Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

Work-Integrated Learning Programmes Division

Second Semester 2018-2019
Comprehensive Examination (EC-3 Regular)

Course No. : MBA ZG634

Course Title : STRATEGIC CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Nature of Exam : Open Book
Weightage : 45% No. of Pages =2
Duration : 3 Hours No. of Questions = 3
Date of Exam : 05/05/2019 (FN)
Note:
1. Please follow all the Instructions to Candidates given on the cover page of the answer book.
2. All parts of a question should be answered consecutively. Each answer should start from a fresh page.
3. Assumptions made if any, should be stated clearly at the beginning of your answer.

Q.1. Data science is becoming a reality for change management, and although it may not have
arrived yet, it is time for organizations to get ready. The companies best positioned to change
in the next decade will be the ones that set themselves up well now, by collecting the right
kind of data and investing in their analytics capacity. The key to building predictive models
is knowing what you want to predict and collecting large and diverse data sets that may
enable you to do so. Although predictive models for change management are still a ways off,
organizations can get themselves on the right path by adopting the right tools and capturing
the right data (source: HBR).

(a) Do you agree with the above view? Please share your perspective, with suitable
examples
(b) What according to you, are the organizations that are more suitable for the above
scenario? In other words, what do you think are the prerequisites or preconditions?
(c) If you were the change consultant, what strategic recommendations will you make, so
that the organization is digital ready for change management [7 + 8 + 6 = 21]

Q.2. The CEO of a large telecommunications firm announced an enterprise-wide cost-reduction

and simplification effort as a way of responding to rapidly changing technologies and new
competitive threats. The initiative was launched with great fanfare and positioned as key to
the company’s long-term success. A well-known consulting firm was then hired to identify
opportunities for streamlining, and with help from an executive sponsor from the CEO’s
team, they set up a project management office and war room.

Over the next two months, the consulting firm and internal staff collected data on spans and
layers, benchmarked industry cost levels, and gathered process improvement ideas. When it
came time to present the first set of recommendations to the senior team, however, the CEO
was out of town meeting with investors – so the discussion was postponed. A month later, the
CEO delayed the meeting again due to a customer problem. The next month, the CEO asked
the executive sponsor and the lead consultant to meet with each of his direct reports
individually to bring them up to speed on the findings. This led to a series of polite
discussions and several requests for more data, but no action. Eventually, the CEO suggested
that the executive sponsor figure out a phased approach to implementation, starting with one
or two areas.

MBA ZG634 (EC-3 Regular) Second Semester 2018-2019 Page 1 of 2

MBA ZG634 (EC-3 Regular) Second Semester 2018-2019 Page 2

This led to a further series of debates with each senior executive – most of whom had strong
reasons why this was not the right time for them to restructure their units and take out key
people.

You probably get the picture. After six months, the company had accomplished very little
other than to run up a large consulting bill and to waste the time of some of its best and
brightest staff.

(Source: Narrated by Mr. Ron Ashkenas from his experience)

(a) Why does this happen?

(b) As a change consultant, how will you fix it? [6 + 6 = 12]

Q.3. Take the highly successful Australian retail hardware chain Bunnings, which dominates its
regional market, with 330 trading locations across Australia and New Zealand. Its target
customer is a man involved in do-it-yourself (DIY) building and repairs, or one working in a
trade. This doesn’t mean that women aren’t catered for, they’re just not “core.” Bunnings’
key differentiator is price. Its advertising slogan, “lowest prices are just the beginning,” has
been drilled into every Australian’s head.

In 2016, Bunnings thought: if our formula works well in Australia, why not in the U.K. and
Ireland? Bunnings’ holding company, Wesfarmers, purchased the struggling U.K. hardware
and homewares chain Homebase for $AU705 million (about US$503 million) with plans to
spend up to $AU1 billion (about $US714 million). The aim was to convert the chain of 280
Homebase stores to the Bunnings model.

But Bunnings’ model, so successful in Australia, utterly failed in the U.K., and in May 2018
Bunnings’ holding company announced that it was withdrawing from the U.K. and that it had
sold Homebase for just £1 (about US$1.30). Hilco Capital, the purchaser, has since
announced that it will revert to the Homebase strategy. (Wesfarmers will also receive 20% of
any proceeds from the subsequent sale of Homebase by the purchaser, Hilco Capital.)

(a) What according to you went wrong?

(b) What are your recommendations to fix it? [6 + 6 = 12]

***********

MBA ZG634 (EC-3 Regular) Second Semester 2018-2019 Page 2 of 2