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 B2B Marketing

1. A business marketer (who is a potential supplier) is keen to supply cold-rolled

(CR) steel coils to a major passenger car manufacturer, who has been buying the
same material from three other suppliers on regular basis for the past few years. As
per the purchase policy, the car manufacturer cannot buy any material from more
than three suppliers. What should the business marketer do to supply CR steel coils
to the major passenger car manufacturer?

2. Suppose you are working in a courier services company, which is ranked fourth
in the domestic Indian market in terms of market share. Your company
management thinks that one of the ways to improve sales & profit performance, as
well as the company’s market share, is to implement the concept of Integrated
Marketing Communications (IMC). You are asked to prepare a proposal indicating
the objectives, strategies & challenges in implementing the IMC.

3. Read the following Case & solve the questions given:

When SS Electroplating Company started the electroplating operations in a

residential location in Bengaluru, it received a notice from the pollution Control
Board to install the effluent treatment plant within 15 days, failing which they
would seal the plant.

The Director of the company collected the information that it would cost about
10,00,000 to buy an effluent treatment plant, an area of about 600 sq.feet to install
it over a period of 2-3 months, & running cost of about 40,000 per month for the
purchase of material like costic soda & others. The effluent contained nickel,
synide, cromium, cadminum & zinc, which were to be treated separately using
different chemicals. After effluent liquid of about 800 litres per day was treated,
the sludge was to be dried, packed, stored & dumped in a government notified
place. The entire process would not only cost substantial amount, but also would
need additional area of about 600-700 sq. feet

The company gathered information that some of the competitors outsourced the
effluent treatment to government approved agencies, who collected the effluent
liquid from these chemical & electroplating factories, & treated ( or neutralized)
the chemicals at their effluent treatment plants. These agencies charged 10 to 15
per litre for the treatment of effluent liquid, depending on the type of chemicals.
The cost of outsourcing was considered much higher compared to in-house effluent
treatment plant. However, SS Electroplating Company, like many other chemical
& electroplating factories did not have additional area for the installation of
effluent treatment plant.

The Director was aware that the liquid waste from the factory would have harmful
effects on the surrounding residential area. He also could not violate the
Government regulation on environment control. The director had very little time –
two weeks – to decide & act.

a. If you were the Director of the company, what would you do & why?

b. Should all companies in this industry come up together as to save cost. Provide
your suggestions

Brand Management

1. Peter England a formal apparel brand is facing severe competition in the market
because of the new players entered in the market & hence the sales are decreasing.
As a Brand Manager, explain which extension strategy you would suggest to
counter competition.
2. A leading firm in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector, found out through
researcher that there is a vast potential in the branded flour (atta) market that could
be tapped. On the basis of this the company decides to enter the market. Discuss
the process of designing the positioning strategy for the product.

3. Read the following Case & solve the questions given:

Bharat Motors has been selling the “Konard” brand of passenger cars in India for
the last 60 years. Their car has been the leading car market share wise for the last
50 years. But, for the last 5 years the scenario has changed. Many multinational car
companies have entered the country and introduced highly fuel efficient, user
friendly, & high performance models in the country. The buyers have thus seen the
market change from sellers to buyers’ market. Spectacular product characteristics
have become the rule of the day. Resultantly Konard has rapidly and constantly
lost the market share. Realizing that the company has no other alternative, they
have tied up with a leading car company of Korea and are now ready to launch an
absolutely new and drastically improved version of the old faithful Konard.

a. Is the company’s strategy of tie up with Korea car manufacturer and the
readiness to launch a completely newer version of Konard a wise decision? Justify
your answer.

b. Suggest promotional tools which the company can use to help it develop a
completely new image for its product.

Business: Ethics, Governance & Risk

1. Food plants or crops, which have been genetically altered, are known as
genetically modified foods. The genetic alteration is meant to make it
commercially competitive, yet it is not without environmental and ethical concerns
and dilemmas. What according to you are the Four main short term benefits to the
producer/consumer of genetically modified food crop, elaborate? Also identify and
explain any Four long term negative impact of genetically modified food crop on
the environment as well as human health.

2. Environmental sustainability is an ethical principle. Identify any Three

principles /concerns involved in environmental ethics. Elaborate on any Three
critical practices /processes adopted by business to showcase that ethical
environmental responsibility has been embedded in their over all business strategy

3. a. Amrita is a successful Vice President, Finance since last 3 years of a mid size
FMCG company, recognized as a highly motivated, committed and capable
executive across the organization. When the CEO of the company meets with an
accident and is paralyzed the Company Board chooses to elevate Amrita’s junior,
Karan, Vice President, Marketing, who is just one year old in the company, as the
next CEO. The organization is now largely divided into 2 factions, each favoring
either Amrita or Karan. You are the Head of Human Resources thinking of
addressing this issue of gender discrimination. According to you, which Five
factors influence the attitude of an individual towards gender bias? How can this
attitude be changed/overcome?

3. b. How has study of Business Ethics benefitted YOU as a person or a manager?

Consumer Behaviour

Lifebuoy was introduced by Lever Brothers in 1895 in England. Originally a

carbolic soap containing phenol, different varieties were later introduced without
the medicinal carbolic smell, such as the coral-colored Lifebuoy during the late
1950s and Lifebuoy Minty Refresher in 1966. Lifebuoy first came to India in 1895
in Bombay. It was an instant success. Lifebuoy is India‟s largest selling soap brand
and has been so for a long time now. It is the only soap brand to have ever crossed
100,000 tonnes in sales in a single year. The brand has a mammoth user base of
over 600 million consumers in India and is one of the most recognisable symbols
of health. Remarkably, over the next 109 years the brand has never veered away
from its original platform. It has consistently stood for „Washing away germs to
keep you protected and healthy‟. Constantly evolving and keeping pace with the
times, the brand has undergone huge makeovers and still delivers a distinctive,
compelling promise of health for the whole family.

In the product front from the very early stages, Lifebuoy was the basic brand that
upgraded consumers who used other products by delivering a basic, cleansing
experience. In 1964, it saw its first major re-launch with significant improvement
in product quality, a change in the tablet shape as well as the wrapper which had
continued from the initial days of Lifebuoy.

The latest formulation was introduced in the market in 2002. Today, this soap
continues to be the most effective against germs and also has an invigorating and
very distinct perfume that makes every bath enjoyable. The new avatar is just the
beginning in the evolution of Lifebuoy. This brand aspires to make the concept of
health and hygiene not only an important one, but also an enjoyable experience for
the consumer.

Keeping in line with its objective of providing „Health and hygiene for
everybody‟, Lifebuoy has added to its repertoire, Lifebuoy Active Green (with the
goodness of neem and tulsi) and Lifebuoy Active Gold (with the goodness of milk
cream). This is of course, in addition to Lifebuoy Active Red and Lifebuoy Active
Orange which are the trusted choice of millions. There is also the Lifebuoy liquid
soap that ensures that hands are protected from germs. Now Lifebuoy also has a
talcum powder, efficiently delivering a promise of „All day protection from body
odour, by fighting germs‟. The Lifebuoy franchise, through each of the products,
has stayed true to its promise of meeting health and hygiene concerns.

On the pricing front, Lifebuoy in urban and rural markets, the brand has gained a
familiar and likable status due to its effective pricing. A 125 gm lifebuoy soap
costs about Rs26. Bodywash costs around Rs175. Lifebuoy keeps its product prices
relatively lower than the prices of its competition. This has been an advantage for
the brand and has led to making it one of the most popular choices among Indians.

Promotions with Lifebuoy has always made in win many accolades. The
advertising and communication for Lifebuoy has been recognised as one of the
most effective at the advertising effectiveness awards „Effies-2003‟. The Lifebuoy
jingle, synonymous with health and hygiene, has become a classic – indeed, it can
be considered as part of the Indian social fabric. The Brand Equity Survey, 2003
ranked this mega-brand as one of the Most Trusted Brands in India.

Be it promoting itself in traditional media through ATL (Above-the-line) or BTL

(Below-the-line) activities or social media.

It created a hysteria in Dubai where it partnered with Geometry Global for an on-
ground activation awareness programme. Since shoppers can pick up germs when
they shop for groceries with your cart in the supermarket. The Lifebuoy‟s team
created a handy doughnut-shaped gadget that slides along the shopping cart handle,
instantly sanitizing it. On the one hand, this enabled healthier shopping, killing
99% of germs with one swipe, and on the other, it raised awareness of Lifebuoy‟s
sanitizer gel (refer figure 1).

In India, Lifebuoy as a brand has taken long steps in generating good health
hygiene habits among Indian consumers. In the year 2013, at the world‟s largest
religious festival Maha Kumbh Mela, Lifebuoy reminded attendees to wash their
hands before they eat by hand stamping 2.5 million chapattis (rotis) with the
message: “Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?” (Refer figure 2).If that was
not all Hindustan Unilever‟s created an award-winning campaign with social cause
marketing at its heart, which went viral. The soap brand that has been an active
proponent of handwashing with soap, kickstarted a movement “Help a child reach
5” to instill hygienic handwashing behaviour in schools and villages, as over two
million children under five die of infections like diarrhea and pneumonia. A
heartfelt digital film about Gondappa and his son Muthu was created for the
campaign, while Facebook and Twitter were abuzz with pledges and the hashtag
#helpachildreach5. The video depicted how a father “Gondappa” walked on his
hands to a village temple on his son‟s fifth birthday as a part of his son‟s good
health wish. The 3-minute film garnered over a million views in the first two
weeks and now stands at 19M+ views (refer figure 3).

Indian market is witnessing the creation of a new category in the hand hygiene
segment - hand sanitizer. Although hand sanitizer products existed in India since
2002, this category is witnessing a lot of marketing activities only in the last couple
of years. Two giants in the Indian FMCG market are fighting it out in creating this
category - Dettol and Lifebuoy. Hand Sanitizer is an alternative to soap and used
for maintaining hand-hygiene. This product which is available in gel, spray, liquid,
or foam form can be used directly to the hand and unlike soaps need not be washed
away. Just apply the hand sanitizer and leave it like that. It is not Lifebuoy or
Dettol which introduced this product in the Indian market. Godrej Consumer
Products Ltd, had introduced this product in the Indian market even as early as
2003. Later Himalaya introduced its brand - Pure Hands – which is a herbal hand
sanitizer. But these brands were not able to create a noise in the market so far when
compared to Dettol and Lifebuoy.

Hand sanitizers are popular in markets like the West and Europe because of fear
for hygiene coupled with the convenience of the product. In India, the Hand
Sanitizer market is still nascent but marketers believe that this category will do
well on Indian soil due to its vulnerability to various infectious diseases like
SARS, bird flu, etc. In fact, in 2002-03, hand sanitizer companies in India tried to
cash in on the SARS Virus pandemic which created huge amounts of concern and
did not pull up sales as expected. Despite the setback, marketers are optimistic and
give a new push. Lifebuoy, a brand that promotes healthy hygiene habits crafts
many ways to protect its consumers from these dangers. Hand Sanitizers are priced
between INR 30 to as high as INR 500 depending upon the brand and its size of the
product offering.

Given that, India has more of the rural population (at 66.46 % in 2017, according
to the World Bank collection of development indicators) than that of urban crowd,

1. Which psychological factor or factors of motivation, perception, learning, and

attitude is Lifebuoy trying to target in India (10 Marks)

2. Reading the case above suggests the segmentation, targeting, and positioning
Lifebuoy is trying to achieve. (10 Marks)

3. Lifebuoy has channelized its hygiene habit formation efforts through various
campaigns and events in India as discussed in the case above. Given, that you are a
brand manager of Lifebuoy

a. Discuss, what are the other promotional tactics, you will use to make these
campaigns intensify in rural India.
b. Basic Hygiene and cleanliness falls under which cultural value component.
Discuss how as a Lifebuoy brand manager you are planning to address it in India

Cost & Management Accounting

1. Excellent Clothing Company is run by Ms Dilnaz and her son, Burzin. They
manufacture dresses for women and have diversified into the production of masks
since April’20 to take advantage of the huge demand for masks due to the recent
COVID-19 impact. Till now the decisions were taken on an adhoc basis by the
promoters. However, given the phenomenal growth in business, they understand
the importance of having formal processes in place.

You were hired as the Management accountant to enable them to formalize the
decision making process in the company.

Please advise them regarding the significance and components of the following 3
key steps involved in Decision making process of a company:

a) Planning

b) Directing

c) Controlling

2. Marginal Costing is a key tool used by Managements for Cost-Volume- Profit

analysis enabling comparative assessment of 2 or more products / divisions.
However, Absorption costing is the preferred method of accountants as it is a
recognized and accepted practice for external reporting.

Please describe the differences between Marginal Costing and Absorption costing

3. Writers' Company produces 2 products presently The information related to

manufacturing is given below.
 WRITERS' Company Yr 2018-19
Fountain Pen Ball point

Units 10000 20000

Area occupied (sq feet) 7000 8000
Variable cost – Direct 32 25
Fixed Cost - Direct (per unit) 10 8

Rent - Fixed Cost per month (Indirect - common for all 3,00,000.00
products)

The Fixed indirect cost of Rent of Rs 3,00,000/- is to be allocated to both the

products

The company was doing this on the "number of units" basis till now.

a. Please compute cost per unit of each product basis the above method.

You have researched and advised Writers' Company to have Activity Based
Costing and have gathered data to support the allocation of the Fixed indirect cost
as follows :

Break-up of Indirect Fixed Costs Allocation basis

Rent 3,00,000 Area of operations

b. Please compute cost per unit of each product on the new method of allocation

WRITERS' Company
Writers' Company produces 2 products presently

The information related to manufacturing is given below

WRITERS' Company Yr 2018-19
Fountain Pen Ball point
Units 10000 20000
Area occupied (sq feet) 7000 8000
Variable cost – Direct 32 25
Fixed Cost - Direct (per unit) 10 8
Rent - Fixed Cost per month (Indirect - common for all 3,00,000.00
products)
Customer Relationship Management

1. As a marketing manager of an online delivery application which caters

specifically to grocery, what innovation would you introduce to retain your
existing customers and attract new customers to increase your customers lifetime
value during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

2. Prepare a Caselet for Salesforce India. Look at their CRM practices and
solutions they offer and enlist their competitive advantages vis-à-vis other players
in the Indian market.

3. The male grooming market has been expanding rapidly over the last few years in
India. There are umpteen number of brands out there vying for the share of the
target audience’s wallet. Face washes, Beard oils, Styling gels, lip balms, Talcum
powders, Cologne soaps, moisturizers, etc. are some of the male grooming
products available in the market. A multinational FMCG company known for its
home and personal care products, is planning to launch a new brand of ‘anti-
pollution face wash’ in Indian markets. The face wash will be available nationwide
and promises to be a mix of herbal ingredients, aloe vera & charcoal.
a. Devise a customer relationship management strategy based on the segmentation
study.

b. Create a customer profile based on the information provided in the brief given
above.

Enterprise Resource Planning

1. Educational Institutions are looking for ERP solutions to improve operational

efficiency and student life cycle. They need to manage numerous programmes,
courses, student and employee performance and records and provide services to
students. Indicate areas where ERP solutions can help them by focusing on the
student life cycle and identifying the supporting functional areas

2. ERP helps in integration of various functional areas within the organisation.

How can Internet technologies and today’s latest trends like social networking and
mobile technologies enable the business to strategically connect with its
customers, suppliers, and others stakeholders? Explain this with an example.

3. Synergy Pvt. Ltd. is a retail grocery store chain with a central distribution centre
and 50 retail stores in a major metropolitan area. Managers at all levels at the head
office, at the distribution centre, and in the retail stores need reports to develop a
sales plan that indicates the expected sales volume for each item for the subsequent
week. The distribution managers require actual delivery data as against the
delivery standards to optimize distribution. All orders from the local stores are
filled from the central distribution centre. The central distribution centre purchases
inventory from suppliers and allocates it to the local stores based on a sales
forecasting report. If a local store needs to replenish its stock because an item has
fallen below a desired inventory level, the store manager can request additional
stock from the central distribution centre.

Synergy Pvt. Ltd. is facing a problem of managing its distribution system and
delay in accounting. The company requires a system to control inventories and
manage the distribution process of various products to the stores. Delay in sales
information is the main cause of concern.

a. How can an ERP address their concern? Discuss the inter relationship between
various functions to justify your answer.

b. Outline the broad requirements of a new system identifying the players and
atleast three tasks at each level .

Financial Institutions and Markets

1. In your view, what can be the possible reasons behind the increasingly high
NPAs of the Indian banks? How far can this be attributed to the conditions
prevailing in the Indian economy?

2. ABC Fashion Pvt. Ltd. is a leading apparel company in India. They want to
expand and modernize their current business model and thus requires funding to
their business. You have been hired as a Financial consultant to ABC Fashion. As
a consultant suggest the various methods as to how ABC Fashion Pvt. Ltd. can
raise funds through primary or secondary market for their business.

3.a. Rahul is an active investor and have invested in mutual fund and fixed
deposits. He wants to diversify his existing portfolio by investing in derivative
instruments but he is not sure about it. Suggest few derivative instruments to
Rahul.

3.b. “Banks are the financial intermediaries that facilitate the flow of funds in the
economy”. In regard to the above statement discuss some of the functions of
commercial banks?

Global Retailing

1. What is your opinion on the path IKEA has chosen to on its entry in the Indian
market?

2. Vicco laboratories manufacturers of the toothpaste brand Vicco Vajradanti is

planning to enter the international market expanding its presence in more than 40
countries? What should be their strategy?

3. Case Study

Metro AG is located in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was established in 1996 by the

merger of the country’s three retail companies. The group has presence in Europe,
Africa and Asia. It has four sales divisions and seven retail brands, viz., cash and
carry stores (MET-RO, Marko), food retailing stores (Real, Marko), food retailing
stores (Real, Extra), non-food specialty stores and tage (Media Markt, Saturn) and
departmental stores (Galeria Kaufhof). It roughly employs 3 lac people. Individual
customers and wholesalers are its primary customers. It has successfully applied
RFID in its retail business and supply chain.

At present, Metro is using RFID an all its stores. However the method was not
implemented overnight; it had been deployed through a series of trials. Let us look
back at course of RFID implementation as it exists today in Metro.

In 2003, Metro started the use of RFID and field trials for the same at selected
stores. Motivation behind it was to achieve high efficiency in its supply chain
operations, optimize inventory, minimize stock-outs and achieve fully automated
replenishments systems and item-level tagging. After the success of field trials,
RFID was implemented through the whole of Metros supply chain in November
2004.

Now, most of its suppliers ship pallets ( a unit on which goods or containers to be
shipped are placed) tagged with RFID labels. There are RFID gates deployed at the
entry and exit points of every Metro distribution centre. In order to fully automate
the supply chain the group decided to put some kind of penalty on suppliers who
do not use RFID labels. Almost all pallets should be tagged with RFID UHF (Ultra
High Frequency) transponders. These contain data such as serial shipping container
codes, store number etc. A code called Electronic Product Code (EPC), which can
identify every single item, is stored in the RFID tag. Metros supply chain process
with the use of RFID comprises the following steps:

1. The supplier sends an electronic dispatch note to a Metro distribution

centre where goods are to be received and tags pallets with RFID that are read
through RFID exit gates.

2. At the distribution centre, pallets with RFID tags are read through RFID
entry gates and then are stored in the warehouse. When a requirement is received
from a Metro store, the pallets are sent to the store and, at the time of exit, are
again read through the RFID exit gate.

3. The store receives the pallets; they are read through the RFID gate and are
then stored in stock rooms.

To support RFID, Metro has used a variety of Hardware and software support such
as RFID readers, RFID applications and software components. The group also
updated its merchandise management systems (MMS) and warehouse management
systems (WMS) to make provisions for RFID.
In January 2005, RFID implementation was accomplished all through. In 2006,
Metro moved to EPC global Gen2 tags and new reader designs. By using these
tags, carton-level tagging was possible; however, item tagging was not available.

In September 2007, Metro started item level tagging trails at Galeria Kaufhof,
Essen, which stocked about 30,000 items (clothes) any time, RFID gates could
sense motion and automatically activate readers. They are present at the transition
points. The use of readers enabled the staff to locate items and their availability.
Smart shelves were introduced that could identify clothes via RFID and provide
information related to price, size etc. In addition, smart mirrors and smart dressing
rooms were introduced; they also provided details of clothes through RFID tags.

The group reported the following benefits after RFID implementation:

 Inventory optimization\

 As against the natural barcode, RFID reduced idle time and accelerated
good receipt.

 Lesser shelving errors.

 Improved and smoother flow of process.

 Lesser events of theft and shrinkage.

 Approximately 10-20% reduction in stock-outs, thus increasing sales

performance.

 Cost reduction for suppliers using RFID.

 Cost saving by the use of electronic dispatch notes.

 Track and trace feature for store items.

1. Why did Metro AG feel the need to introduce RFID into its supply chain?

2. What were the steps and components of information technology that were used
by the group to achieve the successful implementation of RFID?

India's Foreign Trade

1. Well-established Indian consumer products manufacturing & marketing

company decides to go for geographical expansion, they go for expansion through
entering foreign market/s (Exports) however; they will do complete risk analysis of
the target market/s, why it is essential to conduct risk analysis of the target
market/s prior to entering the market and how this will benefits the company?
Explain in detail with an appropriate example.

2. Export Promotion Councils set-up by Ministry of Commerce, government of

India are known to benefit MSME’s , explain how many different EPC’s are there
and pick any one EPC’s from any one segment, explain how they function and how
they help the MSME’s

3. Indian Biotech manufacturing & marketing company engaged in manufacturing

of Human healthcare biotech products and Biotech based Agro products, assume
that you are their external consultant for setting up their Export business:

a. What are your recommendations to this company prior to entering overseas

market with their biotech products for human?

b. Work out a market entry strategy for overseas market for their Biotech based
Agro products.

Integrated Marketing Communication

1. Develop an Integrated Marketing Communication Plan for Patanjali’s Coronil

Kit which claims to boost immunity and aids in COVID management. Clearly
identify the target audience and the various mediums of communication. Briefly
elucidate the rationale behind the suggested mediums of communication and the
expected outcome in terms of reach and conversion for the same. 2. Review the
recent communication campaigns of Netflix India. How similar or different is it
from Amazon Prime India. As a marketing expert/opinion leader which of these
campaigns you think would result in more viewership and why?

3. Fortune Foods #AamchaGharChaRaja Campaign talks about celebrating

festivals in the New Normal (Source: Retrieved from www.afaqs.com). a. Identify
the Advertising Objectives of the Campaign.

b. What kind of Advertising research the company must have conducted to get this
campaign live? How does the marketer evaluate such a campaign in the New
Normal?

International Finance

1. Elaborate ‘Hedging and Speculation are important functions of erivatives’.

Distinguish between exchange traded derivatives and over the counter derivatives.

2. Elaborate on the various channels through which a company can mobilize equity
capital from the international market.

3. A country’s Balance of Payment includes two components – Current account,

Capital and financial account. Current account measures the value of all goods and
services imported and exported during a given financial year. Current Account
Deficit (CAD) arises when the value of imported goods and services exceeds the
value of exported goods and services. As on June 30, 2020 RBI reported India’s
current account deficit has been reduced to 0.9% of the GDP in 2019-20 as
compared to 2.1% in FY 2018-19 due to curtailed imports.

a. Differentiate between Current account and Capital account.

b. What measures can be taken to reduce the disequilibrium in the balance of

payments’ position?

International Logistics & Supply Chain Management

1. A foreign automobile company is planning its foray into Indian market starting
with a sub-compact SUV designed specifically for the Indian consumer. Given the
sales trends of competitors in this segment, the company has forecast strong
demand for its offering & is confident of good sales volumes. Help the company in
its supply chain planning & suggest a supply chain strategy for its Indian foray.

2. An Indian toy manufacturing SME located in the state of Uttar Pradesh &
catering only to the domestic market has sensed a big export market for its
products in the adjacent countries of Nepal, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.
Contemplating expansion to these markets, the company is evaluating the logistics
& supply chain requirements for exporting to these countries. What considerations
must drive the logistics planning for this potential export business? Based on these
logistical considerations, would you recommend targeting all / some / one of these
export markets? Explain the most suitable choice of logistics strategy (in-house /
3PL / 4PL etc.) for your recommended market/s.

3. Mumbai-based trading company imports various high-end consumer electronics

and distributes them to retailers in the domestic market. The company publishes a
catalogue of its products and imports them based on orders placed by the retailers.
The market for these goods is limited compared to that for general consumer
electronics and is characterized by highly variable demand with short response
times.

a. Which mode of transportation must the company prefer for importing the high-
end consumer electronic goods?

b. Explain the warehousing requirements of the company and suggest the type of
warehouse suitable for its needs.

International Marketing

1. An Indian company is planning to setup a base in UK. They are confused as to

which management orientation should they follow and what are the nuances of the
same. Can you please guide them on the same ?

2. As a part of the team working on the factors positively and negatively affecting
global marketing specially post Covid, can you please share your thoughts on the
driving and restraining forces affecting Global Marketing?

3. ABC Ltd., an Indian firm dealing with sports goods and sportswear is planning
to venture out into Japan

a. Can you guide them about the cultural parameters that they need to be aware of ?

b. Can you also help them differentiate between high and low context culture ?

Introduction to Retail

1. You are the wholesaler for an apparels company. What will be your functions?

2. You are supposed to set up a store for apparels. What are the different elements?
inside and outside the store that will give you maximum customer footfall?

3. Case Study
Brands pitch experiences, hope for millennial buy – in

From furniture and mobile phones to fashion and lifestyle, experience stores are
opening up new paths to customer engagement and retention

What does it take to sell clothes, mobile phones, furniture, bikes, cars and all else
to millennial customers? Engaging them with the right experience say brand
custodians at Fab India, Royal Enfield, Pepperfry, One Plus, RedMi and many
others.

Over the past year and more several brands have experimented with their retail
outlets or opened up new ones to serve up a range of experiences–café, wellness
centres, children’s playrooms, reading corners and what have you-apart from their
core offerings. The brand promise, they say, is increasingly about values and
emotional connections as much as it is about a product or a service to meet a need.

Ajay Kapoor, president-Retail at Fab India that has opened 11 centres over the past
year or so said that experience centres mark a shift from transactional exchanges to
a more experiential and interactive retail experience. Fab India plans to go for 30
more centres in the coming months. "As per the industry norm re-developing a
store leads to 6-7% sales growth whereas with experience centres we are
experiencing a jump of up to 30%" said Kapoor.

Brands are interpreting the millennial rush for experience in different ways. Some
see it as a need to entertain the customer, others look to align the brand to specific
tastes and expectations. Royal Enfield stores for instance are built to push the
feeling of camaraderie among bikers, to create an ambience where enthusiasts can
share their passion about riding, said its spokesperson. The centers offer a glimpse
into the brand’s history and its position within the shared heritage of the world of
biking and adventure.
The Royal Enfield Garage Café in Goa, for instance, hosts a motorcycle museum,
customization area, a café and a retail store.

Brands such as Pepperfry, born and bred in the digital universe, look at experience
centres as physical outposts that help bring customers into the fold. Customers
want to touch, feel and interact with furniture, said its spokesperson. Pepperfry
Studios helps the consumer choose the right type of furniture and have a
conversion (customers to footfalls) ratio of over 50 per cent. Pepperfry will help its
customers with the choice of materials designs, textures, fabrics etc. They would
help the customer with the choice of tapestry, upholstery and many other products.
If I was the store manager I would increase the footfall by adopting these
strategies. I would improve on the display, ambience, out of the box customer
experience inside the store. I would then look at the layout and there would be
spaces inside the store where there would be interior designers who would sit with
the customer and help them with the selection of furniture, fabrics and give them
an overall fantastic experience. Also helping with the designing of the house and
making it the best place to live in. There are different technologies like 3D floors,
different technologies for the wall and so on.

"The average ticket size of a studio order is three times that of an online order.
Studios contribute 30% to our topline and we have seen catchment sales go up by
90-100% in areas where we have launched a studio." the spokesperson added. The
company has ramped up its offline strategy significantly, going from 29 studios at
the end of FY 2018 to 52, end of FY2019. The company said that it was targeting
an increase in their contribution to the topline from 30% to 45%.

One plus that started with an online-only presence and set up its first experience
store in Bengaluru has now expanded to Chennai and Delhi. Vikas Agarwal
general manager, One Plus India says Indian consumer prefer to touch and feel the
product before making their purchase. Besides premium buyers look for a value
added experience woven around their core purchase. Hence Agarwal added, One
plus serves gourmet coffee and creates an ambience of exclusivity in its centres.

Rival brand Xiaomi has five 'Mi home' stores across Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi
and Mumbai. The centres are a way for the brand to reach out to customers directly
thereby removing multiple operational costs and inefficiencies said the company's
spokesperson.

For home décor and lifestyle brands experience centres are a long tradition K E
Ranganathan, managing director, Roca Bathroom products said that they help
provide a seamless retail experience. For some it is a way to showcase the diverse
set of products in its fold and establish an umbrella brand, Vasanth Kumar.
managing director, Lifestyle International said they are setting up large (50,000
square feet) centres where its products will be retailed.

However experience centres are much more than retail showrooms. They are not
about products or pricing, but a place where one can relax and enjoy the entire
shopping experience says the brands that are working on creating such centres. For
bike brand Jawa, experience stores create a warm brand experience, said Ashish
Joshi chief executive Classic Legends. Here buyers can walk in, read about bike
Czechoslovakian origin, dig into motorcycle folklore or buy T-shirts and
accessories or browse around the small library of books located in the space. The
art of retail it would appear is all about the art of mastering the subtle sales pitch.

a. What is your take on the strategic routes that the brands have taken to position
their products?

b. How do you think that pepperfry can improve its footfall in its stores. If you
were to head a store as store manager how would you increase and improve the
footfall after pepper fry has taken the steps in this case?

Marketing Research

1. As a researcher, you need to study how many Kirana stores in Mumbai sell corn
flakes of well-known US firm namely Kelloggs. Which non-probabilistic sampling
method would you use to complete your research? Also state the reasons behind
choosing that method. Also explain as to how will you proceed ahead with
choosing the areas/ localities in Mumbai to conduct your research alongwith
timelines.

2. You are the Head of a Market Research Organisation. Your FMCG client Kraft
Heinz has recently introduced “High Fibre,” a new type of biscuit that contains
ingredients that are meant to be good for Heart patients. The FMCG company
wants to understand how customers are reacting to their recently launched biscuit.
Draft a Questionnaire containing not more than 20 questions that would succinctly
address the query posed by the FMCG client.

3. You have been recently appointed as a “New Product Development” Head for
Voltas Beko (Tata-Beko Alliance Company). You have been asked to develop 2
new innovative products namely Dishwasher & Air Purifier as part of their product
portfolio.

a. Explain the process in detail to arrive at the creation of your 2 new products

b. Is there a need to conduct Test Marketing? If Yes or No, please state your
reasons to support your answer.

Marketing strategy
1. Taking apt examples for every stage, explain the evolution of stages of
marketing era?

2. Tata Group has various business units under it also called as strategic business
units. Study the business units under tata group and explain importance of SBU’s
along with the different levels of strategy.

3. ABC Co. is into manufacturing of Garments for the Indian market.

a. If you are the manager there, what according to you would be the issues that you
will face while making strategic business decisions?

b. What would be the paradigm shift in your marketing strategies?

Merchandising Management

1. How would you go about starting your own store of exclusive potato chips using
innovative techniques of promotions and selling? (10 Marks)

2. If you were the merchandising manager of a store what would be your

functions?

3. Case Study

PepsiCo lays its chips on the hyperlocal highway

The company finesses the regional game for Lay’s and Kurkure, acquires local
taste and habits to beat back competition from homegrown snackmakers.

With southern markets on its radar, PepsiCo India is drilling down into local tastes
and food habits to develop local and hyperlocal variants while rethinking its
positioning tactics. It has just launched a variant for Lay’s that seeks to replace the
traditional papad (rice and lentil crispies) as a meal time snack for southern market.
Lay’s Wafer Style comes close on the heel of its launch of another product aimed
at the same market, Kurkure Masala Munch with gingelly (sesame seeds) oil, a
taste earlier catered to only by hyperlocal labels.

What makes PepsiCo focus so keenly on south and its regionalisation the way to
counter the growing power of the local brands such as Haldiram’s, Bikanerwala,
Balaji and numerous startup labels promising healthy snacks?

Dilen Gandhi, senior director, Marketing- Foods category, PepsiCo says that the
company has always sought to develop new snacking habits in India, with the
objective of catering to the different palates. ”Every region is important to us and
we’ve always tried to connect to all our consumers by providing them with
relevant flavours and textures that are tailor-made for their personal tastes and
preferences” said Gandhi.

The launch of the new Lay’s Wafer Style is in line with the company’s
regionalisation strategy and the south is an important market, the company said.
Experts say that the new launches reflect a nuanced development of the company’s
regionalisation agenda. Initiated a few years back the company started out adding
spicy variants of its products and finding local stars to endorse the products.

Now the launches are better attuned to the local tastes and the positioning reflects
an understanding of meal-time habits, said experts. Repositioning wafer chips to
become a meal accompaniment is a good step, since this increases occasions of
consumptions, said Natasha Kumat, India Food and Drink Analyst with market
research firm Mintel. According to a report that they recently released, India is the
second largest market for snack food after China in terms of volume and third in
terms of value ($5.11 billion) after China ($73.31 billion) and Japan ($7.76
billion). While the gap is huge the potential is too, say market research agencies.
The Indian snack food retail market grew around 17.3 percent in terms of value in
2018 according to Mintel. And 38 percent of Indians have salty snacks alongside
of their meal; the number jumps to 44 percent consumers from the south, added
Kumat.

In south PepsiCo finds itself battling the unorganised unbranded products as well
as regional brands that have developed a deep understanding of the customer. To
take on these brands, it is tapping into local tastes and following local distribution
patterns. According to consumer research reports, in the South 35 percent of
consumers are buying unbranded and 20 percent branded, traditional snacks,
mostly from neighbourhood stores, PepsiCo will also therefore need to tap into
local sweet shops and such stores to grab attention and a share of the wallet.

“We have received great response on our region specific offerings” said Gandhi.
The advertising is also being tailored around local consumer insights. It shows a
young boy relishing what is otherwise considered to be a staple but uninteresting
meal (sambhar rice) with a wafer-style chip as an accompaniment. In south people
eat their rice with papads or some crispy snacks.

According to Kumat, around 40 percent of branded packaged traditional snackers

say that their purchase is influenced by flavour. Hence the introduction of local oils
and spices into Kurkure, which the company said, has been at the forefront of its
regionalisation strategy. The efforts have paid off this far, as South India has
emerged as one of the fastest growing markets for Kurkure over the last six
months.

However catering to specific local tastes is not the only challenge. With increasing
health consciousness among consumers, brands have to walk the line between taste
and wellness with care. The Mintel study shows that some brands address this by
introducing healthy ingredients into their recipes, while some offer snacks with
high fibre content. It depends on the insights the brands are playing with and given
the market potential, the global brands are all ramping up their ambitions and
efforts to think and act local.

Strategy for south will be - First of all we have to select the stores in which we
wish to sell our product. Then we have to work on the packing and pricing. Setting
up a strong distribution network and increasing the number of retailers and also
using the local stars to endorse your products. Also the promotional items such as
t-shirts, umbrellas (which people carry constantly in south) and other promotional
items which remain with the people constantly has to be made so the visibility
increases. Also promotions in terms of events like cookery shows in small villages
where women could be empowered to sell these products as it will increase the
reach. The branding of the product has to be done on the shop fronts (signage), the
transport vehicles of the distributors and the unique display units that have to be
put up inside.

Operations and Supply Chain Strategies

1. There is a multinational company XYZ that operates in the retail business. The
company also launched a couple of new products with their label. Customer
demand is increasing because the company has a good product mix. Whereas the
level of actual performance is not that much increased. As you are appointed as
supply chain manager, suggest some strategies to the organization that ultimately
increase performance.

2. Consider last month you started a new business of Electronics items. You are
also thinking to start different branches of your business in your city as well as
outside. To increase the revenue you may explore the international market. In the
dynamic market, you would face tough competition from different online as well
as offline players during the journey. Analyze and suggest a different level of
strategies that you will implement in the firm that can improve overall business
profit.

3. A toy company is working in the India market from the last couple of years. The
company has many branches within the city and outside as well. The company
thinking to start its own manufacturing unit and the government is also motivating
manufacturers to start manufacturing within the Indian market.

a. Explain various competitive dimensions in detail that company needs to rework

to get better market share and achieve business excellence in the supply chain.

b. Management is confused about the selection of the production process. Kindly

suggest the best method in the production process that improves efficiency.

Procurement Management

1. A chain of premium jewelry brand is launching new business in India. Being a

global chain, they want to maintain same look and feel of global store experience.
It is obviously not possible to get everything from global vendors as cost is also a
criteria. As Purchasing Buyer you have been asked to procure major capex for the
stores chain. Explain with detailed steps how you will approach this assignment
focusing on what factor will be different as against typical raw material
procurement? What challenges one may face in Capex Procurement? Take
examples of Capex you can think of in above scenario & explain process around it
in your answer accordingly.

2. Amidst Covid with global logistics opening up slowly, it’s important for your
organization who is in plastic sheets manufacturer to get their raw material –
resins, the main ingredient in this molding process from Turkey. The raw material
is urgently required now as your organization has lots of order to deliver. While
market has open yet movement involved lot of risk like delayed consignments etc.
What Inco terms once should select to ensure goods are delivered on timely basis
and till factory premises? Can choosing right Inco terms also help organization to
save money in these difficult times?

3. Case Study

INTRODUCTION

M/s GETWELL is a privately owned big pharma player. Being Pharma company
selection of raw material and packaging material is quite stringent both in terms of
specification & dealing with same vendors for years now. M/s GETWELL is a
listed organization who strongly believes in innovation. Their R&D team
continuously works on getting customer latest product and hence don’t want to
change old proven ways of working under name of quality.

M/s GETWELL has grown since 1980s into one of the top 5 Pharma players in
India. The company has an annual turnover of $750 million and employs 2,500
staff, including a centralized purchasing function at head office. From past 3 years
company growth has been almost flat. A newly hired senior purchasing manager
Jacob has been appointed at head office, who is responsible for bringing change in
procurement practice and yet not sacrificing savings. During his interview he was
also told that last year during annual vendor meet lot of vendors raised concern of
need of transparency in procurement process. They also mentioned that they get lot
of enquiries but even after ensuing proposal and sample submission as per process,
they never get new orders. These vendors are in database of other Pharma
companies and are quite keen to work with GETWELL.
Scenario

Jacob is an experienced and qualified purchaser who has worked across the public
and private sectors for the last decade. In starting days he is investing lot of time to
understand key categories and the critical vendors. He is simultaneously working
on updating Purchase Policy.

While undergoing few transactions, Jacob could identify issue in sample approval
process. While engineering teams evaluate lot of samples of new vendors, doesn’t
provide logical reason for rejecting new vendors even though samples look to fit in
specification. Moreover, organization still followed seal envelope quotation
process for most of the critical procurement, which takes lots of time. Most of the
time cycle of sourcing goes so long that key launches are often closed in haste and
hence order are placed with same incumbent vendors with much higher cost.

Meanwhile, Jacob highlight these Gap to Head of Purchase department during his
quarterly review discussion. During the discussion Jacob happen to mention that
while organization has progressed but still follow old ways of procurement. These
progress delays over cycle and also impact new launches. He also mentioned risk
that organization is taking by depending on few vendors for years now. Jacob also
highlighted how eProcurement process can help them to resolve some of these
issues. The Purchase head is quite surprise to understand that changes in process
can bring both speed and transparency. And is also worried that cost should not be
the only criteria to select new vendors

The Head of Purchase Department has asked him to evaluated overall process and
come up with his recommendation. (The information in this case study is purely
fictitious and has been prepared for assessment purposes only. Any resemblance to
any organization or person is purely coincidental.)
a. Put yourself in shoes of Jacob, mention challenge that you can identify as a
Purchase Manager in the Case Study above? How can eProcurement help you to
improve you manage to resolve them on longer term?

b. The Purchase Manager Jacob wants to introduce stringent supplier selection

criteria in purchase process while evaluating vendors. What are the steps he should
value in this case study?

Project Management

1. A software development project was planned to be completed in 12 months. The

review of the project after eight months revealed that Rs. 120000 was spent on the
project for 48% of project completion. Consider total project budget as Rs 240000.
Calculate and explain the schedule and cost performance index for this situation.

2. Take an example of developing a residential project and carry out the project
feasibility analysis using the six laws of project feasibility.

3. You are given the task of preparing project plan for the “Annual Day Function”
of your college.

a. Explain work break-down structure and prepare three levels of work break-down
structure for this project plan.

b. Consider hypothetical activities (4-5 tasks) and a project team of 3-4 positions.
Prepare RACI Model for the given project plan.

Retail Store Design and Location

1. H R Johnson wants to set up their exclusive store to attract Customers,

Architects, Builders. Give an idea of the kind of layout that they should have?

2. Elaborate on the importance of Visual Merchandising in retail citing an example

of any unusual display that you have seen?

3. Case Study

BigBasket to invest $100 mn to strengthen supply chain

Alibaba-backed company BigBasket is pumping in $100 million (about ₹698

crore) to strengthen its supply chain by setting up vending machines and smaller
distribution centres across various cities.

The online grocery platform- registered as supermarket Grocery Supplies-had

recently raised $150 million in funding led by Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth
Fund, CDC Group and Alibaba. Founded in 2011 BigBasket operates in 25 India
cities. It plans to utilize the proceeds-which has placed the Bengaluru based firm in
the unicorn club-to further expand into existing markets with more investments in
the first mile, scaling-up of its supply chain. "We want to enable 2-hour delivery in
top 10 cities that we operate in by July. For that we have been investing in
strengthening our distribution centers" BigBasket co-founder Vipul Parekh told
PTI.

The company expects its capital expenditure towards these initiatives to be about
$100 million this year.

"We are ramping up our milk subscription business – BB Daily – under which we
have built the supply chain to deliver milk and other items in the morning. The
service was started around September last year and our sellers already carry out
90,000-100,000 orders a day. We are aiming to take this to a million orders a day
and a stronger supply chain infrastructure will play a key role in this" he said.

Another area where the firm is investing is in towards setting up unmanned

vending machines – BB Instant – in office and apartment complexes.
"We see a huge potential of these machines. Customers can use their app to access
the machine and buy products. The only human intervention is in re-stocking. We
have already placed such machines at 200 sites in Bengaluru and over the next one
year, we want to have 2000 such sites across the 10 large cities where we operate"
Parekh said. Also given that these machines are placed within apartment and
office complexes, the risk of vandalism is lower.

Parekh said that with these investments BigBasket which competes with SoftBank-
backed Grofers as well as Amazon.in and Walmart owned Flipkart, will continue
to build further on its leadership in the grocery business.

a. What is BigBaskets primary business? How do you think is their strategy to

consolidate their market position?

b. What are the factors which will drive the growth of online Groceries in the
current scenario? What can they do better to improve their market share?

Retail Store Operation and Inventory Management

1. The right selection of location of a stores is crucial to the success of the store. A
Jewelry Brand “Pure Gems” wants to open a store in an upcoming smart city of
India. The Unique Selling Proposition ( USP) of “Pure Gems” is “Purity of
Product”. Therefore its products are costlier than the competitors’ products. What
are the steps involved in selecting a location by “Pure Gems” to open a retail store
in an upcoming Smart City.

2. “Big Market” is a popular retail store in Chandigarh that sells various products
of day-to-day use. This includes apparel, footwear, accessories, grocery items,
consumer electronics etc. The store has four floors where specific categories of
merchandise are arranged in different sections. The store remains particularly
crowded during weekends.

The store has faced several instances of shoplifting. An initial analysis of situation
revealed the fact that the store has a lot of small items which could be easily picked
up by shoplifters. Involvement of inner staff is also suspected in pilferage.

What measures do you think are to be taken to prevent shoplifting and pilferage
from “Big Market” ?

3. “The retailer buys in good faith”, the Merchandiser of Apparel retailer Paridhan
complained. “But when the merchandise has poor workmanship, has been
delivered late, or is substituted in colour and style, the burdon of proof is on
retailer, who must write for authorization to return goods.Then if the manufacturer
uses a factoring company, there is often a problem in getting credit for
merchandise returned.

a. Should the retailer buy in good faith? Please explain.

b. When a retailer has problems with a supplier, what options does the retailer have
? Please Comment.

Sales Management

1. Study and prepare the sales management structure of any 2 FMCG Companies
of your choice.

2. You are the territory sales manager of Eureka Forbes water purifiers. You have
3 new recruits under you. Help them prepare a sales plan.

3. ABC Co. is into selling of skincare products. Since it is new, it is aggressively

selling its products to the markets in which it operates. There is a lot of
competition in the market and so the Co. has to continuously come up with
different innovative ways in which it can make its presence felt. The Salesmen are
having high sales targets and being pressurized to perform well. Amidst this, an
existing brand has also branched out into the same range of skincare products and
gaining good customer footfall as they are already well known in the market. ABC
Co. is not just losing out on its customer base but also on its sales personnel.

a. Analyze the case and explain what could be the probable reasons for the
employees leaving the organization.

b. What according to you should be the right way to motivate these employees into
staying with the company?

Service Operations Management

1. Discuss the Role of Service Engineers in ‘Engineering’ Service Operations.

Explain the three techniques used to evaluate service operations with reference to a
Restaurant setup

2. Define and briefly explain the term ‘Service Design’. What are the various
approaches that organizations adopt to implement ‘Service Design’? Explain with
examples for each approach from setups like Banking; Customer Care; App based
services; etc

3. The consumer durable industry is a good example wherein the businesses

involve both manufacturing as well as service operations. The sold products are
evaluated by the customers and rated highly based on the after sales ‘service’ that
the seller provides. With reference to the consumer durable industry discuss the
following aspects of service operations
a. Discuss the elements that need to be planned in a Service Framework.

b. What are the challenges faced by the Service Managers who manage these
service operations?

Services Marketing

1. In the midst of the current lockdown in the country, the opening of a new salon
got postponed. Now since the government has given the permission for the salons
to open throughout the country, can you please guide ABC Ltd. about how can
they manage the 7P’s of Service Marketing in times of the Pandemic

2. A new hotel chain is confused as to what all supplementary services they should
provide to their customers. Can you please guide them about supplementary
services by using the Flower of Service

3. A newly refurbished mall post the lockdown is bearing a beautiful look to it. But
the owners are not sure whether they have been able to create the right Service
Environment.

a. Can you as a consultant guide them on the same using the Mehrabian Russel
Stimulus Response Model

b. Can you as a consultant guide them using the Russel Model of Affect

Strategic Management

1. When you are expanding your organization in a new geography, what are the
kinds of environmental assessments that is recommended? (10 Marks)

2. How would you use Porters 5-forces Model for analyzing the strength or
weakness of any organization?
3. Case Study

Du Pont (E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co, of Wilmington, Delaware) was founded
as a gunpowder manufacturer early in the 1800s. Explosives dominated its
business through World War I. After the war, it began to diversify. Acquisitions
and joint ventures became more prominent during the last fifteen years. In 1981 it
acquired Conoco, a major oil company. In 1991 Du Pont joined with prescription
drug company Merck & Co. In1992, in a joint venture with Crop Genetics, Du
Pont moved into the bioinsecticide field. In 1993 it bought Imperial Chemical’s
nylon business, and today it remains the largest chemical company in the United
States.

Dow (The Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Michigan) was formed in the late
1800s. Its first product was chlorine bleach, and numerous others soon followed.
The need for chemicals during each of the world wars resulted in Dow emerging as
the second largest chemical company in the United States. During the 1980’s Dow
made several acquisitions, most notably Merrell pharmaceuticals, Texise cleaning
products, and Essex Chemical, a leading producer of automotive sealants and
adhesives. In the late 1980s, Dow joined with Eli’s Lilly and Company’s fungicide
business to create Dow Elanco, a major producer of agricultural chemicals. Thus,
like Du Point, Dow became a diversified chemical giant.

For more than forty years, both Dow and Du Pont employed a similar strategy.
Both borrowed heavily and used the funds for expansion, relying on rising demand
coupled with price increases to maintain healthy levels of profit. The huge cash
flow necessitated by this strategy could sometimes lead to problems. If the
expansion was more rapid than the increase in demand, prices would have to be cut
and profits would suffer. Although that happened occasionally, it began to occur
more and more frequently by the end of the 1980s.

In 1991 Du Pont decided to change its strategy by reducing both capital spending
and costs. This focused the company on getting cash back quickly. By 1993 Du
Pont was able to provide for all capital funding without any substantial borrowing.
And 1994 was even better Analysts were expecting Du Pont to raise its dividend
payments to stockholders in 1994.

Du Pont also reorganized. It eliminated nearly 14,000 employees early in 1994. Du

Pont also decentralized into twenty strategic business units (SBUs) based on
products and industry, and it changed its pattern of marketing from a technology
driven approach to a market driven one.

Dow, on the other hand, remained with the traditional strategy. In 1980 it expanded
basic chemicals, and the resulting glut caused a drop in prices. As a result, earnings
fell in 1992. To raise cash to cover expansion and dividends, Dow had to sell assets
– a billion dollars worth in 1993 alone. It also announced that it would focus on
global competitiveness and cut back its corporate headquarters workforce.

Thanks to cutting back on spending in 1994 and a rebound in ethylene prices, Dow
was in good financial shape that year, although analysts were not expecting Dow to
be able to raise its dividend payments for several years. Dow did, however, semi to
be recognizing the need to change its strategy too.

Du Pont recognized the need to change strategy before Dow did. Given the high
cost of capital, a strategy of focusing on return on assets seemed to make more
sense than one that focused on market share.

a. Describe the two strategies used by Dow and Du Pont. What are the advantages
and disadvantages of each? Under what conditions would you use each of the two
strategies? Why? Explain your response.

b. Can you envision another strategy that either of these two companies might have
used? What changes would you recommend for the future?

Total Quality Management

1. Gokuul Industries is known for its innovative products. In recent times some of
its products failed to meet its customers’ expectations resulting in an increase in
the new product development time. Suggest a quality management technique that
Gokuul Industries can use to understand its customer’s needs, translate them into
product features and quality plan for the products while keeping the competitors’
performance in view.

2. You have joined Reddy Sons as VP operations. The organization has been
confronting several issues like rising in costs, a decline in sales volumes and
customer dissatisfaction for the last two years. Reddy Sons works in a
conventional method and all performance measures are in traditional financial
terms only, like revenue increase, high profit or liquidation etc. You realize that
these conventional performance estimates do not help the organization in their
quality initiatives. How are you going to change the performance measurement
system at Reddy Sons to bring it in line with the TQM philosophy?

3. Consistent product quality is the most proven predictor of any manufacturer’s

success. Competitors may imitate each other’s marketing, but superior quality
stands alone as the truest statement of company’s values. That is why forward-
thinking manufacturers are making quality cost management part of their DNA.

Engraining the fundamentals of quality cost management across every plant and
production line creates guardrails that keep quality improvement on track.
Moreover, it leads to improved product quality and increased yield rates, fostering
customer goodwill. That is why manufacturers who have embraced quality cost
management are driving higher customer demand and loyalty—and greater profits
—than competitors spending millions of dollars to market mediocre quality
products.

Knowing the cost of quality (COQ) is essential to earning and keeping a reputation
for excellence, nurturing customer trust, and growing over time. Since it represents
all the costs associated with stabilizing and continually improving product quality,
from suppliers to customers, COQ is the single best metric for tracking how well
manufacturing is delivering on the commitment to exceptional quality. It’s
common to

see cost of quality account for 15% to 20% of a manufacturer’s sales, and between
four to six times the size of net profits a given year.

Columbus, L. (2020, August 28). Getting Started With Quality Cost Management.
Retrieved August 30, 2020, from https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/96194-
getting-started-with-quality-cost-management

a. Using an industry example, explain the steps to calculate and report cost of
quality (COQ)? Compare the calculated COQ with the COQs of some world class
companies.

b. Explain how the company can reduce its COQ?

Capital Market and Portfolio Management

1. Distinguish between systematic and unsystematic risk. Explain different mutual

fund schemes for diversifying enlisted risks. (10 Marks)

2. Given below are likely returns in case of shares of Sun Ltd. and Moon Ltd. In
the various economic conditions. Both shares are presently quoted at Rs. 100 per
share.

Economic Probabilit Returns of Sun Ltd.(%) Returns of Moon Ltd.(%)

Condition y
High Growth 0.3 100 150
Low Growth 0.4 110 130
Stagnation 0.2 120 90
Recession 0.1 140 60

Compute – Expected Return and Standard Deviation for both stocks and provide
your suggestion for suitable investment.

3. Rajesh, 35-year-old salaried individual wishes to invest Rs. 15 lakhs in different

investment avenues. He plans to invest for the education of his two children aged 5
and 8 years old, retirement and contingency. Assuming the role of a Portfolio
Management Consultant design a suitable portfolio for Rajesh if –

a. He is willing to take moderate risk for his investments. (5 Marks)

b. He is a risk neutral investor.

Corporate Finance

1. ABC Pvt. Ltd. is considering two mutually exclusive capital investments. The
project’s expected net cash flows are as follows:

Expected Cash Flows

Yea Project A Project B
r
0 -375 -575
1 -300 190
2 -200 190
3 -100 190
4 600 190
5 600 190
 6 926 190
7 -200 0

If you were told that each project’s cost of capital was 12%, which project should
be selected using the NPV criteria? What is each project’s IRR? What is the
regular payback period for these two projects? What is the profitability index for
each project if the cost of capital is 12%?

2. Assume that your father is now 50 years old and plans to retire after 10 years
from now. He is expected to live for another 25 years after retirement. He wants a
fixed retirement income of Rs. 5,00,000 per annum. His retirement income will
begin the day he retires, 10 years from today, and then he will get 24 additional
payments annually. Your father has current savings of Rs. 10,00,000 and he
expects to earn a return on his savings @ 10% p.a., annually compounding. How
much (to the nearest of rupee) must your father save during each of next 10 years
to meet his retirement goal?

3. CP India Ltd has the following capital structure, which it considers optimal:

Debt 25%

Preference Shares 15%

Equity shares 60%

Total 100%

Applicable tax rate for CPIL is 25%. and investors expect earnings and dividends
to grow at a constant rate of 9% in the future. Risk free rate of return is 6%,
average equity share has expected rate of return of 15%. CPIL’s beta is 1.50.
Following terms would apply to new securities being issued as follows:

1. New preference can be issued at a face value of Rs. 100 per share, dividend and
cost of issuance will be Rs. 8 per share and Rs. 4 per share respectively.

2. Debt will bear an interest rate of 10%.

Calculate

a. Component cost of debt, preference shares and equity shares assuming that CPIL
does not issue any additional equity shares.

b. WACC.

Strategic Cost Management

1. “Beautiful Masks“ is a start-up manufacturing designer masks for men and

women set up in April’ 20 post COVID. It is managed by Ms Meher. She is facing
a huge demand for her designer masks from Retail outlets and on their Online store
as well. She wants to understand the correct approach for pricing the masks. She
has appointed you as the management accountant.

Please advise her regarding the key factors affecting pricing decisions, both
internal and external.

Also, suggest any 3 types of pricing methods she can choose from highlighting 2
salient features of each method.

2. Mr Chopra is the CEO of Tasty packaged Foods. They manufacture various

products like potato fries, samosas etc. Post covid, the company is under revenue
pressure due to the reduced demand for packaged food. Like every other business,
the short term decision making process in this business is also a process of
selecting the best amongst various alternatives considering the cost benefit factors
and impact on overall profitability of the firm. These could involve accepting or
rejecting a special order, making or buying decisions, product mix decisions etc.
These decisions require different analysis like Contribution margin analysis,
relevant and irrelevant cost analysis.

Please describe any 3 of these short term decision strategies with salient features.

3. Make vs Buy

Harish Aggarwal, A management accountant with Car Udyog is evaluating

whether a component MTR2000 should continue to be manufactured by Car or
purchased from Outside Vendor company. Outside Vendor has submitted a bid to
manufacture and supply the 32000 units of MTR 2000 that Car udyog will need for
2021 at a selling price of Rs 173

Harish has gathered the following information regarding Car Udyog's costs to
manufacture 30000 units of MTR-2000 IN 2020

Direct Materials 19,50,000

Direct Manufacturing Labour 12,00,000
Plant space rental 8,40,000
Equipment leasing 3,60,000
Other manufacturing 22,50,000
overhead
Total Manufacturing costs 66,00,000

Harish has also collected the following information related to manufacturing MTR
2000:

a. Prices of direct materials used in the production of MTR 2000 are expected to
increase by 8% in 2021

b. Car Udyog's direct manufacturing labour contract calls for a 5% increase in

2021

c. Car Udyog can withdraw from the plant space rental agreement without any
penalty. Car Udyog will have no need for this space if MTR 2000 is not
manufactured

d. The equipment lease can be terminated by paying Rs 60,000/-

e. 40% of the other manufacturing overhead is considered variable. Variable

overhead changes proportionately with the number of units produced. The fixed
component of other manufacturing overheads is expected to remain the same
whether or not MTR 2000 is manufactured

Required:

a. On the basis of the financial information Harish has obtained, calculate the cost
of making MTR 2000 inhouse in 2021 ? Please share calculations

b. Please compare with the cost of outsourcing the product and whether it is
profitable to buy or manufacture MT 2000?

Taxation- Direct and Indirect

1. GST is a tax that subsumed a number of state and central indirect taxes. Discuss
the statement and also share your view on, why GST is called as an Indirect tax.
Further, list down any ten taxes being subsumed under GST

2. Depreciation is the reduction in the usable value of fixed assets due to normal
wear and tear of time. Depreciation is an indirect non – cash expenditure which is
provided on SLM or WDV basis.

Rahul is new junior accountant with Hardwork Mills Private Limited he wants to
understand normal depreciation differs from additional depreciation. As a tax
adviser, guide him on the two concepts and discus the cases where additional
depreciation is not allowed.
3. Miss Seema, is a resident individual, shares following information in relation to
previous year

Particulars Amount in Rs
Salary Income (Net) 200000
Business Income(Net) 350000
Long term capital gain on sale of land 16000
Loss from Gambling in a game 30000
There are certain other types of 15000
losses- 10500
Unabsorbed Depreciation
Short term capital Loss

a. Define and Compute Gross Total income (5 Marks)

b. Discuss the concept of carry forward of losses with reference to above context
also, discuss the amount of Loss that can be carried forward in the said case. In
case it’s any number 15000/10500/Nil give reason for the same

IT Security and Risk Management

1. A device or an application needed to track a network or system for alicious

activities or violation of policies is known as Intrusion Detection System. hereas,
the testing that examines the security of an organization prior to an attack on the
network by a hacker is known as penetration testing. What are the challenges and
benefits of Intrusion detection system and penetration testing for an organization
in their security? Also is it necessary to have both these strategies implemented in
a single organization? Justify your opinion.

2. MSME companies over the last decade have invested in various cyber security
detection and prevention policies. These include, corporate firewalls, antivirus,
malware removal tools, and many others. In the current pandemic situation, all
these investments which were done for providing security to specific locations
(office space) have proved to be redundant. Majority of the workforce is working
from home and hence a review of these investments is being undertaken in
preparation for the new normal.

Discuss the technologies and policies which would help organizations to meet the
challenges of an increasingly distributed work environment. Kindly remember to
factor in budgetary and other resource constraints which the MSME sector faces
while making your recommendations

3. Mrs. Sharma felt all was not well with her 79-year-old father who used to live
alone in his hometown. When they talked on the phone, he would tell her about a
woman he met online and occasionally sent money to via his mobile phone. Even
though her father never met the woman in person, she had gained her father’s
confidence through instant messaging and voice chats, she would ask him to send
her money to feed her and her daughter. Mrs. Sharma told her father that he was
being conned, but he would not listen and continued to send the woman money
anyway. It was only after Mrs. Sharma went to her hometown to check on her
father due to ill health that she realized the extent of the scam. She found numerous
messages from the woman asking for money, including receipts from wire
transfers on her father’s phone. After doing a little digging, Mrs. Sharma found
that her father had sent the woman more than Rs. 9,00,000 over a course of two
years; practically his life’s savings. Majority of these transaction were done by
gaining access to her father’s provident fund account. The attacker had hacked the
account using the private information gained through chat and voice messages.
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. According to research by the Stanford Center
on Longevity and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Investor
Education Foundation, those over the age of 65 are more likely to have lost money
due to a financial scam than someone in their 40s.

a. Why are elderly frequent targets of cyber fraud? What tactics the fraudsters use
to gain access to bank accounts of elderly?

b. What are the ways and measures to protect people especially seniors from such
attacks?

Managing Business Process Outsourcing

1. The success of Robotic Process Automation in a variety of sectors and

industries, businesses globally are rushing to embrace it. And one among these is
the BPO industry. "If a BPO provider is embracing benefits of RPA or any other
transformative technology, they will have plenty of business whereas those who do
not innovate will lose out and fall behind." Discuss the pros and cons of the
contemporary technological advancement's impact on BPO sector.

2. A contract provides a framework for terms and conditions of the agreement,

roles and responsibilities of both the parties, risks associated, expectations of the
client, etc. To reach up to the common goal and mutual assent of the contract, the
contract

negotiation process is carried out. What are the steps involved in contract
negotiation and the terms which are considered while monitoring the contract?

3. XYZ Telecom wanted to structurally reduce the cost of its business operations
while retaining focus on those activities that are core to its brand and growth. as
part of this strategy, XYZ Telecom carried out an assessment of activities in its
Finance directorate with a view to partner with a service provider. the scope of the
outsourcing initiative included various processes within the Finance directorate
such as accounts Payable, accounts Receivable, Procurement, Reporting, Credit
Referral, Fraud, Billing and Commissions, data Management Office, Interconnect
and Roaming settlement, Fixed assets, and Revenue accounting. XYZ Telecom
was keen that the relationship with the chosen service provider should extend
beyond mere cost arbitrage. With this view, three key business objectives were
outlined as part of the outsourcing strategy:

 to drive operational efficiency to gain competitive advantage;

 to improve quality of service by allowing greater focus on value-add processes;

 to take decisive action to deliver cost savings and quality within the first year of
partnership.

XYZ Telecom was clear that establishing a partnership relationship with the
chosen service provider was the key to achieve these objectives. Hence, they set in
place a very rigorous approach towards selecting the right partner which consisted
of multiple vendor site visits and stringent capability analysis of the potential
outsourcing partners.

a. Why is it essential to build a strategic business partnership model for XYZ

Telecom in view of its outsourcing strategy? (5 Marks)

b. What are the attributes which XYZ Telecom should prioritize while evaluating
and selecting the right strategic partner for their outsourcing objectives?

Research Methodology

1. You have been asked to justify the use of mixed method in your upcoming
research project. How will you justify it? What would you specify as its downside?

2. What is meant by a dependent variable? Identify the one from the following
theoretical model. State any six hypotheses from this model. Identify any two
mediating variables.

3. “I think we should conduct lab experiment instead of field experiment. We have

got a limited budget. With such budget, conducting field experiment is not
possible. Let's not even discuss about it." Pranav was quite frustrated with the
recent cut in the budget of their research project. "Relax Pravin!" Dr Santosh
Mahajani tried to pacify Pravin. "Don't compromise on the research methodology
just because the budget has got reduced. We will need to make a decision based on
what we need to achieve instead of what budget we have".

a. In what circumstances, Pranav should choose field experiment? What he should

do to accommodate the recent budget cut?

b. In what circumstances, Pranav should choose lab experiment? What he should

do to accommodate the recent budget cut?
 Digital Payments

1. Digital payments comprises payment transactions carried out using a variety of

electronic modes such as cards, mobile or internet based set ups, to send and
receive money. Adoption of digital payments has increased significantly with the
move towards a cashless economy. Alternate payment channels fulfill customer
demands for convenience and speed and could soon become mainstream. With the
widespread use of smartphones, mobile banking and payments applications have
gone mainstream, and wearables provide convenient access to such applications.
Contactless payments enable consumers to make everyday purchases quickly and
safely especially for low-value transactions. Mobility, Internet of things (IOT),
connected homes, entertainment, and media are expected to augment the non-cash
transaction volumes significantly. By 2021, it is expected that more than 15 billion
machine-to-machine (M2M) and consumer electronic devices are likely to be
connected. As merchants start providing Augmented Reality (AR) assisted
shopping experiences, they will likely look for an AR-integrated payment gateway
that delivers a superior customer experience. The Digital Payments ecosystem in
India are undergoing a transformation with the entry of global tech giants that are
acting as aggregators for retail transactions. Within just four months of launch,
Google’s payments app is now already processing a large number of digital
transactions. You are requested to prepare a report on the opportunities arising due
to countrywide adoption of digital payments in India. Discuss the developments
that will contribute to the growth of digital payments in the country. Suggest
additional measures in order to boost electronic payments in India, which have not
been in practice.

2. Paytm (One 97 Communications Ltd) has spent nearly ₹14,500 crore to

convince Indians to substitute digital payments for cash. For a few months after
demonetization in November 2016, it seemed like the company was on the cusp of
victory. However as of now, Paytm is in danger of having its meal eaten by new
market entrants in the payment apps. According to a 2018 Credit Suisse report,
digital payments are expected to grow to $1 trillion by 2023 compared with $200
billion in 2018. However digital wallets, where Paytm has established a monopoly,
may soon become obsolete. Growth in digital payments is now being led by the
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform. Dozens of large companies and small
startups from Reliance Industries to Facebook to Razorpay are launching UPI-
based products. Two newer payment apps, in particular, are threatening to topple
Paytm. For many months now, Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay, the
search giant’s eponymous payment app, have recorded more transactions on UPI
than Paytm. This development has been reported earlier in different publications as
well. With the expansion of UPI, usage of wallets is expected to wind down
completely over the next few years. According to the latest data from the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI), wallet transaction value dropped to ₹15,109 crore in October
2019, from ₹18,786 crore a year ago.

Paytm has hired you as an Independent Strategy consultant. Prepare a report on

what measures and strategy could you employ in order to sustain in the
competition.

3. Bitcoin and other alt-coins must overcome competition from existing,

government-sponsored currencies and reduce the costs for consumers to switch to
new payment systems. The biggest obstacle to the widespread adoption of bitcoin
is the incumbent-monies problem. By providing a lower bound on the network size
of the incumbent money, legal tender status and public acceptability make it more
difficult to overcome the network-effects problem. NASDAQ has announced it
will launch a blockchain style digital ledger technology to manage equities with its
NASDAQ Private Market Platform. If the blockchain technology significantly
reduces the costs of processing transactions, it will be adopted. Bitcoin and the alt
coins are unlikely to function as more than a niche money except in the unlikely
event of hyper-inflation

a. Discuss how adoption of bitcoin will affect the existing modes of digital
payments?

b. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of bitcoin over digital payments system.

Contact:

Prof.Dr.N.Palaniappan.,MBA.,MCom.,MPhil.,PhD

Mail ID: palaniappanmail@gmail.com

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