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IIBMS PRINCIPLE OF PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

CASE – 1

Aravali Hospital was built two years ago, and currently has a workforce of 215 people. The hospital is small, but because it is new, it is extremely efficient. The board has voted to increase its capacity from 60 to 180 beds. By this time next year, the hospital will over three times as large as now, in terms of both beds and personnel.
The administrator, Maya Joshi, feels that the major problem with this proposed increase is that hospital will lose its efficiency. “I want to hire people who are just like our current team of personnel—hardworking, dedicated talented, and able to interact well with patients. If we triple the number of employees, I do not see how it will be possible to maintain our quality of patient care. We are going to lose our family atmosphere. We will be inundated with mediocrity, and we will end up being like every other institution in the local area—large and uncaring.”
The chairman of the board is also concerned about the effect of hiring such a large number of employees. However, he believes that Joshi is over-reacting. “It cannot be that hard to find people who are like our current staff. There must be a lot of people out there who are just as good. What you need to do is develop a plan of action that will allow you to carefully screen those who will fit into your current organisational culture, and those who will not. It is not going to be as difficult as you believe. Trust me. Everything will work out just fine”.
As a result of the chairman’s comments, Joshi had decided that the most effective way of dealing with the situation is to develop a plan of action. She intends to meet with her administrative group and determine the best way of screening incoming candidates, and then helping those who are hired to become socialised in terms of the hospital’s culture. Joshi has called a meeting for day after tomorrow. At that time, she intends to discuss her ideas, get suggestions from her people, and then formulate a plan of action.

Questions

1. What can Joshi and her staff do to select the type of entry-level candidates they want?
2. How can Joshi ensure that those who are hired come to accept the core cultural values of the hospital? What steps would you recommend?
CASE – 2

Leo Medical Diagnostic and Research Center has patented its new invention of poly fiber cardiovascular valve. The product developed is a novel one and can be manufactured at a very low cost. The utility and life of the product in laboratory testing was found to be more than the life of the patients. The product could enhance the life of patient by at least five years. Considering all these factors Leo Medical Diagnostic and Research Center chose to set a unit to manufacture the product. However, the company has a dilemma. As the product is new and requires the acceptance of medical community, it is considering appointing a promotion and sales co-coordinator to manage the promotional and communication efforts of the firm.

Questions

(a) Do you think the number of units of a product to be manufactured is a random number? Explain your reasoning.

(b) How does one determine the number of units of a product to be manufactured in an organisation?

(c) What are the elements you would take into consideration for forecasting the production and sales requirement of the product developed by Leo Medical Center?

(d) How would you go about planning and organising the manufacturing and selling efforts of the organisation?
CASE – 3

Hari Mohan has a position on the corporate planning staff of a large company in a high technology industry. Although he has spent most of his time on long-range, strategic planning for the company, he has been appointed to a task force to reorganize the company. The president and the board of directors are concerned that they are losing their competitive position in the industry because of an outdated organisation structure. Being a planning expert, Hari Mohan convinced the task force that they should proceed by first determining exactly what type of structure they have now, then determining what type of environment the company faces, now and in the future, and then designing the organisation structure accordingly. In the first phase, they discovered that the organisation is currently structured along classic bureaucratic lines. In the second phase, they found that they are competing in a highly dynamic, rapidly growing and uncertain environment that requires a great deal of flexibility and response to change.

Questions

(a) What type or types of organisation design do you feel this task force should recommend in the third and final phase of the approach to their assignment?

(b) Explain how the systems and the contingency theories of organisation can each contribute to the analysis of this case.

(c) Do you think Hari Mohan was correct in his suggestion of how the task force should proceed? What types of problems might develop as by-products of the recommendation you made in question 1?
CASE – 4

Bharat Engineering Works Limited is a major industrial machineries besides other engineering products. It has enjoyed market preference for its machineries because of limited competition in the field. Usually there have been more orders than what the company could supply. However, the scenario changed quickly because of the entry of two new competitors in the field with foreign technological collaboration. For the first time, the company faced problem in marketing its products with usual profit margin. Sensing the likely problem, the chief executive appointed Mr Arvind Kumar as general manager to direct the operations of industrial machinery division. Mr Kumar had similar assignment abroad before coming back to India.
Mr Kumar had a discussion with the chief executive about the nature of the problem being faced by the company so that he could fix up his priority. The chief executive advised him to consult various heads of department to have first hand information. However, he emphasised that the company lacked an integrated planning system while members of the Board of Directors insisted on introducing this in several meetings both formally and informally.
After joining as General Manager, Mr Kumar got briefings from the heads of all departments. He asked all heads to identify major problems and issues concerning them. The marketing manager indicated that in order to achieve higher sales, he needed more sales support. Sales people had no central organisation to provide sales support nor was there a generous budget for demonstration teams which could be sent to customers to win business.
The production manager complained about the old machines and equipments used in manufacturing. Therefore, cost of production was high but without corresponding quality. While competitors had better equipments and machinery, Bharat Engineering had neither replaced its age-old plant nor reconditioned it. Therefore to reduced the cost, it was essential to automate production lines by installing new equipment.
Director of research and development did not have specific problem and therefore, did not indicate for any change. However, a principal scientist in R&D indicated on one day that the director of R&D, though very nice in his approach, did not emphasize on short-term research projects, which could easily increase production efficiency by at least 20 per cent within a very short period without any major capital outlay.
Questions

(a) Discuss the nature and characteristics of the problems in this case.

(b) What steps should be taken by Mr Kumar to overcome these problems?

CASE – 5

The president of Simplex Mills sat at his desk in the hushed atmosphere, so typical of business offices, after the close of working hours. He was thinking about Rehman, the manager in-charge of purchasing, and his ability to work with George, the production manager, and Vipulabh, the marketing and sales manager in the firm.
When the purchasing department was established two years ago, both George and Vipulabh agreed with the need to centralise this function and place a specialist in charge. George was of the view that this would free his supervisors from detailed ordering activities. Vipulabh opined that the flow of materials into the firm was important enough to warrant a specialised management assignment. Yet since the purchasing department began operating it has been precisely these two managers who have had a number of confrontations with the new purchase manager, and occasionally with one another, in regard to the way the purchasing function in being carried out.
From George’s point of view, instead of simplifying his job as production manager by taking care of purchasing for him, the purchasing department has developed a formal set of procedures that has resulted in as much time commitment on his part as he had previously spent in placing his orders directly with vendors. Further, he is specially irritated by the fact that his need for particular items or particular specification is constantly being questioned by the purchasing department. When the department was established, George assumed that the purchasing manager was there to fill his needs, not to question them.
As Vipulabh sees it, the purchasing function is an integral part of marketing function, and the two therefore need to be jointly managed as a unified process. Purchasing function cannot be separated from a firm’s overall marketing strategy. However, Rehman has attempted to carry out the purchasing function without regard for this obvious relationship between his responsibilities and those of Vipulabh, thus making a unified marketing strategy impossible.
In his previous position, Rehman had worked in the purchasing department of a firm considerably larger than Simplex. Before being hired, he was interviewed by all the top managers, including George and Vipulabh, but it was the president himself who negotiated the details of the job offer. As Rehman sees it, he was hired as a professional to do a professional job. Both George and Vipulabh have been distracting him from this goal by presuming that he is somehow subordinate to them, which he believes is not the case. The people in the production department, who use the purchasing function most, have complained about the detail that he requires on their requisitions. But he has documented proof that materials are now being purchased much more economically than they were under the former decentralised system. He finds Vipulabh’s interests more difficult to understand, since he sees no particular relationship between his responsibilities for efficient procurement, and Vipulabh’s responsibilities to market the firm’s products.
The president has been aware of the continuing conflict among three managers for some time, but on the theory that a little rivalry is healthy and stimulating, he has felt that it was nothing to be unduly concerned about. But now that much of his time is being taken up by much of what he considers to be petty bickering, the time has come to take some positive action.

Questions:
1. Is George’s view of the situation realistic?
2. How do you evaluate Vipulabh’s position?
3. How might this conflict be associated with factors in the formal organisation?
4. What should the president of Simplex Mills do now?

IIBMS BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILL

CASE I

A Reply Sent to an Erring Customer

Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 23rd, with a cheque for Rs. 25,000/- on account, is to hand. We note what you say as to the difficulty you experience in collecting your outstanding accounts, but we are compelled to remark that we do not think you are treating us with the consideration we have a right to expect.

It is true that small remittances have been forwarded from time to time, but the debit balance against you has been steadily increasing during the past twelve months until it now stands at the considerable total of Rs. 85,000/-

Having regard to the many years during which you have been a customer of this house and the, generally speaking, satisfactory character of your account, we are reluctant to resort to harsh measures.

We must, however, insist that the existing balance should be cleared off by regular installments of say Rs. 10,000/- per month, the first installment to reach us by the 7th. In the meantime you shall pay cash for all further goods; we are allowing you an extra 3% discount in lieu of credit. We shall be glad to hear from you about this arrangement, as otherwise we shall have no alternative but definitely to close your account and place the matter in other hands.

Yours truly,

Questions:

Comment on the appropriateness of the sender’s tone to a customer.
Point out the old – fashioned phrases and expressions.
Rewrite the reply according to the principles of effective writing in business.

Case II

Advertising Radio FM Brand

A young, gorgeous woman is standing in front of her apartment window dancing to the 1970s tune, “All Right Now” by the one – hit band free. Across the street a young man looks out of his apartment window and notices her. He moves closer to the window, taking interest. She cranks up the volume and continues dancing, looking out the window at the fellow, who smiles hopefully and waves meekly. He holds up a bottle of wine and waves it, apparently inviting her over for a drink. The lady waves back. He kisses the bottle and excitedly says, “Yesss.” Then, he gazes around his apartment and realizes that it is a mess. “No!” he exclaims in a worried tone of voice.

Frantically, he does his best to quickly clean up the place, stuffing papers under the sofa and putting old food back in the refrigerator, He slips on a black shirt, slicks back his hair, sniffs his armpit, and lets out an excited , “Yeahhh!” in eager anticipation of entertaining the young lady. He goes back to the window and sees the woman still dancing away. He points to his watch, as if to say “Come on. It is getting late.” As she just continues dancing, he looks confused. Then a look of sudden insight appears on his face, “Five,” he says to himself. He turns on his radio, and it too is playing “All Right Now.” The man goes to his window and starts dancing as he watches his lady friend continue stepping. “Five, yeah,” he says as he makes the “okay” sign with his thumb and forefinger. He waves again. Everyone in the apartment building is dancing by their window to “All Right Now.” A super appears on the screen: “Are you on the right wavelength?”

Questions:

What is non – verbal communication? Why do you suppose that this commercial relies primarily on non-verbal communication between a young man and a gorgeous woman? What types of non – verbal communication are being used in this case?
Would any of the non-verbal communications in this spot (ad) not work well in another culture?
What role does music play in this spot? Who is the target market?
Is the music at all distracting from the message?
How else are radio stations advertised on TV?

CASE III

EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW OF R P SINHA

Mr. R P Sinha is a MBA. He is being interviewed for the position of Management Trainee at a reputed company. The selection committee’s is chaired by a lady Vice – President. Mr. Sinha’s interview was as follows :

Committee : Good morning !

Mr. Sinha : Good morning to Sirs and Madam !

Chairperson : Please, sit down.

Mr. Sinha : Thank you (sits down at the edge of the chair, keeps his portfolio on the table)

Chairperson : You are Mr. R. P. Sinha

A Sinha : Yes, Madam. This is how I am called.

Chairperson : You have passed MBA with 1^st Division.
Sinha : Yes, Madam.
Chairperson : Why do you want to work in our organization ?

A Sinha : It is just like that. Also, because it has good reputation.

Member A : This job is considered to be quite stressful. Do you think you can manage the stress involved.
Sinha : I think there is too much talk about stress these days. Sir, would you tell clearly what you mean by stress ? I am very strong for any stress.
Member B : What are your strengths ?
Sinha : Sir, who am I talk boastfully about my strengths. You should tell me my strengths.
Member C : What are your weaknesses ?
Sinha : I become angry very fast.
Member A : Do you want to ask us any questions ?

A Sinha : Yes Sir ! What are the future chances for one who starts as a management trainee ?

The member tells M. Sinha the typical career path for those starting as Management Trainee. The Chairperson thanks Mr. Sinha. Mr. Sinha promptly says in reply, “you are welcome,” and comes out.

Questions:

Do you find Mr. Sinha’s responses to various questions effective? Give reasons for your view on each answer given by Mr. Sinha.

Rewrite the responses that you consider most effective to the above questions in a job interview.

Mr. Sinha has observed the norm of respectful behaviour and polite conversation. But, do you think there is something gone wrong in his case ? Account for your general impression of Mr. Sinha’s performance at the interview.

Case IV

Outsourcing Backlash Gets Abusive, Ugly

I don’t want to speak to you. Connect to your boss in the US,” hissed the American on the phone. The young girl at a Bangalore call centre tried to be as polite as she could.

At another call centre, another day, another yound girl had a Londoner unleashing himself on her, “ Yound lady do you know that because of you Indians we are losing jobs.”

The outsourcing backlash is getting ugly. Handling irate callers is the new brief for the young men and women taking calls at these outsourced job centers. Supervisors tell them to be “cool”.

Avinash Vashistha, managing partner of NEOIT, a leading US-based consultancy firm says,” Companies involved in outsourcing both in the US and India are already getting a lot of hate mail against outsourcing and it is hardly surprising that some people should behave like this on the telephone.” Vashistha says Indian call centers should train their operators how to handle such calls.

Indeed, the furore raised by the western media over job losses because of outsourcing has made ordinary citizens there sensitive to the fact that their call are being taken not from their midst but in countries, such as India and the Philippines.

The angry outbursts the operators face border on the racist and sexist, says the manager of a call center in Hyderabad. But operators and senior executives of call centers reguse to go on record for fear of kicking up a controversy that might result in their companies’ losing clients overseas.

“It’s happening often enough and so let’s face it,” says a senior executive of a Gurgaon call centre, adding, “This doesn’t have any impact on business.”

Questions:

Assume you are working as an operator at a call centre in India and are receiving irate calls from Americans and Lodoners. How would you handle such calls? Conceive a short conversation between you and your client, and put it on paper.

“Keep your cool.” What does this mean in term of conversation control?

Do you agree with the view that such abusive happenings on the telephone do not have any impact on business? Justify.

IIBMS INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

CASE – 1

You are the CFO of a large Indian pharmaceutical company. Over the last five years your company has grown, primarily through overseas acquisitions. You started acquiring companies in Europe and North America in 2000.

Your balance sheet on March 2005 has assets equivalent of US$200 million, including those of your subsidiaries.

In the last board meeting, a presentation made by your European subsidiary painted a worrisome picture. This bulk drug manufacturing facility sources its raw materials from a small South African country, which is facing political unrest. This means that the reliability of this source of raw material, in the days to come, is poor. Your subsidiary is keen to source this material from a small Taiwanese firm. This Taiwanese firm is willing to supply the raw material but wants payment in US dollars for the January to June 2006 period; in euros for the July to December 2006 period through its Cayman Island bank account.

If this supply contract clicks, it could mean at least two things: one, getting a reliable supplier, and two, opening a link in the Far East market.

You are preparing to present a case for this supply contract to the top management. You search the web to get some data on USD/INR and Europe/INR behaviour.

Question:

What are the issues that you will take into account and what is the likely response from the board members?

CASE – 2

“Government of India closely watching rise in FOREX reserves”.

“BOP situation for India worsens over last few months due to bird flu scare.”

“RBI considering possible hike in CRR, thereby signaling possible tight monetary policy.”

“Political parties demanding compensation in dollar terms, for farmers for chickens culled.”

These were some of the headlines screaming for your attention before the annual board meeting. You the CEO of a mega-property developing corporation—call up the chief economist to take her views into consideration. Your company has heavily invested in many mega projects and you are planning to ride the retail boom. The organization has ambitious plans to make foray into airport and seaport privatisation process. This will mean hand-holding with international agencies and taking loans and, possibly, equity partnership. These inflows will have the usual condition of repayment of interest and minimum guaranteed dividends in dollar terms.

Your phone rings and chief economist explains, “On one hand, India has a promising future in retail market, as it is evident from the shopping malls boom in all metros and mini-metros. Therefore, our investments are well protected. GDP is projected to grow at about 8% over next five years. This will mean a much larger foreign trade component, giving fillip to requirement of airport and seaport infrastructure. In such a scenario, we should be able to establish ourself in this sector as well. However, on the other hand, there is a definite possibility that in case this GDP growth is not achieved, unemployment will rear its head once again, causing supply side shortages and unabated demand in some sectors—thereby meaning inflation will soar, and, in turn, interest rates will go up; and finally this will put downward pressure on rupee against all major currencies. This will erode our credibility and profitability in the market. the signs of impact could be visible in six months from now and among the first indicators of this shift looming over the horizon will be change in India’s BOP account.” You listen to her silently on your intercom.

You give a sigh of relief as soon as her prognosis is over. You call up your treasurer for a small chat. After all, he is the person who deals in foreign exchange market on minute-to-minute basis.

He has a different story to tell, “Well, even if worst case scenario emerges, we stand to gain. See, hardening of interest rates with devaluation of currency will not have any material impact on us. In fact, with this India will become a preferred destination for further foreign investment. Our exports will become more competitive in the international market and it will give a boost for indigenous production of many things. This means more imports of plant and machinery, and of course, raw materials.” He signs off by saying, “I see no reason for worry even if BOP situation worsens, we are well covered in currency and interest rate futures market.” He adds further with smile, “We can actually make money on the basis of this forecast, subject to the permission from our board to take position in options market.”

Questions:

You sit back in your chair and try to figure out what your presentation is going to be in front of the board.

CASE – 3

While you are making presentation to the top management a middle aged person enters the boardroom. All the board members exchange smiles with this person.

At the end of your presentation, the new entrant speaks up, “Well, that was a very interesting presentation. It appears that you know about forex markets in India.” This person continues, “While, I was on flight today, I came across an interesting bit of information. There was a story in the newspaper mentioning that one can make a ‘killing’ in forex market, if one is smart enough. I feel that you should tell us about this ‘killing’ business as well.” And goes on to add with a smile and tinge of sarcasm, “I guess this will make our treasury a ‘profit center’”. All the board members nod in unison. The chairman takes out the day’s paper and hands it over to you to examine the possibility of making a ‘killing’ in the market.

Sweat breaks on your eyebrows. You do not remember having seen newspaper quotes during your course work, since you devoted the majority of your time during MBA days to cultural activities and student exchange programmes. This is going to be your first real challenge in the industry. You ask for some time to examine the numbers. The chairman and CFO give you patronizing looks and ask you to come back after a working lunch and tell the board about your findings. As you come back to your desk, you feel sudden loss of appetite.

After a while, the same person walks up to your desk and says, “I can understand your predicament. I know you are fresh from you MBA, and just one week young with our company. I hope these numbers help you to present your case”, while handing over a piece of paper to you. You do not like the patronizing tone. You thank this person for encouragement(!). You find following details staring at you.

USD/CHF : 1.5963/1.5973. This is a quote from a bank in Zurich. At the same time, a bank in New York is offering the following spot quote : CHF/USD : 0.6265/0.6270

Further, a New York bank is currently offering these spot quotes:

USD/JPY : 112.25/112.55 and USD/AUD : 1.6659/1.6672

At the same time, a bank in Sydney is quoting:

AUD/JPY : 68.80/68.97

Additionally, the following pair of spot and forward quotes are also available :

GBP/USD spot : 1.6531/1.6577

Hope this helps!

Question:

What will you do next? How will you present your analysis?

CASE – 4

It is month of December, Christmas holidays are fast approaching, everyone is getting into a festive mood, but you—the Chief Investment Officer of a large corporate—are in a restive mood. You have had a somewhat dull year. It is close to bonus time. You have promised your teenaged daughter a new Porsche as the Christmas present. You are looking for making a killing on the forex front. Working on tips given by your economist friend about interest rate theorem, you are trying to build a contract that will help your company in counteracting the movement in exchange rate and interest rates will get you enough bonus to make that Christmas present.

As you open your e-mail, there is a message saying: the spot USD/CHF rate is 1.5960, and 6-month forward is 1.5625, the 3-month deposit rates 4.50% p.a. for USD and 1.75% p.a. for CHF. Will you able to make that killing?

It looks like your lucky day. The very message has the following news: USD/CHF spot: 1.5960/10; 3 months: 6 months: 550/500. The 3-month and 6-month outright forward rates are: 3 months: 1.5950; 6 months: 1.5700/20. Can you do something here?

The last message from your banker gives some good information about the rates prevailing in the market. GBS/USD Spot: 1.7580/90; 1-month; 2-months: 30/20; 3-months: 45/35; 6-months: 25/20; 9-months: 35/30; 12-months: 30/2o. US interest rates are somewhat above UK rates but less so at the far end.

Your experience in these markets makes you feel confident that in nine months, UK rates are going to fall, and the sterling will go into a forward premium. Your gut feel is: 6-month swap points to become 150/250 in nine months time.

Question:

You have a Porsche in mind and 100 million dollar to play with. Will you make it this time?

CASE – 5

You are back in Mumbai after a grueling day in New Delhi. You were called by the mandarins in the North Block to explain the cause of crash in the price of the stock of your company—a leading Indian software MNC. The investors were aghast at the stock price crash. The main charge was simple: your company used futures trading for speculation, instead of normal hedging.

Before you can get out of your shining Merc (which might get auctioned soon) media-persons are already all over the place thrusting microphones in your face—waiting for a sound bite. You barely mumble ‘no comments’ to the gathering but promise to get back with a detailed description of events, to be transmitted live on the television, in a couple of hours.

As you sit down at your office table, and call for a RT (room-temperature) glass of narial paanee (coconut water)—since your friends tell that it is good when you have hyper-acidity; you need a strong stomach lining to digest al the vitriol being offered to you.

When you look at the documents spread in front of you, the following details emerge:

Since the exposure of your company is in USD, you chose to buy 6-month USD futures at a price that was above spot price for a long time, and you sold GBP futures for 9-months since pricing was very attractive, and you were expecting to receive payments for services rendered in about 8-months time.
As the maturity of USD futures approached, US of A attacked Iraq, leading to a jump in oil prices.
Sensing trouble you immediately bought 3-month interest rate futures which were trading below spot.
Within a week of your futures purchase, markets started stabilizing and returned to normal behaviour.
But your board was uncomfortable with your position, and margin calls. They ask you to settle your position and face the jury, charging you for speculation in the markets with the company money.
What additional information will you need? How will you defend your case?
Question:

IIBMS FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

N.B.: 1) Attempt any Four Questions
2) All questions carry equal marks.
NO. 1
COOKING LPG LTD
DETERMINATION OF WORKING CAPTIAL
Introduction
Cooking LPG Ltd, Gurgaon, is a private sector firm dealing in the bottling and supply of domestic LPG for household consumption since 1995. The firm has a network of distributors in the districts of Gurgaon and Faridabad. The bottling plant of the firm is located on National Highway – 8 (New Delhi – Jaipur), approx. 12 kms from Gurgaon. The firm has been consistently performing we.” and plans to expand its market to include the whole National Capital Region.
The production process of the plant consists of receipt of the bulk LPG through tank trucks, storage in tanks, bottling operations and distribution to dealers. During the bottling process, the cylinders are subjected to pressurized filling of LPG followed by quality control and safety checks such as weight, leakage and other defects. The cylinders passing through this process are sealed and dispatched to dealers through trucks. The supply and distribution section of the plant prepares the invoice which goes along with the truck to the distributor.
Statement of the Problem :
Mr. I. M. Smart, DGM(Finance) of the company, was analyzing the financial performance of the company during the current year. The various profitability ratios and parameters of the company indicated a very satisfactory performance. Still, Mr. Smart was not fully content-specially with the management of the working capital by the company. He could recall that during the past year, in spite of stable demand pattern, they had to, time and again, resort to bank overdrafts due to non-availability of cash for making various payments. He is aware that such aberrations in the finances have a cost and adversely affects the performance of the company. However, he was unable to pinpoint the cause of the problem.
He discussed the problem with Mr. U.R. Keenkumar, the new manager (Finance). After critically examining the details, Mr. Keenkumar realized that the working capital was hitherto estimated only as approximation by some rule of thumb without any proper computation based on sound financial policies and, therefore, suggested a reworking of the working capital (WC) requirement. Mr. Smart assigned the task of determination of WC to him.
Profile of Cooking LPG Ltd.
1) Purchases : The company purchases LPG in bulk from various importers ex-Mumbai and Kandla, @ Rs. 11,000 per MT. This is transported to its Bottling Plant at Gurgaon through 15 MT capacity tank trucks (called bullets), hired on annual contract basis. The average transportation cost per bullet ex-either location is Rs. 30,000. Normally, 2 bullets per day are received at the plant. The company make payments for bulk supplies once in a month, resulting in average time-lag of 15 days.
2) Storage and Bottling : The bulk storage capacity at the plant is 150 MT (2 x 75 MT storage tanks) and the plant is capable of filling 30 MT LPG in cylinders per day. The plant operates for 25 days per month on an average. The desired level of inventory at various stages is as under.
• LPG in bulk (tanks and pipeline quantity in the plant) – three days average production / sales.
• Filled Cylinders – 2 days average sales.
• Work-in Process inventory – zero.
3) Marketing : The LPG is supplied by the company in 12 kg cylinders, invoiced @ Rs. 250 per cylinder. The rate of applicable sales tax on the invoice is 4 per cent. A commission of Rs. 15 per cylinder is paid to the distributor on the invoice itself. The filled cylinders are delivered on company’s expense at the distributor’s godown, in exchange of equal number of empty cylinders. The deliveries are made in truck-loads only, the capacity of each truck being 250 cylinders. The distributors are required to pay for deliveries through bank draft. On receipt of the draft, the cylinders are normally dispatched on the same day. However, for every truck purchased on pre-paid basis, the company extends a credit of 7 days to the distributors on one truck-load.
4) Salaries and Wages : The following payments are made :
• Direct labour – Re. 0.75 per cylinder (Bottling expenses) – paid on last day of the month.
• Security agency – Rs. 30,000 per month paid on 10th of subsequent month.
• Administrative staff and managers – Rs. 3.75 lakh per annum, paid on monthly basis on the last working day.
5) Overheads :
• Administrative (staff, car, communication etc) – Rs. 25,000 per month – paid on the 10th of subsequent month.
• Power (including on DG set) – Rs. 1,00,000 per month paid on the 7th Subsequent month.
• Renewal of various licenses (pollution, factory, labour CCE etc.) – Rs. 15,000 per annum paid at the beginning of the year.
• Insurance – Rs. 5,00,000 per annum to be paid at the beginning of the year.
• Housekeeping etc – Rs. 10,000 per month paid on the 10th of the subsequent month.
• Regular maintenance of plant – Rs. 50,000 per month paid on the 10th of every month to the vendors. This includes expenditure on account of lubricants, spares and other stores.
• Regular maintenance of cylinders (statutory testing) – Rs. 5 lakh per annum – paid on monthly basis on the 15th of the subsequent month.
• All transportation charges as per contracts – paid on the 10th subsequent month.
• Sales tax as per applicable rates is deposited on the 7th of the subsequent month.
6) Sales : Average sales are 2,500 cylinders per day during the year. However, during the winter months (December to February), there is an incremental demand of 20 per cent.
7) Average Inventories : The average stocks maintained by the company as per its policy guidelines :
• Consumables (caps, ceiling material, valves etc) – Rs. 2 lakh. This amounts to 15 days consumption.
• Maintenance spares – Rs. 1 lakh
• Lubricants – Rs. 20,000
• Diesel (for DG sets and fire engines) – Rs. 15,000
• Other stores (stationary, safety items) – Rs. 20,000
8) Minimum cash balance including bank balance required is Rs. 5 lakh.
9) Additional Information for Calculating Incremental Working Capital During Winter.
• No increase in any inventories take place except in the inventory of bulk LPG, which increases in the same proportion as the increase of the demand. The actual requirements of LPG for additional supplies are procured under the same terms and conditions from the suppliers.
• The labour cost for additional production is paid at double the rate during wintes.
• No changes in other administrative overheads.
• The expenditure on power consumption during winter increased by 10 per cent. However, during other months the power consumption remains the same as the decrease owing to reduced production is offset by increased consumption on account of compressors /Acs.
• Additional amount of Rs. 3 lakh is kept as cash balance to meet exigencies during winter.
• No change in time schedules for any payables / receivables.
• The storage of finished goods inventory is restricted to a maximum 5,000 cylinders due to statutory requirements.

Question:
1. Determine working capital?

NO. 2
M/S HI-TECH ELECTRONICS
M/s. Hi – tech Electronics, a consumer electronics outlet, was opened two years ago in Dwarka, New Delhi. Hard work and personal attention shown by the proprietor, Mr. Sony, has brought success. However, because of insufficient funds to finance credit sales, the outlet accepted only cash and bank credit cards. Mr. Sony is now considering a new policy of offering installment sales on terms of 25 per cent down payment and 25 per cent per month for three months as well as continuing to accept cash and bank credit cards.
Mr. Sony feels this policy will boost sales by 50 percent. All the increases in sales will be credit sales. But to follow through a new policy, he will need a bank loan at the rate of 12 percent. The sales projections for this year without the new policy are given in Exhibit 1.
Exhibit 1 Sales Projections and Fixed costs
Month Projected sales without instalment option Projected sales with instalment option
January Rs. 6,00,000 Rs. 9,00,000
February       4,00,000       6,00,000
March       3,00,000       4,50,000
April      2,00,000     3,00,000
May       2,00,000      3,00,000
June      1,50,000      2,25,000
July      1,50,000      2,25,000
August      2,00,000      3,00,000
September      3,00,000      4,50,000
October       5,00,000      7,50,000
November      5,00,000      15,00,000
December      8,00,000      12,00,000
Total Sales    48,00,000    72,00,000
Fixed cost       2,40,000      2,40,000

He further expects 26.67 per cent of the sales to be cash, 40 per cent bank credit card sales on which a 2 per cent fee is paid, and 33.33 per cent on instalment sales. Also, for short term seasonal requirements, the film takes loan from chit fund to which Mr. Sony subscribes @ 1.8 per cent per month.
Their success has been due to their policy of selling at discount price. The purchase per unit is 90 per cent of selling price. The fixed costs are Rs. 20,000 per month. The proprietor believes that the new policy will increase miscellaneous cost by Rs. 25,000.
The business being cyclical in nature, the working capital finance is done on trade – off basis. The proprietor feels that the new policy will lead to bad debts of 1 per cent.
(a) As a financial consultant, advise the proprietor whether he should go for the extension of credit facilities.
(b) Also prepare cash budget for one year of operation of the firm, ignoring interest. The minimum desired cash balance & Rs. 30,000, which is also the amount the firm has on January 1. Borrowings are possible which are made at the beginning of a month and repaid at the end when cash is available.

NO.3
SMOOTHDRIVE TYRE LTD
Smoothdrive Tyre Ltd manufacturers tyres under the brand name “Super Tread’ for the domestic car market. It is presently using 7 machines acquired 3 years ago at a cost of Rs. 15 lakh each having a useful life of 7 years, with no salvage value.
After extensive research and development, Smoothdrive Tyre Ltd has recently developed a new tyre, the ‘Hyper Tread’ and must decide whether to make the investments necessary to produce and market the Hyper Tread. The Hyper Tread would be ideal for drivers doing a large amount of wet weather and off road driving in addition to normal highway usage. The research and development costs so far total Rs. 1,00,00,000. The Hyper Tread would be put on the market beginning this year and Smoothdrive Tyrs expects it to stay on the market for a total of three years. Test marketing costing Rs. 50,00,000, shows that there is significant market for a Hyper Tread type tyre.
As a financial analyst at Smoothdrive Tyre, Mr. Mani asked by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Tyrewala to evaluate the Hyper-Tread project and to provide a recommendation or whether or not to proceed with the investment. He has been informed that all previous investments in the Hyper Tread project are sunk costs are only future cash flows should be considered. Except for the initial investments, which occur immediately, assume all cash flows occur at the year-end.
Smoothedrive Tyre must initially invest Rs. 72,00,00,000 in production equipments to make the Hyper Tread. They would be depreciated at a rate of 25 per cent as per the written down value (WDV) method for tax purposes. The new production equipments will allow the company to follow flexible manufacturing technique, that is both the brands of tyres can be produced using the same equipments. The equipments is expected to have a 7-year useful life and can be sold for Rs. 10,00,000 during the fourth year. The company does not have any other machines in the block of 25 per cent depreciation. The existing machines can be sold off at Rs. 8 lakh per machine with an estimated removal cost of one machine for Rs. 50,000.
Operating Requirements
The operating requirements of the existing machines and the new equipment are detailed in Exhibits 11.1 and 11.2 respectively.
Exhibit 11.1 Existing Machines
• Labour costs (expected to increase 10 per cent annually to account for inflation) :
(a) 20 unskilled labour @ Rs. 4,000 per month
(b) 20 skilled personnel @ Rs. 6,000 per month.
(c) 2 supervising executives @ Rs. 7,000 per month.
(d) 2 maintenance personnel @ Rs. 5,000 per month.
• Maintenance cost :
Years 1-5 : Rs. 25 lakh
Years 6-7 : Rs. 65 lakh
• Operating expenses : Rs. 50 lakh expected to increase at 5 per cent annually.
• Insurance cost / premium :
Year 1 : 2 per cent of the original cost of machine
After year 1 : Discounted by 10 per cent.

Exhibit 11.2 New production Equipment
• Savings in cost of utilities : Rs. 2.5 lakh
• Maintenance costs :
Year 1 – 2 : Rs. 8 lakh
Year 3 – 4 : Rs. 30 lakh
• Labour costs :
9 skilled personnel @ Rs. 7,000 per month
1 maintenance personnel @ Rs. 7,000 per month.
• Cost of retrenchment of 34 personnel : (20 unskilled, 11 skilled, 2 supervisors and 1 maintenance personnel) : Rs. 9,90,000, that is equivalent to six months salary.
• Insurance premium
Year 1 : 2 per cent of the purchase cost of machine
After year 1 : Discounted by 10 per cent.

The opening expenses do not change to any considerable extent for the new equipment and the difference is negligible compared to the scale of operations.
Smoothdrive Tyre intends to sell Hyper Tread of two distinct markets :
1. The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market : The OEM market consists primarily of the large automobile companies who buy tyres for new cars. In the OEM market, the Hyper Tread is expected to sell for Rs. 1,200 per tyre. The variable cost to produce each Hyper Tread is Rs. 600.
2. The replacement market : The replacement market consists of all tyres purchased after the automobile has left the factory. This markets allows higher margins and Smoothdrive Tyre expects to sell the Hyper Tread for Rs. 1.500 per tyre. The variable costs are the same as in the OEM market.
Smoothdrive Tyre expects to raise prices by 1 percent above the inflation rate.
The variable costs will also increase by 1 per cent above the inflation rate. In addition, the Hyper Tread project will incur Rs. 2,50,000 in marketing and general administration cost in the first year which are expected to increase at the inflation rate in subsequent years.
Smoothdrive Tyre’s corporate tax rate is 35 per cent. Annual inflation is expected to remain constant at 3.25 per cent. Smoothdrive Tyre uses a 15 per cent discount rate to evaluate new product decisions.
The Tyre Market
Automotive industry analysts expect automobile manufacturers to have a production of 4,00,000 new cars this year and growth in production at 2.5 per year onwards. Each new car needs four new tyres (the spare tyres are undersized and fall in a different category) Smoothdrive Tyre expects the Hyper Tread to capture an 11 per cent share of the OEM market.
The industry analysts estimate that the replacement tyre market size will be one crore this year and that it would grow at 2 per cent annually. Smoothdrive Tyre expects the Hyper Tread to capture an 8 per cent market share.
You also decide to consider net working capital (NWC) requirements in this scenario. The net working capital requirement will be 15 per cent of sales. Assume that the level of working capital is adjusted at the beginning of the year in relation to the expected sales for the year. The working capital is to be liquidated at par, barring an estimated loss of Rs. 1.5 crore on account of bad debt. The bad debt will be a tax-deductible expenses.
As a finance analyst, prepare a report for submission to the CFO and the Board of Directors, explaining to them the feasibility of the new investment.
No. 4
COMPUTATION OF COST OF CAPITAL OF PALCO LTD
In October 2003, Neha Kapoor, a recent MBA graduate and newly appointed assistant to the Financial Controller of Palco Ltd, was given a list of six new investment projects proposed for the following year. It was her job to analyse these projects and to present her findings before the Board of Directors at its annual meeting to be held in 10 days. The new project would require an investment of Rs. 2.4 crore.
Palco Ltd was founded in 1965 by Late Shri A. V. Sinha. It gained recognition as a leading producer of high quality aluminum, with the majority of its sales being made to Japan. During the rapid economic expansion of Japan in the 1970s, demand for aluminum boomed, and palco’s sales grew rapidly. As a result of this rapid growth and recognition of new opportunities in the energy market, Palco began to diversify its products line. While retaining its emphasis on aluminum production, it expanded operations to include uranium mining and the production of electric generators, and finally, it went into all phases of energy production. By 2003, Palco’s sales had reached Rs. 14 crore level, with net profit after taxes attaining a record of Rs. 67 lakh.
As Palco expanded its products line in the early 1990s, it also formalized its caital budgeting procedure. Until 1992, capital investment projects were selected primarily on the basis of the average return on investment calculations, with individual departments submitting these calculations for projects falling within their division. In 1996, this procedure was replaced by one using present value as the decision making criterion. This change was made to incorporate cash flows rather than accounting profits into the decision making analysis, in addition to adjusting these flows for the time value of money. At the time, the cost of capital for Palco was determined to be 12 per cent, which has been used as the discount rate for the past 5 years. This rate was determined by taking a weighted average cost Palco had incurred in raising funds from the capital market over the previous 10 years.
It had originally been Neha’s assignment to update this rate over the most recent 10-year period and determine the net present value of all the proposed investment opportunities using this newly calculated figure. However, she objected to this procedure, stating that while this calculation gave a good estimate of “the past cost” of capital, changing interest rates and stock prices made this calculation of little value in the present. Neha suggested that current cost of raising funds in the capital market be weighted by their percentage mark-up of the capital structure. This proposal was received enthusiastically by the Financial Controller of the Palco, and Neha was given the assignment of recalculating Palco’s cost of capital and providing a written report for the Board of Directors explaining and justifying this calculation.
To determine a weighted average cost of capital for Palco, it was necessary for Neha to examine the cost associated with each source of funding used. In the past, the largest sources of funding had been the issuance of new equity shares and internally generated funds. Through conversations with Financial Controller and other members of the Board of Directors, Neha learnt that the firm, in fact, wished to maintain its current financial structure as shown in Exhibit 1.
Exhibit 1 Palco Ltd Balance Sheet for Year Ending March 31, 2003
Assets Liabilities and Equity
Cash
Accounts receivable
Inventories
Total current assets
Net fixed assets
Goodwill
Total assets Rs. 90,00,000
3,10,00,000
1,20,00,000
5,20,00,000
19,30,00,000
70,00,000
25,20,00,000
Accounts payable
Short-term debt
Accrued taxes
Total current liabilities
Long-term debt
Preference shares
Retained earnings
Equity shares
Total liabilities and equity shareholders fund
Rs. 8,50,000
1,00,000
11,50,000
1,20,00,000
7,20,00,000
4,80,00,000
1,00,00,000
11,00,000

25,20,00,000
She further determined that the strong growth patterns that Palco had exhibited over the last ten years were expected to continue indefinitely because of the dwindling supply of US and Japanese domestic oil and the growing importance of other alternative energy resources. Through further investigations, Neha learnt that Palco could issue additional equity share, which had a par value of Rs. 25 pre share and were selling at a current market price of Rs. 45. The expected dividend for the next period would be Rs. 4.4 per share, with expected growth at a rate of 8 percent per year for the foreseeable future. The flotation cost is expected to be on an average Rs. 2 per share.

Preference shares at 11 per cent with 10 years maturity could also be issued with the help of an investment banker with an investment banker with a per value of Rs. 100 per share to be redeemed at par. This issue would involve flotation cost of 5 per cent.
Finally, Neha learnt that it would be possible for Palco to raise an additional Rs. 20 lakh through a 7 – year loan from Punjab National Bank at 12 per cent. Any amount raised over Rs. 20 lakh would cost 14 per cent. Short-term debt has always been usesd by Palco to meet working capital requirements and as Palco grows, it is expected to maintain its proportion in the capital structure to support capital expansion. Also, Rs. 60 lakh could be raised through a bond issue with 10 years maturity with a 11 percent coupon at the face value. If it becomes necessary to raise more funds via long-term debt, Rs. 30 lakh more could be accumulated through the issuance of additional 10-year bonds sold at the face value, with the coupon rate raised to 12 per cent, while any additional funds raised via long-term debt would necessarily have a 10 – year maturity with a 14 per cent coupon yield. The flotation cost of issue is expected to be 5 per cent. The issue price of bond would be Rs. 100 to be redeemed at par.
In the past, Palco had calculated a weighted average of these sources of funds to determine its cost of capital. In discussion with the current Financial Controller, the point was raised that while this served as an appropriate calculation for external funds, it did not take into account the cost of internally generated funds. The Financial Controller agreed that there should be some cost associated with retained earnings and need to be incorporated in the calculations but didn’t have any clue as to what should be the cost.
Palco Ltd is subjected to the corporate tax rate of 40 per cent.
From the facts outlined above, what report would Neha submit to the Board of Directors of palco Ltd ?
NO. 5
ARQ LTD
ARQ Ltd is an Indian company based in Greater Noida, which manufactures packaging materials for food items. The company maintains a present fleet of five fiat cars and two Contessa Classic cars for its chairman, general manager and five senior managers. The book value of the seven cars is Rs. 20,00,000 and their market value is estimated at Rs. 15,00,000. All the cars fall under the same block of depreciation @ 25 per cent.
A German multinational company (MNC) BYR Ltd, has acquired ARQ Ltd in all cash deal. The merged company called BYR India Ltd is proposing to expand the manufacturing capacity by four folds and the organization structure is reorganized from top to bottom. The German MNC has the policy of providing transport facility to all senior executives (22) of the company because the manufacturing plant at Greater Noida was more than 10 kms outside Delhi where most of the executives were staying.
Prices of the cars to be provided to the Executives have been as follows :
Manager (10) Santro King Rs.    3,75,000
DGM and GM (5) Honda City           6,75,000
Director (5) Toyota Corolla           9,25,000
Managing Director (1) Sonata Gold          13,50,000
Chairman (1) Mercedes benz          23,50,000
The company is evaluating two options for providing these cars to executives
Option 1 : The company will buy the cars and pay the executives fuel expenses, maintenance expenses, driver allowance and insurance (at the year – end). In such case, the ownership of the car will lie with the company. The details of the proposed allowances and expenditures to be paid are as follows :
a) Fuel expense and maintenance Allowances per month
Particulars Fuel expenses Maintenance allowance
Manager
DGM and GM
Director
Managing Director
Chairman Rs.    2,500
5,000
7,500
12,000
18,000 Rs.    1,000
1,200
1,800
3,000
4,000
b) Driver Allowance : Rs. 4,000 per month (Only Chairman, Managing Director and Directors are eligible for driver allowance.)
c) Insurance cost : 1 per cent of the cost of the car.

The useful life for the cars is assumed to be five years after which they can be sold at 20 per cent salvage value. All the cars fall under the same block of depreciation @ 25 per cent using written down method of depreciation. The company will have to borrow to finance the purchase from a bank with interest at 14 per cent repayable in five annual equal instalments payable at the end of the year.
Option 2 : ORIX, The fleet management company has offered the 22 cars of the same make at lease for the period of five years. The monthly lease rentals for the cars are as follows (assuming that the total of monthly lease rentals for the whole year are paid at the end of each year.
Santro Xing      Rs. 9,125
Honda City                      16,325
Toyota Corolla            27,175
Sonata Gold            39,250
Mercedes Benz            61,250
Under this lease agreement the leasing company, ORIX will pay for the fuel, maintenance and driver expenses for all the cars. The lessor will claim the depreciation on the cars and the lessee will claim the lease rentals against the taxable income. BYR India Ltd will have to hire fulltime supervisor (at monthly salary of Rs. 15,000 per month) to manage the fleet of cars hired on lease. The company will have to bear additional miscellaneous expense of Rs. 5,000 per month for providing him the PC, mobioe phone and so on.
The company’s effective tax rate is 40 per cent and its cost of capital is 15 per cent.
Analyse the financial viability of the two options. Which option would you recommend ? Why ?

IIBMS STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Note: Solve any 8 out of 10.

Write a descriptive note on the historical evolution of strategic management and business policy of India and the world.

Describe some of the important characteristics of environment and demonstrate how a strategist can be understand it better by dividing into external and internal components and general and relevant environment.

Select a high-profile industry such as the IT or entertainment industry. Identify the major competitors and analyse these reports to identify the types of corporate-level strategies being used by these firms.

Which types of regionalisation strategies are adopted by firms? Explain and state your opinion on whether Indian companies should adopt regionalisation strategies.

Describe the different ways in which digitalisation can help organisations in achieving cost leadership, differentiation and focus.

Critically comment on the use of corporate portfolio analysis for examining the objective factors involved in exercising a strategic choice.

Describe the manner in which an organisation can align its resource allocation with its strategies.

Discuss the need for stakeholder relationship management. Also describe the technique of stakeholders’ analysis.

Assume that there is a company which operates in a competitive industry in India. It is in the process of adopting a strategy of stability in current operations, along with related diversification through backward integration. What should be the ideal mix of functional plans and policies? High-light the major features of each of the functional areas where plans and policies need to be formulated and implemented.

Which individuals and groups participate in the process of evaluation, what difficulties do they face and how do they overcome them?

CA S E III

EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT XYZ MOON LIFE INSURANCE

In 1950, with the enactment of the Insurance Act, Government of India decided to bring all the insurance companies under one umbrella of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Despite the monopoly of LIC, the insurance sector was not doing well. Till 1995, only 12% of the country’s people had insurance cover. The need for exploring the insurance market was felt and consequently the Government of India set up the Malhotra Committee. On the basis of their recommendations, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IRDA) Act was passed in parliament in 2000. This move allowed the private insurers in the market with the stop foreign players with 74:26% stake. XYZ- Moon life was one of the first three private players getting the license to operate in India in the year 2000.

XYZ Moon Life Insurance was a joint venture between the XYZ Group and Moon Inc. of US. XYZ starred off its operations in 1965, providing finance for industrial development and since then it had diversified into housing finance, consumer finance, mutual funds and now its latest venture was Life Insurance. Its foreign partner Moon Inc. was established in 1858 and had grown to be the largest life insurance and mutual fund company in the U.S. Moon Inc. had its presence in Asia since the past 75 years catering to over 1 million customers across 11 Asian countries.

Within a span of two years, twelve private players obtained the license from IRDA. IRDA had provided certain base policies like, Endowment Policies, Money back Policies, Retirement Policies, Term Policies, Whole Life Policies, and Health Policies. They were free to customize their products by adding on the riders. In the year 2003, the company became one of the market leaders amongst the private players. Till 2003, total market share of private insurers was about 4%, but Moon Life was performing well and had the market share of about 30% of the private insurance business.

In June 2002, XYZ Moon Life started its operations at Nagpur with one Sales Manager (SM) and ten Development Officers (DO). The role of a DO was to recruit the agents and sell a career to those who have an inclination towards insurance and could work either on part time or full time basis. They were very specific in recruiting the agents, because their contribution directly reflected their performance. All DOs faced three challenges such as Case Rate (number of policies), Case Size (amount of premium), and Recruitment of advisors by natural market, personal observations, nominators, and centre of influence. Incentives offered by the company to development officers and agents were based on their performance, which resulted into internal competition and finally converted into rivalry.

In August 2002, ,a Branch Manager joined along with one more Sales Manager and ten Development Officers. Initially, the branch was performing well and was able to build their image in the local market. As the industry was dynamic in nature, there were frequent opportunities bubbling in the market. In order to capitalize the outside opportunities, one sales manager left the organization in January 2003. As the sales manager was a real performer, he was able to convince all the good performers at XYZ Moon Life Insurance to join the new company. As a result of this, the organizational structure got disturbed and the development officers, who were earlier reporting to the SM had started reporting directly to the branch manager. Now, nepotism crept in and the branch manager began reallocating good agents to his favorite development officers. The sales team of another sales manager became weak (low performer). Seeing the low performance of the sales manager and his development officers, the company decided to terminate their services. As the employees’ turnover rate of the organization was more than the industry rate, the company had to continuously recruit sales agents as well as development officers to sustain itself in a highly competitive environment. The internal competition among development officers resulted into problems like, high employee turnover and dissatisfaction. Hence the branch was not able to perform as per the benchmarks set by the company. Its performance was not even comparable to that of other branches of the same company.

In April 2004, the company faced a grave problem, when the Branch Manager left the organization for greener pastures. To fill the position, in May 2004, the company appointed a new Branch Manager, Shashank Malik, and a Sales Manager, Rohit Pandey. The Branch Manager in his early thirties had an experience of sales and training of about 12 years and was looking after two branches i.e., Nagpur and Nasik.

Malik was given one Assistant Manager and 25 Development Officers. Out of that, ten were reporting to Assistant Manager and remaining fifteen were directly reporting to him. He was given the responsibility of handling all the operations and the authority to make all the decisions, while informing the Branch Manager. Malik opined that the insurance industry is a sunrise industry where manpower plays an important role as the business is based on relationship. He wanted to encourage one-to-one interaction, transparency and 4iscipline in his organization. While managing his team, he wanted his co-workers to analyze themselves i.e., to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. He wanted them to be result-oriented and was willing to extend his full support. Finally, he wanted to introduce weekly analysis in his game plan along with inflow of new blood in his organization. Using his vast experience, he began informal interactions among .the employees, by organizing outings and parties, to inculcate the feelings of friendliness and belonging. He wanted to increase the commitment level and integrity of his young dynamic team by facilitating proper civilization of their energy. He believed that proper training could give his team a proper understanding of the business and the dynamics of insurance industry.

QUESTIONS:

If you were Malik, what strategies would you adopt to solve the problem?
With high employee turnover in insurance industry, how can the company retain a person like Malik?

CASE IV

FRAGRANCE COMPANY LIMITED

Petals Company Limited (PCL) was initiated in the year 1919. Since then, it had produced a number of brands which enjoyed customer loyalty. It had adapted well with the changing environment and had entered into a strategic alliance with the S & G Limited, the producer of personal care products. The new company Fragrance Company Limited Was formed as a result in 1993 with equity participation from S& G and Petals Company Limited. This company marketed the products manufactured by the PCL. This alliance had given PCL access to the latest international technology in soaps and detergents. Thus, Fragrance Company Limited was now ideally placed to offer high value, international quality products at competitive prices. It was already an exporter of toilet soaps, detergents and cosmetics. It was a private organisation headed by Dharamchand, with its company’s headquarters at Mumbai and seven units all over the country with one of the units at Faridabad. The turnover of the company was Rs 900 crores. The company marketed the products using the latest international technology in soaps and detergents.

The organization structure was traditionally hierarchical with the senior vice president at the top of the management, the supervisory heads at the middle level and the workers at the shop floor. The company had 450 permanent workers, and 150 contract workers, with an average age of 32 years. The recruitment policy framed was to employ freshers. The various departments in the organization were: purchase, finance, systems, engineering services, excise and dispatch, operations and personnel department. The personnel and administration department were headed by Gyanchand and the functions of the personnel administration department were: recruitment, selection, training, counseling, performance appraisal, internal mobility of employees, negotiation With workers, fixation and implementation of rules and regulations regarding wages, salary, allowances and benefits to the workers. The philosophy of the company was based on Total Quality Management (TQM) and Kaizen. The company was highly environment-friendly and was oriented towards customer’s satisfaction.

Fragrance was facing an acute crisis due to high rate of absenteeism among its permanent workers. The losses were soaring high. There was loss in production, and high expenses and indiscipline were also observed. The personnel administration department conducted a survey in the year 1998. They found that the rate of absenteeism was about 20% on an average. The rules and regulations regarding leave were-12-17 days of leave with pay, 7 days casual leave with pay, 5 day sick leave with pay, extra leave without any pay. The benefits were provided as per the Employees State Insurance Act. The data collected revealed that 36% of the absenteeism was due to transportation problem, 48% was because of the workers staying away from their families, 52% due to festivals, 32% due to farming, 48% on account of alcholism, 80% on account of social occasions/marriages and 76% due to sickness of family members.

The other findings were that approximately 80% of the workers were married and they had children to look after and hence had a greater tendency towards taking leave, 8% of workers possessed dual jobs ,e.g., driving for others, mechanic work etc., so they felt that they could earn more on a particular day by remaining absent; 96% of the workers did not like night shifts and they remained absent from duty; 28% of the workers were not satisfied with the working conditions i.e. canteen facilities, drinking water, social and cultural activities and cleanliness. In 1998, the company tried to reduce absenteeism by introducing conveyance allowance for attendance and night shift allowance. The scheme called Inaam; was launched in which a worker who did not avail leave in three months, received Rs 200 per month. Inhouse training was imparted to workers In order to educate them about the consequences of absenteeism. They were also sent for 3-6 months training to the Central Board of Workers Education on rotation.

Counseling sessions were held for the workers in order to increase their awareness. The company also introduced the philosophy of workers participation in the management to increase their involvement and commitment towards the work. The practice of organizing picnics, festival celebration, informal get-togethers, and sports activities were also adopted to increase the commitment. Regularity was made an important component of performance appraisal and promotion. After one year, Gyanchand was highly perplexed to see only a negligible improvement in the report of the survey conducted by the personnel administration department. The rate of absenteeism had dropped by only 3%, i.e. from. 20% to 17^% in spite of introducing the aforesaid schemes.

QUESTIONS:

What role do the non-financial incentives play in motivating the workers and minimizing the rate of absenteeism?
What innovative solutions would you suggest to minimize the rate of absenteeism?

C A S E V

HE WHO RIDES A TIGER

In the Year of the Youth, the author took up a research project on young industrial workers. It involved comparing young and old workers. Two industries producing the same machines at similar technological level were selected. One belonged to the private sector and the other to the public sector. While the latter was started a decade later than the former, it had achieved greater expansion. Both were located in the same state.

After we obtained necessary permission to conduct our study, we reached the mofussil town where the private sector industry was located. Before we could launch our study, as a matter of principle, we wanted to meet the General Secretary of the workers’ union. The Personnel Department was not willing for this. On our insistence they called the union official. We talked to him for about half an hour but Personnel Department people were all the time hovering around. So we fixed a time in the evening to meet him in the union office in the town. We visited the union office in the evening. The union was having problem regarding wage deduction of some workers who did not show up for overtime. The overtime notice was short and they had not consented either, even then the management was threatening wage deduction for one week. The union could hardly do a thing’ as they in the past had burnt their hands when they had to unilaterally call off the 106 day old strike in which even their Treasurer had committed suicide. They were scared to the extent that they had productivity linked bonus agreement for even 12% bonus. Moreover, a new minuscue union was recently started in the company.

We visited the new union’s office next evening and held a long discussion. They asked for’ our suggestions. The union believed in legal battles more than agitations. After a visit to the industry the author visited the state headquarters of the new union. There every office bearer was surprisingly a lawyer. In the HQ we learnt that after we left, their union took out a procession and held a meeting in the temple. Perhaps this was the result of our discussion. While the older union was a prisoner of its past, the new union was free to write its own history. Workers’ interests were being served perhaps by both.

QUESTIONS:

Discuss merits/demerits of the role of strike, agitation and legal approach in unionmanagement relations.
What role does mutual trust play in building union-management relations?

IIBMS GENERAL MANAGEMENT

Attempt only Four Case Study

Case I

PANDIT TO AFAUZI

The case is based on an actual incident which took place in an Army unit operationally deployed in a field area just a few months before the 1971 showdown with Pakistan. The opposing forces of India and Pakistan were taking their respective positions in a pre-war scenario. The clouds of showdown were looming large over the horizons of both the countries. The rumbling of own tanks and guns, the reconnaissance, leaders of different arms and services establishing liaison with one another in the process of formulating plans for both defence and attack, digging of main and contingency positions was in progress, complete war machinery was being mobilized, camouflaged, and concealed. Ammunition and other explosives were being unloaded and dug down. Junior leaders were being briefed and rebriefed, communications were being checked, and troops were being motivated and looked after as most of them were green because of their sudden induction in the Army in post war days of 1965. Such was the scene which convinced all and sundry that war was imminent. Most of the troops looked forward to a showdown mainly because they wanted to get rid of the heavy ammunition as also for the mere thrill of it. Those who had not seen a battle, seemed excited over the prospects of a war and those who had seen the war, took everything in their stride, displaying a perfect cool, calm and confident countenance.

One Ram Bali Mishra (RBM) was a raw and green jawan of about 20 years of age and two years’ service and naturally had not seen a war. He was relatively tall, well built with fair complexion. He had pleasant manners, turned himself out well and spoke well. He was a complete teetotaler, non-smoker, and a vegetarian. He was well educated and well versed in religious affairs, particularly, of the religion to which most of the unit belonged. In the absence of the religious teacher of the unit, he held religious institute (dharamsthal) and gave religious discourses at the dharamsthal to all officers, junior commissioned officers JCOs), non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and jawans. During the pre-war days, he was performing the duties of a Sahayak (assistant, formerly known as orderly) to Gun Position Officer (GPO), a young officer, of the rank of a Second Lieutenant with one year of service.

RBM’s charter of duties included:

(a) attending all the training activities of his trade (telephone operator) which were being organized in the sub-unit;

(b) making arrangements to get the food from the officers’ mess and water from the tube- well for the office; and

By virtue of the nature and timings of these duties, RBM was excused physical training in the morning and games in the evening which all other jawans of the sub-unit attended. He was generally happy with these duties and working with the officer: After a short span of a week or so, the officer noticed some changes in the behavior of RBM. He also looked pale and worried. He was less talkative, less lively and his interaction with other jawans decreased. He started keeping aloof except where his duties warranted interaction with others. The officer tried to find the reasons from RBM but nothing emerged except a shy and coy smile and “aisi to koi baat Nai, Sahib”. The officer tried to probe further to find out if some guilt conscience was bothering him because of some bad habit which young man of his age is likely to fall prey to, in the absence, of even visual contact of civil life and members of the opposite sex.

This was denied vehemently. After another week or so, it was noticed that RBM had developed constipation, ate very little, felt tired after walking even a few hundred yards and had become weak. He was interviewed by the officer but nothing emerged once again. He was sent to the Regimental Medical Officer (RMO). The RMO inspected him and gave some medicines. On being contacted by the officer, the RMO mentioned that there was nothing wrong medically with RBM except that he was scared of the prospects of war. He even disclosed that after having been medically examined, RBM even started giving a discourse to the RMO on the bad effects of a war on environment, economy, costs, etc. He stated that people would be loaded with sufferings; killed, injured, maimed, and would become homeless. The children would become orphans, women widowed, and the humanity would suffer. He vehemently advised the RMO to make all attempts to stop the war and if he could, at least oppose it. After a brief conversation, the RMO was convinced that all the symptoms pointed to a fear psychosis of war. He gave some medicines to RBM and sent him to the sub-unit.

The RMO told the GPO that because of the worry about the war, RBM had developed problems of digestion and hence, ate less, became inactive and felt tired quickly. He had earlier been feeling shy of expressing his apprehensions about the war to others, lest they consider him a coward. The GPO gave a thought to the whole problem and interviewed RBM, advising him to attend· all physical activities, including physical training, weapon training, games, etc. thence on. The officer also planned to keep RBM among the persons of his trade, specially in the command post which controlled the firing of the guns, where from the officer himself was expected to control the’ fire in case of breakout of war.

A small cadre (class) was organized for all ranks of the sub-unit to apprise them of the organization of all arms and services in the army, starting from the level of a sub-unit. They were explained the tactics in the battlefields, the deployment patterns of different arms, the pattern and modes of support by the Air Force, the capabilities of weapons held by them, the comparative sizes of the countries, India versus Pakistan, and the level of forces held by them. They were also explained the cause for which they were there. They were there to make their contribution towards the liberation of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), wherefrom about a crore refugees had entered India because of the repression by Pakistan forces. These refugees had become a burden on the Indian economy and social structure which India could not afford. Thus, India, the foremost leader of peace loving nations, had to prepare for war to ensure return of these refugees to liberated Bangladesh. At times, to maintain peace, it becomes necessary to resort to war.

The participants were also told about the strength of their Army and deployment in that area, of course, within the constraints of security requirements. They were also told that none of them would remain alone even during the war and that their sub-unit and the unit would always fight together. They would always have their weapons and ammunitions with them, which they were very good at firing. The process of medical care, the claim of evacuation in case of serious injuries and the enhanced benefits and compensation to families in case of death of a soldier, then announced by the government, were also communicated to them. The reliability of India’s friends on the international scene was also intimated. The tactics, capabilities of aircrafts and weapons, and reliability of Pakistan’s friends were also brought out. The disadvantages and difficulties of supply to the then East Pakistan were explained to the participants. The geographical location of East Pakistan in relation to our country was also described. Everybody was convinced of the great advantages and superiority we had vis-a-vis Pakistan.

Thence on, RBM was a totally changed man. He was noticed to be more active, intermingling with others at the slightest pretext and opportunity, giving discourses about loyalty to the country and martyrdom. He took keen interest in all the training activities, including the digging of a number of contingency gun positions. He volunteered to go with night patrols too, which operated to shoot bursts of rounds with light machine guns in trees and groves close-by, whenever the guns were deployed at a new place. He volunteered to venture out with the line party which was earmarked to lay telephone lines over long distances through sugarcane fields. He started watching the slaughtering of goats in the unit. Above all, he started eating eggs, though he did not touch meat.

This transformation in RBM was a welcome sight and appreciated by all. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief on seeing RBM becoming a brave “Fauzi” from a timid “Pandit”. The RMO was informed of this transformation. He too felt happy. His contribution had been no less in diagnosing the cause of sickness correctly. The cadre was conducted for the whole sub-unit with a view to eradicate any apprehensions from the minds of others too, in case there were any, and to educate all. The cadre proved to be a great success. It motivated the whole lot, made them more confident and ready to face the challenge bravely. This was subsequently apparent when the hostilities started.

QUESTIONS:

What was the cause of fear in RBM?

What were the symptoms of fear displayed by RBM?

How did the RMO come to know of the war phobia of RBM?

What actions should be taken to avoid building up of fear among the troops? Which of these steps were taken by the officer?

Case II

HE WHO RIDES A TIGER

So we fixed a time in the evening to meet him in the union office in the town. We visited the union office in the evening. The union was having problem regarding wage deduction of some workers who did not show up for overtime. The overtime notice was short and they had not consented either, even then the management was threatening wage deduction for one week.

The union could hardly do a thing’ as they in the past had burnt their hands when they had to unilaterally call off the 106 day old strike in which even their Treasurer had committed suicide. They were scared to the extent that they had productivity linked bonus agreement for even 12% bonus. Moreover, a new minuscue union was recently started in the company.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Discuss merits/demerits of the role of strike, agitation and legal approach in unionmanagement relations.

What role does mutual trust play in building union-management relations?

CASE III

COMPETITION AHEAD: VSNL AT CROSS ROADS

The telecom sector had been functioning as a typical government department right from its inception. With the Department of Telephones (DoT) being under the exclusive control of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India (GO!), the system functioned more as a monopoly., With the advent of the LPG process (liberalization, privatization and globalization) in the early nineties, the telecom department went through a phase of modernization. A number of new and sophisticated electronic exchanges were installed which enhanced the capacity and lead to the disappearance of waiting list for telephone connections. In a landmark decision in 1995-96, the Government of India threw open its gates for private players in the area of cellular services. LCG and ACG were the two major players to enter this area in Karnataka region, while DoT decided to remain as an observer and continued as a provider of basic services only. Subsequently the Internet, ISD and other services were also opened to private participation.

The year 1998 saw the entry of Vikas Telenet (VTNL) as a basic service provider in the state of Karnataka. It launched its basic services in Bangalore district, the commercial capital of the state, in January 1998. The impact of this entry was felt by DoT as it resulted in a mass customer churning, challenging the market leadership of DoT in basic services. This growing challenge from VTNL made General Manager DoT Indore, R.L. Rawat realized the need for a comprehensive review of the competitive scenario. The situation faced by the Bangalore district was one of its kind. It was the only city where four companies were providing telephone services. LCG and ACG were providing cellular services while VTNL and DoT were providing basic services. To attract the customers all the providers had attractive tariff plans. DoT’s market share was not affected by the entry of LCG and ACG as – they operated only as cellular service providers and their services carried a premium price. But the entry of VTNL as a basic service provider with attractive tariff plans showed a marked shift in customer base from DoT to VTNL specially in case of heavy users make it necessary for DoT to come up with similar competitive tariff plans.

General Manager Operations DoT Bangalore, S.N. Dutt, felt that improved services, customer care and proper pricing would help in winning back the heavy users who accounted for almost 60 to 65% of the total revenue. Keeping this in mind, a review of VTNL’s tariff plans was done (Annexure I). The review revealed that the customers were getting a distinct price advantage in the rentals and free calls given by VTNL.

Along with this, a discount ranging from 2.5 to 16% was also announced by VTNL. S.N. Dutt formulated a comprehensive plan to guard DoT’s market share. Officers were appointed as account holders and were responsible for rendering personalized customer care to commercially important customers hoping to retain them with better services. He also formulated a proposal of discounts which was forwarded to the Circle Head Office (Annexure-II) and a presentation was made by DGM – Marketing K.K. Sen, highlighting the rate at which customer churning was taking place and the need for implementation of new tariff plan. He pleaded with the senior officers that DoT needed to be at least reactive if not proactive, to sustain itself in the market. The proposal was well received and forwarded to the Ministry of Communications for approval. Responding to the need of the hour, the Ministry decided to offer a comprehensive discount of 2.5 to 16% for its heavy users. The scheme was introduced in Bangalore, which was extended first to the state of Karnataka and later on to the entire nation.

VTNL, which had so far been concentrating only on the heavy users, decided to now expand its network to get a wider customer base. With this view in mind, a number of promotional schemes were introduced e.g., web phone, a facility for internet usage where access to the net was provided at a cost of 60 paise per call only. It also announced free Internet facility for a year on every new connection. Besides this, VTNL went in for heavy promotion of its schemes. The careful wording of the schemes and enhancement of the number of free calls made the customers feel that they were gainers as far as rentals were concerned. These schemes when launched created very difficult times for VTNL during May -August 2001. By then, DoT had been Corporatised (October 1, 2000) and came to be known as VSNL. The Bangalore office was extremely hopeful that the corporatisation would facilitate. the implementation of new innovative schemes. For drafting a proposal of innovative schemes, VSNL first conducted a market research where in -the database of surrendered connections was used as sample and effort were made to identify the cause of disconnections. The survey revealed that of the total number of disconnections 30% were due to economic recession while 40% were due to customer turning in favor of VTNL while the remaining were due to a multitude of factors interplaying with one another.

To redeem the situation, VSNL, Bangalore prepared an innovative plan known as Business Special Plan – Plan 600-800, which offered 800 free calls on a monthly rental of Rs.600 only. The plan was put forward to Chief General Manager at Bangalore for approval. The persistent efforts of K.K. Sen bore fruits and the proposal was approved at the Circle level.

However, at the time of launch K. K. Sen realized that they needed TRAI’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) approval for going ahead. To ensure the unhindered approval of TRAI, modified tariff plans called 500-700 and an economy plan were suggested and sent for approval. While formulating these plans, an attempt was made to segment the market with an intention to target each segment with a customized/specific set of services. Plan 500-700 was targeted at high end users. Here, 700 calls were offered free on a monthly rental of Rs. 500 only. The economy plan carried a rental of just Rs.160 per month with a rate of Rs.l.20 per call. This plan was specially targeted at customers who had more of incoming calls and needed a facility for meeting their specific requirements. The rolling out of these schemes had an immediate impact with nearly 8,000 customers coming over to VSNL Bangalore. Along with these new tariff proposals a number of innovative strategies were introduced by VSNL, Bangalore.

The initial registration amount was reduced and new subscribers were offered the facility of paying the amount in installments.
Call centre functioning since February 2001 to deal with customer grievances was made proactive to ensure better customer care.
Training was given to the front-end-people for updating their skills and changing the mindsets.
Tele-shopping service was started which provided a one stop shopping facility, giving the customers the option to choose their telephone numbers, instrument and service.. Installation was assured within 48 hours.
Phone-on-Phone facility was started wherein customers could obtain a connection installed by simply ringing up for it.
A bill collecting facility was also introduced to further assist the customers.
VCC Le., prepaid cards were introduced and even delivered at the doorsteps of the customers.
Bill collection in the rural areas by mobile vans was introduced.
Linemen were given pagers to facilitate prompt servicing of faulty telephone lines.
Regular meetings between call centre members and maintenance staff were held to exchange information and solve grievances.
For motivating and facilitating their employees, free telephone service was provided to all the employees.
An advertising budget of Rs.30,00,000 (0.2% of the total sales revenue) was outlined for launching a comprehensive promotion programme using both indoor and outdoor media ensuring a good coverage of the market.

VSNL – Tariff Structure

Scheme	Rental (Rs.)	Free Colis	Facilities
Business Plan – 500-700*	500 (Monthly)	700	Without STD
Economy Plan **	160 (Monthly)	Nil	With STD
Standard Plan*	500 (Bimonthly)	150	With STD
* 0.80 Per Call	** Rs.1 .20 Per Call

VTNL – Tariff Structure

Scheme	Rental (Rs.)	Free Calls
Silver 300	349 (Monthly)	300
Golden – 500	499 (Monthly)	500

Questions:

What were the strengths and weaknesses of VSNL?

Do you think that VSNL should have changed its thrust from basic telephony to cellular services?

If you were the Deputy General Manager, what strategies would you have undertaken to deal with the competition?

Case IV

DISNEY’S DESIGN

The Walt Disney Company is heralded as the world’s largest entertainment company. It has earned this astounding reputation through tight control over the entire operation : control over the open – ended brainstorming that takes place 24 hours a day ; control over the engineers who construct the fabulous theme – park rides; control over the animators who create and design beloved characters and adventurous scenarios ; and control over the talent that brings the many concepts and characters to life. Although control pervades the company, it is not too strong a grip. Employees in each department are well aware of their objectives and the parameters established to meet those objectives. But in conjunction with the pre-determined responsibilities, managers at Disney encourage independent and innovative thinking.

People at the company have adopted the phrase “Dream as a Team” as a reminder that whimsical thoughts, adventurous ideas, and all – out dreaming are at the core of the company philosophy. The over all control over each department is tempered by this concept. Disney managers strive to empower their employees by leaving room for their creative juices to flow. In fact, managers at Disney do more than encourage innovation. They demand it. Projects assigned to the staff “ imaginers” seem impossible at first glance. At Disney, doing the seemingly impossible is part of what innovation means. Teams of imaginers gather together in a brainstorming session known as the “Blue Sky” phase. Under the “Blue Sky”, an uninhibited exchange of wild, ludicrous, outrageous ideas, both “ good” and “ bad”, continues until solutions are found and the impossible is done. By demanding so much of their employees, Disney managers effectively drive their employees to be creative.

Current Disney leader Michael Eisner has established the “Dream as a Team” concept. Eisner realized that managers at Disney needed to let their employees brainstorm and create with support. As Disney president Frank Weds says, “If a good idea is there, you know it, you feel it, you do it, no matter where it comes from.”

Questions :

What environmental factors influenced management style at Disney?
What kind(s) of organizational structure seem to be consistent with “Dream as a Team” ?
How and where might the informal organization be a real asset at Disney ?

Case V

“THAT’S NOT MY JOB” – LEARNING DELEGATION AT CIN-MADE

When Robert Frey purchased Cin – Made in 1984, the company was near ruin. The Cincinnati, Ohi-based manufacturer of paper packaging had not altered its product line in 20 years. Labor costs had hit the ceiling, while profits were falling through the floor. A solid quarter of the company’s shipments were late and absenteeism was high. Management and workers were at each other’s throats.

Ten years later, Cin – Made is producing a new assortment of highly differentiated composite cans, and pre-tax profits have increased more than five times. The Cin – Made workforce is both flexible and deeply committed to the success of the company. On-time delivery of products has reached 98 percent, and absenteeism has virtually disappeared. There are even plans to form two spin – off companies to be owned and operated by Cin-Made employees. In fact, at the one day “Future of the American Workforce” conference held in July 1993, Cin-Made was recognized by President Clinton as one of the best – run companies in the United States.

“ How did we achieve this startling turnaround ?” mused Frey. “Employee empowerment is one part of the answer. Profit sharing is another.”

In the late spring of 1986, relations between management and labor had reached rock bottom. Having recently suffered a pay cut, employees at Cin- Made came to work each day, performed the duties required of their particular positions, and returned home-nothing more. Frey could see that his company was suffering. “To survive we needed to stop being worthy adversaries and start being worthy partners,” he realized. Toward this end, Frey decided to call a meeting with the union. He offered to restore worker pay to its previous level by the end of the year. On top of that, he offered something no one expected : a 15 percent share of Cin-Made’s pre-tax profits. “ I do not choose to own a company that has an adversarial relationship with its employees.” Frey proclaimed at the meeting. He therefore proposed a new arrangement that would encourage a collaborative employee-management relationship “Employee participation will play an essential role in management.”

Managers within the company were among the first people to oppose Frey’s new idea of employee involvement. “My three managers felt they were paid to be worthy adversaries of the unions.” Frey recalled. It’s what they’d been trained for. It’s what made them good managers. Moreover, they were not used to participation in any form, certainly not in decision making.” The workers also resisted the idea of extending themselves beyond the written requirements of their jobs. “ (Employees) wanted generous wages and benefits, of course, but they did not want to take responsibility for anything more than doing their own jobs the way they had always done them,” Frey noted. Employees were therefore skeptical of Frey’s overtures toward “employee participation.” “We thought he was trying to rip us off and shaft us,” explained Ocelia Williams, one of many Cin-Made employees who distrusted Frey’s plans.

Frey, however, did not give up, and he eventually convinced the union to agree to his terms. “ I wouldn’t take no for an answer,” he asserted. “Once I had made my two grand pronouncements, I was determined to press ahead and make them come true.” But still ahead lay the considerable challenge of convincing employees to take charge :

I made people meet with me, then instead

Of telling them what to do, I asked them.

They resisted.

“ How can we cut the waste on his run ?” I’d

say, or “How are we going to allocate the

overtime on this order ?”

“That’s not my job,” they’d say.

“But I need your input,” I’d say. “How in the

World can we have participative management

If you won’t participate?

“I don’t know,” they’d say. “Because that’s

not my job either. That’s your job. ?”

Gradually, Frey made progress. Managers began sharing more information with employees. Frey was able slowly to expand the responsibilities workers would carry. Managers who were unable to work with employees left, and union relations began to improve. Empowerment began to happen. By 1993, Cin Made employees were taking responsibility for numerous tasks. Williams, for example, used to operate a tin-slitting machine on the company’s factory floor. She still runs that same machine, but now is also responsible for ordering almost $ 100,000 in supplies.

Williams is just one example of how job roles and duties have been redefined throughout Cin-Made. Joyce Bell, president of the local union, still runs the punch press she always has, but now also serves as Cin- Made’s corporate safety director. The company’s scheduling team, composed of one manager and five lead workers from various plant areas, is charged with setting hours, designating layoffs, and deciding when temporary help is needed. The hiring review team, staffed by three hourly employees and two managers, is responsible for interviewing applicants and deciding whom to hire. An employee committee performs both short – and long – term planning of labor, materials, equipment, production runs, packing, and delivery. Employees even meet daily in order to set their own production schedules. “We empower employees to make decisions, not just have input,” Frey remarked. “I just coach.”

Under Frey’s new management regime, company secrets have virtually disappeared. All Cin-Made employees, from entry-level employees all the way to the top, take part in running the company. In fact, Frey has delegated so much of the company’s operations to its workers that he now feels little in the dark. “I now know very little about what’s going on, on a day-to-day basis,” he confessed.

At Cin-Made, empowerment and delegation are more than mere buzzwords; they are the way of doing business – good business. “We, as workers, have a lot of opportunities,” said Williams. “If we want to take leadership, it’s offered to us.”

Questions:

How were principles of delegation and decentralization incorporated into Cine – Made operations?
What are the sources and uses of power at Cin – Made?
What were some of the barriers to delegation and empowerment at Cin –Made?
What lessons about management in a rapidly changing marketplace can be learned from the experience of Cin – Made?

Case VI

HIGH-TECH ANSWERS TO DISTRIBUTION PROBLEMS AT ROLLERBLADE

When a manger finds that demand exceeds inventory, the answer lies in making more goods. When a manager finds that inventory exceeds demand, the answer lies in making fewer goods. But what if a company management finds that they just do not know which situation applies?

This is the situation that recently confronted management at Rollerblade, the popular skate manufacturer based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Rollerblade has been one of the leading firms in the fast growing high performance roller skate marketplace, it matters a great deal for Rollerblade managers whether demand and inventory are in balance, or not.

Rollerblade was in a bind. The product literally could not be shipped out the door. The managers found that workers were not able to ship products because, as a result of poor storage structures, they could not find the products. Once they were found, overcrowded aisles, in addition to other space constraints, still prevented efficient shipping because the workers could barely manage to get the products out the door. “We were out of control because we didn’t know how to use space and didn’t have enough of it,” said Ian Ellis, director for facilities and safety. “Basically, there was no more useable space left in the warehouse, a severe backlog of customer orders, and picking errors were clearly in the unacceptable range,” added Ram Krishnan, Principal of NRM Systems, based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The answer for Rollerblade was found in technology. High-tech companies have introduced a collection of computer simulations, ranging in cost roughly from $10,000 to $30,000, that assist managers in generating effective facility designs. With the help of layout Master IV simulation software, developed by NRM, Rollerblade Management was able to implement a new distribution design. As a result of the distribution improvement, Rollerblade was able to increase the number of customer orders processed daily from140 to 410 and eliminate order backlog. “Now we have a different business,” says Ellis. “The new layout has taken us from being in a crunch, to being able to plan.

Questions:

With retailers as their primary customers, what customer competitive imperatives could be affected by Rollerblade’s inventory problems?
How appropriate might a just – in – time inventory system be for a product such as roller skates?”
What opportunities are therefore Rollerblade managers to see FOR themselves as selling services, instead of simply roller skates?

IIBMS CASE STUDY ANSWER, IIBMS MBA EMBA ANSWER

Thursday, 14 January 2016

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