Universities

Q.5 Case study
On December 14, 2012, French-Dutch airline, Air France KLM SA (Air France-KLM), announced an addition of €500 million (USD654 million) to its savings target for 2013-14, in an effort to match the margins of its competitors. This move was a crucial part of their Strategy Execution – On December specifically aimed at ensuring financial stability. Earlier in 2012, the airline had announced a plan for a €1.4 billion investment in 2013, followed by a further €1.6 billion investment in 2014 as part of its “Transform 2015” plan. However, with the new savings target, investment would be cut by €500 million, out of which Air France would contribute €300 million while the remaining €200 million would be cut from KLM’s budget.

After the changes, Air France-KLM’s capital expenditure would be €1.1 billion in 2013 and €1.4 billion in 2014. “This is a necessary reduction, but given the group’s younger fleet age versus competitors they have the flexibility to do it. The Transform plan is gathering pace and should be well on track to deliver,” said analyst Donal O’Neill at Goodbody Stockbrokers. Air France-KLM was formed through a merger of French and Dutch carriers in 2004. With sound financials in the initial years, the merged entity became an example of how a cross border merger could prove a success. However, from 2009, the company was struggling to remain competitive in the changing global aviation industry. In 2011, the company’s net debt was at €6.5 billion, €2 billion more than it had been the previous year. The
company also incurred a substantial operating loss for the fourth consecutive year in 2011. It attributed its deepening indebtedness to
increasing fuel costs, competition from low-cost airlines, and the aftereffects of the financial crisis. “We have been incapable of financing our investments for the past three years, as we don’t generate enough cash flow,” said Alexandre de Juniac (Juniac), CEO of Air France.

The company had announced the “Transform 2015” plan in January 2012. This included reducing unit costs by 10 percent and slashing €2 billion from its net debt by the end of 2014. The company also planned to cut some 5,000 odd jobs to turn around its short- and medium-haul business. Aviation experts welcomed the restructuring initiatives of Air France-KLM. However, they were worried about whether the company would be able to achieve the targets mentioned in “Transform 2015”. According to a Bank of America report published in March 2012, “the core structural longer-term issue of value destruction in this business remains unresolved”.

Strategy Execution – On December

On September 30, 2003, Air France and KLM announced their intention to merge through a public exchange offer. In May 2004, the two merged to form the largest European airline group, Air France-KLM. On May 5, 2004, Air France-KLM shares were listed for trading on the Euronext Paris and Amsterdam markets as well as on the New York Stock Exchange. Two days later, Air France was privatized following a transfer of the majority of its shares to the private sector, thus diluting the French government shareholding.

On September 15, 2004, the group’s organizational structure was finalized with the creation of the Air France-KLM holding company,
regrouping the two airline subsidiaries, Air France and KLM. The merger between Air France and KLM was a unique example, not only because it was a cross border merger, but also because two airlines with different cultures formed one company where both companies kept their brands alive by flying their planes under their respective names. In the initial years, the merger was considered a success story, because of early anticipation of the needs of consolidation in the European aviation industry. In 2007, the company completed its first phase of integration and became the best performing airline globally in terms of profitability. It was a global leader covering 240 destinations in 105 countries with its 900 aircraft. In the financial year 2006-07 ended March 31, 2007, Air France-KLM
generated revenues of € 23.1 billion, an increase of 7.6 percent year on year. However, the company started facing problems from 2008. The global financial crisis of 2008-09 affected the airline industry very badly. The industry responded by reducing capacity and cutting costs. In the financial year 2008-09, Air France-KLM reported revenues of €23.97 billion and an operating loss of €129 million. From then onward, the airline started struggling to improve its financials. In the financial year 2009-10, Air France-KLM reported a 15 percent decline in revenues to €21 billion, and an operating loss of €1.28 billion.

Strategy Execution – On December

In 2012, Air France-KLM continued to counter the effects of downturns in its domestic market as well as in several of its foreign markets: Japan, the Middle East, and North Africa. In France, the company was grappling with high costs due to increasing fuel prices. Moreover, weak economic growth due to Europe’s financial crisis aggravated the problems for the airline. On October 8, 2012, Air France-KLM and Etihad Airways signed an agreement to codeshare on flights across the airlines’ networks. The codeshare
agreement would allow both airlines to offer joint codes on destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. At the same time, Air France- KLM also announced another codeshare agreement with Air Berlin , in which Etihad Airways held a 29.21 percent stake

Question:
(4 × 5 = 20)

1. Analyze the problems faced by Air France-KLM
2. Evaluate the turnaround strategies adopted by the airline
3. Analyze the issues and challenges in transcontinental and cross-cultural alliances.
4. Analyze the future challenges of the airline and how these can be overcome.

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

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• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.4 Case study
In July 2013, Yasumori Ihara (Ihara), Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation was readying plans to bolster Toyota’s position in the emerging markets by expanding operations into Cambodia, Myanmar, and Kenya. According to Ihara, who was in charge of the company’s emerging markets business, “Compared with North America, Europe, or Japan, where buyers are mostly replacement buyers, it’s mostly first-time buyers in emerging markets. It’s where the future growth is.” This was a prime example of Strategy Execution – In July 2013.

The Japan-based Toyota was the world’s largest automaker with a presence in more than 170 countries. In March 2011, Toyota announced its ‘Global Vision’ in which emerging markets were given particular importance as part of its strategy. The company wanted to get 50% of its global sales from the rapidly growing emerging markets by 2015. The company considered China, Southeast Asia, India, and Brazil as its key emerging markets. In 2012, Toyota’s consolidated vehicle sales was 8.7 million units, out of which 3.7
million were sold in emerging countries. But in the second half of 2013, Toyota was facing intense competition from its rivals both in the developed as well as the emerging markets. The company had invested a huge amount in emerging markets, but key emerging markets were facing a lot of volatility and sluggish growth. There were concerns that these markets were no longer attractive enough. In addition to getting Toyota’s emerging markets strategy right, Ihara’s main responsibility was to reverse the disastrous sales decline in China, where consumers were boycotting Japanese-built cars due to diplomatic tensions over some disputed islands.

Strategy Execution – In July 2013

The global automotive market was highly competitive and competition was likely to intensify further with continuing globalization. The factors affecting competition included product quality and features, safety, reliability, fuel economy, the amount of time required for innovation and development, pricing, customer service, and financing terms. With growing economies and a low vehicle penetration rate, emerging markets were considered as the key source of growth for the global automobile industry. According to the International Monetary Fund, between 1988 and 2011, while the developed markets’ of global GDP declined from 61% to 49%. Toyota’s presence in the emerging markets dated back to the 1960s when it used to sell vehicles in markets like Taiwan, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, and China. In the initial years, Toyota was mostly exporting vehicles from Japan to these countries as it only had production facilities in Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand. During the 1970s, Toyota started producing multipurpose vehicles in th Philippines and Indonesia as families in these two countries tended to be large and therefore vehicles that could be used both for business and family were preferred. In 1976, Toyota launched the Tamaraw in the Philippines followed by the Kijang in Indonesia in 1977. In the 1980s, Toyota started producing vehicles in Taiwan and Malaysia followed by India in the 1990s. By the 2000s, Toyota had production facilities in all these emerging markets. In an effort to increase its presence in the emerging markets,
Toyota began strengthening its supply system in the emerging markets and increasing localization. During the 2000s, the company set up a local parts distribution network and a supply chain to provide greater autonomy to affiliates in the emerging markets.

Strategy Execution – In July 2013

Toyota’s presence in South East Asia dated back to the 1950s. By 2012, Toyota had 14 production companies in Thailand, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries. Under the Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle (IMV) project launched in 2004, Thailand and Indonesia became Toyota’s global production centers. By 2012, Toyota was the market leader in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, and Vietnam. The IMV Project was intended to create an efficient production and distribution structure for pick-up trucks and multipurpose vehicles to meet the needs of consumers globally. Toyota applied the ‘genchi genbutsu’ approach to observe and analyze the needs of each region and the types of vehicles used in those regions to develop and
introduce IMVs. The IMV project included manufacturing diesel engines in Thailand, gasoline engines in Indonesia, and manual transmissions in the Philippines and India. The IMV project adopted a leaner development process based on a common platform, and developed five vehicles: three pickup trucks, a minivan, and an SUV, especially developed in 2004 for launch in over 140 countries.

Though Toyota was still the #1 automaker in mid-2013, its position was coming under threat from a resurgent GM and Ford in the US market. Competition was catching up in the hybrid car market too. In its home market, the company was hit hard in late 2012, after government incentives for consumers to buy fuel-efficient models expired. In 2013, the Yen declined more than 12% against the dollar. In emerging markets, Toyota had to contend with intense competition from other Japanese companies such as Nissan, Honda, and Suzuki, some of which had managed to entrench themselves in key emerging markets. Companies such as GM and Germany based
Volkwagen were also pushing ahead with their own emerging strategies.

In 2008 and 2009, analysts were expecting emerging markets to become a safe haven for investors, considering the recession in the US and Europe post the global financial crisis. But as of 2013, while developed economies seemed to be strengthening, the emerging markets had underperformed in the previous couple of years. Analysts were also concerned about the vulnerability of the emerging markets which reacted strongly to modest changes in the world economy. In mid-2013, many emerging markets were
struggling with rapid depreciation of their currencies. Countries such as Brazil, India, South Africa, and Indonesia were among the worst affected.

Strategy Execution – In July 2013

Between May and September of 2013, while the Indian Rupee fell by 21%, the Brazilian Real fell by 17%, followed by the Indonesian Rupiah (15%), the Thailand Baht (8%), and the Russian Ruble (6%). Central banks in key markets like Brazil and India were working frantically to prop up their currencies.

As of mid-2013, Toyota pursued the emerging market strategy with Asia as its ‘second mother base’. According to Toyota’s Global Vision, the company aimed to implement its IMV Project strategy in the emerging markets by continuing to fortify its core models along with new hybrid models. It would also strengthen its production and supply bases, and enhance its cost competitiveness by 100% localized procurement.

Question:
(4 × 5 = 20)

Give your suggestion for better marketing strategy.

Analyze the automobile industry in emerging markets and discuss and debate whether automakers should focus on these markets.

Evaluate the strategies adopted by Toyota to increase its presence i emerging markets.

Discuss ways in which Toyota could get its emerging markets strategy right and bolster its position further in emerging markets.

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.3 Case study
Starbucks Growth Strategy
In 1971, three academics, English Teacher Jerry Baldwin, History Teacher Zel Siegel and writer Gordon Bowker opened Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice in Touristy Pikes Place Market in Seattle. The strategy execution – in 1971 by the three founders was inspired by entrepreneur Alfred Peet (whom they knew personally) to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment. The store did not offer fresh brewed coffee by the cup, but tasting samples were sometimes available. Siegel will wore a grocers apron, scooped out beans for customers while the other two kept their day jobs but came by at lunch or after work to help out. The store was an immediate success, with sales exceeding expectations, partly because of interest stirred by the favorable article in Seattle Times.

Starbucks ordered its coffee-bean from Alfred Peet but later on the thr partners bought their own used roaster setting up roasting operations in a nearby ramshackle building and developed their own blends and flavors. By the year 1980s the company had four Starbucks Stores in Seattle area and had been profitable every year. Later on, Siegel left the company and Jerry Baldwin took over day-to-day management of the company. Gordon Bowker remained as an owner but devoted most of his time in his Design Firm. In 1981, Howard Schultz, the vice president of U.S operations for Swedish Maker of stylish kitchen equipment and coffeemakers decided to
pay Starbucks a visit. He was curious about why Starbucks was selling so many of his company products. He was impressed with the company management and the quality products the make.

Schultz asked Baldwin whether there was any way he could fit into Starbucks and it took long time to decide his request. He tried many times till one day he was given a job of heading marketing and overseeing the retail stores. Howard Schultz spent most of his working hours in the four stores learning the retail aspects of the company business; Schultz was overflowing with ideas for the company. His biggest inspiration and vision for Starbucks future came during 1983 when the company sent him for an international house wares show to Milan, Italy. There he spotted an espresso bar and went to take a coffee. He was impressed with the coffeehouse services and
decided to stay at Milan for a week to explore all coffee bars and learned as much as he could about the Italian passion for coffee drinks. He made a decision to serve fresh brewed coffee, espressos, and cappuccinos in its stores and try to create an American version of Italian coffee bar culture. He shared his idea with Baldwin and it took nearly a year to convince Jerry Baldwin to let him test an espresso bar. In April 1984, the first espresso bar was opened and it was a successful too. Yet Baldwin felt something is wrong. After Schultz failed to convince Baldwin for the expansion of business, he left Starbucks in 1985. Schultz started the “Il Giornale” coffee bar chain in 1985 and the coffeehouse was very successful. In 1987 Starbucks owner Jerry Baldwin and Bowker decide to sell the whole Starbucks chain to Schultz’s Il Giornale, which rebranded the Il Giornale outlets as Starbucks and quickly began to expand. Starbucks opened it’s first locations outside Seattle at Waterfront Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chicago, Illinois, that same year. At the time of its initial public offering on the stock market in 1992, Starbucks had grown to 165 outlets. In 2009 The Company plans to open a net of 900 new stores outside of the United States.

Today, Starbucks coffee shops and Kiosks can be found in a variety of shopping centers, office buildings, bookstores, and other outlets. Starbucks is capitalizing on taste changes that predate the company’s founding. In the early 1960’s, American adults consumed on an average of three cups of coffee each day. Today, consumption has declined to less than two cups, with only half of American adults as coffee drinkers. During this time decaffeinated coffee sales soared. In addition, a new category of intensely loyal coffee drinkers was born. This group of adults consumes “specialty” or “premium” coffees, including regular and decaffeinated versions with a variety of origins and flavors. Sales of specialty coffee have climbed from about $45 million annually to more than $2 billion today, accounting, for
about 20 percent of all coffee sales. Because Starbucks markets whole beans and coffee beverages, its competition comes from two distinct groups of firms. A number of regional coffee manufacturers distribute premium coffees in local markets, while several large national coffee manufacturers such as Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, and Kraft General Foods market and distribution specialty coffees
in supermarkets. Coffee beverages are distributes by restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee retailers. Seattle’s Best Coffee is a fierce competitor. Chairman Howard Schultz projects that Starbucks will grow from its present 6,000 stores to more than 20,000, 75 percent of which are in the Unites States. The company added 280 intentional locations in 2001 and is targeting an additional 650 stores in Europe by 2004 and 900 locations in Latin America predominantly Mexico by 2005, Starbucks is also moving into China. Retail stores account for more than 80 percent of revenues, with specialty operations accounting for the remainder.

Question:
(5 × 4 = 20)

1. What are some of the challenges associated with Starbucks aggressive growth strategy?
2. Could an unanticipated change in coffee consumption patterns disrupt Starbucks in the same way that it paved the way for the company’s growth in the 1980s?
3. What problems might arise from Starbucks’ efforts to expand rapidly into nations such as India?
4. Comment on the pricing strategies of Starbucks.
5. How would you see the competition of Starbucks in India, with players like Costa Coffee?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.1 Case study
Discourse Analysis
Bill Corwin was employed by a large bank for several years. He started as a messenger, and then was assigned to a branch. He progressed in this branch from a bookkeeping clerk to a platform assistant. In this position he had a variety of duties largely centring on administrative assistance to the officers of the branch The bank’s many branches were divided regionally, each region having a group of officers responsible for the branches in that region. Bill was transferred from the branch in which he had worked for 12 years to a
branch in another region. At the time of his transfer he was told that the branch was completely “run down” as to operational procedures and systems. The branch had a normal complement of 4 officers and 35 staff members. One month prior to Bill’s transfer, one of the four officers had retired, and two weeks after this retirement the branch manager was hospitalized with serious illness. When Bill arrived at his new assignment, he found a rather demoralized situation. Complete lack of interest was shown by two remaining officers and the rest of the staff was not properly trained or disciplined. The two officers did not know Bill, and they were
informed by the regional office that he was being assigned to the branch as a platform replacement for only two weeks, focusing on improving strategy execution.

During his first week at the branch Bill discovered that the senior clerks were not qualified to train other staff members, customer complaints were rampant, there was both a record of excessive absenteeism and excessive overtime, and the branch had received very poor audit report by the bank’s internal auditors with the same major exception reported on the previous four audits. For effective strategy execution, Bill Corwin identified these issues and started planning solutions.

After two weeks Bill was called to the regional office and offered the job of operations officer. He was told that he would receive the official title in two months. He was also told that the present operations officer, who had held the job at this branch for seven years, was to be relieved of all operational responsibilities and that he would be instructed to work with Bill until the branch was functioning effectively. Bill returned to the branch and started on his assignment. He found the former operations officer cooperative for about one week. Bill then decided to go ahead without the help of the former operations officer. Over the next three months he worked almost every night until 8:00 or 9:00p.m. He tried to correct the problem that had developed over several years. The training of employees involved considerable time, and he found it necessary to release 12 clerks who were causing trouble in various ways. Implementing strategy execution, Bill finally saw improvements. The remaining staff and replacements started to function smoothly. He received his title as promised. Then the branch manager returned to work after his prolonged illness. A week after his returned, he called Bill to his office and questioned his efforts in this branch. He told Bill
that the former operations officer had mentioned that he was an upsetting influence in the branch, had fired several good people, did not know his job, and that he left his job early several days a week.

Questions
(4 × 5 = 20)

Do you believe that Bill can function effectively as a manager in this branch?

If you were Bill, how would you answer the branch manager about his strategy execution?

Did the regional office handle Bill’s transfer properly?

What should be done by the regional office now to support Bill Corwin’s strategy execution?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.4 Case study
BigBasket.com (BigBasket), an online grocery store in India, saw a 900% surge in orders within a span of one month in April 2020. This was during a time when the entire country was under complete lockdown to curb the spread of the deadly Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 was spreading across the globe like wildfire from the beginning of the year 2020. Since it was a contagious disease with no treatment in sight, there were global restraints on travel and any kind of movement. The first case of COVID-19 in India was reported in January 2020. By March 2020, India was well in the grip of the deadly virus. The Indian government sprang
into action and declared lockdowns and curbs on travel. Initially, the lockdown was declared for 21 days, ending on April 14, 2020. But it was extended several times. The lockdown, however, allowed essential services including delivery of medicines and groceries to function. This case study examines Operations Management – BigBasket.com strategies during this unprecedented time.

The year 2020 was marked by a pandemic that affected the entire world. COVID-19 spread to almost every country across the globe. By May 06, 2020, more than 3 million people had been affected globally by the virus and there were 258,394 reported deaths. India reported 49,436 people infected and 1,695 deaths.

COVID-19 was a communicable disease caused by the coronavirus. People infected with the virus experienced respiratory illness. Covid-19 was closely related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which had caused havoc in several countries earlier. COVID-19 was different from SARS and MERS in that the scope of disease was wide. Around 80% of people had mild symptoms whereas there were also many infected people who showed no signs of the infection. This made it difficult to control the spread of the disease.

By May 2020, the total number of people affected globally by COVID-19 was 4,943,000 and 6.5% of them were reported to have died. On January 30, 2020, India’s first COVID-19 case was reported. The infected person was a student from Kerala who was studying at Wuhan University and had come home for the vacations. Initially, the virus was detected only among those who had returned from China. But soon people with a travel history to Europe also started reporting the disease as the virus had several European nations in its grip. Experts believed that lockdowns were an effective way to curb the spread of COVID-19 but there were also concerns regarding the lack of preparations regarding the supply of food, medicine, and other essential items under the lockdown. Since there was no
prior information about the lockdown, supply chains were broken, leading to concerns regarding the livelihoods of many people. BigBasket, an online grocery delivery service in India, was launched in the year 2011 by VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh, and Abhinay Choudhari. Headquartered in Bengaluru, its key investors included Alibaba, Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Abraaj Group, and LionRock Capital. The convenience and wide range of products that came with online shopping helped BigBasket in increasing its customer base. It also introduced services like BBDaily which worked like a subscription service for daily delivery of eggs, milk, bread, and other essentials. Through robust operations management, BigBasket.com ensured timely deliveries despite the challenges.

Its major competitors included Amazon, Grofers, and Flipkart. BigBasket decided to suspend its services from March 24, 2020, after many of its delivery executives complained about being beaten up by police as well as harassed by some local goons. On March 25, 2020, BigBasket put up a notification on its website stating, “Dear customer, we are not operational due to restrictions imposed by local authorities on the movement of goods in spite of clear guidelines provided by central authorities to enable essential services. We are working with the authorities to be back soon to improve Operations Management – BigBasket.com.” With the threat of the virus looming large, there were lockdowns across the country and humongous uncertainty on what the turn of events would be, going ahead. With so much uncertainty, people resorted to doing everything from bulk buying (Exhibit III) to online shopping (Exhibit IV) to ensure their safety and to brace themselves up for difficult times. Due to the surge in demand and some governmental restrictions, BigBasket had a huge backlog of orders. It needed more delivery executives to clear the backlog. The delivery executives of BigBasket stated that the company was toiling to gather resources to drive vehicles and to bring goods from warehouses, which is crucial in operations management – BigBasket.com during such crises.
Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)

Elaborate use of business process re-engineering to manage a crisis.

What are the importances of supply chain collaboration?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.3 Case study
ABC Ltd. is the country’s largest manufacturer of spun yarn with well established market. ABC Ltd. has good reputation for quality and service. Their marketing department identified that the potential for global market is expanding rapidly and hence the company undertook exercise for expansion of the capacity for export market. This significant growth required a thorough review of Operations Management practices at ABC Ltd.

The company formed team of Marketing and Materials department to study the global logistics possibilities. After extensive study, the team came up with a report on global logistics and submitted that global logistics is essentially same as domestic due to following similarities:

• The conceptual logistics framework of linking supply sources, plants, warehouses and customers is the same.
• Both systems involve managing the movement and storage of products.
• Information is critical to effective provision of customer service, management of inventory, vendor product and cost control.
• The functional processes of inventory management, warehousing, order processing, carrier selection, procurement, and vendor payment are required for both.
• Economic and safety regulations exist for transportation. The company had very economical and reliable transportation system in
  existence. For exports as well they decided to evaluate capabilities of their existing transporter and entrusted them with the job of transport till port.
  For customs formalities they engaged a good CHA after proper cost evaluation and entered into contract for freight with shipping company agent. The team ensured that Operations Management aspects for ABC Ltd were properly addressed.
  The response for company’s export was very good and the company could get as many as 15 customers within first two months and reached to a level of USD 250,000 per month by the end of first half of the year. Based on this response the export volumes were expected to grow to a level of USD 400,000 per month by the end of the year. When the review was made at the end of the year, company found that export volumes had in fact come down to the level of USD 120,000 which was much lower than it had reached in the first half of the year.

The managing committee had an emergency meeting to discuss this and the export manager was entrusted with the task of identifying the reasons for this decline. Mr. Ganesh decided to visit the customers for getting the first hand information. When he discussed the matter with the customers, the feedback on the quality and price were good but the customers were very upset on the logistic services due to delayed shipments, frequent changes in shipping schedules, improper documentation, improper identifications, package sizes, losses due to transit damages etc.

After coming back, the export manager checked the dispatch schedules and found that production and ex-works schedules were all proper. Then he studied the logistics systems and found that the logistics cost was very high and all the logistics people were de motivated due to overwork and were complaining of total lack of co-ordination and the system had become totally disorganized. This highlighted flaws in the Operations Management framework of ABC Ltd.

Questions:
(10 × 2 = 20)

1. Explain the problems experienced by ABC Ltd. What is the main cause of these problems?
2. What logistics model should the company go for to ensure proper operations of the company?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis. Reach out for more insights into Operations Management – ABC Ltd.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.2 Case study
ABC Ltd. is a manufacturing company engaged in the manufacturing of valves. They have been in the business for last 3 years and have been manufacturing only one type of valves. They started their business initially with sales of 10,000 valves per month and now they have grown the volume to about 50,000 valves per month. They have been buying all the raw material for the valve and were doing all the manufacturing in house. Now they have established themselves in the market and are planning to expand and produce different varieties of valves. They have their plant in the main city and the total area of the plant is 50,000 sq. ft. Now if they want to expand and continue doing all the activities of manufacturing of all the varieties in house, they would need another 50,000 sq.ft. of the area. In the
recent times, the land prices in the area have more than doubled in the last 3 years and still land is available with great difficulty. Mr. Mohan is the production head of ABC Ltd. and has been successful with the production and the level is continuously increasing. But in recent times, he is facing the problem of quality complaints which have gone up from average 0.2 % in previous 2 years to 0.5 % this year. Also, he is finding that there is a high level of dissatisfaction among the workers regarding workload as well as salary levels. The workers are regularly complaining about the over work while dealing with operations management.

Although, Mr. Mohan has found that the workers have been spending lot of time on tea breaks, lunch breaks and even in between the production spending lot of time talking to each other. But, due to insufficient workers and staff, he is unable to take strict action and the workers are taking advantage of this situation. For completing the work and delivering the products timely, he has to employ workers on overtime and his overtime cost has also increased 3 times. Mr. Mohan is worried about the new expansion plan of the management and is worried where the new workers would come from as he is already finding shortage of workers for the existing
job. He has requested the management not to go for expansion immediately and look at improving and consolidating the existing setup. He has sent his request to Mr. S. Kumar Director – Operations. Mr. Kumar has gone through the request of Mr. Mohan and called a meeting of all the department heads and explained the situation to all concerned. The marketing manager has expressed very bullish prospect about the company’s growth and said that the company should take advantage of growing economy and established brand image of the company and definitely go for expansion. The finance manager also expressed that this will result in economy of scale for the products and will further increase the profitability of the products. Mr. Mohan again expressed his problems regarding availability of manpower as well as production control and effect on quality and productivity.

The Marketing manager asked the Production manager about the option of outsourcing. Mr. Mohan is skeptical about the outsourcing option as he felt that the outside agency will always charge more as he will try to make his profit as well and also is worried about the possible problems of deliveries. Mr. Kumar asked Mr. Naresh who is the Purchase manager about his views. He said that since the suppliers would also be interested in doing the business, they would not like to delay as with delay they also incur loss. The Finance manager said that we can look at cost comparison for buying against in-house manufacturing – something crucial in operations management.

After listening to all the views, Mr. Kumar told Mr. Mohan to work out the cost of production for future sales as per the forecast given by the Marketing department. He also told Mr. Naresh to collect the details of the future requirements to get the purchase cost details for few components of the valve. This gathering of information is critical for operations management at ABC Ltd.

Mr. Mohan and Mr. Naresh have collected their data and they have presented the data in the meeting called by Mr. Kumar to review the plan. First the marketing head Mr. Suresh presented his market forecast and then Mr. Mohan presented his report and explained the details as follows. One supervisor with monthly salary of Rs. 5000 with expected increase of 10 % per year. Direct wages of worker as Rs. 4 per unit. With 10 % reduction in second year, no change in 3rd year and increase of 10 % every subsequent
year. Material cost of Rs. 14 per unit with an increase of 10 % every year. Power and fuel cost of Rs. 2 per unit with increase of 10 % every year. Indirect labor as 50 % of direct labor. They will have to buy a new machine with a cost of Rs. 50 lac. With usable life of 5 years. Mr. Naresh explained his details as follows: Component price from supplier at Rs. 20 for the first 2 years with an increase of 10 % every subsequent year. Transportation cost of Rs. 2 per unit for the first year with increase of Rs. 0.20 every subsequent year. Inventory cost (storage cost) as 5 % per year of the basic material cost. The Marketing manager has given the sales forecast for next 5 years as follows:

Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)

1. Based on this data, is it economical for ABC Ltd. to go for buying the product from the market or manufacturing in-house? Operations Management at ABC Ltd. should consider this carefully.
2. What other factors should ABC Ltd. look at for making this decision regarding operations management?

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Q.1 Case study
Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company OPPO featured in the famous SUPERFACTORIES series on National Geographic. With this, OPPO joined the league of companies like Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Apache Helicopters, Caterpillar, Tetrapak, and the precision operations of logistics giants like UPS that had featured in the SUPER FACTORIES series of National Geographic. On February 27, 2021, Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company OPPO featured in the famous Superfactories series on National Geographic. With this, it joined the league of companies like Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Apache Helicopters, Caterpillar, Tetrapak, and logistics giant UPS, which had featured in the series. The show featured OPPO’s manufacturing facility in India, focusing on its operations management influenced by Chinese practices, located in Greater Noida.

Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd . (OPPO) a smartphone manufacturing company headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong, China,had a presence in over 50 countries as of 2021. The company was founded in 2001 by Chen Mingyong and was incorporated in 2004 in China as a subsidiary company of BBK Electronics. In 2014, OPPO entered the Indian smartphone market. By expanding their Chinese operations management approach, it launched Oppo N1 – the world’s first smartphone to feature a swivel camera. Tom Lu, CEO, OPPO Mobiles India, said in 2015, “In our global expansion, India is a very key market for us primarily because we feel there is a huge potential to grow in the Indian smartphone market..

In 2015, OPPO announced that it would sell locally assembled mobile phones in India by October 2016. Thus, OPPO was following in the footsteps of other Chinese manufacturers, Xiaomi and Lenovo, which had manufacturing facilities in India. Foxconn, a contract manufacturer from Taiwan, would assemble the devices. With Chinese operations management tactics, the Superfactory was so diligently designed that it made sure no compromises were made in the speed of production or the quality of the product. The factory was categorized into four segments –Assembly, SMT (Surface Mount Technology).

OPPO was continuously pushing forward for innovations as a tool for its growth. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) stated that OPPO was among the top 10 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filers in 2019 and 2020. By March 31, 2021, OPPO had filed for over 61,000 patents and owned more than 26,000 granted patents globally. Among these, 54,000 were utility patents, accounting for 89% of all OPPO patent applications related to operations management in China.

Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)

Describe the success of OPPO as SuperFactory.

What are the importances of technological innovations for a business?

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Q.5 Case study
In 1980, Peter A, Horekens, marketing director for Kellog company, was faced with the problem of developing a market for ready-to-eat cereals in the Latin American region. Although Kellog had no competition in the ready-to eat cereal market in this region, they also had no market. Latin Americans did not eat breakfast as the Americans did. The problem was especially prominent in Brazil. To create a market and increase sales in this region, Horekens had to create a nutritious breakfast habit. This was a crucial part of the company’s marketing management – in 1980.

Kellog Company, which headquartered in Battlecreek, Michigan, was founded in 1906 by W.K. Kellog. The company continued to operate successfully with sales in 1980 amounting to 2,150.9 million U.S. Dollars.

The Kellog Company manufactured and marketed a wide variety of convenience foods with ready-to-eat cereals topping the list. The company’s products were manufactured in 18 countries and distributed in 130 countries. The ready-to-eat cereals sales made up the majority of international sales.

In 1980, Kellog International operations accounted for 38 percent of Kellog Company’s sales of more than $ 2.0 billion. The United Kingdom was by far Kellog’s largest market. Internationally, sales in the ready-to-eat cereal market continued to increase, although in the past few years the competition also had increased. But in Latin America, consumption of ready-to-eat cereals was negligible.
The Latin American Market The Latin American Market, mainly Mexico and Brazil, showed great potential as a Kellog’s ready-to-eat cereal market. The demographics fit the ready-to-eat market, the only problem was that Latin Americans did not eat the traditional American-style breakfast.

The Latin American market included a growing number of families with children. The population mix was becoming younger. The developing economy enabled consumers to spend more of their income on food. Kellog wanted to increase sales in this Latin American region, especially Brazil, but consumers had turned their backs on the American style breakfast. How was Kellog to create a nutritious breakfast habit among the Brazilians? This challenge was a significant aspect of their marketing management in 1980.

The company asked J. Walter Thompson, Kellog’s advertising agency, to help instill the breakfast habit in Brazil. According to Horekens, “In general, Brazilians do what people in novellas do”. Novellas are Brazilian soap operas. J. Walters Thompsons tried to advertise Kellog ready-to-eat cereal and instill the breakfast habit by advertising within a soap opera. The first experience of advertising within a soap opera failed; the advertisement portrayed a boy eating the cereal out of a package. Kellog wanted to teach the Brazilians how to eat a complete, nutritious breakfast, not just Kelloy’s cereal. The commercial did not work, because it made Kellog ready-to-eat cereal seem more like a snack than a major part of a complete breakfast. Kellog wanted to portray ready-to-eat cereal as a part of a complete, wellbalanced nutritious breakfast. Thus, they needed the cereal to be eaten in a bowl with milk alongwith other foods to make a complete breakfast. The company believed that the growing population in this region would reinforce the importance of grains as a basic food source. The 1980 population in Brazil was 119 million, which made it the sixth most populated country in the world and the population was expected to grow to 165 million in the next few years. Within this population growth was an increase in the number of women of childbearing age, which further supported Kellog’s potential for a successful cereal market. The structure of the population in Brazil in 1980 was:

 Thirty seven percent of population under age 15.
 Forty-eight percent of population under age 20.
 Twelve percent population over age 50.
 Six percent of population over age 60.
 These figures showed that the population of Brazil better fit the
market for a ready-to-eat cereal, with the increasing number of children and elderly people as the two largest cereal consuming
segments.

The “cult of the family” continued to be the most important institution in the formation of the Brazilian society. This culture ideal was reflected in the ways they conceptualized and evaluated the range of personal and social relations. This seemed to be the way Kellog would have to demonstrate the importance of a nutritional breakfast – by playing up the family and its importance. Through the use of the novellas, Kellog made a second attempt to teach the Brazilians the importance of breakfast. Most Brazilian families watched these soap operas, composed mostly of family scenes. In their commercials, Kellog opted for scenes that showed the family at the breakfast table. One member of the family, usually the father, took the cereal box, poured the cereal, and then added milk. This scene represented a complete “Kellog” breakfast in a way that Brazilians could relate to.

The advertisement focused first on nutrition, then on flavor, and finally on ease of preparation. As a result of this campaign, sales in Brazil increased. Kellog controlled 99.5 percent of the ready-to-eat cereal market in Brazil; however, per capita cereal consumption was less than one ounce or several spoonfuls per Brazilian annually, even after advertising. Although Kellog controlled the
market, there was not much of a market to control. Brazilians had begun to eat breakfast, but Horekens was not sure whether sales would continue to increase. His problem was – how could Kellog further convince the Brazilians of the importance of eating a nutritional breakfast in order to establish a long-term market?

Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)

What would be your advice – to continue or quit – to the board of Directors of Kellog? Explain with reasons the factors which you would
consider essential in framing your report?

Analyse the case to enable you to prepare a report about the given situation.

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Q.4 Case study
Its Global Marketing Plans – Marketing Management. In the 1940’s itself PepsiCo started branching out into the international arena. At first it was into Latin America, the Middle East and the Philippines. Here too Coke had the early bird advantage. Yet the product soon gained popularity. With the Arab countries boycotting Coke, Pepsi enjoyed a monopoly for many years in the Middle East. This decision was a key aspect of Marketing Management – Its Global strategy. In the 1950’s Pepsi went to Europe and this included Russia, with whom there existed a Cold War by USA. Though there were initial difficulties, getting into Russia was a major breakthrough which the company exploited. The company posted pictures of the then leaders of the United States and Russia sipping the drink. Its arch rival, Coca Cola, was able to enter the Russian markets only after more than 25 years after Pepsi’s entry.

In many of the countries that Pepsi ventured into comparative advertising was prohibited and in many countries it was not an accepted concept. For example, Pepsi tried its “Pepsi challenge” promotional gimmick in Japan. However, the country and its people were not aware of comparative advertising and as such the campaign did more harm than good. Hence in Japan they had to break their tradition of running with the global campaign and come up with a campaign that the Japanese would identify with and was more Japanese. Marketing Management – Its Global implications were evident in instances like these. The “Pepsiman” was a superhero like figure that was devised by a Japanese person for the Japanese market. The commercial was an instant hit and helped improve Pepsi’s share in the Japanese market by as much as 14%. From Japan Pepsi learned a valuable lesson – the same ad will not have the same effect everywhere. When it comes to cross national advertising, there is always the inherent risk of alienating the people.

Question:
(20 × 1 = 20)

1. What challenges Pepsi had to face, If Pepsi would not follow the cultural factors in international marketing environment? What is the good marketing way for Pepsi considering Marketing Management – Its Global approach?

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Q.3 Case study
The British Company, Woolworths is normally categorized as a variety store dealing in retailing of a range of varying products. Historically it was established as a subsidiary of an American Company F.W. Woolworth &Co, in 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth It was incorporated in England on 23rd July, 1909 as private limited company with initial capital of 50,250 pound sterling. It, first time floated a new idea of selling all the products at a cost not more than five cents. This idea gained popularity amongst the customers resulting in fast growth of the subsidiary. Its first shop at Liverpool attracted about 60,000 people in first two days because of
attractive one penny, three penny and six penny products put at sale. This was a classic example of Marketing Management – The British approach.

It continued to open new shops at various cities that attracted heavy rush of customers and visitors. It was company’s policy to purchase the products directly from manufacturers, who also were very happy due to momentum in their business as well. Some of the manufacturers started doing business solely with the Woolworths and labeled their products with the company’s name. Company’s business grew day by day and it had 31 shops in United Kingdoms by the year, 1914. Due to inflationary trends after the World War
II, the company had to do away with its three pence and six pence price limits. It introduced self service first time in its retail side in the year 1955. Woolworth opened about 190 self-service stores by the year 1970. It created new division in the stores by establishing Woolco departmental stores in the year 1966. These stores had full range of quality products like, clothes, groceries, car service and restaurants etc. available at affordable prices. The Company continued to flourish very fast because of its stated aim to remain at the customer’s heart and best kid’s retailer till 1966.

But thereafter its sales as well as profits started falling because of its competitors, Marks & Spencer who overtook its sales as well as profits. The results of the company were the worst in the year 1969, because it failed to chalk out suitable strategies necessary to take on its competitors in the market. Sales at Woolworth began to decline. Consumers were reportedly not satisfied with the quality of customer services of the company. Many of the business sites were not at prime locations. Its new products could not attract the customers because of lack of well trained staff and availability of ‘A class service’. The company tried to improve its services in the year 1971 by introducing new system of centralized payments besides closing its 23 unprofitable shops, as an attempt to trade up. The profits of the company increased to some extent as a result of these measures but it failed to boost up its profits at the desired level. The competitors of Woolworth like Wal- Mart, Argos and Next very soon became more prevalent in the market because of low prices, better service and vast range of their products. The Management of the company ultimately decided to sell out the Woolco stores
in 1977.

In the year 1981 it sold-out some of its valuable prime located properties to cover-up the losses suffered by the shops situated at these
locations. Even then its profits went down in the said year and the company was forced to cut the dividends first time since its establishment. In the normal restructuring process during the year 1985, the company decided to abandon the sale of food and adult clothing that was contributing about 30% of its overall sales. The Management of the company sold out its 200 unprofitable shops out of about 990, during the years 1982-1991. During this decade company made a number of acquisitions in order to become
more diversified in retail business. It launched Music and Video Club that specialized in CDs, videos and other entertainment products. The company succeeded in boosting its sales and turnover during 1990s and gave impressive results despite the fact that some of major chains like Wilkinson expanded their business in the Woolworth areas.

Woolworth reviewed its entire business in the year 2002. It reconsidered its further expansion and realignment and merger of its overall management structure. It strengthened infrastructure and planned accurate management of its stocks so as to maintain them at their optimum levels. It introduced new till system in order to ensure its stock holding capacity besides provision of improved and efficient services to the customers. The management decided to cut the number of suppliers and enhance the use of their own branded products. These improvements contributed a little in the sales as well as profits. One of main money spinners of the company was its music business that collapsed. The financial results for the year 2004 showed just 4.5% increase in the profits of the company. It had to compete strongly with Argos in the sales of toys and gifts. In the year 2006, the company introduced an in-store collection service for items ordered through website. Company continued its business mainly in entertainment and electronics till the year 2008.

It expanded its chains and set up out of town stores that were known as ‘Big W’. It announced considerable loss in its half
yearly statement of affairs as on 2nd August, 2008. The management, therefore decide to sell out about 120 stores, cut jobs and
reduce web operations. At this stage reportedly the company rejected an offer to buy its 815 stores. From September onwards the entire World entered into worst ever economic and financial crises that resulted in decrease in availability of necessary credit from the banks and financial institutions besides decrease in consumer spending. The lending banks of the company not only refused to give further credits, they also demanded repayment of their existing loans towards the company.

As a result of this crisis the retail business badly suffered. Media also reported possible price crashes, increased personal debts, unemployment, pension shortfalls, stock market crashes and decrease in availability of disposable income. Under these circumstances as well as in wake of market saturations, coupled with economic downturn, it was highly difficult for the Woolworth to maintain competitive pricing. Woolworth’s financial results for the first half of the year 2008 showed 99.7 million pounds pretax loss. Decreased credit availability, decreased public spending and pressure of creditors to pay off debts of about 385 million pounds, forced the company to sell out its 120 shops that were going in loss besides reducing the web operations, cutting the products and axing the employees. These measures could not help the company to survive and ultimately it suspended trading of its shares on the
26th 0f November, 2009 and at last decided to close down its all 819 stores and axe its 27000 highly dedicated employees. The parent company of Woolworth also announced its intention to go into administration on the 19th of January, 2009.

Question:
(4 × 5 = 20)

What are the advantages of Global Expansion in Retailing?

Why Woolworths Failed as a Business?

What is the main focus or purpose of Woolworths?

What challenges are Woolworths facing now a day?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

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Q.2 Case study
In August 2004, a leading business newspaper reported that Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL), an Indian subsidiary of the South Korea based Hyundai Motors Company (HMC)3 was expected to reduce the price of its flagship car – Santro – by as much as Rs 40,000. Industry experts were expecting a reduction in Santro’s price in response to the price war being waged by the market leader in India – Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL),4 which had reduced the price of its largest selling car in the B segment – Alto – by Rs 58,000 in two price cuts starting from September 2003. This move had resulted in Alto replacing Santro as the largest selling car in the B segment
in the period January to June 2004 (Refer Exhibit I for the market segmentation of the Indian car industry). Marketing Management – In August, Case Studies | Case Study in Management, Operations, Strategies, Marketing Management, Case Studies Rebutting the report on price cuts, HMIL’s managing director, BVR Subbu (Subbu) said, “We are not cutting prices on the Santro. We have allowed our competitors
the prerogative of cutting prices.”5 Several dealers of HMIL also felt that the company would not reduce Santro’s price as it had not adopted such tactics earlier.

Santro had been the most successful product of HMIL and was also the largest selling car in the B segment till the fiscal year 2003-04. Introduced in late 1998, Santro had emerged as the second largest selling car in India after MUL’s M800 and had retained its position till March 2004 (Refer Exhibit II for the total units and value sales of the top eleven car models in India).

In mid 2004, HMIL with its four models, Santro, Accent, Sonata and Elantra, was the second largest car company in India with 19% market share in the industry. The company was planning to launch another model, ‘Getz’, in September 2004. Analysts attributed HMIL’s success to its ability to launch technologically superior products and its innovative marketing strategies. However, they
expressed concerns that the company relied heavily on Santro and any fall in demand for that model would hit the company.

It was felt that the introduction of new cars by the competitors and pgrading & price reduction of existing cars in the B segment would affect Santro’s sales. This would lead to a loss in Santro’s market share. (Refer Exhibit III for the comparison of features of various models in the B segment). For a long time after India became independent in 1947, the car market had just two models to offer – the sturdy ‘Ambassador’ from Hindustan Motors (HM) and the sleek ‘Fiat’ from Premier Automobiles (PA). This was the result of Government of India’s (GOI) decision to keep the car industry tightly protected. For HM and PA, the GOI dictated as to what type of vehicle the two companies should manufacture. No other domestic or foreign car manufacturer was allowed to enter the Indian car industry. The restriction on foreign collaboration led to poor technological improvements in Indian cars. As a result, car prices remained high while quality was inferior. This affected the growth of the industry. The demand for cars in 1960 was 15,714 units and in the next two decades, this rose to 30,989 units, which meant that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (AGR) was just 3.5 per cent.

In the 1980s, the GOI felt the need to introduce an affordable small car, targeting the Indian middle class. As manufacturing a small and affordable car required better technology than was available indigenously, the government tied up with the noted Japanese company, Suzuki. The government formed a joint venture with Suzuki and founded Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL). It held 74% and Suzuki got 26% equity stake in MUL. In 1983, MUL launched the ‘Maruti 800’, priced at Rs 40,000 Hyundai’s Entry in India One of the major players that entered the Indian car market was HMC through its subsidiary HMIL. Before making its move, the company closely studied the industry for a year. The company’s officials talked to vendors, dealers and customers to get a thorough knowledge of the industry…

Marketing Management – In August

Marketing Santro: Santro received an encouraging feedback from customers who appreciated its unique design that gave more headroom and facilitated easy entry and exit… Launch of Accent: By mid 1999, the major players realized that the ‘B’ segment would be the fastest growing in the car industry. To cash in, Telco re-launched its ‘Indica’ by introducing several new features and solving the glitches in the original model…

Marketing Management Case Studies | Case Study in Management, Operations, Strategies, Marketing Management, Case Studies Repositioning Santro By late 2002, the competition in the B segment had increased significantly. MUL’s Alto which was launched in October 2000 had received a good response. Although HMIL’s Santro remained the largest selling car in the B segment, MUL commanded the largest market share in this segment due to the combined sale of its three cars – Zen, Wagon R and Alto… Status
in 2004: The financial year 2003-04 ended on a positive note for HMIL.

The company achieved revenues of Rs 50 bn and profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 1.90 bn in the financial year 2003-04 compared to Rs 43 bn revenues and PAT of Rs 1.65 bn in the fiscal 2002-03…

Marketing Management – In August

Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)

Compare and contrast the marketing strategy of Hyundai with other leading players in the Indian passenger car industry.?

Examine and analyze the marketing mix of Hyundai Motors in the Indian passenger car industry.

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

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Q.1 Case study
Marketing Management – American Tourister re-positioning itself as a hip travel brand leveraging Sports Partnership

American Tourister, Samsonite’s mass market label, is re-positioning itself as a hip international travel brand; targeting the cool, young traveller in their marketing management strategy.

In December 2016, as part of their India campaign, Virat Kohli was brought onboard as a brand ambassador. Kohli is – for India – the ideal face for the brand as he is the personification of American Tourister’s re-positioning. Following the success in India, American Tourister took things to the next level and in February 2018 appointed football star Cristiano Ronaldo, the most followed male on social media, as their brand ambassador.

Anushree Tainwala, Executive Director, Marketing at Samsonite, said, “There couldn’t be a better time to bring Cristiano on-board. His lively and vivacious personality, on and off the field, resonates perfectly with our funloving, vibrant brand personality. His presence will help bring American Tourister to a whole new audience, allowing us to stand out from the competition, and enabling us to take the Brand to the next level.” In Kohli and Ronaldo, it has found two iconic sports personalities who have strong personal brands & massive following in emerging markets. This helps American Tourister win asymmetrically and leave competition in the dust. In addition to transferring the sports stars’ attributes to the brand, the partnerships:

Elevate the brand from Samsonite’s low end product to a contemporary, practical international travel brand; targeting the aspiring, young international traveller. Explode the reach: Getting the reach in India via Kohli (81m social media followers) and globally through Ronaldo (315m followers) -especially with the FIFA World Cup around the corner during their American Tourister re-positioning campaign.

Engage audiences: Kohli with “I’m ready” & “Swagbag”, Ronaldo with “Bring back more” are examples of sharply positioning the brand leveraging the ambassadors to provide differentiated, exciting engagement. Top of Mind: Standing out in a commoditised travel accessary category, American Tourister is positioning itself as closer to the hearts of young travellers and in their purchase consideration. In February & March this year it has activated both players – Ronaldo (here) & Kohli (here & here),
Let’s see where the brand takes such partnerships as we get closer to the Russia World Cup. It has achieved a strong cut-through even before the world gets gripped by the World Cup fever.
Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)

What other, more effective ways can brands use to reposition themselves?

How can your brand differentiate & asymmetrically win in a commoditised category through sports, similar to the marketing management of American Tourister’s re-positioning?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

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Q.2 Case study
Bharat Engineering Works Limited is major industrial machineries besides other engineering products. It has enjoyed market preference for its machineries because of limited competition in the field. Usually there have been more orders than what the company could supply. However, the scenario changed quickly because of the entry of two new competitors in the field with foreign technological collaboration. For the first time, the company faced problem in marketing its products with usual profit margin. Sensing the likely problem, the chief executive appointed Mr Arvind Kumar as general manager to direct the operations of industrial machinery division.
Mr Kumar had similar assignment abroad before coming back to India. Mr Kumar had a discussion with the chief executive about the nature of the problem being faced by the company so that he could fix up his priority. The chief executive advised him to consult various heads of department to have first hand information. However, he emphasised that the company lacked an integrated planning system while members of the Board of Directors insisted on introducing this Management Principles – Bharat Engineering in several meetings both formally and informally.

After joining as General Manager, Mr Kumar got briefings from the heads of all departments. He asked all heads to identify major problems and issues concerning them. The marketing manager indicated that in order to achieve higher sales, he needed more sales support. Sales people had no central organisation to provide sales support nor was there a generous budget for demonstration teams which could be sent to customers to win business. The production manager complained about the old machines and equipments used in manufacturing. Therefore, cost of production was high but without corresponding quality. While competitors had better equipments and machinery, Bharat Engineering had neither replaced its age-old plant nor reconditioned it. Therefore to reduced the cost, it was essential to automate production lines by installing new equipment. Director of research and development did not have specific problem and therefore, did not indicate for any change. However, a principal scientist in R&D indicated on one day that the director of R&D, though very nice in his approach, did not emphasize on short-term research projects, which could easily increase production efficiency by at least 20 per cent within a very short period without any major capital outlay. Improved management principles – Bharat Engineering could benefit from this insight.

Questions:
(10 × 2 = 20)

1. Discuss the nature and characteristics of the problems in this case.
2. What steps should be taken by Mr Kumar to overcome these problems?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

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• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.1 Case study
The president of Simplex Mills sat at his desk in the hushed atmosphere, so typical of business offices, after the close of working hours. He was thinking about Rehman, the manager in-charge of purchasing, and his ability to work with George, the production manager, and Vipulabh, the marketing and sales manager in the firm. When the purchasing department was established two years ago, both George and Vipulabh agreed with the need to centralise this function and place a specialist in charge. George was of the view that this would free his supervisors from detailed ordering activities.

Vipulabh opined that the flow of materials into the firm was important enough to warrant a specialised management assignment. Yet since the purchasing department began operating it has been precisely these two managers who have had a number of confrontations with the new purchase manager, and occasionally with one another, in regard to the way the purchasing function in being carried out.

From George’s point of view, instead of simplifying his job as production manager by taking care of purchasing for him, the purchasing department has developed a formal set of procedures that has resulted in as much time commitment on his part as he had previously spent in placing his orders directly with vendors. Further, he is specially irritated by the fact that his need for particular items or particular specification is constantly being questioned by the purchasing department. When the department was established, George assumed that the purchasing manager was there to fill his needs, not to question them.

As Vipulabh sees it, the purchasing function is an integral part of marketing function, and the two therefore need to be jointly managed as a unified process. Purchasing function cannot be separated from a firm’s overall marketing strategy. However, Rehman has attempted to carry out the purchasing function without regard for this obvious relationship between his responsibilities and those of Vipulabh, thus making a unified marketing strategy impossible. In his previous position, Rehman had worked in the purchasing department of a firm considerably larger than Simplex. Before being hired, he was interviewed by all the top managers, including George and Vipulabh, but it was the president himself who negotiated the details of the job offer as part of Management Principles -The president’s involvement. As Rehman sees it, he was hired as a professional to do a professional job. Both George and Vipulabh have been distracting him from this goal by presuming
that he is somehow subordinate to them, which he believes is not the case.

The people in the production department, who use the purchasing function most, have complained about the detail that he requires on their requisitions. But he has documented proof that materials are now being purchased much more economically than they were under the former decentralised system. He finds Vipulabh’s interests more difficult to understand, since he sees no particular relationship between his responsibilities for efficient procurement, and Vipulabh’s responsibilities to market the firm’s products.

The president has been aware of the continuing conflict among three managers for some time, but on the theory that a little rivalry is healthy and stimulating, he has felt that it was nothing to be unduly concerned about. But now that much of his time is being taken up by much of what he considers to be petty bickering, the time has come to take some positive action concerning Management Principles. The president of Simplex Mills should now step in to resolve these issues effectively.

Questions:
(4 × 5 = 20)

What should the president of Simplex Mills do now?

Is George’s view of the situation realistic?

How do you evaluate Vipulabh’s position?

How might this conflict be associated with factors in the formal organisation?

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

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Q.5 Case study
Mr. Jerry the Human Resource Management & Analytics – Mr. Jerry of Welcon automotive Ltd a well-known automobile multinational company. Mr. Jerry is very friendly, approachable, people-oriented leader. In the other hand he is a strict leader when it comes to work, he doesn’t tolerate mistakes with regards to ethics and values. One of the top management person once said to him that “ Mr. Jerry you are a Task Master”. Jerry replied “Why do you say this”. He said, “Jerry, you know who is good at what and how to get work done from them”. Mr. Jerry said with a smile, “Yes sir I agree with you and that’s why my team always completes tasks on time.” Majority of the employees in Welcon were very happy to work with Jerry due to his friendly nature. The employees always put extra efforts for anything which benefits the organisation. The things were going well till the organisation witness a transformation. As a part of organisational development there were many structural and policy changes in the organisation. Human Resource Management & Analytics – Mr. Jerry had to navigate these changes. As a part of structural change, the top management has witnessed a major change. The new top management unlike old management, was very keen in reducing the expenses of the organisation in all terms. Slowly the employees were facing many obstacles in performing their duties due to this cost cutting strategies, as the management fails to suggest any alternatives in those areas where they have implemented the cost cutting strategies.

This has created a negative impact on employees. For many employees for completing some crucial task also they need to wait for sanctioning of amount which took lot of time and energy of the employees. The employees were not aware about the reason behind the cost cutting strategy as the turnover, profit, sales etc. everything was in upward trend. Mr. Jerry was also very disappointed with the ongoing instability in the organisation. Many a times he tried to highlight the issues faced by employees in completing
their task. Once in personal meeting Mr. Shah (VP HR) he said ” Mr. Shah, I think it is high time to solve employees issues before it gets out of control. This is particularly true in the context of effective Human Resource Management & Analytics handled by Mr. Jerry.”

Also We need to bring this issue in front of our MD, CEO etc.” Mr. Shah said, “Jerry It is the decision of top management. You handle the employees at your level. That is what we can do now”. During the top level meeting his also Mr. Jerry’s words were, most of the
time, unnoticed and many a times he was discouraged to discuss those issues. The employees and the union have tried to discuss the issue with top management but they had failed fatefully. Hence, they have jointly decided to show their disregards by way of stopping oneself from putting their extra efforts for the organisation. They also know that this is not going to stop the
basic profit of the organisation but surely this will make the management realize that they have to revisit the cost cutting policy. They successfully started implementing the things.

Mr. Jerry who observed the change in employees’ activities he said to the employees “I have noticed the change in you all. I can’t support this change nor going to tolerate this”. He added, “Our way of working is not this you all have to give up this idea and work as usual and put those extra efforts where ever required.” The employees also tried to make him understand that, “Sir, we never want to do these things but it is the last option with us to meet the management and be able to put up the issue. What else we can
do as your employees, Mr. Jerry?”

The employees also argued that, “Sir, try to understand us. This is just a way to make the management realize that the employees’ issue is getting worse and that needs to be solved.” They added Sir, Further we are left out with any other options.” Mr. Jerry who was dissatisfied with the reply of employees, he said “those who don’t give-up the idea will have to face the consequences in the upcoming appraisal process.” Effective Human Resource Management & Analytics – Mr. Jerry would need to balance the company’s policies and employees’ concerns.

Questions:
(4 × 5 = 20)

Can you suggest any other mode to show their disregards to management?

If you were Mr. Jerry what could be your reaction towards the employees. Which leadership style does Jerry follows especially in the realm of Human Resource Management & Analytics?

What could Jerry do to solve the issue as a HR Manager?

Do you think that the employees are handling the issue properly.

To get complete solutions or answer sheets for your IIBMS Case study papers, contact Harsha Morey. With over 24 years of experience, he specializes in crafting customized, unique, and plagiarism-free case study answers with Project reports and Thesis.

Dr. Banakar is a trusted resource for reputable and reliable academic support in India. He has a team of over 100 PhD professionals.

You can contact Dr. Banakar through the following channels:

• Email: aravind.banakar@gmail.com
• Phone: +91 9901366442   &  +91 9902787224

IIBMS MBA Solved Answer Sheets

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IIBMS MBA, EMBA & DMS Projects & Thesis