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END TERM EXAMINATION-BBA & IBM 2021

Principles of Management
(BS-MGT-121)
SET 1
Instructions to students:

● This is a take home examination.

● There are four cases in the question paper. Each case is for 12.5 marks. The marks of
each question related to the case are mentioned against it. The maximum word limit of
each question is 500 words.
● DO NOT write your Name and Student Id. No. anywhere on the answer sheet except the
space provided.
● Students undertaking the examination are requested to adhere to the University norms
related to examinations.
● This question paper comprises of five (5) printed pages.

Case 1. Growing Leaders

How important are excellent leaders to organizations? If you were to ask the recently retired 3M
CEO George Buckley, he’d say extremely important.87 But he’d also say that excellent leaders
don’t just pop up out of nowhere. A company has to cultivate leaders who have the skills and
abilities to help it survive and thrive. And like a successful baseball team with strong
performance statistics that has a player development plan in place, 3M has its own farm system
—except its farm system is designed to develop company leaders.

3M’s leadership development program is so effective that it has been one of the “Top 20
Companies for Leadership” in three of the last four years and ranks as one of the top 25
companies for grooming leadership talent according to Hay Consulting Group and Fortune
magazine. What is 3M’s leadership program all about? About 10 years ago, the company’s
former CEO (Jim McNerney, who is now Boeing’s CEO) and his top team spent 18 months
developing a new leadership model for the company. After numerous brainstorming sessions and
much heated debate, the group finally agreed on six “leadership attributes” they believed were
essential for the company to become skilled at executing strategy and being accountable. Those
six attributes included the ability to “chart the course; energize and inspire others; demonstrate
ethics, integrity, and compliance; deliver results; raise the bar; and innovate resourcefully.” And
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under Buckley’s guidance and continued under the leadership of newly appointed CEO Inge
Thulin, the company is continuing and reinforcing its pursuit of leadership excellence with these
six attributes.

When asked about his views on leadership, Buckley said he believes leaders differ from
managers. He believes the key to developing leaders is to focus on those things that can be
developed—like strategic thinking. Buckley also believes leaders should not be promoted up and
through the organization too quickly. They need time to experience failures and what it takes to
rebuild.

Finally, when asked about his own leadership style, Buckley said he believed the best way for
him to succeed as a leader was to surround himself with people who were better than him. But
doing that takes a great deal of emotional self-confidence, an attribute that is vital to being a
great leader. When you have people working for you who are excellent at what they do, you
respect them. When you respect them, you build trust. That type of leadership approach worked
well for Buckley, as illustrated by 3M’s number 18 ranking on Fortune’s most admired global
companies list for 2012.

Questions:

1. What do you think about Buckley’s statement that leaders and managers differ? Do you
agree? Why or why not? (4 marks)
2. What leadership models/theories/issues do you see in this case? Describe and apply. (3.5
marks)
3. Take three of the six leadership attributes that the company feels is important. Explain
what you think each one involves. Then discuss how those attributes might be developed
and measured. (5 marks)

Case 2. Spirituality in the Workplace

Traditionally, the workplace and spirituality did not mix in the business world. Things are,
however, changing. Andre Delbecq, a professor at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution,
said, “There were two things I thought I’d never see in my life, the fall of the Russian empire and
God being spoken about in a business school.” Now management books and conferences
(including the annual meeting of the Academy of Management) deal with the various aspects of
how God can be brought into the organizational environment. To be sure, people who want to
integrate spiritual dimensions into the workplace are still considered rebels. But ServiceMaster, a
Fortune 500 company with some 75,000 employees, created a spiritual organization culture
many years ago. Indeed, Peter Drucker, one of the most prolific writers on management, had
high regard for the company that is known for its products such as Terminix, TruGreen, and
Merry Maids.

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When people in the United States were asked if they believe in God, some 95 percent said yes. It
is in a spiritual context that businesspeople under the daily pressure of work can discuss their
inner feelings. As the baby boomers, now in their 50s, are reaching the top in their corporate life,
they begin to wonder what life all about is. They lived through the youth culture of the 1960s and
the greed-dominated 1980s. They are now questioning the real meaning of life and the ethical
dimension of work.

Jose Zeilstra, an executive at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, worked around the world, practicing her
Christian principles in different cultures. During her assignment in China, she strongly argued
against the practice of giving “very expensive gifts.” As a result, the business deal did not work
out. Yet, in the long run, integrating her personal beliefs with her work resulted in a very
successful career. Academic institutions such as the University of St. Thomas, University of
Denver, and Harvard Divinity School are following and studying the movement of spirituality.
Other American schools such as Antioch University, University of New Haven, University of
Scranton, and Santa Clara University, as well as institutions abroad such as the University of
Bath in England and the Indian Center for Encouraging Excellence in India, are conducting
research, conferences, or lectures on spirituality.

The cover story of Business Week (November 1, 1999) discussed how companies such as Taco
Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and Xerox pay attention to the spiritual needs of their employees.
Some companies claim an increase in productivity, decrease in turnover, and reduction in fear. A
research study by the consulting firm McKinsey in Australia found that firms with spiritual
programs showed reduced turnover and improved productivity. Professor Ian I. Mitroff at the
University of Southern California even stated, “Spirituality could be the ultimate competitive
advantage.”However, there is also the concern that cult members and groups with a radical
perspective could use the workplace for their own aims. Still, employees in companies that
integrate spirituality in their workplace count on the potential benefits of greater respect for
individuals, more humane treatment of their fellow workers, and an environment with greater
trust that permeates their organization.

Questions:

1. Could spirituality affect ethical behaviour? (2.5 marks)

2. Is this topic appropriate for business? (2.5 marks)
3. What are the arguments for and against inclusion of spirituality in business? (7.5
marks)

Case 3. Strategic planning at Geely

Probably no inexpensive car got as worldwide attention in recent years as the Indian Nano. Yet,
is the Nano being threatened by Geely, a Chinese manufacturer that started in 1986, by
producing refrigerators and moved to diversify into motorcycles in 1996. Perhaps not many
people have heard of Geely, the biggest privately owned Chinese car company. Yet, Geely drew
attention at car shows around the world (Frankfurt, Detroit). Chairman and cofounder, Li Shufu,
likes to be viewed as the Henry Ford of China. While maintaining the chairmanship, Mr. Li gave

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up the CEO title to Yue Guisheng in 2006. Geely’s mission statement includes references to
safety, environment-friendliness, and efficiency.

In 1998, Geely started the production of automobiles; the first cars were exported in 2003. Mr. Li
Shufu plans to export two-thirds of the cars to other countries. It already sells cars in Peru,
Uruguay, Venezuela, Romania, Pakistan, South Africa, and Bangladesh.

Mr. Li’s plan includes launching nine new cars which are amazing by any standards. But, there is
a suspicion that the cars do not meet Western standards. The Russian car crash test showed a low
survival rate of the test dummy. Yet, cars are being assembled and sold from Russian assembly
kits in countries such as Ukraine and Indonesia. At this time, there are rumours of negations of
buying the well-known Swedish car companies Saab and Volvo.

Geely illustrates that the car market is indeed global and extends beyond the nameplates of Ford,
GM, Chrysler, Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, and others. Certainly, TATA Motors with its
successful Nano has to consider Geely as a potential competitor.

Questions:

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Geely? (7 marks)

2. Based on your findings, what do you think is the competitive advantage of Geely in
China and other countries? (5.5 marks)

Case 4. Expanding a Venture Capital Firm from Silicon Valley to Bangalore

Venture capital is a type of private equity that is invested in promising new business with high
growth potential. We use products and services from well-known firms that were financed by
venture capital when they were little more than a concept (e.g. Apple, Google, and Facebook
among others.) Venture capital is used to finance high potential (often high technology) firms
around the world; however, Silicon Valley has been the primary source hub of venture investing
for many years. Still the internationalization of commerce and increasing interconnectedness of
opportunity and talent is not lost on the venture industry. While Venture Capitalists (VCs) are
known to invest in firms geographically near their own location due to their high involvement
with the firms they finance, VCs have over the recent years expanded the reach of their investing
when they discover disruptive technologies or talent far away from their home base. Still venture
investing is a high-touch business that requires frequent face-to-face interaction between the VC
and the entrepreneur. So, informed international investing often requires a local presence in the
market where the entrepreneurial firm is growing.

Some venture firms have stepped up to this challenge and have established offices in countries
far from their traditional base of investing. New venture capital offices associated with Silicon
Valley firms have been set up in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Draper Fisher Jurvetson
(DFJ) is a highly regarded Silicon Valley venture capital firm that is known for prescient
investments in some of today’s leading technology firms [e.g. Yahoo, Sybase, Skype (acquired

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by eBay), etc.] DFJ recognized the increasingly international nature of technology development
and opportunity and

has gone to where it is occurring, establishing an office in China in 2006 and India in 2007.
Mohanjit Jolly is the executive director of DFJ India, relocating to Bangalore in 2007. Previously
Mr. Jolly was with Garage Technology Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm in Silicon
Valley. We asked Mohanjit why he chose to return to India in this capacity after a successful
career as an entrepreneur and VC in the United States. Mr. Jolly indicated “…leveraging a
platform like DFJ was too good to pass up. India is and will continue to be a growth story for a
long time to come. To be in India during the nascent stages of the venture capital ecosystem
development was also inviting, since I could bring a bit of the Silicon Valley DNA to the Indian
start-up environment.” However, to help build an industry like the venture capital industry, even
with the support of the home office and global brand, presents its own challenges. When asked
what have been the biggest challenges he has faced in this endeavor, Mohanjit shared that
“Getting a business up and running in India is more challenging than it is in the U.S. The process
was unknown to me, so I had to get the right help with respect to legal, accounting, tax, audit,
banking, IT, etc.” He noted that finding the right office space – right size, location (proximity to
the airport, etc.) was an unexpectedly large challenge. Mohanjit shared that he was told early that
it would take a year or more to settle back into Bangalore – both professionally and personally
and he found this to be true. But, the increasing links between venture firms in India back to
Silicon Valley have at least standardized some of the processes between the two places. When
asked if he advises India based portfolio firms differently than those in the U.S., he explained
“Scaling companies in India is more difficult than in the U.S. Lack of infrastructure, whether it’s
broadband or logistics makes it difficult for products or services to spread virally…” Indian
entrepreneurs and managers must find ways to adapt to these local challenges and in doing so
may identify new business models that bring their own competitive edge. Mr. Jolly expects the
venture capital industry to blossom in India over the next few years as more capital flows into
local funds and ideally some successful exits of venture-backed Indian firms. He advises students
who have an interest in pursuing a venture capital career to gain operating experience at a small
to midsize company first.

Questions:
1. What type of organizational structure is DFJ employing across its offices? Is this the
most appropriate structure? Why? (4 marks)
2. Examine the background of the DFJ India management team, http://www.dfj.com/. What
experiences and capabilities do they have that make them uniquely able to lead a venture
capital firm? (4.5 marks)
3. Identify at least one Indian firm that has raised venture capital. Describe its business and
estimate its likelihood for long-term success. (4 marks)