization to objectively

determine what is working and what is not. In addition, by identifying successes,

managers can reward and learn from best practices.

“Measurement has the power to focus attention on desired behavior and results,” said

Gardner. “People will pay attention when they know their job is being measured,

especially if the measurement is linked to compensation.”When targets are set using

validated, normalized data, measurement will support a means to determine operational

improvement. Of course, it is critical to tie process improvement to measures that matter

to an organization. In doing so, measures can provide:

Feedback to guide change,

Assessment and baseline

information,

A compelling business case,

A diagnostic tool to identify areas

for improvement and set priorities,

and

A basis for communication (using

a consistent definition).

Most measurement occurs at the process level, where the transformation from input

(resources applied) to output (goods and services) takes place. The four main

categories of metrics to assess performance at the process level are:

Cost effectiveness (e.g., $ 6.22

per invoice),

Staff productivity (e.g., 93

invoices processed per FTE),

Process efficiency (e.g., 11.2

percent error rate), and

Cycle time (e.g., processing time

of 3.8 days).

Cost Effectiveness

Cost effectiveness measures tell how well companies manage cost. Normalized data

usually include cost per unit, cost as a percentage of revenue, cost as a percentage of

total budget, and actual costs versus budgeted costs. Supporting indicators include cost

components as a percentage of total and disaggregated cost per unit. Examples of

measures follow:

Customer service/call centers

o Cost per call (or cost per minute)

o Cost per reported complaint

Finance and accounting

o Cost per invoice

o Cost per remittance

Human resources

o Cost per recruit

o Benefits administration cost per

employee

Staff Productivity

Measuring staff productivity provides insights into how much output each FTE has

produced. KPIs include units of output (e.g., invoices and purchase orders) per FTE and

workload (e.g., customers and general ledger) per FTE. Supporting indicators can focus

on factors influencing staff productivity such as hours of training per FTE and employee

tenure. Examples of measures follow:

Customer service/call centers

o Calls per representative

o Resolved complaints per FTE

Finance and accounting

o Invoices processed per accounts

payable FTE

o Remittances processed per

accounts receivable FTE

Human resources

o Total organization FTE per HR

FTE

o Requisitions per recruiter

Questions

1) Measurement has the power to focus attention on desired behavior and results,‖

How it leads to organizational development?

2) Discuss bench marking techniques, are really helpful for succeeding in I today‘s

scenario?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA

Exercise, OB, Organizational Behavior | 8 Comments

Robotium – test automation tool for

Android applications Posted on September 24, 2012 by Eskay

Robotium is a ―Black Box‖ testing tool that is able to

simulate and automate user interaction such as touching,

clicking, text entry and any other action that is possible on

a mobile device. The tests could either be executed on

the Android simulator (AVD – Android Virtual Device) or

on a mobile device. Executing such tests on mobile

devices has the advantage that the application is running

on real hardware within a real environment. This will help

uncover potential performance problems can be identified at an early stage. With the

support of Robotium, test case developers can write function, system and acceptance

test scenarios, spanning multiple Android activities. Robotium is released under Apache

License 2.0. Version 2.3 on April 21, 2011. It is similar to Selenium, but for Android.

Robotium has full support for activities, dialogs, toasts, menus and context menus.

Robotium is built on the Java programming language and the JUnit test framework. As

mentioned before, Robotium is a ―Black Box‖ testing tool so you will not need any

further information about the Android application structure or implemented classes. All

you need is the name of the main class and the path that links to it.

Application running on Android simulator

Advantages:

You can develop powerful test

cases, with minimal knowledge of the

application under test.

The framework handles multiple

Android activities automatically.

Minimal time needed to write test

cases.

Readability of test cases is

greatly improved, compared to

standard instrumentation tests.

Test cases are more robust due

to the run-time binding to GUI

components.

Faster test case execution.

Robotium can run the tests on

real device.

Open source tool and work with

less resources.

Integrates smoothly with Maven

or Ant to run tests as part of

continuous integration.

Test cases are more robust due

to the run-time binding to GUI

components.

The framework handles multiple

Android activities automatically like

finds current views, follows current

activities.

Limitations:-

Robotium has few limitations, which should be understood before selecting a test

application.

The scope of test cases in

Robotium is limited to a single

application and does not support for

more than one application.

Test project is always locked with

a target package, which need to be

tested and going outside of the

package is not allowed.

Android native API‘s (Contacts,

Widgets etc.) used in the Android

application cannot be tested using

Robotium. While executing test, if

focus is switched to Native

application, it will not come back to

the Test application and Test will fail.

Robotium can not handle flash or web components; it only works with android

components. You can send in clicks by using clickOnScreen() or assert that a certain

activity is shown but that is all. You will not be able to write tests where you verify or

work with the web or flash components.

Go through Robotium if you need more information.

Posted in AUTOMATION TESTING, Mobile Testing, Software Testing

| Tagged automation, mobile automation tool, mobile testing, software testing, test

automation tool | Leave a comment

Ranorex – test automation tool Posted on September 24, 2012 by Eskay

Ranorex is a popular UI test automation framework with open architecture. The core

functionality is an API which is built on the Dot Net framework. This framework tests

many different application types including Web 2.0, WPF, Flash/Flex, Silverlight, Qt,

.NET and Java. It is one of the most versatile tools of its kind since it covers a wide

variety of operating systems and programming environment platforms(C#, VB.NET,

IronPython). In Windows it runs on number of browser environments such as Internet

Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Ranorex provides accurate recognition and unique

identification of UI elements. Object identification can be done using XPATH (QTP 11

also has this feature)

Ranorex spy:

Ranorex spy is a standalone tool used for identifying elements in the AUT (Application

Under Test). It identifies all the elements by their DOM structure. Depending on the type

of the selected element, Ranorex Spy provides all available information in the info tabs

i.e. ‗Overview‘, ‗Detail‘ and ‗Screenshot‘

Ranorex Recorder:

Ranorex Recorder is the best tool to record and playback user actions, It can generate

scripts in different languages provides powerful editing and customizing capabilities. In

addition the Recorder can validate current states, properties like ‗Text‘ or ‗Visibility‘ and

images of UI elements.

Ranorex Object Repository:

Ranorex Object Repository is used for maintenance of UI elements. Properties of the UI

elements can also be changed without any change in the code.

Ranorex studio:

Ranorex studio provides common IDE features like syntax highlighting, code

completion, debugger, watch monitor etc. It brings all of the Ranorex tools together by

integrating Ranorex Spy, Ranorex Recorder, Ranorex Object Repository and a powerful

Ranorex Library in one professional environment. Ranorex Studio supports test

implementation with C#, VB.NET and IronPython. Regardless which language you use,

the integrated Ranorex Recorder and Ranorex Object Repository tools automatically

generate the right source code for your selected language.

If you need more information, go through: Ranorex

Posted in AUTOMATION TESTING, Manual Testing, Software Testing

| Tagged automation frame work,automation testing, automation tool, open source

tool, Ranorex, software testing tools, UI test automation framework | Leave a comment

International Business – 2 Posted on September 22, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE NO. 2

Two Senior executives of world‘s largest firms with extensive holdings outside the home

country speak.

Company A : ―We are a multinational firm. We distribute our products in about 100

countries. We

manufacture in over 17 countries and do research and development in three countries.

We look at all new

investment projects both domestic and overseas using exactly the same criteria‖. The

execution from company A continues, ― of course the most of the key ports in our

subsidiaries are held by home country nationals. Whenever replacements for these men

are sought, it is the practice, if not the policy, to look next to you at the lead office and

pick some one (usually a home country national) you know and trust‖.

Company B : ― We are multinational firm. Our product division executives have

worldwide profit

responsibility. As our organisational chart shows, the united states is just one region on

a par with Europe,

Latin America, Africa etc, in each division‖.

The executive from Company B goes on to explain, ―the worldwide Product division

concept is rather difficult to implement. The senior executives in charge of this divisions

have little overseas experience. They have been promoted from domestic ports and

tend to view foreign consumers needs as really basically the same as ours. Also,

product division executives tend to focus on domestic market, because it generates

more revenue than foreign market. The rewards are for global performance, but strategy

is to focus on domestic. Most of the senior executives simply do not understand what

happens overseas and really do not trust foreign executives, even those in key

portions?

Questions :

1 Which company is truly Multinational ? Why?

2 List three differences between Company , Multi National company and Trans Multi

National Company ?

CASE – 3 (Strategic R & D by TNCs in Developing Countries)

TNCs have had long units in developing host countries for adopting products and

processes to the local

conditions, and in a few cases, to products for local markets. Since the min-1980s,

however, they have also started locating strategic R & D centres in some developing

countries, for developing generic technologies and products for regional or global

markets. The main incentives for this are : (a) access to highly qualified scientists as

shortages of research personnel emerge in certain fields in industrialised countries, (b)

Cost differentials in research salaries between developing and industrialised countries,

and (c) rationalisation of operations, assigning particular affiliates the responsibility for

developing, manufacturing, and marketing particular products worldwide. Th new trends

are more visible in industries dealing with new technologies, such as microelectronics,

biotechnology, and new materials. In these technologies, the location of R & D can be

geographically de-linked more easily from the location of manufacturing. It is also

possible to separate R & D in core activities from that in non-core activities.

Consequently, countries like India, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia or Brazil serve TNCs as

good locations for strategic R & D. For instance, Sony Corporation of Japan has around

nine R & D units in Asian developing countries. It has three units in Singapore

conducting R & D on core components such as optical data shortage devices,

integrated chip design for audio products and CD-ROM drives, and multimedia and

microchip software. It has three units in Malaysia working on video design, derivative

models and circuit blocks for new TV chases, radio cassettes, discman and hi-fi receiver

designs. It has one unit in Republic of Korea focusing on the design of compact discs,

radio cassettes, tape recorders, and car stereos. It has one in Taiwan designing and

developing video tape-recorders, minidisk players, video CDs, and duplicator. Finally, it

has one unit in Indonesia focusing on the design of audio products.

Such units often work in collaboration with science and technology institutes in the host

country. For instance, Daimler Benz has established such a unit in Bangalore, India, in

collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science to work on projects related to its

vehicles and avionics business. Current work includes interface design of avionics

landing systems and smart GPS sensors for use by the group‘s business worldwide.

Source: World Investment Report 1999.

Questions:

(a) Explain why MNCs have located R & D centres in developing countries?

(b) Mention the areas where R & D activities can easily be decentralised.

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged International Business, MBA, MBA Case

Studies, MBA Exercise |5 Comments

International Business – 2 Posted on September 21, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE NO. 1

Kodak started selling photographic equipment on Japan 1889 and by the 1930s it had a

dominant position in the Japanese market. But after World War II, U.S occupation

forces persuaded most U.S companies including Kodak to leave Japan to give the war-

torn local industry a chance to recover. Kodak was effectively priced out of the market

by tariff barriers; over the next 35 years Fuji gained 70% share of the market while

Kodak saw its share slip to miserable 5%. During this period Kodak limited much of its

activities in Japan. This situation persisted until early 1980s when Fuji launched an

aggressive export drive, attacking Kodak in the north American and European markets.

Deciding that a good offence is the best defense, in 1984 and the next six-year, Kodak

outspent Fuji in Japan by a ratio of more than 3 to 1. It erected mammoth $ 1 million

near signs as land marks in many of the Japan‘s big cities and also sponsored Sumo

wrestling, Judo, and tennis tournaments and even the Japanese team at the 1988 Seoul

Olympics. Thus Kodak has put Fuji on defensive, forcing it to divert resources from

overseas to defend itself at home. By 1990‘s, some of Fuji‘s best executives had been

pulled back to Tokyo. All this success, however , was apparently not enough for Kodak.

In may 1995, Kodak filed a petition with the

US trade office, that accused the Japanese government and Fuji of ―Unfair trading

practices‖. According to the petition, the Japanese government helped to create a ‗

profile sanctuary‘ for Fuji in Japan by systematically denying Kodak access to Japanese

distribution channels for consumer film and paper. Kodak claims Fuji has effectively

shut Kodak products out of four distributors that have a 70% share of the photo

distribution market. Fuji has an equity position in two of the distributors, gives large year

–end relates and cash payments to all four distributors as a reward for their loyalty to

Fuji, and owns stakes in the banks that finance them. Kodak also claims that Fuji uses

similar tactics to control 430 wholesale photo furnishing labs in Japan to which it is the

exclusive supplier. Moreover Kodak‘s petition claims that the Japanese government has

actively encourages these practices.

But Fuji a similar counter arguments relating to Kodak in U.S. and states bluntly that

Kodak‘s charges are a clear case of the pot calling the kettle back.

Questions

1. What was the critical catalyst that

led Kodak to start taking the

Japanese market seriously?

2. From the evidence given in the

case do you think Kodak‘s charges of

unfair trading practices against Fuji

are valid? Support your answer.

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged International Business, MBA, MBA Case

Studies, MBA Exercise |Leave a comment

13 tips for better e-

mail communication Posted on September 21, 2012 by Eskay

If you are a student, you will need to email your lecturers once in a while (for any help or

for submitting any assignments or for applying for your job). If you work in an office, you

will need to email your colleague or boss or client. I will say ―effective email is a skill‖

Here I am providing you 13 tips that will improve your email communication.

1. First and foremost thing for an e-mail is ―Subject‖. It should be more specific, clear

and precise

2. If you are not willing to write any content in email body, then mention the subject

clearly, followed by

Example: Subject line: ―Today I am not coming to office, you can reach me on my

mobile (8008939084) ‖

o Note: EOM stands for ‗End of message‘

3. People to whom you are addressing the email should be in ‗To‘ list and ―good to

know‖ kind of contacts should be in ‗CC ‗ list

4. If there are many recipients then address them as ―Hello everyone ― or ―Hi all‖. Do not

list all the names in salutation.

5. If you think your recipient is in hurry mood then instead of attaching the files, include

them in the Email body itself.

6. If the email attachment file size is very big then ZIP it and attach.

7. Have key points bulleted or numbered to make it easy for recipients to read, instead

of writing paragraphs.

8. Perform the spell check before sending email (Keyboard Short cut : F7 key)

9. Do not use capital letters much in email communication, For some people using

capital letters would mean showing angry and shouting.

10. Do not use short forms in formal communication, write complete words. (Example:

pls for please, u for you, BTW for by the way, etc. )

11. Use gender specific words appropriately (he, she). If you don‘t know the gender of

person correctly then its better use name instead of using he/she.

12. If email chain is very big and the conversation is being diverted then you can alter

the subject by marking underscore at the end of original email subject followed by your

own text.

13. Double check all the email sections (Subject, To ,CC, Salutation, email body and

signature) before sending to the recipient.

That‘s all. Happy emailing

Posted in Communication | Tagged communication, communication skill, e-mail, e-mail

communication, e-mail skill, email, email communication, email skill | Leave a comment

Business Communication – 2 Posted on September 20, 2012 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE NO. 1

Nestle has launched quality street ,lion and after 8 chocolates imported from Europe.

quality Street is an

assortment of chocolates priced at Rs. 7 5 for 218 gm. After Eight is a popular adult

chocolate priced at Rs.25 for 20 gm and Lion is a caramel wafer bar priced at Rs. 20 for

a 45 gm bar. (Kit Kat )is priced at Rs. 6 for a 17 gm bar and has a chocolaty taste while

Lion has a crunchy taste). The brands have different tastes and will appeal to different

target segments (though the target segment is one which may have already been

exposed to these brands during visits abroad). These brands have been introduced in

metros in upmarket stores which sell brands bears the label ―imported by Nestle India

Ltd.‖ indicating that they may be better than smuggled ones (which may be stale).

Questions:

1 Suggest suitable media /media vehicles for promoting these brands. Give reasons in

support of your answer

2 What business communication media you will utilize if you have to launch a soap in

rural India?

CASE NO. 2

The herbal shampoo market is valued at around Rs. 100 crores. Ny/e, Ayur, Dqbur and

Biotique are some of the established brands in the market. Helene Curtis (JK Group)

has introduced a premium herbal shampoo (with variants Shikskai, henna and qmla and

brqhmi and josur) priced between Rs. 80 and Rs. 90 (500 ml) for different types of hair.

The proposition is the benefits offered by lhe variant based on the combination of herbs,

benefits offered by the variants range from extra protection and nourishment to colour,

body and bounce. The shampoos have been launched under the brand name Premium

Herbsl shampoos and they target urban housewives with a monthly household income

of Rs.25,000. The brand is distributed through 7 0,000 retail outlets and 120 Raymond

shops. The company has planned only point of purchase (POP) posters initially and

may consider the electronic media later. The shampoo has an annual advertising

expenditure of Rs. 10 crores.

Questions:

1 Comment on the marketing mix of JK‘s Premium Herbsl Shampoos ?

2 How can you make their communication more effective ?.

CASE NO. 3

1. Iran Rafsanjan Co., Rafsanjan City, Iran has taken a marine insurance policy No.

VB/84/3629/29 dated

20th December, 2005 from Albroz Insurance Co., Kerman City, Iran for the import of

500 tractor gears

from Apex Products (India) Ltd., Delhi. The exporter shipped the cargo on board vessel

— SEEMA on

26th December, 2005 for Bandar Abbas Port of Iran. As per the letter of credit condition,

the exporter was required to fax the shipment details to Albroz Insurance Company

within 24 hours of the shipment. However, the exporter could not fax such details due to

change in telephone (fax) number of the insurance company.

Draft an express telegram to intimate shipment details.

2. Yours is a multinational company having joint venture with a Chinese company. Plant

is to be located at

Surat. The company immediately needs an Executive – Foreign Affairs (male/female)

with ability of

―writing and speaking Chinese language.

Draft a recruitment advertisement for publication under classified column of a

national daily. Salary-is no

bar for the right candidate. E-mail address -info@krishnafashions.com

3. The local head office of State Bank of India is located at 11, Parliament Street, New

Delhi-110001. The

bank wants to construct 76 flats at Noida for its employees and invite applications for

pre-qualification of

contractors. Full details are available on its website –

http://www.sbi.co.in orhttp://www.statebankofindia.com/

procurement_news.

Draft a notice for pre-qualification of contractors.

4. The Joint Admission Board (JAB) of Indian Institutes of Technology in its meeting

held on 17th

September, 2005 at Kolkata has taken some decisions with regard to Joint Entrance

Examination (JEE)

2006, i.e., to appear in JEE, one must secure at least 60% marks (55% for SC/ST and

PD) in 10+2

examination; a candidate can have only two attempts with effect from JEE-2006; and a

candidate who

joins any of the IITs through JEE-2006 will not be permitted to appear in JEE in future.*

It was also

decided that candidates, who have passed their qualifying examination in 2005 or

earlier, will be allowed

to appear in JEE-2006 as the last chance, witji no consideration of marks or attempts at

JEE subject to age requirements.

On behalf of the JAB, draft a suitable press release to be issued by organising

chairman highlighting these decisions.

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged BC, Business Communication, MBA, MBA

Case Studies, MBA Exercise | 28 Comments

VPN – Virtual Private Network Posted on September 20, 2012 by Eskay

What is VPN – Virtual Private Network

Virtual Private Network can be defined as a Tool or Software, which is used to connect

to a specific Network by using the Internet.

Why VPN?

VPN is also used to connect two different networks, without a VPN it is quite impossible

to connect to an isolated network which may be internet or intranet, with the help of

VPN users can access the Remote systems like databases, printers and the devices

which are connected to the Remote Network.

What is the importance of VPN?

Sharing of Remote resources is

possible via VPN.

Connection to Isolated Network

is easy.

Much more Secured because the

resources using the Network will be

given with the login Credentials along

with the Token which will be having

the Secure Code which will vary from

time to time.

Employees can be able to

access their company‘s Intranet

portal without which they can‘t.

With the Same VPN Maximum of

two Systems can be used.

Distinct Employees Can work

together by connecting to a VPN.

Business can be extended

globally.

A VPN Can be Categorized based on the below conditions:

Based on the protocols used by

the VPN.

Based on whether its offering

Site to Site or Remote to remote

Connectivity.

Based on the Security its

offering.

Based on the type of the Network

its dealing with.

And also based on the type of

the projects its dealing with.

How does VPN Works?

Consider an Example where a User wants to send the data or to share, the data with

the remote user who is geographically at larger distance by using the VPN.

1. First user needs to connect to

VPN by using his respective

credentials where he will be

considered as a client with a unique

IP address which is given by the VPN

server.

2. And the connection is

established between the client and

the server via Network Interface.

3. Once the VPN Connection is

established between the VPN Client

and the Server then the data

transformation takes place which is

explained in the below process.

4. VPN Server assigns an IP

address to the client and the internal

address is also given to the client.

5. By using the the Internal IP

address virtual network interface is

established and by using this

gateway an encrypted format of data

is sent to the destination.

6. The Encrypted format of data will

have the destination address and

during the process of transferring the

Data Public Internet is used, though

it‘s public other users can‘t see the

data since its in encrypted format.

7. At the Server‘s end the

Encrypted data will be automatically

decrypted and the requested

information will be sent to the client.

Posted in Network | Tagged How VPN works, Importance of VPN, Virtual Private

Network, VPN, What is VPN, Why VPN | Leave a comment

HRM – Human Resource

Management – 1 Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

Case –1 ( 20 Marks)

The reality of software development is a huge company like Microsoft-it employs more

than 48,000 people- is that a substantial portion of your work involves days of boredom

punctuated by hours of tedium. You basically spend your time in an isolated office

writing code and sitting in meetings during which you participate in looking for and

evaluating hundreds of current employees and potential employees. Microsoft has no

problem in finding and retaining software programmers. Their programmers work for

very long hours and obsess on the goal of shipping product.

From the day new employees begin at Microsoft, they know they are special. New hires

all have one thing in common-they are smart. The company prides itself on putting all

recruits through a grueling ―interviewing loop‖, during which they confront a barrage (an

overwhelming number of questions or complaints) of brain-teasers by future colleagues

to see how well they think. Only the best and the brightest survive to become

employees. The company does this because Microsofties truly believe that their

company is special. For example, it has high tolerance for non-conformity, would you

believe that one software tester comes to work everyday dressed in extravagant

Victorian outfits? . But the underlying theme that unites Microsofties is the belief that the

firm has a manifest destiny to change the world.

The least important decision as programmer can have a large importance which it can

affect a new release that might be used by 50 million people. Microsoft employees are

famous for putting in long hours. One program Manager said ―In my First Five Years, I

was the Microsoft stereotype.

I lived on caffeine and vending-machine hamburgers and free beer and 20-hour work-

days……I had no life…..I considered everything outside the building as a necessary

evil‖. More recently things have changed. There are still a number of people who put in

80-hour weeks, but 60 and 70 hour weeks are more typical and some even are doing

their jobs in only 40 hours.

No discussion of the employee life at Microsoft would be complete without mentioning

the company‘s lucrative stock option program. Microsoft created more millionaire

employees, faster, than any company in American history-more than 10,000 by the late

– 1990‘s while the company is certainly more than a place to get rich, executive still

realize that money matters. One former Manager claims that the human resources‘

department actually kept a running chart of employee satisfaction versus the company‘s

stock price. ―When the stock was up, human resources could turn off the ventilation and

everybody would say they were happy. When the stock was down, we could give

people Massages and they would tell us that the Massages were too hard.‖ In the go-go

1990‘s, when the Microsoft stock was doubling every few months and yearly stock splits

were predictable, employees not only got to participate in the Microsoft‘s manifest

destiny, they would get rich in the process. By the spring of 2002, with the world in a

recession, stock prices down, and the growth for Microsoft products slowing, it wasn‘t so

clear what was driving its employees to continue the company‘s dominance of the

software industry.

Questions

1. If you were the programmer,

would you want to work at Microsoft?

Why or Why not?

2. How many activities in this case

can you tie into specific motivation

theories? List the activities; list the

motivation theories, and how they

apply.

3. As Microsoft continues to get

larger and its growth rate flattens do

you think Management will have to

modify any of its motivation

practices? Elaborate.

4. Can money act as a motivator?

Explain.

Case-2 (20Marks)

Merlyn Monroe is not a complainer. If she has a major ache, she usually suffers in

silence. Although her employer, Atlantic Mutual Insurance, has an employee assistance

program- to provide emotional and psychological support in the work plan. She certainly

never thinks of using it, even if she did have a worry on her mind. ―They say its

confidential but who really knows? Asked Ms. Monroe‘, an administrative assistant at

the insurance company.

But Merlyn Monroe‘s life changed on September 11, 2001. Her office at 140 Broadway

in New York City, was near the world trade Center. She watched the whole thing from

her 50th Floor office window.

Ms.Monroe had never seen so much destruction in her life. She had never seen such a

horrific terrorist attack. Nor had she forced her to relieve 9/11 over and over.

Everything she talked to people they wanted details, which made it worse for her. She

had so much anger about what had happened to her life and lives of so many people

and the city where she worked for 40 Years.

Two weeks after 9/11, Ms.Monroe was still suffering after effects. Even though she lives

on state Island and Atlantic Mutual‘s offices have been temporarily relocated to

Madison, New Jersey, not an hour goes by when she doesn‘t have flashbacks of her

experiences of 9/11.

Questions

1. What should Atlantic Mutual

Management do, if anything, to cope

with the aftereffects of 9/11?

2. How long would You expect

employees to be adversely affected

by 9/11 if a company provides no

formal assistance for dealing with

anger and stress?

3. What, if anything, should

Management do about employees

who appear to be suffering from such

kind or trauma and stress, but will

neither admit it nor accept help from

their employee?

4. Outline the role of HR specialist

in providing a safe and healthy

environment for employees.

Case – 3 (20 Marks)

Patil, RK Materials, is very angry, anxious and restless. He bumped into Mehta, RK

Materials, threw the resignation letter on his table, screamed and walked out of the

room swiftly.

Patil has a reason for his sudden outburst. Details of the story will tell the reasons for

Patil‘s anger and why he put his resignation, only four months after he took up his job.

In the year 2000 Patil quit his prestigious Mittal plant at Vishakhapatnam. As a

manager Materials, Patil had various powers like he could even place an order of

materials worth Rs.50 Lakhs. He required nobody‘s prior consent.

Patil Joined a pulp-making plant located at Kerala, as RK Materials. The plant is part of

a multi-product and multi-plant conglomerate owned by a prestigious business house in

India. The perks, reputation and designation of the conglomerate attracted Patil away

from the public sector steel monolith.

When he joined the eucalyptus pulp making company, little did Patil realize that he

needed prior approval to place an order for materials worth Rs.25lakh. He thought that

he had the authority to place an order for materials by himself worth half the amount of

what he used to as at the Mega Steel maker. He placed the order, materials arrived,

were received, accepted and used up in the plant. Trouble started when the bill for

Rs.25 lakh came from the vendor. The accounts department withheld the payment for

the reason that the bill was not endorsed by Mehta. Mehta refused to sign on the bill as

his approval was not taken by Patil before placing the order.

Patil felt very angry and cheated. A brief encounter with Mehta only made the situation

worse. Patil was rudely told that he should have known company rules before venturing.

He decided to Quit.

Questions

1. Do you think the company has

any orientation programme? If yes,

discuss its effectiveness.

2. If employees were properly

selected, there should be no need for

an orientation programme‖. Comment

on the statement.

3. If You were Patil, how would you

react to the above situation?

4. Discuss the purpose of

orientation. What are various

requisites of an effective

programme?

Case-4 (20Marks)

ABC Tool Engineering is a company producing machinery and machine tools and some

other related engineering products for specialist production companies. It‘s workforce

consists of 1000 employees, two-thirds of which work in the production department. In

2000, the Management decided to introduce a total quality Management Scheme to

increase efficiency and quality control. Throughout the 1990‘s, more flexible

arrangements had been introduced together with a breakdown of old work demarcation

lines. Machines were now built by flexible teams of workers employing different skills

like fitters, electricians, hydraulic engineers, etc. In 2000, the initiatives towards TQM

were made with the introduction of BS 1110. Workers were asked to inspect the quality

of their work which resulted in reduction of the need for specialist inspectors and both

time and money were saved. Agreements were negotiated with the union for extra pay

as a result of the increase in worker responsibility. In 2001, the Management decided to

introduce a full-blown Total-quality Management Scheme on the basis of the success

with the introduction of BS 1110. Problem solving groups were formed based on work

groups with voluntary participation. Group leaders, who were mainly supervisors, were

trained is how to run a group and in problem-solving techniques. The aims of the groups

were

1. Identifying problems inside their

work area.

2. Propose solutions

3. Identifying problems outside their

work area

4. Refer external problems to a

review team.

The review team consisted of Managers with one representative from each group,

usually the group leader. The unions were lukewarm to the scheme and some shop

stewards were directly against it. Within a period of 9 Months, the Total quality

Management Scheme was reviewed and the senior Management came to the

conclusion that it had not lived up to expectations, and few board members called it a

failure. Some reason s they had identified were that team leaders had felt

uncomfortable in their roles and there has been a lot of skepticism from some of the

workers.

Questions

1. 1. According to You, why did the

Bs1110 Scheme succeed and the

TQM Scheme failed in ABC

engineering?

2. 2. Define the term ―workers‖

participation in management. Bring

out the prerequisites for its success.

3. 3. Explain in your own words

what empowerment means to You.

Also discuss ―A worker is a worker, a

Manager a Manager and never the

two shall meet.‖ Do You agree?

Why?

4. 4. What suggestions would You

give to a similar company who were

thinking of introducing Total Quality

Management to make it a success?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged HRM, Human Resource

Management, MBA, MBA Case Studies,MBA Exercise | 11 Comments

Principle and Practice of

Management – 1 Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE-1 (20 Marks)

1. Please read the case and answer the questions given at the end.

Ms. Renu had graduated with a degree in foreign languages. As the child of a military

family, she had visited many parts of the world and had travelled extensively in Europe.

Depsite these broadening exeriences, she had never given much thought to a career

until her recent divorce.

Needing to provide her own income, Ms. Renu began to look for work. After a faily

intense but unsuccessful search for a job related to her foreign language degree, she

began to evaluate her other skills. She had become a proficient typist in college and

decided to look into secretarial work. Although she still wanted a career utilizing her

foreign language skills, she felt that the immediate financial pressures woudld be eased

in a temporary secretarial position.

Within a short period fo time, she was hired as a clerk/typist in a typical pool at Life

Insurance Company. Six months later, she became the top typist in the pool and and

was assigned as secretary to Mrs. Khan‘ manager of marketing research. She was

pleased to get out of the pool and to get a job that had more variety in the tasks to

perform. Besides, she also got a nice raise in pay.

Everything seemed to proceed well for the next nine months. Mrs. Khan was pleased

with Renu‘s work, and she seemed happy with her work. Renu applied for a few other

more professional jobs in other areas during this time. However, each time her

application was reiected for lack of related education and/or experi ence in the area.

Over the next few months, Khan noticed changes in Renu. She did not always dress as

neatly as she had in the past, she was occasionally late for work, some of her lunches

extended to two hours, and most of her productive work was done in the morning hours.

Khan did not wish to say anything because Renu had been doing an excellent job and

her job tasks still were being accomplished on time. How ever, Renu‘s job behaviour

continued to worsen. She began to be absent frequently on Mondays or Fridays. The

two-hour lunch periods became standard, and her work performance began to

deteriorate. In addition, Khan began to suspect that Renu was drinking heavily, due to

her apearance some mornings and behavior after two-hour lunches.

Khan decided that she must confront Renu with the problem. However, she wanted to

find a way to held her without losing a valuable employee. Before she could set up a

meeting, Renu burst through her fdoor after lunch one day and said:

―I want to talk to you Mrs. Khan‖

―That‘s fine,‖ Khan replied. ―Shall we set a convenient time?‖

―No! I want to talk now.‖

―OK, why don‘t you sit down and let‘s talk?‖

Khan noticed that Renu was slurring her words slightly and she was not too steady.

―Mrs. Khan, I need some vacation time.‖

―I‘m sure we can work that out. You‘ve been with company for over a year and have two

weeks vacation coming.‖

―No, you don‘t understand. I want to start it tomorrow.‖

―But, Renu, we need to plan to get a temporary replacement. We can‘t just let your job

go for two weeks‖.

―Why not ? Anyway anyone with an IQ above 50 can do my job. Besides,I need the time

off. ―

―Renu , are you sure you are all right ?‖

―Yes, I just need some time away from the job.‖

Khan decided to let Renu have the vacation, which would allow her some time to decide

what to do about the situation.

Khan thought about the situation the next couple of days. It was possible that Renu was

an alcoholic.

However, she also seemed to have a negative reaction to her job. Maybe Renu was

bored with her job. She did not have the experi ence or job skills to move to a different

type of job at present. Khan decided to meet with the Personnel Manager and get some

help developing her options to deal with Renu‘s problem.

Questions :

(a) What is the problem in your opinion ? Elaborate.

(b) How would you explain the behaviour of Renu and Mrs. Khan? Did Mrs. Khan

handle the

situation timely and properly?

(c) Assume that you are the Personnel Manager. What are the alternatives available

with Mrs.Khan?

(d) What do you consider the best alternative? Why?

CASE – 2 (20 Marks)

One afternoon in June 1972, Seth, the industrial engineer of ABC Company, was called

to the office of his immediate superior Kapil, the production manager. Kapil said, ―Seth. I

want to discuss a situation in the production department. A lot of people feel that Joshi

is not the right man for the Assistant Superintendent‘s position. The President and

others have decided that I have got to fire Joshi or at least move him out of production.

Everyone wants to fire Joshi, but I won‘t do it to him. I was talking with Bhai this morning

and we decided that you might be able to make use of Joshi in your department.

Seth was surprised by both the information, and the proposal.

Kapil concluded his comments with ―Seth I am asking you to take Joshi. You can say

‗No‘. But then he gets fired. I have told Joshi this. Also, Joshi knows that if he goes with

you he will take a pay cut. However, I think you can make use of him both to your own

and his satisfaction. You are anyway, carrying our an in-process quality control, and you

might be able to make good use of Joshi in view of his long technical experience of

production work. Think it over, and let me know by tomorrow.

Seth thought over the matter. ABC Company had been a successful enterprise until

March 1972 at which time it suffered a sharp decline of profits: sales had fallen off, and

production costs had risen. The President adopted three measures, which he hoped

would improve the condition. First, by creating an Industrial Engineering department for

establishing work standards on all production operations, to determine which

manufacturing costs were out of line and where remedial action should be taken. Seth,

28 years old, who had been with the company for two years in the Purchasing

department, was selected Seth had B.E and M.B.A. degrees to his credit. What he

lacked in his business experience he made up by his eagerness to learn. He was

ambitious and liked by his associates. He wanted a transfer from Purchasing to

Production for better opportunities for advancement.

Secondly, he consulted a Management Consultation firm to make a study of the

Production Department. They pointed out that the chain of command was too long from

Production Manager through Plant Superintendent through Assistant Superintendent to

Foremen. They recommended the elimination of the position of Assistant

Superintendent.

Thirdly, he engaged an Industrial Psychologist to appraise all the Supervisory

Personnel.

Joshi had been with the Company for 20 years since its founding, and during this period

had worked on every production operation, and his last 11 years had been in

supervisory capacity. His manners were rough and aggressive, and he had little formal

education. The Industrial Psychologist‘s report about Joshi contained the following

points:

(i) Evaluation for the position of Assistant Superintendent, Not good enough.

(ii) Capacity for good human relations in supervision: Will have friction frequently.

(iii) Need for development counseling: Counseling greatly needed.

(iv) General evaluation: Joshi had a good ability profile. He suffers from a sense of

inferiority.

He does not like the responsibility of making decisions. His supervision is that of

autocratic

type. Though he has the ability, as far as his personality makes–up is concerned, he is

out of

place in the present position.

Questions:

(a) What is the core problem in the case? Explain.

(b) Explain Joshi‘s behaviour and works experience vis–a–vis the psychologist report.

(c) How do you see Kapil‘s suggestion to Seth? Give reasons.

(d) What are Seth‘s considerations in taking a decision? What should he do? Explain

CASE – 3 (20 Marks)

Read carefully the case and answer the questions given at the end.

SARVODAYA STRUCTURALS LTD.

Sarvodaya Structural Limited was engaged in the fabrication o f heavy structural. The

company had six shops besides engineering, accounts, personnel, sales, and

administrative departments. It employed 7000 men. The chief executive of the company

was the General Manager.

In one of the shops employing 1000 men. 900 tons of structural were fabricated every

month. The day-to-day management of the shop was entrusted to the Manager, who

was assisted by the shop were Preparation. Marking, and Finishing.

In the Marking and Finishing Sections, the work was supervised by two Foremen each.

The Preparation Section was under the direct supervision of the Senior Foreman, who ,

in addition, planned and coordinated the work of all the three sections. The Preparation

Section was responsible for the collection and classification of own and his satisfaction.

You are anyway, carrying out an in-process quality control, and you might be able to

make good use of Govindan in view of his long technical experience of production work.

Think it over, and let me know by tomorrow.

Rao thought over the matter.

PMA company had been a successful enterprise until March 1972 at which time it

suffered a sharp decline of profits: sales had fallen off, and production costs had risen.

The president adopted three measures which he hoped would improve the condition.

First, by creating an Industrial Engineering department for establishing work standards

on all production operations, to determine which manufacturing costs were out of line

and where remedial action should be taken. Rao. 28 years old, who had been with the

company for two years in the Purchasing department, was selected. Rao had B.E. and

MBA degrees to his credit. What he lacked in his business experience he made up by

his eagerness to learn. He was ambitious and liked by his associates. He wanted a

transfer from. Purchasing to Production for better opportunities for advancement.

Secondly, he consulted a Management Consultation firm to make a study of the

Production Department. They pointed out that the chain of command was too long from

Production Manager through Plant Superintendent through Assistant Superintendent to

Foremen. They recommended the elimination of the position of Assistant

Superintendent.

Thirdly, he engaged an Industrial Psychologist to appraise all the Supervisory

Personnel.

Govindan had been with the Company for 20 years since its founding and during this

period had worked on every production operation, and his last 11 years had been in

supervisory capacity. His manners were rough and aggressive, he had little formal

education. The industrial Psychologist‘s report about Govindan contained the following

points :

(i) Evaluation for the position of Assistant Superintendent: Not good enough.

(ii) Capacity for good human relations in supervision: Will have friction frequently.

(iii) Need for development counseling; Counseling greatly needed.

(iv) General evaluation: Govindan had a good ability profile. He suffers from a sense

of inferiority.

He does not like the responsibility of making decisions. His supervision is that of

Autocratic

type. Though he has the ability, as far as his personality make-up is concerned, he is

out of

place in the present position.

Questions :

1. What is the problem in the case? Explain.

2. Explain Govindan‘s behavior and work experience vis-à-vis the psychologist‘s

report.

3. How do you see Naik‘s suggestion to Rao? Give reasons.

4. What are Rao‘s considerations is taking a decision? What should he do?

Explain.

CASE – 4 (20 Marks)

PLANNING PROCESS

INTRODUCTION:

Planning is a comprehensive policy in any government or non- government

organization .It implies a policy or set of guidelines which is to be followed by any

organization to meet its targets. Planning is a key element in the functioning of any

organization. Actually planning is an outcome of the decision making process in any

organization. Any organizationhas to run its activities with a fixed financial, technical

and human resources. Therefore, it has to set a target for the organization for any

period. To achieve the set target or the minimum target goal, a comprehensive set of

guidelines or framework is needed which is called Planning.

TYPES:In a big organization having a multi dimensional & multi-locations setup, there

are twotypes of planning:1) corporate planning :The planning, which is taken at the

corporate level which covers the organization as a whole is called corporate Planning.

Corporate planning is alike the strategic, operational Planning and Long- termPlanning

due to the same objectives of all these. However, they differ with each other.The

planning process initiated by the company for the long-term objectives is called long

term Planning whereas the planning process aimed towards strategic changes in the

organization viz. Expansion plan, Restructuring of business processes within the

organization etc. is called Strategic planning. Operational planning is a short term

planning process aimed towards sustained production and worker‘s efficiency at the

shop floor level in the organization. But corporate planning is aimed towards one or all

of the objectives of these planning processes.

LIMITATION OF PLANNING:There are several limitations of a planning process, which

are enumerated below:1) CAPITAL INVESTMENT:In many instances, when capital is

injected into any fixed assets, it becomes difficult for the organization to invest in other

areas. This situation arises due to financial constraintsof the management board, lack of

consolidation in the competitive market , emergence of new players in the market etc.

This situation prevails until the company either grab the market share and enhance its

profitability or restructure its business by liquidating some of its fixed assets viz. unused

land or the land used for non-core activity etc.2) TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES AND

PEOPLES‘ PREFERENCES:The organization has to continuously change its plans

according to the technological changes taking place in the goods and services. Many

times, organization fails to adapt the new technological setup due to its improper

planning. Also people‘s tastes and preferences also changes according to their needs,

technological changes etc. This also may results the failure of the planning process due

to non-fulfillment of company‘s objectives.3) INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS:History of the

industrial movements revealed that a cordial relationship between the employer and

employees is a must for the organization to progress and strive forward.If relations

between the worker‘s and management group is strained, production will Get hampered

due to strike, gherao, and procession etc. by the worker‘s union and the company may

not achieve its overall plan targets.

Questions

1 Why has been the operational management called as short term planning?

2 Give the Conclusion of the case , in minimum 100 words ?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA Exercise, PPM

| 15 Comments

Organizational Behavior Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

Case 1: Motivating through Total Reward

Introduction

The Royal Bank of‘ Scotland Group (RBS) is one of the largest financial services

companies in the world. It provides a range of services including banking and insurance.

The RBS` Group operates in Europe, the US and Asia, serving more than 36 million

customer‘s world-wide. It employs more than 140,000 people.

Roles

As a major company, RBS needs to recruit the best employees it can. RBS is a leading

employer and therefore offers a range of great job opportunities. People can start their

working life by joining from school or from university. There are many types of

job available, for example. working in a branch of the bank, or at head office in roles

like marketing or sales.

Motivation

What is it that makes people want to work harder than others? Some key theories are:

* Taylor and ‗scientific management‘. This theory said that every job could be

measured by the amount of work done or the number of pieces made (this is known as

the ‗piece rate‘). Workers would work harder because they would earn more.

* Herzberg and the ‗two factors‘. Herzberg‘s theory showed that certain motivation

flews needed to be in place first. These were called Wed ‗hygiene‘ Wtors, for example,

a clean work place and good bade pay. Only once these were in place could other

factors be brought in to motivate workers. RBS uses a number of factors to

motivate its people. These include recognition for a job well done, promotion and other

rewards.

* Maslow and the hierarchy of needs‘. This theory showed that workers had to have

their basic needs, such as feeling safe and secure, met first. Only then could they move

on to be motivated by other things. However, RBS believes that meeting these higher

needs, for example, by recognizing achievement, will motivate employees and help the

company to grow. It has put in place a number of benefits to meet these needs.

Total Reward

RBS has a special benefits scheme called Total Reward. At the one of the scheme is

good basic pay. RBS also provides many flexible benefits in areas like health cover,

pensions and childcare. It uses this as part of its strategy to motivate employees. In

addition to these benefits, every employee is set targets. These are measured to see

how well he or she is doing. Employees can earn a bonus if their targets are reached.

There is also a profit-sharing scheme. All employees are paid a bonus of 10% if the

company as a whole does well. RBS also supports community projects and charities

that is people care about, for example, the NSPCC and youth charities. It does this by

trebling any money the employees raise.

Work-Life Balance

RBS knows that it is important to have a good work-life balance. This is the trade off

between time spent at work and spent outside of work. RBS employees have the

opportunity to work more flexibly. The RBS ―Your Time‖ programme also helps by

recognising that employees may need time off work for reasons other than sickness.

They may want to spend more time with their family or perhaps take a career break to

go travelling.

Conclusion

RBS knows its employees are its future and rewards and encourages them. It provides

a world-class employment package of benefits for every employee, at every level. In

RBS, motivation theory comes to life.

Issues for Discussion

1. Name two motivating factors at RBS.

2. Describe the differences between the theories of Taylor and Maslow.

3. How does RBS‘ Total Reward package fulfil Maslow‘s higher levels o0f motivation?

4. How does Total Reward contribute to RBS‘ overall strategy?

Case 2: Using aims and objectives to create a business strategy

Introduction

Kellogg is the world‘s leading supplier of breakfast cereal. It has 39 brands and a 42%

share of the UK market. Kellogg makes a range of products for the various segments of

the UK‘s market. The market is worth 1.1 billion a year. Kellogg‘s success is achieved

through careful planning. It sets clear aims and objectives. It then uses the strength of

its brands to help it reach them. Kellogg ensures that each brand has a unique place in

the minds of its customers. This is called product positioning.

Developing aims

Kellogg‘s managers set aims. These must match what consumers want. In recent years,

consumers have shown that they want to lead more healthy lives. Kellogg wanted to be

part of this debate. It promotes the message ‗Get the Balance Right‘. It also wanted to

show that it corporate responsibility. This means showing that it is a company that cares

for both its consumers and the environment. An aim is a broad statement of where a

business wants to be. Kellogg‘s aim was therefore to reinforce the idea of a healthy

lifestyle.

Objectives

Once a broad aim is put in place, objectives can then be set. These should be SMART.

This stands for:

. Specific:

Measurable:

Achievable:

Realistic and

Time related.

They were set in three main areas

* promoting physical activity for health

* using packaging to promote a balanced lifestyle

* using food labeling to help consumers make healthy choices.

Strategy

A strategy is a set of‘ plans designed to reach the aims set. Kellogg‘s strategy included

helping people become active. It has worked with the Amateur Swimming Association

(ASA) since 1997. The ASA‘s want everyone to ‗enjoy swimming as part of‘ a healthy, lit

style‘. These closely match those of Kellogg. Swimming, is also a family activity and a

skill for life‘. Kellogg became the main sponsor of swimming in the UK, providing over

1.8 million per The link with the ASA also helped Kellogg to support active lit stylesin

other ways. It linked with Sustrans, which promotes sustainable transport. This led

Kellogg to develop a cycling based promotion. It also encourages walking. A free

pedometer given away with All Bran inspired people to walk further. Kellogg has also

sponsored other walking events. Kellogg uses symbols on its packs to show healthy

Guideline Daily Amounts of ingredients such as salt, sugar and fat. This helps

consumers to make choices.

Communication

Kellogg‘s success in reaching its aims is due to the clear ways by which it conveys them

to customers. It uses cartoon characters to advise children and parents about exercise.

It has also produced leaflets. These can be obtained from its website. Internally, Kellogg

uses its in-house magazine to promote the message.

Conclusion

Kellogg knows from research that a balanced diet and regular exercise help people stay

Healthy. It is communicating this message through its brands and promotions.

Issues for Discussion

* Explain what is meant by a premium brand.

* Describe the difference between an aim and an objective.

* Outline the purpose of Kellogg‘s work with the ASA.

* Using examples to support your dialogue, evaluate how Kellogg communicates and

discuss how this enables it to position its brand.

Case 3 : Continuous improvement within an organisation

Introduction

Leyland Trucks is part of a US company called Paccar Inc. It makes trucks under the

DAF brand at Leyland, near Preston, as well as in Holland and Belgium. Leyland aims

to gain a 20% market share. It has a strategy to help it reach this target. This is a set of

plans linked to its aims. Sometimes a business can improve by taking a giant leap

forward. Leyland Trucks improves through many small steps. This system of continuous

improvement is called ‗Kaizen‘.

Kaizen

A Kaizen action is one designed to bring about improvement. Often this involves teams

meeting to see where problems might lie. Lots of these small steps can lead to big

improvements. A good example is Leyland‘s introduction of robots in its paint process.

Before going ahead. it made sure that it had the views of everyone who had been

involved in a previous change and learned from this. Continuous improvement is vital

for Leyland to meet its targets, keep customers happy and stay competitive. Added

efficiency also keeps costs down and helps to protect jobs.

Setting goals

Leyland sets itself targets. It uses measures to see if it is reaching its goals. These are

called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Leyland clusters its KPIs under themes.

These are:

on-time performance

productively

quality, using a Quality Index

target

financial pleasures

stock control

health and safety

Kaizen

Information from these KPIs is charted. Managers can see from charts how close they

are to targets and set new targets. Kaizen is measured through a statistical tool called

Six Sigma.

Culture

`Culture‘ describes the way in which a business works. The culture at Leyland Trucks is

one of continuous improvement. It is based on all being involved. Everyone is trusted to

take part in the process and to contribute where they can. Its values are based on team

building and training. It involves everyone in decision making and gives them

responsibility and power. It encourages everyone to try out new ideas. People ‗live the

values‘ every day by sharing working in teams and celebrating success.

Kaizen in action

The success of Kaizen can be seen through a recent example. In May 2006, a Kaizen,

event was held in the vehicle finishing part of the plant. A team of project leaders

worked with other staff. All tried to spot problems and suggest solutions. This led to

more than suggest solutions. This led to more than greater efficiency in a number

of areas.

200 ideas for improvement and greater efficiency in a number of areas.

Conclusion

For Leyland Trucks, Kaizen is a key part of its success. Kaizen has helped it to achieve

results across all of its KPIs. In 2006 alone, there were:

multi-million pound savings from

Six Sigma

a rise in on-time delivery to 95%

a fall in both defects on units and

injuries.

Issues for Discussion

1 . What is Kaizen? I low is this different from a one-step leap forward?

2. How is Kaizen expected to help Leyland Trucks to increase its market share?

3. How does Leland Trucks measure Its continuous improvement? Can you suggest K

KPls for another type of business organisation e.g. a retailer or a leisure centre‘?

4. Why is continuous improvement most likely to be achieved in a company with a

culture of trust‘? Start your answer by explaining what is meant by a culture of trust.

Case 4 : Managing risk through effective. team-based decision making

Introduction

RWE npower is an integrated energy company. It is the third largest supplier of

electricity, through its npower brand and one of the largest electricity generators. It is

part of the RWE Group, which is one of the largest European energy Utilities. Energy

Companies have a responsibility to maintain supplies of energy 24/7. This means that

they have to be aware of and manage risk. There is a risk involved in all business

activity. Managing risk successfully means striking a balance between risk, cost and

returns.

Importance

RWE npower is an important contributor to the economy. It provides jobs, helps people

maintain and increase their standard of living by supplying energy and invests in large

capital projects. The most visible face of the business is its huge power stations but it is

also involved in developing alternative forms of energy such as biomass plants and

wind farms. It seeks green or sustainable solutions to problems wherever possible.

Types of problems

There are different types of business problems and therefore different solutions to

them.

Deviation problems are where

targets are not heing met. Problem

solving in this case is centred on

closing the gaps.

Improvement problems. Here

Solutions need to address how the

business can become for example

more efficient or more green.

Open-ended problems where

conventional solutions will not work.

Solutions are generally linked to the

idea of ‗thinking outside the box‘ i.e.

coming up with new and untried

ideas.

Engineers at RWE npower have to handle these problems all the time. In the first two

cases, there are often proven techniques and solutions which can be worked out in

teams. Team work brings together engineers with different skills and experience.

Teamwork encourages team members to bounce ideas off each other so can be fun as

well as leading to solutions have saved RWE npower millions.

Creative problem-solving.

This is linked to open-ended problems. New solutions mean new risks, however, and

engineers need to understand these. They have to take into account possible costs and

health and safety issues along with the technical aspects of the solution. Solutions must

take into account the needs of the customer. For example, small defects in turbine

blades in power stations are inevitable during their working life. When these are

reported, managers need weigh up the various options repair, up the various options

(shutdown, repair, replace etc.), The first priority is health and safety, but then they

consider commercial criteria, including cost and customer needs.

Graduates

RWE npower employs graduate engineers straight from university. They are trained and

have a good career path in the company. They are encouraged to think for themselves

and solutions to problems. Some solutions can save the company millions so as its

investment in graduates is worthwhile.

develop creative solutions to problems. Some solutions can save the company millions

so RWE npower knows its investment in graduates is worthwhile.

Conclusion

RWE n power needs good engineers to be able to fulfil its commitment to supply energy

24/7. These engineers need to be not Just skilled at their specialisms, but able to solve.

problems in a creative way.

Issues for Discussion

1. What do you understand by the term, ‗thinking outside the box‘? Give an example of

how this can be applied to engineers working for RWE npower.

2. How does encouraging thinking outside the box help RWE npower to make

improvements in the way in which it operates?

3. Explain how encouraging engineers at RWE npower to think outside the box has led

to increased motivation for these employees.

4. Recommend wavy in which another organisation of your choice might improve its

employees to think in creative ways about work. results through encouraging its

employees to think in creative ways about work-related problems.

Case 5:

Creating a high performance culture

Introduction

The culture of an organisation is a way of describing the typical way in which that

organisation operate. It Is something that is created over time by the organisation and

the people that work for it. Siemens is built on a high performance culture. This means

that everyone share One shares the same vision and, values and busts each other‘s

contribution.

Siemens is a global electronics business with a turnover of around £60 billion a year. Its

global headquarters are based in Germany but has sites around the world including

around

100 in the UK with its UK HQ in Berkshire. Siemens products touch all our ranging

from kitchen equipment to power generation and from traffic lights to hospital scanners.

HR development

Siemens is committed to helping its employees to develop and fulfil themselves at work.

They may want more training, more interesting jobs or just a better work-life balance.

Siemens knows that to maintain and develop the excellent workforce that, it has

good people management. It believes that its human resources should be actively

involved (called ‗engagement‘) in its activities. This is a key plank of Siemens‘ business

strategy.

People Excellence

This is the name given to the part of the strategy that relates to people management. It

consists of four main elements:

* achieving a high performance culture

* increasing the global talent pool

* strengthening expert careers

* Siemens Leadership Excellence Programme (SLE).

At its heart is the building of a high performance culture. Employees know that they are

valued and busted and this helps to motivate them. Siemens uses a number of ways to

make sure that it shows its appreciation of employees. This all helps them to feel part of

a successful team and helps Siemens compete more effectiveIy.

Creating the culture

The high performance culture is based on teamwork. Targets are set for the business

and these are related to individual and team targets. In this way, everyone is working

towards better results. As team performance improves over time, so does the business.

Talent management

Siemens makes sure that all of its employees, not just the high fliers, are supported to

reach their potential. It matches individuals‘ talents with tasks. Talent management

allows for:

* job enrichment. where extra tasks or responsibility can make a job more rewarding

and

* job enlargement, where the scope of a job is widened and extra skills developed.

Talent management is applied to the business globally as a key par! the business

strategy. It is closely linked to performance management. Performance management is

Used to monitor progress and set objectives for employees. It allows an honest dialogue

to take place so everyone knows how well they are performing and how they might

improve. This feeds directly into the high performance culture.

Conclusion

The success of an organisation can be traced back to its people. Siemens

demonstrates thins well. Its high performance culture supports people and helps them

to reach their potential. This helps Siemens to be competitive.

Issues for Discussion

I

1. How does Siemens seek to provide good career opportunities for employees?

2. Describe one of the systems that Siemens has created which provides development

opportunities for employees at work

.

3. How important is the appraisal system in helping to create shared understandings the

objectives of the organisation and personal objectives of individual employees?

4. How effective do you think the Siemens approach to people management will be 2 in

creating great results?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged Organizational Behavior | 40 Comments

International Business – 1 Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

No: 1

BPO – BANE OR BOON ?

Several MNCs are increasingly unbundling or vertical disintegrating their activities. Put

in simple language, they have begun outsourcing (also called business process

outsourcing) activities formerly performed in-house and concentrating their energies on

a few functions. Outsourcing involves withdrawing from certain stages/activities and

relaying on outside vendors to supply the needed products, support services, or

functional activities.

Take Infosys, its 250 engineers develop IT applications for BO/FA (Bank of America).

Elsewhere, Infosys staffers process home loans for green point mortgage of Novato,

California. At Wipro, five radiologists interpret 30 CT scans a day for Massachusetts

General Hospital.

2500 college educated men and women are buzzing at midnight at Wipro Spectramind

at Delhi. They are busy processing claims for a major US insurance company and

providing help-desk support for a big US Internet service provider-all at a cost upto 60

percent lower than in the US. Seven Wipro Spectramind staff with Ph.Ds in molecular

biology sift through scientific research for western pharmaceutical companies.

Another activist in BOP is Evalueserve, headquarterd in Bermuda and having main

operations near Delhi. It also has a US subsigiary based in New York and a marketing

office in Australia to cover the European market. As Alok Aggarwal (co-founder and

chairman) says, his company supplies a range of value-added services to clients that

include a dozen Fortune 500 companies and seven global consulting firms, besides

market research and venture capital firms. Much of its work involves dealing with

CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, CIOs, and other so called C-level executives.

Evaluserve provides services like patent writing, evaluation and assessment of their

commercialization potential for law firms and entrepreneurs. Its market research

services are aimed at top-rung financial service firms, to which it provides analysis of

investment opportunities and business plans. Another major offering is multilingual

services. Evalueserve trains and qualifies employees to communicate in Chinese,

Spanish, German, Japanese and Italian, among other languages. That skill set has

opened market opportunities in Europe and elsewhere, especially with global

corporations.

ICICI infotech Services in Edison, New Jersey, is another BOP services provider that is

offering marketing software products and diversifying into markets outside the US. The

firm has been promoted by $2-billion ICICI Bank, a large financial institution in Mumbai

that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In its first year after setting up shop in March 1999, ICICI infotech spent $33 million

acquiring two information technology services firms in New Jersy-Object Experts and

ivory Consulting – and command Systems in Connecticut. These acquisitions were to

help ICICI Infotech hit the ground in the US with a ready book of contracts. But it soon

found US companies increasingly outsourcing their requirements to offshore locations,

instead of hiring foreign employees to work onsite at their offices. The company found

other native modes for growth. It has started marketing its products in banking,

insurance and enterprise resource planning among others. It has earmarket $10 million

for its next US market offensive, which would go towards R & D and back-end

infrastructure support, and creating new versions of its products to comply with US

market requirements. It also has a joint venture – Semantik Solutions GmbH in Berlin,

Germany with the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering, which is

based in Berlin and Dortmund, Germany – Fraunhofer is a leading institute in applied

research and development with 200 experts in software engineering and evolutionary

information.

A relatively late entrant to the US market , ICICI Infotech started out with plain vanilla IT

services, including operating call centeres. As the market for traditional IT services

started wakening around mid-2000, ICICI Infotech repositioned itself as a ―Solutions‖

firm offering both products and services. Today , it offers bundied packages of products

and services in corporate and retail banking and include data center and disaster

recovery management and value chain management services.

ICICI Infotech‘s expansion into new overseas markets has paid off. Its $50 million

revenue for its latest financial year ending March 2003 has the US operations

generating some $15 million, while the Middle East and Far East markets brought in

another $9 million. It new boasts more than 700 customers in 30 countries, including

Dow Jones, Glazo-Smithkline, Panasonic and American Insurance Group.

The outsourcing industry is indeed growing form strength. Though technical support

and financial services have dominated India‘s outsourcing industry, newer fields are

emerging which are expected to boost the industry many times over.

Outsourcing of human resource services or HR BPO is emerging as big opportunity for

Indian BPOs with global market in this segment estimated at $40-60 billion per annum.

HR BPO comes to about 33 percent of the outsourcing revenue and India has immense

potential as more than 80 percent of Fortune 1000 companies discuss offshore BOP as

a way to cut costs and increase productivity.

Another potential area is ITES/BOP industry. According to A NASSCOM survey, the

global ITES/BOP industry was valued at around $773 billion during 2002 and it is

expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of nine percent during the period

2002 – 06, NASSCOM lists the major indicators of the high growth potential of

ITES/BOP industry in India as the following.

During 2003 – 04, The ITES/BPO segment is estimated to have achieved a 54 percent

growth in revenues as compared to the previous year. ITES exports accounted for $3.6

billion in revenues, up form $2.5 billion in 2002 – 03. The ITES-BPO segment also

proved to be a major opportunity for job seekers, creating employment for around

74,400 additional personnel in India during 2003 – 04. The number of Indians working

for this sector jumped to 245,500 by March 2004. By the year 2008, the segment is

expected to employ over 1.1 million Indians, according to studies conducted by

NASSCOM and McKinsey & Co. Market research shows that in terms of job creation,

the ITES-BOP industry is growing at over 50 per cent.

Legal outsourcing sector is another area India can look for. Legal transcription involves

conversion of interviews with clients or witnesses by lawyers into documents which can

be presented in courts. It is no different from any other transcription work carried out in

India. The bottom-line here is again cheap service. There is a strong reason why India

can prove to be a big legal outsourcing Industry.

India, like the US, is a common-law jurisdiction rooted in the British legal tradition.

Indian legal training is conducted solely in English. Appellate and Supreme Court

proceedings in India take place exclusively in English. Due to the time zone

differences, night time in the US is daytime in India which means that clients get 24

hour attention, and some projects can be completed overnight. Small and mid – sized

business offices can solve staff problems as the outsourced lawyers from India take on

the time – consuming labour intensive legal research and writing projects. Large law

firms also can solve problems of overstaffing by using the on – call lawyers.

Research firms such as Forrester Research, predict that by 2015 , more than 489,000

US lawyer jobs, nearly eight percent of the field, will shift abroad..

Many more new avenues are opening up for BOP services providers. Patent writing

and evaluation services are markets set to boom. Some 200.000 patent applications

are written in the western world annually, making for a market size of between $5 billion

and $7 billion. Outsourcing patent writing service could significantly lower the cost of

each patent application, now anywhere between $12,000 and $15,000 apiece-which

would help expand the market.

Offshoring of equity research is another major growth area. Translation services are

also becoming a big Indian plus. India produces some 3,000 graduates in German

each year, which is more than that in Switzerland.

Though going is good, the Indian BPO services providers cannot afford to be

complacent. Phillppines, Maxico and Hungary are emerging as potential offshore

locations. Likely competitor is Russia, although the absence of English speaking people

there holds the country back. But the dark horse could be South Affrica and even China

BOP is based on sound economic reasons. Outsourcing helps gain cost advantage. If

an activity can be performed better or more cheaply by an outside supplier, why not

outsource it ? Many PC makers, for example, have shifted from in – house assembly to

utilizing contract assemblers to make their PCs. CISCO outsources all productions and

assembly of its routers and witching equipment to contract manufactures that operate

37 factories, all linked via the internet.

Secondly, the activity (outsourced) is not crucial to the firm‘s ability to gain sustainable

competitive advantage and won‘t hollow out its core competence, capabilities, or

technical know how. Outsourcing of maintenance services, date processing,

accounting, and other administrative support activities to companies specializing in

these services has become common place. Thirdly, outsourcing reduces the

company‘s risk exposure to changing technology and / or changing buyer preferences.

Fourthly, BPO streamlines company operations in ways that improve organizational

flexibility, cut cycle time, speedup decision making and reduce coordination costs.

Finally, outsourcing allows a company to concentrate on its core business and do what

it does best. Are Indian companies listening ? If they listen, BPO is a boon to them and

not a bane.

Questions:

1. Which of the theories of international trade can help Indian services

providers gain competitive edge over their competitors?

2. Pick up some Indian services providers. With the help of Michael Porter’s

diamond, analyze their strengths and weaknesses as active players in BPO.

3. Compare this case with the case given at the beginning of this chapter.

What similarities and dissimilarities do you notice? Your analysis should be

based on the theories explained.

No: 2

PERU

Peru is located on the west coast of South America. It is the third largest nation of the

continent (after Brazil and Argentina) , and covers almost 500.000 square miles (about

14 per cent of the size of the United States). The land has enormous contrasts, with a

desert (drier than the Sahara), the towering snow – capped Andes mountains, sparkling

grass – covered plateaus, and thick rain forests. Peru has approximately 27 million

people, of which about 20 per cent live in Lima, the capital. More Indians (one half of

the population) live in Peru than in any other country in the western hemisphere. The

ancestors of Peru‘s Indians were the famous incas, who built a great empire. The rest

of the population is mixed and a small percentage is white. The economy depends

heavily on agriculture, fishing , mining, and services, GDP is approximately $15 billion

and per capita income in recent years has been around $4,3000. In recent years the

economy has gained some relative strength and multinationals are now beginning to

consider investing in the country.

One of these potential investors is a large New York based bank that is considering a

$25 million loan to the owner of a Peruvian fishing fleet. The owner wants to refurbish

the fleet and add one more ship.

During the 1970s, the Peruvian government nationalized a number of industries and

factories and began running them for the profit of the state in most cases, these state –

run ventures became disasters. In the late 1970s the fishing fleet owner was given back

his ships and allowed to operate his business as before. Since then, he has managed

to remain profitable, but the biggest problem is that his ships are getting old and he

needs an influx of capital of make repairs and add new technology. As he explained it

to the new York banker. ―Fishing is no longer just an art. There is a great deal of

technology involved. And to keep costs low and be competitive on the world market,

you have to have the latest equipment for both locating as well as catching and then

loading and unloading the fish‖

Having reviewed the fleet owner‘s operation, the large multinational bank believes that

the loan is justified. The financial institution is concerned, however, that the Peruvian

government might step in during the next couple of years and again take over the

business. If this were to happen, it might take an additional decade for the loan to be

repaid. If the government were to allow the fleet owner to operate the fleet the way he

has over the last decade, the fleet the way he has over the last decade, the loan could

be repaid within seven years.

Right now, the bank is deciding on the specific terms of the agreement. Once theses

have been worked out, either a loan officer will fly down to Lima and close the deal or

the owner will be asked to come to New York for the signing. Whichever approach is

used, the bank realizes that final adjustments in the agreement will have to be made on

the spot. Therefore, if the bank sends a representative to Lima, the individual will have

to have the authority to commit the bank to specific terms. These final matters should be

worked out within the next ten days.

Questions:

1. What are some current issues facing Peru? What is the climate for doing

business in Peru today?

2. What type of political risks does this fishing company need to evaluate?

Identify and describe them.

3. What types of integrative and protective and defensive techniques can the

bank use?

4. Would the bank be better off negotiating the loan in New York or in Lima ?

Why?

No: 3

RED BECOMING THICKER

The Backdrop

There seems to be no end to the troubles of the coloured – water giant Coca Cola. The

cola giant had entered India decades back but left the country in the late 1970s. It

staged a comeback in the early 1990s through the acquisitions route. The professional

management style of Coca Cola did not jell with the local bottlers. Four CEOs were

changed in a span of seven years. Coke could not capitalize on the popularity of

Thums Up. Its arch rival Pepsi is well ahead and has been able to penetrate deep into

the Indian market. Red in the balance sheet of Coke is becoming thicker and industry

observers are of the opinion that it would take at least two decades more before Coke

could think of making profits in India.

The Story

It was in the early 1990s that India started liberalizing her economy. Seizing the

opportunity, Coca Cola wanted to stage a comeback in India. It chose Ramesh

Chauhan of Parle for entry into the market. Coke paid $100 million to Chauhan and

acquired his well established brands Thums Up, Goldspot and Limca. Coke also

bagged 56 bottlers of Chauhan as a part of the deal. Chauhan was made consultant

and was also given the first right of refusal to any large size bottling plants and bottling

contracts, the former in the Pune – Bangalore belt and the latter in the Delhi and

Mumbai areas.

Jayadeva Raja, the flamboyant management expert was made the first CEO of Coke

India. It did not take much time for him to realize that Coke had inherited several

weaknesses from Chauhan along with the brands and bottlers. Many bottling plants

were small in capacity (200 bottlers per minute as against the world standard of 1600)

and used obsolete technology. The bottlers were in no mood to increase their

capacities, nor were they willing to upgrade the trucks used for transporting the bottle.

Bottlers were more used to the paternalistic approach of Chauhan and the new

professional management styles of Coke did not go down well with them. Chauhan also

felt that he was alienated and was even suspected to be supplying concentrate

unofficially to the bottlers.

Raja was replaced by the hard – nosed Richard Niholas in 1995. The first thing Nicholas

did was to give an ultimatum to the bottlers to expand their plants or sell out. Coke also

demanded equity stakes in many of the bottling plants. The bottlers had their own

difficulties as well. They were running on low profit margins. Nor was Coke willing to

finance the bottlers on soft terms. The ultimatum backfired. Many bottlers switched their

loyalty and went to Pepsi. Chauhan allegedly supported the bottlers, of course, from

the sidelines.

Coke thought it had staged a coup over Pepsi when it (Coke) clamed the status of

official drink for the 1996 Cricket World Cup tournament. Pepsi took on Coke mightily

with the famous jingle ―Nothing official about it‖. Coke could have capitalized on the

sporty image of Thums Up to counter the campaign, but instead simply caved in.

Donald Short replaced Nicholas as CEO in 1997. Armed with heavy financial powers,

Short bought out 38 bottlers for about $700 million. This worked out to about Rs 7 per

case, but the cost – effective figure was Rs 3 per case. Short also invested heavily in

manpower. By 1997, Coke‘s workforce increased to 300. Three years later, the parent

company admitted that investment in India was a big mistake.

It is not in the culture of Coke to admit failure. It has decided to fight back. Coke could

not only sustain the loss, it could even spend more money on Indian operations. It

hiked the ad budget and appointed Chaitra Leo Burnett as its ad agency. During 1998 –

99, Coke‘s ad spend was almost three times that of Pepsi.

Coke is taking a look at its human resources and is taking initiatives to re – orient the

culture and inject an element of decentralization along with empowerment. Each

bottling plant is expected to meet predetermined profit, market share, and sales

volumes. For newly hired management trainees, a clearly defined career path has been

drawn to enable them to become profit centre heads shortly after completion of their

probation. Such a decentralized approach is something of a novelty in the Coke culture

worldwide.

But Alezander ―Von Behr, who replaced Short as Chef of Indian operations, reiterated

Coke‘s commitment to decentralization and local responsiveness. Coke has divided

India into six regions, each with a business head. Change in the organization structure

has disappointed many employees, some of whom even quit the company.

Coke started cutting down its costs. Executives have been asked to shift from farm

houses to smaller houses and rentals of Gurgaon headquarters have been

renegotiated. Discount rates have been standardized and information systems are

being upgraded to enable the Indian headquarters to access online financial status of its

outposts down to the depot level.

Coke has great hopes in Indian as the country has a huge population and the current

per capita consumption of beverages is just four bottles a year.

Right now, the parent company (head – quartered in the US) has bottle full of

problems. The recently appointed CEO-E Neville Isdell needs to struggle to do the

things that once made the Cola Company great. The problems include –

Meddling Board

Coke‘s star- studded group of directors, many of whom date back to the Goizueta era,

has built a reputation for meddling.

Moribund Marketing

Once world class critics say that today the soda giant has become too conservative,

with ads that don‘t resonate with the teenagers and young adults that made up its most

important audience.

Lack of Innovation

In the US market, Coke hasn‘t created a best – selling new soda since Diet Coke in

1982. In recent years Coke has been outbid by rival Pepsi Co for faster growing

noncarb beverages like SoBe Gatorade.

Friction with Bottlers

Over the past decade, Coke has often made its profit at the expenses of bottlers,

pushing aggressive price hikes on the concentrate it sells them. But key bottlers are

now fighting back with sharp increases in the price of coke at retail.

International Worries

Coke desperately needs more international growth to offset its flagging US business,

but while some markets like Japan remain lucrative, in the large German market Coke

has problems so far as bottling contracts go.

When its own house is not in order in the large country, will the company be able to

focus enough on the Indian market?

Questions:

1. Why is that Coke has not been able to make profit in its Indian operations?

2. Do you think that Coke should continue to stay in India? If yes, why?

3. What cultural adaptations would you suggest to the US expatriate

managers regarding their management style?

4. Using the Hofstede and the value orientations cultural models, how can you

explain some of the cultural differences noted in this case?

NO. 4

THE ABB PBS JOINT VENTURE IN OPERATION

ABB Prvni Brnenska Stojirna Brno, Ltd. (ABB-PBS), Czechoslovakia was a joint venture

in which ABB has a 67 per cent stake and PBS a.s. has a 33 per cent stake. This PBS

share was determined nominally by the value of the land, plant and equipment,

employees and goodwill, ABB contributed cash and specified technologies and

assumed some of the debt of PBS. The new company started operations on April 15,

1993.

Business for the joint venture in its first two full years was good in most aspects. Orders

received in 1994, the first full year of the joint venture‘s operation, were higher than ever

in the history of PBS. Orders received in 1995 were 2½ times those in 1994. The

company was profitable in 1995 and ahead of 1994s results with a rate of return on

assets of 2.3 per cent and a rate of return on sales of 4.5 per cent.

The 1995 results showed substantial progress towards meeting the joint venture‘s

strategic goals adopted in 1994 as part of a five year plan. One of the goals was that

exports should account for half of the total orders by 1999. (Exports had accounted for

more than a quarter of the PBS business before 1989, but most of this business

disappeared when the Soviet Union Collapsed). In 1995 exports increased as a share

of total orders to 28 per cent, up from 16 per cent the year before.

The external service business, organized and functioning as a separate business for the

first time in 1995, did not meet expectations. It accounted for five per cent of all orders

and revenues in 1995, below the 10 per cent goal set for it. The retrofitting business,

which was expected to be a major part of the service business, was disappointing for

ABB-PBS, partly because many other small companies began to provide this service in

1994, including some started by former PBS employees who took their knowledge of

PBS-built power plants with them. However, ABB-PBS managers hoped that as the

company introduced new technologies, these former employees would gradually lose

their ability to perform these services, and the retrofit and repair service business, would

return to ABB-PBS.

ABB-PBS dominated the Czech boiler business with 70 per cent of the Czech market in

1995, but managers expected this share to go down in the future as new domestic and

foreign competitors emerged. Furthermore, the west European boiler market was

actually declining because environmental laws caused a surge of retrofitting to occur in

the mid -1980 s, leaving less business in the 1990 s. Accordingly ABB-PBS boiler

orders were flat in 1995.

Top managers at ABB-PBS regarded business results to date as respectable, but they

were not satisfied with the company‘s performance. Cash flow was not as good as

expected. Cost reduction had to go further. The more we succeed, the more we see

our shortcomings‖ said one official.

Restructuring

The first round of restructuring was largely completed in 1995, the last year of the three-

year restructuring plan. Plan logistics, information systems, and other physical capital

improvements were in place. The restricting included :

Renovating and reconstructing

workshops and engineering facilities.

Achieving ISO 9001 for all four

ABB-PBS divisions. (awarded in

1995)

Transfer of technology from ABB

(this was an ongoing project)

Intallation of an information

system.

Management training, especially

in total quality assurance and English

language.

Implementing a project

management approach.

A notable achievement of importance of top management in 1995 was a 50 per cent

increase in labour productivity, measured as value added per payroll crown. However,

in the future ABB-PBS expected its wage rates to go up faster than west European

wage rates (Czech wages were increasing about 15 per cent per year) so it would be

difficult to maintain the ABB-PBS unit cost advantage over west European unit cost.

The Technology Role for ABB-PBS

The joint venture was expected from the beginning to play an important role in

technology development for part of ABB‘s power generation business worldwide. PBS

a.s. had engineering capability in coal – fired steam boilers, and that capability was

expected to be especially useful to ABB as more countries became concerned about air

quality. (When asked if PBS really did have leading technology here, a boiler

engineering manager remarked, ―Of course we do. We burn so much dirty coal in this

country; we have to have better technology‖)

However, the envisioned technology leadership role for ABB-PBS had not been realized

by mid – 1996. Richard Kuba, the ABB-PBS managing director, realized the slowness

with which the technology role was being fulfilled, and he offered his interpretation of

events.

―ABB did not promise to make the joint venture its steam technology leader. The main

point we wanted to achieve in the joint venture agreement was for ABB-PBS to be

recognized as a full-fledged company, not just a factory. We were slowed down on our

technology plans because we had a problem keeping our good, young engineers. The

annual employee turnover rate for companies in the Czech Republic is 15 or 20 per

cent, and the unemployment rate is zero. Our engineers have many other good

entrepreneurial opportunities. Now we‘ve begun to stabilize our engineering workforce.

The restructing helped. We have better equipment and a cleaner and safer work

environment. We also had another problem which is a good problem to have. The

domestic power plant business turned out to be better than we expected, so just

meeting the needs of our regular customers forced some postponement of new

technology initiatives.‖

ABB-PBS had benefited technologically from its relationship with ABB. One example

was the development of a new steam turbine line. This project was a cooperative effort

among ABB-PBS and two other ABB companies, one in Sweden and one in Germany.

Nevertheless, technology transfer was not the most important early benefit of ABB

relationship. Rather, one of the most important gains was the opportunity to benchmark

the joint venture‘s performance against other established western ABB companies on

variables such as productivity, inventory and receivables.

Questions:

1. Where does the joint venture meet the needs of both the partners? Where

does it fall short?

2. Why had ABB-PBS failed to realize its technology leadership?

3. What lessons one can draw from this incident for better management of

technology transfers?

NO. 5.

CHINESE EVOLVING ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

Attracted by its rapid transformation from a socialist planned economy into a

market economy, economic annual growth rate of around 12 per cent, and a population

in excess of 1.2 billion, Western firms over the past 10 years have favored China as a

site for foreign direct investment. Most see China as an emerging economic

superpower, with an economy that will be as large as that of Japan by 2000 and that of

the US before 2010, if current growth projections hold true.

The Chinese government sees foreign direct investment as a primary engine of China‘s

economic growth. To encourage such investment, the government has offered

generous tax incentives to foreign firms that invest in China, either on their own or in a

joint venture with a local enterprise. These tax incentives include a two – year

exemption from corporate income tax following an investment, plus a further three years

during which taxes are paid at only 50 per cent of the standard tax rate. Such

incentives when coupled with the promise of China‘s vast internal market have made

the country a prime site for investment by Western firms. However, once established in

China, many Western firms find themselves struggling to comply with the complex and

often obtuse nature of China‘s rapidly evolving accounting system.

Accounting in China has traditionally been rooted in information gathering and

compliance reporting designed to measure the government‘s production and tax goals.

The Chinese system was based on the old Soviet system, which had little to do with

profit or accounting systems created to report financial positions or the results of foreign

operations.

Although the system is changing rapidly, many problems associated with the old system

still remain.

One problem for investors is a severe shortage of accountants, financial managers, and

auditors in China, especially those experienced with market economy transactions and

international accounting practices. As of 1995, there were only 25,000 accountants in

china, far short of the hundreds of thousands that will be needed if China continues on

its path towards becoming a market economy. Chinese enterprises, including equity

and cooperative joint ventures with foreign firms, must be audited by Chinese

accounting firms, which are regulated by the state. Traditionally, many experienced

auditors have audited only state-owned enterprises, working through the local province

or city authorities and the state audit bureau to report to the government entity

overseeing the audited firm. In response to the shortage of accountants schooled in the

principles of private sector accounting, several large international auditing firms have

established joint ventures with emerging Chinese accounting and auditing firms to

bridge the growing need for international accounting, tax and securities expertise.

A further problem concerns the somewhat halting evolution of China‘s emerging

accounting standards. Current thinking is that China won‘t simply adopt the

international accounting standards specified by the IASC, nor will it use the generally

accepted accounting principles of any particular country as its mode. Rather,

accounting standards in China are expected to evolve in a rather piecemeal fashion,

with the Chinese adopting a few standards as they are studied and deemed appropriate

for Chinese circumstances.

In the meantime, current Chinese accounting principles present difficult problems for

Western firms. For example, the former Chinese accounting system didn‘t need to

accrue unrealized losses. In an economy where shortages were the norm, if a state-

owned company didn‘t sell its inventory right away, it could store it and use it for some

other purpose later. Similarly, accounting principles assumed the state always paid its

debts – eventually. Thus, Chinese enterprises don‘t generally provide for lower-of-cost

or market inventory adjustments or the creation of allowance for bad debts, both of

which are standard practices in the West.

Questions:

1. What factors have shaped the accounting system currently in use in China?

2. What problem does the accounting system, currently in sue in China,

present to foreign investors in joint ventures with Chinese companies?

3. If the evolving Chinese system does not adhere to IASC standards, but

instead to standards that the Chinese governments deem appropriate to China’s

―Special situation‖, how might this affect foreign firms with operations in China ?

NO. 6

UNFAIR PROTECTION OR VALID DEFENSE ?

―Mexico Widens Anti – dumping Measure …………. Steel at the Core of US-Japan

Trade Tensions …. Competitors in Other Countries Are Destroying an American

Success Story … It Must Be Stopped‖, scream headlines around the world.

International trade theories argue that nations should open their doors to trade.

Conventional free trade wisdom says that by trading with others, a country can offer its

citizens a greater volume and selection of goods at cheaper prices than it could in the

absence of it. Nevertheless, truly free trade still does not exist because national

governments intervene. Despite the efforts of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and

smaller groups of nations, governments seem to be crying foul in the trade game now

more than ever before.

We see efforts at protectionism in the rising trend in governments charging foreign

producers for ―dumping‖ their goods on world markets. Worldwide, the number of

antidumping cases that were initiated stood at about 150 in 1995, 225 in 1996, 230 in

1997 , and 300 in 1998.

There is no shortage of similar examples. The Untied States charges Brazil, Japan, and

Russia with dumping their products in the US market as a way out of tough economic

times. The US steel industry wants the government to slap a 200 per cent tariff on

certain types of steel. But car markers in the United States are not complaining, and

General Motors even spoke out against the antidumping charge – as it is enjoying the

benefits of law – cost steel for use in its auto product ion. Canadian steel makers

followed the lead of the United States and are pushing for antidumping actions against

four nations.

Emerging markets, too, are jumping into the fray. Mexico recently expanded coverage

of its Automatic Import Advice System. The system requires importers (from a select

list of countries) to notify Mexican officials of the amount and price of a shipment ten

days prior to its expected arrival in Mexico. The ten-day notice gives domestic

producers advance warning of incoming low – priced products so they can complain of

dumping before the products clear customs and enter the marketplace. India is also

getting onboard by setting up a new government agency to handle antidumping cases.

Even Argentina, China, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, and Thailand are using

this recently – popularized tool of protectionism.

Why is dumping on the rise in the first place? The WTO has made major inroads on the

use of tariffs, slashing tem across almost every product category in recent years. But

the WTO does not have the authority to punish companies, but only governments.

Thus, the WTO cannot pass judgments against individual companies that are dumping

products in other markets. It can only pass rulings against the government of the

country that imposes an antidumping duty. But the WTO allows countries to retaliate

against nations whose producers are suspected of dumping when it can be shown that

: (1) the alleged offenders are significantly hurting domestic producers, and (2) the

export price is lower than the cost of production or lower than the home – market price.

Supporters of antidumping tariffs claim that they prevent dumpers from undercutting the

prices charged by producers in a target market and driving them out of business.

Another claim in support of antidumping is that it is an excellent way of retaining some

protection against potential dangers of totally free trade. Detractors of antidumping

tariffs charge that once such tariffs are imposed they are rarely removed. They also

claim that it costs companies and governments a great deal of time and money to file

and argue their cases. It is also argued that the fear of being charged with dumping

causes international competitors to keep their prices higher in a target market than

would other wise be the case. This would allow domestic companies to charge higher

prices and not lose market share – forcing consumers to pay more for their goods.

Questions

1. ―You can’t tell consumers that the low price they are paying for a particular

fax machine or automobile is somehow unfair. They’re not concerned with the

profits of companies. To them, it’s just a great bargain and they want it to

continue.‖ Do you agree with this statement? Do you think that people from

different cultures would respond differently to this statement? Explain your

answers.

2. As we’ve seen, the WTO cannot currently get involved in punishing

individual companies for dumping – its actions can only be directed toward

governments of countries. Do you think this is a wise policy ? Why or why not?

Why do you think the WTO was not given the authority to charge individual

companies with dumping? Explain.

3. Identify a recent antidumping case that was brought before the WTO.

Locate as many articles in the press as you can that discuss the case. Identify the

nations, products (s), and potential punitive measures involved. Supposing you

were part of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body, would you vote in favor of the

measures taken by the retailing nation? Why or why not?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged International Business, MBA, MBA Case

Studies, MBA Exercise |24 Comments

Business Communication – 1 Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

Following are the cases that i have faced in my exam, you can go through it for your

practice. If you need any help or assistance please reach me on sk1242@hotmail.com

CASE NO. 1

How to Proofread like a Pro :

Tips for creating the Perfect Document

You‘ve carefully revised and polished your document, and it‘s been sent off to the word-

processing department or a designer to be put into final form. You can breathe a sigh of

relief, but only for the moment : You‘ll still be proofreading what comes out of the

printer. To ensure that any document is error-free, always proofread the final version.

Following are some hints to help make your proofreading more effective.

Multiple passes – Go through the

document several times, focusing on

a different aspect each time. The

first pass might be to look for

omissions and errors in content; the

second pass could be for layout,

spacing, and other aesthetic features;

a final pass might be to check for

typographical, grammatical, and

spelling errors.

Perceptual tricks – Your brain

has been trained to ignore

transposed letters, improper

capitalization, and misplaced

punctuation. Try (1) reading each

page from the bottom to the top

(starting at the last word in each line,)

(2) Placing your finger under each

word and reading it silently, (3)

making a slit in a sheet of paper that

reveals only one line of type at a

time, and (4) reading the document

aloud and pronouncing each word

carefully.

Impartial reviews – Have a friend

or colleague proofread the document

for you. Others are likely to catch

mistakes that you continually fail to

notice. (All of us have blind spots

when it comes to reviewing our own

work)

Typos – Look for the most

common typographical errors (typos):

transposition (such as teb),

substitution (such as economic), and

omission (such as productivity)

Mechanics – When looking for

errors in spelling, grammar,

punctuation, and capitalization, if

you‘re unsure about something, look

it up in a dictionary, a usage book, or

another reference work.

Accuracy – Double –check the

spelling of names and the accuracy

of dates, addresses, and all numbers

(quantities ordered, prices, and so

on). It would not do to order 500

staples when you want only 50.

Distance – If you have time, set

the document aside and proofread it

the next day.

Vigilance – Avoid reading large

amounts of material in one sitting,

and try not to proofread when you‘re

tired.

Focus – Concentrate on what

you‘re doing. Try to block out

distractions, and focus as completely

as possible on your proofreading

task.

Caution – Take your time. Quick

proofreading is not careful

proofreading.

Proofreading may require patience, but it adds creditability to your document.

Career Applications :

1. What qualities does a person need to be a good proofreader ? Are such

qualities inborn, or can they be learned ?

2. Proofread the following sentence :

application of these methods in stores in San Deigo nd Cinncinati have resulted

in a 30 drop in robberies an a 50 percent decling in violence there, according at

the developers if the security system, Hanover brothrs, Inc.

CASE NO. 2

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS ALL AROUND

THE WORLD

―He wouldn‘t look me in the eye. I found it disconerting that he kept looking all over the

room but rarely at me,‖ said Barbara Walters after her interview with Libya‘s Colonel

Muammar al-Qadhafi. Like many people in the United States, Walters was associating

eye contact with trustworthiness, so when Qadhafi withheld eye contact, she felt

uncomfortable. In fact Qadhafi was paying Walters a compliment. In Libya, not looking

conveys respect, and looking straight at a woman is considered nearly as serious as

physical assault.

Nonverbal communication varies widely between cultures, even between subcultures,

and the differences strongly affect communication in the workplace. Whether you‘re

trying to communicate with your new Asian American assistant, the Swedish managers

who recently bought out your company, the African American college student who won

a summer internship with your firm, or representatives from the French company you

hope will buy your firm‘s new designs, your efforts will depend as much on physical

cues as on verbal ones. Most Americans aren‘t usually aware of their own nonverbal

behavior, so they have trouble understanding the body language of people from other

cultures. The list of differences is endless.

In Thailand it‘s rude to place your

arm over the back of a chair in which

another person is sitting.

Finnish female students are

horrified by Arab girls who want to

walk hand in hand with them.

Canadian listeners nod to signal

agreement.

Japanese listeners nod to

indicate only that they have

understood.

British listeners stare at the

speaker, blinking their eyes to

indicate understanding.

People in the United States are

taught that it‘s impolite to stare.

Saudis accept foreigners in

Western business attire but are

offended by tight – fitting clothing and

by short sleeves.

Spaniards indicate a receptive

friendly handshake by clasping the

other person‘s forearm to form a

double handshake.

Canadians consider touching any

part of the arm above the hand

intrusive, except in intimate

relationships.

It may take years to adjust your nonverbal communication to other

cultures, but you can choose from many options to help you prepare. Books and

seminars on cultural differences are readily available, as are motion pictures showing a

wide range of cultures. You can always rent videos of films and TV shows from other

countries. Examining the illustrations in news and business magazines can give you an

idea of expected business dress and personal space. Finally, remaining flexible and

interacting with people from other cultures who are visiting or living in your country will

go a long way toward lowering the barriers presented by nonverbal communication.

Career Applications :

1. Explain how watching a movie from another country might help you prepare

to interpret nonverbal behavior from that culture correctly.

2. One of your co-workers is originally from Saudi Arabia. You like him, and the

two of you work well together. However, he stands so close when you speak with

him that it makes you very uncomfortable. Do you tell him of your discomfort, or

do you try to cover it up ?

CASE NO. 3

MASTERING THE ART OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

To become better writers, people need to be evaluated, but taking criticism

from others is often difficult. The way you tell someone ― You did it wrong‖ can destroy

goodwill and cooperation, or it can build the relationship and help the person learn from

the mistake, improve performance, and retain self-esteem. To criticize more

constructively, follow these suggestions :

Get all the facts first : Don‘t

accept hearsay or rumors.

Find out specifically who did or said what, when, where, why, and how

Don‘t act in haste : Never act

while you‘re angry. Think things out

before you write or speak, and then

explain your criticism calmly,

rationally, and objectively.

Phrase your remarks

impersonally : Criticize the mistake,

not the person. Focus your remarks

on the action only, and analyze it

thoughtfully.

Never criticize in an offhand

manner : Treat the situation

seriously. Take the time to state the

problem in detail, explaining what

was wrong and why.

Avoid an abusive tone :

Ridiculing someone, talking down to

a person, or using sarcasm prevents

people from accepting what you have

to say.

Make the offense clear : Don‘t

talk in generalities. Be specific about

exactly what was done wrong.

Preface the criticism with a kind

word or a compliment : Start with a

few words of praise or admiration,

saying how much you value the

person. First the good news, then

the bad.

Supply the answer : Explain how

to do things right. Don‘t dwell on the

mistake, emphasize how to correct it

and how to avoid repeating it.

Ask for cooperation : Don‘t

demand cooperation. Asking makes

the person feel like a team member

and provides an incentive to improve.

Limit yourself to one criticism for

each offense : Don‘t dredge up or

rehash past mistakes. Focus on the

current problem.

End on a friendly note : Don‘t

conclude by leaving things up in the

air, to be discussed again latter.

Settle them now, and make the close

friendly. Give the other person a pat

on the back. Let the last memory of

the matter be a good one.

Forgive and forget : Once the

criticism has been made, let the

person start with a clean slate. Avoid

looking for more mistakes, and give

the person a chance to improve.

Take steps to prevent a

recurrence : Follow up to make sure

the person is acting on your

suggestions and doing things right.

If you follow these guidelines, constructive criticism can benefit you, your company, and

– most important – the person you‘re criticizing.

Career Applications :

1. Think back over the lessons you’ve learned in life. How did you benefit from

some one telling you the truth about something you were doing wrong ?

2. With a partner, role-play a situation in which one of you is the boss and the

other an employee. The boss is angry because the employee repeatedly arrives

late for work, takes long lunches, and leaves 5 to 10 minutes early. However, the

employee’s work is always excellent. After the role-play, analyze what the boss

did right and what could be improved.

CASE NO. 4

WHAT YOU MAY LEGALLY SAY IN A SALES LETTER

As you prepare to write your sales letter, think carefully about your choice

of words. False or misleading statements could land you in court, so make sure your

language complies with legal and ethical standards. To keep your sales letters within

the limits of the law, review the legal considerations of these typical sales phrases :

―Our product is the best on the

market.‖ – This statement is

acceptable for a sales letter because

the law permits you to express an

opinion about your product. In the

process of merchandising a product,

statements of opinion are known as

―puffery,‖ which is perfectly legal as

long as you make no deceptive or

fraudulent claims.

―Our product will serve you well

for many years to come.‖ This

statement from a sales brochure

triggered a lawsuit by a disgruntled

customer who claimed the

manufacturer‘s product lasted only a

few years. The courts ruled that the

statement was an acceptable form of

puffery because the manufacturer did

not promise that the product would

last for a specific number of years.

―We‘re so confident you‘ll enjoy

our products that we‘ve enclosed a

sample of our most popular line. This

sample can be yours for only $5.00!

Please send your payment in the

enclosed, prepaid envelope.‖ If you

include a product sample with your

sales letter, your readers may keep

the merchandise without paying for

it. Under the law, consumers may

consider unordered goods as gifts.

They are not obligated to return the

items to you or submit payments for

unsolicited merchandise

―Thousands of high school

students – just like you – are already

enjoying this fantastic CD collection !

Order before March 1 and save !‖ If

your sales letter appeals to minors,

you are legally obligated to honour

their contracts. At the same time,

however, the law permits minors to

cancel their contracts and return the

merchandise to you. Sellers are

legally obligated to accept contracts

voided by minors and any goods

returned by them. Legal adult status

is defined differently from state to

state, ranging from age 18 to age 21.

―You‘ll find hundreds of bargains

at our annual scratch and dent‘ sale!

All sales are final on merchandise

marked as is.‖ When you use the

term as is in your sales letter, you are

not misleading customers about the

quality of your products. By warning

consumers that the condition of sales

items is less than perfect, you are not

legally obligated to issue refunds to

customers who complain about

defects later on.

Career Applications :

1. Review two sales letters for content. List the ―Puffery‖ statements in each

letter.

2. Note any statements in these sales letters that appear questionable to you.

Rewrite one of the statements, carefully choosing words that won’t be misleading

to consumers.

CASE NO. 5

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS WITH ONLINE REPORTING

Mrs. Fields uses them. Mrs. Paul‘s uses them. However, you don‘t have to be in the

cookie or fish business to work with electronic reports. More and more companies are

adopting electronic reports over hard-copy reports to keep employees, managers,

investors, and other stakeholders informed.

Computerized cash registers in Mrs. Fields cookie outlets are the heart of a

sophisticated reporting system for monitoring and controlling operations. Rather than

taking the time to write reports by hand, store managers enter data into the computer

system by following report formats on their screen. Then they electronically transmit

these reports to corporate headquarters in Park City, Utah. The computer system also

serves as a two-way communication device, allowing store and corporate personnel to

send messages back and forth in seconds. So Mrs. Fields corporate managers can

quickly receive the information they need in order to track sales and productivity trends

– and to spot potential problems – in more than 700 outlets around the world.

At Mrs. Paul‘s a computerized reporting system allows production managers to

continuously monitor and control the yield from the company‘s fish – processing

operation. The system calculates the production yield using the weight of the fish

before it‘s processed, the weight if abt scraosm and the weight of the finished fish

meals. If the reports show that the actual yield drops below the expected yield, the

managers can immediately adjust the equipment to improve the yield. The production

managers have instant access to electronic reports at each stage of the operation, so

they can find and fix problems more quickly than if they had to wait for printed reports.

FedEx, the well-known package-shipping firm, uses extensive satellite and computer

technologies to track the location of every package in the company‘s system.

Customers can then access electronic reports to monitor the status of their shipments at

any time. This tracking system not only helps the company serve its customers better,

but it puts valuable information in the hands of customers with a click of the mouse. Like

many companies, FedEx posts an electronic copy of its annual report and other

corporate informational reports at its website.

As Mrs. Fields, Mrs. Pauls, FedEx, and other companies know, keeping customers,

employees, investors, and other stakeholders informed with electronic reports is the

only way to do business in the global workplace.

Career Applications

1. What advantages and disadvantages do you see in asking store managers at

Mrs. Fields to file electronic troubleshooting reports immediately on the

company’s intranet ?

2. What kinds of electronic reports might a company want to post on its

website ?

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged BC, Business Communication, MBA, MBA

Case Studies, MBA Exercise | 25 Comments

Software Management – 1 Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

Following are the questions that i have faced in my exam… if you need any assistance

in working out these questions you can mail me onsk1242@hotmail.com

1. You have been appointed a Project manager for a major software products

company. Your job is to manage the development of the next generation version of its

widely used word-processing software. Because new revenue must be generated, tight

deadlines have been established and announced. What team structure would you

choose and why? What software process model(s) would you choose and why?

2. You have been asked to develop a small application that analyzes each course

offered by a university and reports the average grade obtained in the course (for a given

term). White a statement of scope that bounds this problem.

3. Use the COCOMO II Model I to estimate the effort required to build software for a

simple ATM that produces 12 screens, 10 reports, and will require approximately 80

software components, Assume average complexity and average developer/environment

maturity. Use the application composition model with object points.

4. Develop a spreadsheet model that implements one or two of the estimation

techniques described in this chapter. Alternatively, a acquire one or more on-line

models for software project estimation from web-based sources.

5. A system has 12 external inputs, 24 external outputs, fields 30 different external

queries, manages 4 internal logical files, and interfaces with 6 different legacy systems

(6 EIFs). All of these data are of average complexity, and the overall system is

relatively simple. Compute FP for the system.

6. Give at least three examples in which black-box testing might give the impression

that everything‘s OK, while white vox tests might uncover an error. Give at least three

examples in which white-box testing might give the impression that ―everything‘s OK,‖

while black-box tests might uncover an error.

Posted in MBA Study Material | Tagged MBA, MBA Case Studies, MBA

Exercise, Software managemet | 9 Comments

Difference between LOAD, STRESS

and VOLUME Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eskay

I have read lot of stuff on this topic… according to my experience it takes atleast 15

minutes to 1 hour to read and understand this.

Here you can understand this in minimum of 2 minutes and maximum of 5 minutes.

LOAD TESTING:

Testing an application or a software under heavy but expected loads is known as Load

Testing.

Example: In load testing if there are 200 users defined i.e. load for the extent an

application can bear then the load is increased only to this extent.

STRESS TESTING:

Testing an application or a software under unusual loads is known as Stress Testing.

Example: In load testing if there are 200 users defined i.e. load for the extent an

application can bear then the load is increased more than 200 and check at which point

application starts to degrade or stop working.

VOLUME TESTING:

Testing an application or a software by entering the variety of data in the system. The

maximum data at which system starts to degrade.

By this we can conclude…

- LOAD TESTING is a way to test PERFORMANCE of application.

- STRESS TESTING is a way to test RELIABILITY of application.

- VOLUME TESTING is a way to test FUNCTIONALITY of application.

I hope this quick overview was helpful to you.

Posted in Manual Testing, Software Testing | Tagged Difference between LOAD

STRESS and VOLUME,Load Testing, Performance Testing, Stress Teting, Volume

Testing | 3 Comments

Rush 2 RUN WAY-9 Posted on May 24, 2010 by Eskay

Posted in MY DEN | Tagged Alla Rajesh Kumar, Bharath Bujja, Eskay, Giridhar

Govindu, Kamal Mohan,Nithin Mohan TK, Srikanth Koushal, Srikanth Koushal Vuppari

| 2 Comments

Don’t mess with these GUYZzz… Posted on May 24, 2010 by Eskay

Posted in MY DEN | Tagged Alla Rajesh Kumar, Bharath Bujja, Bharath Kumar

Bujja, Eskay, Giridhar Govindu, Giridhar Marri, Kamal, Kamal Mohan, Kamal Mohan

Bujja, Rajesh Alla, Rajesh Kumar Alla,Sampath Yelamanchili, Sateesh Kumar

Poojari, Srikanth Koushal, Srikanth Koushal Vuppari, Vamshi Kethineni, Vamsi

Kethineni | Leave a comment

Software BABA’s Posted on May 24, 2010 by Eskay

Posted in MY DEN | Tagged Alla Rajesh Kumar, Chandra Baba, Chandra

Gongati, Chandra Sekhar Gongati, Chandra Shekhar Gongati, Gongati Chandra

Sekhar, Gongati Chandra Shekhar, Rajesh Baba, Rajesh Kumar Alla, Software Baba

| Leave a comment

Tecra guys rokzzz…! Posted on February 26, 2009 by Eskay

Posted in MY DEN | Tagged Eskay, Nani, QA, SK, Skay, Software Engineer, Software

Test Engineer,Srikanth, Srikanth Koushal, Srikanth Koushal Vuppari, Srikanth Sushith

Koushal, Srikanth Sushith Koushal Vuppari, Srikanth V, Srikanth Vuppari, Tecra, Tecra

group, Tecra Guys, Tecra Heros, Tecra Systems, Tecra Systems Private Limited, Tecra

Systems Pvt Ltd, Test Engineer, Vuppari, Vuppari's | 1 Comment

Future Days…!

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Eskay

Posted in MY DEN | Tagged Eskay, Nani, QA, SK, Skay, Software Engineer, Software

Test Engineer,Srikanth, Srikanth Koushal, Srikanth Koushal Vuppari, Srikanth Sushith

Koushal, Srikanth Sushith Koushal Vuppari, Srikanth V, Srikanth Vuppari, Tecra, Tecra

Systems, Test Engineer, Vuppari, Vuppari's| Leave a comment

Ullasanga… Uthsahanga… Posted on February 19, 2009 by Eskay

Posted in MY DEN | Tagged Bujja, Bujja's, Dagam, Eskay, Kamal, Kamal

Mohan, Kamal Mohan Bujja,Nani, QA, Raji, Raji Rajashekaran, Shiva, Shiva

Kumar, SK, Skay, Software Engineer, Software Test Engineer, Srikanth, Srikanth

Koushal, Srikanth Koushal Vuppari, Srikanth Sushith Koushal, Srikanth Sushith Koushal

Vuppari, Srikanth V, Srikanth Vuppari, Tecra, Tecra Systems, Test

Engineer, Vuppari,Vuppari's | Leave a comment

How to Delete/Remove My Sharing

Folders from My Computer Posted on October 16, 2008 by Eskay

Windows Live allows you to share your data or files with your friends. We can‘t delete

this by selecting ‗Delete‘ option from mouse right click.

Windows Live My Sharing Folder

Here is the way to delete this shortcut permanently:

1. Start —> Run —> Type ‗regedit‘

(without single quotes)

2. Browse to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA

RE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersio

n\explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace

3. Delete this key: {FC9FB64A-

1EB2-4CCF-AF5E-1A497A9B5C2D}

Note: Don‘t forget by this just you deleted shortcut of ‗My Sharing Folders‘. If you want

to delete this feature completely from your system : C:\Documents and

Settings\admin\Local Settings\Application

Data\Microsoft\Messenger\YOUREMAIL\Sharing Folders

Another way who does not have technical knowledge:

1. Simply down load this zip

file: Remove/Restore My Sharing

Folder

2. Unzip it.

To Remove: Run ―RemoveMessengerSharingFolders.reg‖ to Remove ―My Sharing

Folder‖ (Double click on it to run this)

To Restore: Run ―RestoreMessengerSharingFolders.reg‖ to Restore ―My Sharing

Folder‖ (Double click on it to run this)

Posted in Tips and Tricks | Tagged Delete/Remove My Sharing Folders, Srikanth

Koushal, Windows Live | 1 Comment