Question Bank

Business, Entrepreneurship and Management

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1. A businessman is hiring child labour to manufacture carpet to make the produce cost
effective. Do you think it is an appropriate business practice to earn profit.? Give
reasons.

2. Suppose you want to open a factory producing ready-made garments. Which form of
business would you recommend? Give reasons in support of your answer.

3. One of your friends had bought a new bike. The company claimed that the bike would
give an average of 50 km/ltr. After using the vehicle for one week, he noticed that the
bike gave an average of only 35 km/ltr which was less than the average in the claim. Do
you think it was ethical on the part of the company? Why do you think so?

4. Mrs. Renu Gupta was an intelligent, creative and energetic woman. In spite of being an
M.Sc in Chemistry, she was a homemaker. She wanted to supplement her family income,
but did not want to take up a job. She met an American who was interested in artificial
jewellery. She got the jewellery items made by local artisans and then showed them to the
American customer, who was highly appreciative. Later, a few arrangements were made
and Renu managed to some orders from the American contact.

After the success of one order, slowly she started expanding her business in global
markets. Together with bank loans and money from friends and relatives, she diversified
into the export markets. Besides jewellery, she tried her hand at ordering cane furniture.
She discovered that there was less competition in the case of cane furniture. She would
hold exhibitions to sell cane furniture in domestic markets as well. Through observations,
direct interactions with the customers and reading, she formed practical ideas about the
type that would appeal to western customers. Thus, slowly and gradually she could sell in
domestic as well as in global markets. Later, she stopped taking part in exhibitions and
thus did not allow anyone to see her designs. Only trusted employees were allowed to see
the designs and since employees were happy and satisfied, there was no question of any
breach of trust.
Case questions:-
i. Identify the working environment of Renu Gupta.
ii. List the advantages of Renu Gupta as a woman entrepreneur.
iii. Critically examine “think global and act local” in the case of Renu Gupta.

5. What would you do in each of these true-life situations, and why?

a) You are negotiating a govt. contract for laying an expressway road of 150km in
South India. The Minister in charge informs through his agent that the contract
will be awarded to anyone willing to donate Rs. 5 crore to a charitable trust in the
name of the relatives of the minister, this would be in addition to the normal fees.
If you do not make the payment your competitor will certainly do so, and get the
contract.

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Business, Entrepreneurship and Management
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b) You are a newly appointed marketing manager for a large automobile tyre
manufacturer. Your company‟s advertising agency has just presented plans for
introducing a new tyre in the Southeast Asian market. Your tyre is a truly good
product, but the proposed advertising is deceptive. For example, the reduced price
was reduced from a hypothetical amount that was established only so it could be
shown as „reduced‟. Also, claims were made that the tyre was tested under the
most adverse conditions, ignoring the fact that it was not tested in prolonged
tropical heat and humidity. Your superiors are not concerned about deceptive
advertising, and they are counting on you to see that the tyre does extremely well
in the new market. Will you approve the ad plan?

6. A company is in the business of consumer durable products and has just added an
electronic cordless broom to its product line. It has approached Mr. Ram Kapoor, a
reputed marketing consultant for its positioning. The product is targeted at the middle
income households and is priced at Rs. 2500. The company is a market leader in its other
product lines.

Questions
a) If you were Mr. Ram Kapoor, what positioning strategy would you suggest for
this wonder- product and why?
(b) What will happen if the new product is not properly positioned?

7. Mr. X once owned a single shop in the shopping complex. Due to his skills and expertise
he is now the owner of five shops and earning around Rs. 50,000 from these shops on a
daily basis. Can you identify the form of business ownership in which he is running his
business? Can you also list the relative merits and demerits of this form of business
ownership?

8. Samsung and the Importance of Cultural Competency

Managers or employees from different cultural and geographic backgrounds have unique
opportunities to reach out to new markets and understand ways to extend their products in
new markets. Better understanding of other cultures, customs and concerns helps
managers increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Part of cultural competency is not only understanding different languages, but also
understanding different food choices, customs, how people want to be addressed, and
even how much space should be between people. In some cultures, people are taught not
to interrupt or not to look someone in the eye. So managers need to understand how to
invite those people in. Often the formality or a culture is tied to the age of that culture.
The older the culture, the more formal it usually is.

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Business, Entrepreneurship and Management
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South Korean Samsung Electronics – responsible for the popular tablet computer Galaxy
Tab - believes that global expansion is critical to the sustainable growth of the company.
A variety of programmes are in place to recruit and retain global talent, and
understanding different cultures is a must as it searches across China, India, Russia, the
US and every corner of the globe for staff – 85 percent of Samsung Electronics‟ sales are
in overseas markets and half of the regular staff are foreign workers.

Source: www.samsung.com. accessed January 27, 2012. Reaching Beyond Borders

(rewritten by Jan Adriaanse and Jean-Pierre van der Rest.
Questions:
i. Why is market expansion important to business?
ii. What is cultural competency?
iii. Why do managers need to understand the culture of people from different
geographic backgrounds?

9. For each of the points stated below, explain how they could be a facilitator or an inhibitor
of business. Also, give corresponding examples for each point.
 Top management
 Technological innovations emerging in the markets
 Internal grievance handling system
 Corporate culture

10. You are responsible for organizing and preparing the final itinerary for a college trip of
10 persons from Delhi to Chennai for 7 days. How can you make use of e-commerce in
this case? Also, enumerate the apprehensions and difficulties you might have in the
process. Do you think the planning can be done with the help of m-commerce? Give
reasons in support of your answer.

11. Based on the success stories of some entrepreneurs, comment whether entrepreneurs are
„born‟ or „made‟?

12. Is e-commerce suitable for products such as apparel and jewellery? Give reasons in
support of your answer.

13. One of the distinctive characteristics of business is to earn profit. Then why is it
important for every organization to follow business ethics?

14. A good promotional campaign increases the demand of the product. At the same time it
increases the cost. In line with this, can we say that expenditure on advertisements is a
waste? Comment, with suitable examples.

15. Explain the journey of any successful entrepreneur and the major difficulties faced by
them in their journey.

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Business, Entrepreneurship and Management
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16. It is seen that lights and fans are often left in the „on‟ mode in schools, colleges and
offices. What steps would you take to sensitize the people about saving electricity?
Suppose your college is facing an electricity problem, what alternative source of
electricity would you suggest and why?

17. “E-Commerce has transformed the globe into a 24x7 marketplace.” Discuss.