Management Theory and Practice
Q1. Samatadeep Industries have hired you as a consultant as most of their recent plans have failed miserably. Post you research, you concluded that they have not considered the external environment at all when planning or executing their plans. Can you guide them about the forces that affect management thought?
Q2. As a management trainer to a batch of new joiners at ABC Ltd, can you explain Henri Fayol’s 14 principles of management to them and make them understand their significance in today’s world.
Q3. Sachi Ltd has been facing many loses and want to modernize themselves using modern tools and have hired you as a consultant for the same. Can you explain the following concepts to them and how will they help them modernize a cycle manufacturing business like theirs.
a. JIT
b. Six Sigma
Information Systems for Managers
Q.1) Ghanshyam Das and Sons Jewellers has now its several branches across different cities in India. The Jewellers started from very small shop in Delhi and expanded their business in several years across India. Initially when they started, they have appointed different personnels to keep a track of jewelries sold, orders given and inventory required. With the expansion of business in different cities, Ghanshyam Das and Sons Jewellers are now finding it difficult to manage/ track the details at global level and to get an overviewof Jewellery details across all stores of various cities. They contacted a solution providing firm to get solution of the same and were told to shift their business to Cloud wherein, all the operations of different stores can be monitored/detailed out very easily. Discuss how migrating to Cloud will help Ghanshyam Das and Sons Jewellers to smoothen up the process of monitoring/tracking details from one location for other stores across various cities. Also, discuss which types of cloud and cloud service will be suitable or their organization.
Q.2) E-Commerce has gained boom more after the digital payment initiative was emphasized for usage in recent years. Most of the retailers are using these platforms to sell their products. Discuss how the retailers are getting benefitted by choosing these e-commerce platforms. Which type of sellers are being benefitted most by choosing the e-commerce platform (Explain with help of some Statistics by taking references from some E-commerce websites). Discuss your views for all the above points by choosing any one E-Commerce platform as an example.
Q.3) Horizon Technology is new IT Company with the motive of providing solutions to different Organisations by catering to their specific product requirements. This Company has received the Project Development Task which is not much Complex in nature and the requirements are also to some extent clear. As a new venture, this organization is not fully aware of the different vulnerabilities and threats to its data. Considering the above scenarios, discuss the following:
a) What can be the various threats and vulnerabilities to the organization? What are the security measures that need to be adopted by Horizon Technology for avoiding the same?
b) Discuss which Software Development Life Cycle model needs to be implemented and why by Horizon Technology for development of the Project stated in the Scenario.
Business Economics
Q1. “Demand forecasting plays a vital role and enables organisations to arrange for the required input as per the predicted demand, without any wastage of material and time” Substantiate your view on demand forecasting and discuss the various factors influencing demand forecasting.
Q2. Define the term “Elasticity of demand.” Discuss different types of elasticity of demand. Also, explain why this concept should be of interest to anyone in business who has a choice to determine the price at which to sell their products.
Q3. A) “The root of the economic problem is the scarcity of resources while our wants are infinite”. Elaborate the given statement explaining the three types of economic problems faced by an economy in achieving in production and distribution.
Q3. B) Complete the hypothetical table – compute and show steps on Average Product and Marginal product.
| Quantity | Total Product | Average Product | Marginal product |
| 1 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 30 | ||
| 3 | 48 | ||
| 4 | 56 | ||
| 5 | 56 | ||
| 6 | 52 |
Business Communication
1) Meher is a communications consultant, fairly an unknown field. However, her customers know how she makes a real difference in their way of reaching out to their clients. Meher handles all the communication channels that her customers need to use in their business. Their email communications, their social media communications, their web presence, and literature that goes out from their offices. She also conducts training for hercustomers so that they can use the strategies and make themselves effective. One basic tip that Meher likes to always follow and share with people is controlling the style and tone of communication. Considering this case, please share the rules or strategies that you covered about controlling the style and tone of communication, in your course.
2) Praful is working for a research institute as research associate for archaeological projects. As a part of his job, Praful needs to write to various departments of the government for access to forts and geographical areas for research. Help Praful to develop a routine request draft towards asking for information and action to these departments. (Write the letter to Archaeological Survey of India about visiting 2 forts in 6 months).
3) Sumana is heading HR of a PR agency in a big city. She is rather known for being bluntly honest. However, she is always appreciated for being logical. While she will be honest in her negative feedback about performance reviews or when rejecting any job application, she always gives clear reasons, which work as positive feedback for the receivers. In light of this, answer the following questions.
a) Put forth strategies for effectively rejecting job applications.
b) Share a strategy for sharing negative performance reviews.
Strategic Management
1) You are a mobile phone manufacturer manufacturing phones for different segments of the population. Sales for your lower segment phones is falling while sales for your higher segment is increasing.Why do you think is this happening? What could be the reasons? How do you deal with situation? Does this need any change of strategy? What changes would you do in strategy? Give valid reasons, examples while answering the questions.
2) India has been a laggard in the world of Sports. You have been appointed as a consultant for strategy for building a sports ecosystem in India. Suggest a strategic road map to make India a sporting powerhouse.
3) You are the marketing strategy head for a major online music service. Your business is dependent on advertising, but, despite the large number of consumers listening to your app. Advertisers have not been enthused to advertise.
a. What strategy should you adopt to get advertisers on board? Give examples to justify your answer.
b. Create two ideas to engage with advertisers.
Business Law
1) If the policy contains an arbitration clause, the courts in India will direct the parties to arbitrate. The jurisdiction of the court in deciding an application for arbitral reference is very narrow and limited to examining only the existence of an arbitration agreement, and all other questions relating to the arbitrability of the dispute have to be decided by the arbitral tribunal. Explain this statement with the help of recent decision of various courts.
2) The vehicle owner paid the renewal premium amount to the insurance agent on January 19, 2022 and a receipt was also issued. However, the insurance agent had credited the amount to the insurance company only on January 31, 2022. The policy for the vehicle was issued only with effect from February 1, 2016. On January 24, 2022 accident happened and the owner of the vehicle died. The insurance company rejected the claim and hence the legal heirs of the vehicle owner filed a case against the insurance company. The court mulcted the entire liability upon the insurance agent. Examine whether in this situation agent was liable with the help of recent case laws.
3) Consumers who are unaware of their rights are vulnerable in the marketplace. It is vital that they be aware of their rights so that they can make choices confidently, and with due regard to their interests.
(a) What are all the rights available to consumer.
(b) Explain the compliant making process for misleading advertisement and e-commerce platform.
Operations Management
Q.1 Tesla Motors is considering India for setting up its manufacturing facility. As regional head, you have been assigned the most critical decision of choosing a location for your business setup. What are the various factors that you will consider for narrowing down on a facility location for your business? Also, justify your selection with some facts based onthe choice of your location as you why you feel that location is appropriate for setting up the manufacturing facility.
Q.2 Explain the need for a good layout and compare the different types of layouts used in operations management, emphasizing their respective advantages and disadvantages. Post that, analyze the specific challenges and opportunities associated with both the cloud kitchen format and dine-in restaurant setups. Finally, make a recommendation on the most suitable layout type for each format, providing a justification for your choice based on how the selected layout addresses the unique needs and challenges of each format.
Q.3 A famous patisserie brand is planning to open a new mid-sized pastry shop near your locality. Considering their expertise and knowledge in manufacturing and branding their product offerings, they are confident of getting into the new pastry shop operations. The standard offering, which is ready-to-eat single items, takes nearly 20 minutes for one worker, while the extended multiple items required in bulk take 30 minutes. On the other hand, custom-made items require three workers to spend 25 minutes each.
The company is interested in identifying the right number of workers required in its shop.Using the data given in the table below:
| Type of pastry offered | Demand in the next 4 weeks | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Standard single items | 2000 | 2200 | 2800 | 2500 | |||
| Extended multi-items | 1700 | 1600 | 1300 | 1000 | |||
| Custom-made items | 500 | 600 | 200 | 400 | |||
a) Estimate the aggregate capacity required at the patisserie brand during the next four weeks. Also, if the company employs 29 workers for six days a week and 10 hours a day, compute the capacity available in its current level of working.Is the capacity adequate to meet the demand, and if not, how much additional capacity do they need?
b) What alternatives would you recommend to the patisserie brand to solve their capacity problem, and if they are ready to recruit, then how many workers should they recruit?
Essentials of HRM
Q1. Explain how you would do a job analysis for the position of “Successful Student” and create a job description using the various elements. Explain your choices of essential functions and job specifications.
Q2. Which training methods would be most effective to train the taste testers? Discuss how each of the levels in Kirkpatrick’s model could be applied to the training for the positions.Would another evaluation method be more relevant? Explain.
Q3. Design an employee selection program for hiring stock traders. We already know what to look for as far as the technical skills are concerned such as accounting skills, economics, and so on. What we want is a program for screening out potential bad apples. To that end, please let us know the following:
a) What screening tests would you suggest, and why?
b) What questions should we add to our application form?
Business Ethics Governance Risk
1. Choose any ONE listed company from the BSE/NSE list of top 150 companies by turnover. Locate the Business Responsibility & Sustainability Report or ESG Report (under Statutory Report) in the Annual Report of 2022-23. Read through the following;
Section C, Principle 6 (in BRSR)
Chairman and/or CEO’s letter (in annual report)
Business strategy (in annual report)
Risk management (in annual report)
ESG performance (in annual report/ BRSR)
Company website (ESG / sustainability)
Sustainability/Integrated report (if available)
Explain in your own words the company’s relationship with water as a resource including what are its water related risks, opportunities and financial implications. How does business manage/approach all its water related issues and initiatives as an overall business strategy such that it minimizes its negative impact on the environment as well as the local communities. (use quantitative data to support your answer where required). DO NOT copy paste.
2. Go through the Code of Conduct and all other corporate policies published on the company’s website. (Can use the same company as in Q1 or another company from the same list) Write an executive summary in your own words about all the key points/parameters covered in the code of conduct plus ONE other policy (NOT csr policy). Conclude with your observations and insights about what both of them are meant to achieve. DO NOT copy paste.
3. Today pollution is a growing health concern globally. It is seen as an essential evil on the path of economic growth and social development. Yet it needs to be addressed for allof us to have a reasonably good quality of life and access to clean air and water is a basic Human Rights.
a. Do you think pollution is ethically consumer responsibility as well? Why do you think so?
b. Explain atleast two ethical dilemmas faced by companies while trying to reduce their pollution levels.
Capital Market & Portfolio Management
1) Net income = ₹3, 00,000/- preferred dividend = ₹30,000/- during the year. In addition it also had ₹30, 00,000 total shares outstanding during the year and ₹5, 00,000/- preferred stock. Calculate ROE of the organization.
2) Yourcollogue is interested to invest in derivative market. But he doesn’t have a good knowledge about it. He wants some information about different types of derivatives. Explain him different types of derivatives.
3)a) Your friend wanted to invest in stock market. But he is confused how much amount to invest in different stocks. With the help of sharpe ratio, help your friend to prepare optimum portfolio.
| Stock | Sharpe Ratio |
| S1 | 1.5 |
| S2 | 2 |
| S3 | 2.5 |
| Total | 6 |
b) If you have Rs.10, 000/- & decides to invest 40% in mutual fund and rest in shares. Expected return from mutual fund is 8% & from shares is 12%. How will you calculate total expected return?
Commercial Banking System & Role of RBI
1) Independence of Central Bank is very crucial for impartial functioning and fair play in the economy. Any closeness of Central Bank to Ministry of Finance will not be fair and it will be viewed as baby of the government and will be looked with suspicion. Do you agree or disagree with the above statement and what is your stand?
2) RBI has different parameters for evaluating the performance of bank. These criteria emanates from different roles played by commercial banks. Explain the different parameters on which banks are rated on scale of 1 to 5. Here 5 is rated as unsatisfactory/poorly performing bank, while 1 rating is deemed as a well run bank.
3) Today most of the banks are focusing on recovery of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). A large chunk of bank’s money is locked in these assets. Major defaulters are intentional who plan to defraud the bank and run away. The other type of defaulters are those, who because of circumstances or due to some inability are unable to repay the bank loans. Banks have to make huge provisions for NPAs, which reduce the profitability of the banks. However, new legislations have been passed expediting recovery process but more needs to be done. In light of above statements:
a) Write the major steps taken for recovery since last 10 years
b) How do you differentiate between intentional defaulters and ability defaulters, and the view of RBI on these two category of defaulters?
Consumer Behaviour
Q1. A study in 2021 by People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India on Digital Payments has estimated that around 61% of Indian households will be doing digital payments by 2025 if the enabling environment for that is created. The break-up of the households across 3 broad income groups viz. Rich, Middle Class and Poor for digital payments is as under:
| Class | No. of Households in Millions expected to do Digital Payments by 2025 | % Share |
| Rich | 36.0 | 23.6% |
| Middle Class | 61.0 | 40.2% |
| Poor | 55.0 | 36.2% |
| Total | 152.0 | 100.0% |
It is obvious that the Poor Class is going to be much bigger in Digital Payments compared to the Rich and almost similar in share compared to the Middle Class, though their average ticket size is going to be smaller. It is also clear that in order the realise the potential number of 55 million Households the poor will need the highest support and hand-holding
From a consumer buying perspective what are the things think the Government Authorities along with banks and financial institutions do to enable a faster adoption of Digital Payments across the poorer and economically backward sections of the society.
Q2. Age has 2 broad categories – chronological age and Subjective Age which is different from chronological age. Subjective Age has 4 dimensions. Analyse how the 4 dimensions of Age will impact the purchase choices for consumers buying cosmetics and ready-to-wear clothes.
Q3. Answer the following
a) A company in USA has developed a Gluten Meter which is device that measure the gluten content in the food a consumer wants to consume. Gluten is a group of proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and their derivatives. It’s what gives dough its elasticity and helps baked goods maintain their shape. While gluten is responsible for the desirable texture of many baked products, it can aggravate diabetes and obesity. Since India has the highest number of diabetics in the world this American wants to understand the attitude of people towards Gluten and Gluten Meters. How will they be able to understand the attitude of the consumer to this.
b) How will you use hemispheric laterization to influence consumers to buy a particular brand of a lifestyle home theatre system like Bose.
Corporate Finance
1) Calculate the WACC for M/s Antara Limited with the following information:
Capital Structure BV
Share Capital 50,00,000
Retained Earnings 2,50,000
Debentures 15,00,000
Bank Loan 2,00,000
Share price of M/s Antara Limited at the beginning of the year was Rs. 50 and end of the year was Rs. 55 per share. Dividend declared was Rs. 5. Beta of the Company was pegged at 0.6. M/s Antara had floated its Debentures at 8% fixed interest for 5 years. The bank had extended a loan on floating rate basis. Interest paid during the year was Rs. 10000. Government securities are earning a return of 4% currently.
2) Calculate the Gross and the Net Operating Cycle for Vishal & Co. Ltd. using the following information. (Assume 360 days in a year).
| Amt. in Rs. | |
| Opening Balances | |
| Raw Material | 200,000 |
| WIP | 60,000 |
| Finished Goods | 600,000 |
| Debtors | 250,000 |
| Creditors | 550,000 |
| Closing Balances | |
| Raw Material | 300,000 |
| WIP | 65,000 |
| Finished Goods | 725,000 |
| Debtors | 215,000 |
| Creditors | 575,000 |
| Annual Purchase of Raw Material | 3,200,000 |
| Manufacturing Expenses | 550,000 |
| Selling & Distribution Costs | 300,000 |
| Sales | 4,480,000 |
3)a) What should be the amount to be invested:
i) To receive Rs. 2,00,000 per annum in perpetuity at an interest rate of 8%.
ii) In addition to conditions of point (i) above, if a growth rate of 3% is expected every year.To receive Rs. 4,00,000 per annum in perpetuity at an interest rate of 5%.
b) Calculate the current ratio and Acid Test Ratio with the following information
Debtors500,000
Cash and Bank200,000
Inventory400,000
Trade Payables150,000
Bank OD50,000
Cost & Management Accounting
Q1. The following details have been extracted from Sam Ltd.’s books of accounts for the year ending March 31, 2023. The manager of the company is shared and divides his time between the factory and the office in the ratio of 20:80. You are required to compute: (a) prime cost, (b) factory overhead, (c) factory cost, (d) over head and (e) cost of sale.
| Stock of Materials: Opening | 2,82,000.00 |
| Stock of Materials: Closing | 3,00,000.00 |
| Materials Purchased during the year | 12,48,000.00 |
| Direct Wages | 3,57,600.00 |
| Indirect Wages | 24,000.00 |
| Salaries for Administrative Staff | 60,000.00 |
| Freights: Inwards | 48,000.00 |
| Freights: Outwards | 30,000.00 |
| Cash Discount Allowed | 21,000.00 |
| Bad Debts W/Off | 28,200.00 |
| Repairs to Plant and Machinery | 63,600.00 |
| Rent, Rates and Taxes of Factory | 18,000.00 |
| Rent, Rates and Taxes of Office | 9,600.00 |
| Travelling Expenses | 18,600.00 |
| Salesmen’s salaries and commission | 50,400.00 |
| Depreciation W/Off: Plant and Machinery | 42,600.00 |
| Depreciation W/Off: Furniture | 3,600.00 |
| Director’s fees | 36,000.00 |
| Electricity Charges: Factory | 72,000.00 |
| Fuel Charges: Boiler | 96,000.00 |
| General Charges | 37,200.00 |
| Manager’s Salary | 72,000.00 |
Q2. You are required to compute the labor turnover using different methods of labor turnover measurement from the following information provided for Manas Ltd. for the month of December 2022.
Total workers in the beginning of the month were 3800, whereas at the end of the month were 4200. During the month, 50 workers left the firm on account of their own problemswhile 80 workers were discharged. 560 workers were engaged during the month in various departments. But out of them, only 60 were appointed.
Q3. A product sells at Rs. 3 per unit. The company uses a first-in-out actual costing system. A new fixed manufacturing overhead allocation rate is computed each year by dividing the actual fixed manufacturing overhead cost by the actual production. The following data is available for the first two years:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | ||
| Sales (Units) | 1500 | 1800 | |
| Production (Units) | 2100 | 1500 | |
| Cost: | (Rs.) | (Rs.) | |
| Variable Manufacturing | 1050 | 750 | |
| Fixed Manufacturing | 1050 | 1050 | |
| Variable Marketing and Administration | 1500 | 1800 | |
| Fixed Marketing and Administration | 600 | 600 | |
Prepare Income Statement for each year based on:
a. Absorption Costing
b. Variable Costing
Digital Marketing
Ms. Sophia envisions establishing an innovative app called “Jewels4All” dedicated to offering a wide range of jewelry pieces. Jewels4All will act as a comprehensive aggregator platform for jewelry vendors, both established brands and independent artisans, to showcase and sell their products. The app will also feature a collection of exquisite jewelry designed and manufactured in-house. The app’s unique selling proposition (USP) will be providing customers access to high-quality jewelry at competitive prices, enabled by bulk purchasing and a robust digital marketing strategy.The company plans to exclusively focus on digital marketing, forgoing traditional media channels.
1. How will you promote Jewels4All on the online platforms?
2. Assume you plan to launch a campaign to promote the Jewels4All where the main objective is to create brand awareness for the masses. The campaign will be done at the national level with a very high budget. Explain the seven stages for setting up a marketing campaign for the brand Jewels4All.
3.a. Explain the key activities involved in the campaign set up for the Brand Jewels4All.
b. What are the key activities involved in monitoring the campaign for Jewels4All?
Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Management
Q1. “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” Explain.
Q2. Kritika is a final year hotel management student, who is very much interested in starting her own business of bakery. She is thinking of taking a loan and has approached you for advice. What would you advise her?
Q3. Vicky, Charvi and Anjli are going to start a business, which is basically a PR firm which helps different organizations to create brand image and communicate to public to attract customers to those organization. Vicky and Charvi is of opinion that they should form it as a private limited company and Anjli feels it should be LLP.
A) How do Vicky and Charvi justify formation of private limited company?
B) How do Anjli justify formation of LLP?
Financial Institutions and Markets
Q1. Mr Raman is one of the director in XYZ ltd company.The company is engaged in hotel sector,which has recently witnessed a steady downfall in its revenue and value of its assets due to a downward trend persisting in the market. The periodical financial result of the companywere to be declared in the fortnight time. Mr. Raman being an insider, had to access to unpublished price sensitive information related to it. Consequently, he sells the major portion of his holding in an anticipation of fall in the market price of the shares of the company subsequent to announcement of periodical financial result of the company. On conducting a probe, SEBI finds Mr. Raman guilty of insider is trading. In context to the above case – State the importance of SEBI and its various functions.
Q2. Rima buys a financial asset from the RBI. This financial asset is an instrument of short-term borrowing. He has bought it because he doesn’t want to take risk and wants an assured return. This instrument is a promissory note. It is highly liquid. The instrument is also known as zero coupon bonds. On this instrument, it is written T-91 Based on the above case study, Identify the financial asset indicated in the above case.elaborate why this instrument is called as zero coupon bonds and mention what are functions of these instruments and why this is called as T-19?
Q3. Nishanth was working in the portfolio management department of Beta Ltd and had new recruits to whom he was supposed to provide training on the risks associated with the financial market as apart from earning returns they should be well aware of the risks that can be managed and which ones cannot be managed in a portfolio. He decided to broadly classify the risks in two categories and explain the different types of risks associated with each one. If you are Nishanth,
a) Explain different types of risks associated with systematic risk.
b) Explain different types of risks associated with unsystematic risk.
International Business
Q1. In our country many products from China dominate our markets and have made production unprofitable for Indian manufacturers. In your opinion should we allow the entry of Chinese products in our country?
Q2. Countries like US have at times stated “America First” as their policy. Do you consider that our country should adopt “India First” policy? In this context, explain how countries can create barriers to promote their own products.
Q3. Read the following case study carefully and then answer the questions that follow:
A BBC anchor remark on India while discussing ISRO’s historic lunar mission – Chandrayaan-3. The anchor asked question to a person who was reporting from India – whether India should really be spending money on a space program the size of Chandrayaan-3 in the wake of poverty in the nation. He claimed much of India’s population lives in poverty and over 700 million Indians don’t have access to a toilet. An Indian Industrialist tweeted that a large part, our poverty was a result of decades of colonial rule, which systematically plundered the wealth of an entire subcontinent. Yet the most valuable possession we were robbed of was not the Kohinoor Diamond but our pride & belief in our own capabilities.
Ironically India is home to the largest number of hungry people. Around 213 million go hungry and are malnourished people as they do not get proper two meals a day. Food distribution channels are weak and about 10 % of the stored food grains is being wasted and eaten up by rats and birds while human population is deprived of food.
a) Explain whether India should continue to fund space programs, and do International business in space technology to other countries, or invest in making of Toilets?
b) Explain whether India should continue to export food grains to various other countries?
Marketing of Financial Services
Q.1) Develop a Public Relations campaign for SEBI to educate retail investors about the risks involved in trading in the Futures and Options segment.
Q.2) Your client Mr. Ashok Pandit has a moderate risk profile. Explain the potential benefits of investing in Mutual Funds that periodically rebalance their portfolio between equity and debt.
Q.3) As a Financial Planner, you have been approached by Anuj, a 35-year-old marketing executive earning an annual income of Rs. 15 lakhs. His wife, Neha, is 32 years old and currently a homemaker. They have a 4-year-old daughter named Riya. Anuj and Neha seek your expertise in making important financial decisions. Feel free to make any necessary assumptions to develop your recommendations.
a) Anuj and Neha, seek your assistance to plan for their daughter Riya’s higher education expenses. They want to ensure they are financially prepared for her future educational needs. What advice or strategies would you recommend to help them save and invest wisely for Riya’s higher education?
b) Anuj aims to retire by the age of 60. Design a comprehensive retirement plan for him.
Organisational Theory Structure and Design
1. Henri Fayol, the father of the classical approach was the first to present his observations on organisational management. What according to you are the 4 major principles driving this approach that are still relevant in today’s organisations? Give suitable examples.
2. LookBook is launching its new mobile application. It is facing many internal management problems. According to Greiner’s Organisational Growth Model, explain the different phases of crisis that the company may go through. Highlight with examples.
3. Ashish and Avanti are planning to enhance the organisational effectiveness of their e-commerce start-up business. Keeping the above scenario in mind,
a. How do you think they will measure the organisational effectiveness of their business? Add examples
b. They are in favor of the systems approach. Explain this and state what the benefits of it, with examples.
Project Management
Q1. Assume your company has got the contract to build a new airport in Goa. It is a very important project for you and your company. How are you going to manage the different stages of the project?
Q2. The activity involved in a certain project have been identified as follows:
| Job | Time (weeks) | No. of Men required | Precedence requirements |
| A | 5 | 1 | – |
| B | 10 | 1 | A |
| C | 8 | 2 | A |
| D | 6 | 3 | B,C |
| E | 7 | 1 | B,C |
| F | 4 | 2 | E |
| G | 4 | 2 | D,F |
| H | 2 | 1 | G |
a. For the above project draw the network (using the MS word line function) and determine the critical path.
b. If there are three men available at any one time how long would the project take and how would you allocate the men to the activities?
c. If there are no restrictions on the amount of labour available, explain how you would schedule the activities?
Q3. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) that runs Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) at Bhadravati in Karnataka decided to close the unit last year. Founded in 1954, SAIL operates and owns five integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bokaro and Burnpur (Asansol) and three special steel plants at Salem, Durgapur and Bhadravathi. SAIL has declared VISP a loss-making unit. Please suggest:
a. A transition plan for the project and factors that might affect the smooth termination of the projects. (5 Marks)
b. List down the contents of Closure report and the post closure activities you would suggest to be undertaken.
Research Methodology
1. Compare and contrast qualitative and quantitative research methods. Apollo hospitals wants to investigate the factors contributing to patient satisfaction in their hospitals. Develop a research plant using mixed-method approach and outline the steps you would take to conduct research.
2. Netflix is interested in examining the relationship between user interface design and customer satisfaction. How would you design an experimental study to investigate this relationship, and what variables would you manipulate and measure?
3. The once-promising metaverse, envisioned as the future of virtual reality, has faced a remarkable and abrupt downfall. Its rise and fall present a unique opportunity to explore the intricate challenges of constructing interconnected virtual worlds. This article investigates the contributing factors to the metaverse’s demise and examines the valuable lessons learned from this ambitious venture. Originally introduced as “Meta,” an offspring of popular media such as “Tron” and “Second Life,” the metaverse gained significant attention and investment frenzy. However, a lack of clear direction and coherent vision for the product ultimately led to its decline. As the tech industry shifted its focus to generative AI, the fate of the metaverse was sealed, landing it among the failed ideas in the tech industry’s graveyard. This short-lived and inglorious ending of the metaverse serves as a harsh critique of the tech industry that once championed its creation.
a. Develop qualitative questions for conducting interview to understand if Metaverse has actually failed?
b. Interview 4-5 respondents for with the questions formulated and generate themes to evaluate the future of metaverse?
Retail Banking
Q1. Retail bank has different distribution channels to facilitate customers and give him different options to use banking services. This choice helps the customer to choose the channel he deems fit at that point of time. Explain the different channels and also explain why banks are discouraging customers to visit branch for financial transactions.
Q2. Credit appraisal is an important step in doing financial due diligence. If this action is not carried out properly it may result in bad loan and subsequent NPA. Explain the basic lending principles and the role of credit scoring and CIBIL score.
Q3. Today we are in era of e-banking/digital banking. Brick and mortar banking is virtually coming to an end. Technology has deeply pervaded banks and is playing an important role in increasing performance, accuracy and speed. Discuss the importance of the following in digital banking:
a) Artificial intelligence
b) Multifactor authentication
Sales Management
Q.1 Assume you are a sales manager. You will be opening a new branch for which you intend to promote one of the existing salespersons as a branch sales manager. What criteria or qualities would you look for in selecting a person for the position of branch sales manager?
Q.2 Take any product/service of your own choice & explain the Personal Selling process.
Q.3 Read the case & answer the questions based on the case:
Krishna Kumar, the marketing manager of MM Marketing Company was thinking how to go about designing sales territories, assigning salespeople to the territories and setting sales quotas, particularly as the product was new. The new product, called Swishflow fan was a unique kind of a table fan with attractive air-conditioner like looks. Considering the initial production capacity of 1,00,000 numbers in the first year, Krishna Kumar decided to market the product in and around Mumbai, where the marketing and sales office was located. The target consumers were household as well as commercial organizations, who could use this product as table-fan and wall-mounted fan.
Krishna Kumar thought that the territory design should include geographical areas with high market potential for achieving the sales budget of 1,00,000 numbers in the first year and a growth of 25 % per year for subsequent four years. He calculated a sales force size of seven numbers, and decided to launch the product initially in major metros and cities in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Krishna Kumar was of the view that sales quotas should consider sales volume, selling expense, and also number of sales calls per day, in order to have a proper control on salespeople. He wondered how to design sales territories, what criteria should he consider while assigning salespersons to territories, and how to design the sales quotas considering the factors mentioned above.
Questions:
a) If you were Krishna Kumar, how would you design the sales territory?
b) Suggest a suitable selling strategy for the new launch
Services Marketing
Q1. You are the owner of a retail chain. You currently have consumer durables, groceries and private label clothing range for kids, men, and women. The price point is low and the quality you offer is fantastic. You have more than eighty percent repeat customers. In most of the customer, surveys that you have conducted with market research agencies have pointed this unique feature of your store. You have successfully operated your business in Delhi. You have about 15 stores operating across the state. During the last five years, you have spread your offerings to the other northern states,and you have seen a wonderful response. You are encouraged, and you decide to take this down south.
You have encouraged about twenty five percent of your best staff member to open the first store in Bangalore. (With a salary hike) They are your top performers. The vacant positions in the north will be filled up temporarily and the staff members deputed would be called back after 3 years from the start of the operation. The store opens as scheduled. The initial response is good, but within six months, you see a plethora of complaints coming in and customers are unhappy with their overall experience. Your cash counters seem to become empty with footfalls and profits coming down.
This comes to you as a big shock as you had not expected this to happen. You are unwilling to give up and you need to understand why? Is it the mindset of the people, a consumer whom you have never encountered before, or is it the issue of training your people and re designing of your service offerings? But will you be able to turn this around?
Do you feel that there is a difference in consumer mindset in the South vis a vis the North? Can you point some of them? What data do you need to reach to a conclusion and what steps should you take to plug the footfalls?
Q2. You have worked in the industry for a decade, and you are now fed up with the boring work environment around you. The entrepreneurial bug has bitten you and a food business is in your mind. There are numerous challenges, however. In your city, the working population is large enough to sustain the business, disposable incomes are high, and you feel that there is a niche offering that needs to be created for your restaurant, for example a Japanese or a Korean cuisine. The problem however with a niche is adoption to local tastes, preferences, and the biggest challenge of whether customer would be interested in them. The next big challenge would be for you to reach out to the right set of customers. This might take you some time, and your biggest fear is that the initial buzz that you may create at the start may not sustain after a point. Also, if you are successful, there may be copycats coming in. You are therefore considering a second alternative of ‘tiffin services’ to people around you. This may not have the glamour but will make you cash bells ringing from day 1 if your product is right. There may not any need for branding or the need to position yourself. It is a dilemma that you are facing.
How would the service offering be different in case of a restaurant vis a vis tiffin service? (7Ps) and how would you plan to market the service offerings? (restaurant vis a vis tiffin service)
Q3. Trail Blazers academy is a coaching academy, providing training, coaching, and counselling services for students. Their primary revenue source is from the coaching they do for medical and JEE. Established a decade ago, it is now a well-known brand, but faces sever competition from the crowded market of the coaching space. The quality of the students passing out are well know and many candidates are able to crack the JEE and medical exams. However, in the last couple of years, the company has tried to expand using the franchise model. This was possibly the best model available. But with tremendous amount ofcompetition happening online and offline, the pricing model of the academy has changed. The fees for the course are on the brochure but is charged variably. There are no standardizations followed. Many of the franchisees charge whatever they want to, essentially to maintain a minimum threshold of students flowing into the organisation. Sometimes the center heads of the franchise encourage existing students to bring in new candidates, there by incentivizing them. Some of the hard negotiators are able to settle down at a lower price point that what others are paying. In many cases, students were allowed just with a token money with more than the usual EMIs. Everything seems to be as per the flexibility of the center managers. While some of the franchises are happy, others are not. The location of the center, number of enrolments drive the pricing. The parents are unhappy with this mechanism and there are complaints floating in the social media about Trail Blazers. The franchises are incentivized on the total revenue they add to the parent group. Many of them therefore have started the recent practice of creating fake candidates, thereby making themselves eligible for more incentives.
Trail Blazers have also realized that due to competitive pressure, they are unable to make good margins in the business and wants to expand their offerings. They are now planning to start a HR recruitment consulting firm. The CEO can drive this, because of his previous experience in this area. He also has a team, which is capable enough. The CEO has invited you, as a consultant. They are in a dilemma on whether they should use the Trail Blazers brand name to the recruitment consulting firm or use a new name. Trail Blazers sound to be a great name for the consulting firm and matches with the nature of work that they intend to do. However, many of the other managers opine that these two businesses are different and not related and therefore the brand extension is not suitable for the new offerings. Even if they use the same name, how would they position themselves?
a. How do you price their services better?
b. Is venturing into a new service offering a sensible proposition for Trail Blazers? What are the potential benefits and challenges that you see as a consultant?
Strategic Cost Management
1. Shubham Limited is in the business of Fashion Designing. It has received an order to deliver 25,000 jackets custom made for ABC Ltd. The cost estimates for producing the jackets is as under:
a) Cloth 2500 reams of cloth @ Rs. 4000/- per ream
b) Threads and other decoration total Rs. 12,50,000/-
c) Labour rate Rs. 500 per hour. Total hours required is 5000 hours
d) Factory overheads Rs. 8,00,000/-
e) Selling expenses (including delivery charges) Rs. 75,000/-
Quote a price per jacket on the following basis:
1. Cost Plus 10% margin on cost
2. Variable cost + 20% margin
3. Target profit of Rs. 200 per jacket. Calculate the PV Ratio at that price.
4. Shubham Limited has a good brand following and people are willing to give up to Rs. 2500 per jacket. Shubham prices it at Rs. 2400 per jacket. What is this strategy called?
2. M/s Priya Industries is in the business of manufacturing and selling lubricants. There are 4 types of products. The information available about each:
| P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | Total | |||||
| No. of units produced | 1300 | 2000 | 1500 | 1200 | 6000 | ||||
| Labour Hours | 250 | 350 | 200 | 200 | 1000 | ||||
| No. of units in 1 packet | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | ||||
| Machine Hours | 260 | 450 | 360 | 180 | 1250 | ||||
The total cost incurred is as under:
Fixed CostsRs.
Salaries and Wages2500000
Supervisor Cost75000
Factory Overheads1000000
Packaging costs600000
Total Costs4175000
It is assumed that the supervisor spends time in proportion of no.of units produced. Calculate the cost of each unit of the products under:
a) Traditional Costing
b) ABC Costing
Q3.
a) With the following information, prepare the Budgeted Profit for the year for Company XYZ.
4 products (P, Q, R & S) are produced by XYZ Ltd. The labour costs are at Rs. 10 per hour of work. Raw Material used for all products is similar at Rs. 25 per kg.
Factory Rent is Rs. 1,00,000 and other Overheads are at Rs. 20,000/-. Prepare a Budgeted Profit and Loss Statement for XYZ Ltd.
Other information is as under:
| UoM | P | Q | R | S | |||||
| No. of Units produced | Nos. | 50 | 45 | 80 | 90 | ||||
| Sales Price | Rs. Per Unit | 700 | 700 | 900 | 950 | ||||
| Labour Hours | Hrs. per unit | 10 | 12 | 8 | 4 | ||||
| Raw Material | Kgs. per unit | 6 | 5 | 10 | 12 | ||||
b) The following is the Profit or Loss statement of SRT & Co.
| 25000 @ Rs. 50 p.u. | 1250000 |
| Variable Cost | |
| Raw Material | 250000 |
| Labour | 345000 |
| Variable Overheads | 150000 |
| Fixed Costs | 400000 |
| Profit | 105000 |
Calculate:
a) Contribution per unit
b) PV Ratio
c) No. of units to be sold for earning profit of Rs. 70,000/-
Tax Insurance and Retirement Planning
1. Mr. Chaddha is a 60-year-old business owner. He is planning to sell his business within the next 5 years. He is concerned about the capital gain taxes that he will owe on the sale of his business. As his financial advisor, what strategies would yousuggest Mr. Chaddha which he can use to minimize his capital gains taxes? Explain the strategies in detail.
2. You are a 55-year-old single person. You have a pension from your job but are not sure how much you will need to supplement your income in retirement and are also concerned about the impact of inflation on your retirement income. What are some strategies that you can use to ensure that you have enough money to live comfortably in retirement considering the inflation?
3. Mr and Mrs. Singh are a 30-year-old married couple with no children. They both are working and have a combined income of Rs1,80,000. They are considering buying a life insurance.
a. As a life insurance agent, what type of life insurance would you recommend them? Explain the key features of Life Insurance Policy recommended.
b. Explain the key considerations while deciding the sum assured for their life insurance policy?
Taxation- Direct and Indirect
1) What is the idea of “Residential Status” in direct taxes on individuals, and how does it affect a taxpayer’s (both resident and non-resident) tax liability in India?
2) What is the GST (Goods and Services Tax) notion of “Supply” in India, and how does it establish the taxability of transactions within the GST framework? Explain the distinction between VAT and GST.
3) XYZ Electronics Pvt. Ltd. is a Mumbai-based electronic gadget company. They just received an order for 1000 units of their latest smart phone model from a dealer in another state. The selling price per unit is INR 15,000, with a 12% GST rate. XYZ Electronics Pvt. Ltd. is interested in learning about the GST consequences of this interstate sale. Can you answer the following questions for them?
a)What type of supply does this transaction fall under and how will it be treated under GST? (5 Marks)
b) What is the GST liability for XYZ Electronics Pvt. Ltd. on this sale, and how will they calculate the tax amount?
International HR Practices
Q1. STPL Steel India Limited, planning to set up its manufacturing plant in Vietnam. You have been appointed as a Global HR Head of the company on undertaking International Human Resource Planning.
Explain important issues and challenges of Human Resources Planning at global level, Which you will be addressing in a meeting with management.
Q2. XYZ Limited an Indian-based IT company opens a subsidiary in Germany. Many employees applied for Internal Job postings and out of 20 applicants, 3 got the opportunity to work in a German subsidiary. After 4 months, one of the employees wishes to come back to their home country and he reaches out to you (the HR team). He says it’s difficult for him to sustain in Germany with the current compensation as the cost-of-living rising day-by-day and too high to stay in Europe.
You did review the situation. What are the causes you could identify and how will you address them? What factors could have been considered before moving employees to a foreign subsidiary? Which approach or structure of international compensation, does the Company could have been offered to the ex-pats?
Q3. Ace Engineering is Mumbai, India-based heavy engineering company specializing in transformer manufacturing and setup projects. It’s now planning to set up a project management office in Warsaw, Poland. For this, there will be a team of 15 project experts moving from India and 2 from France to Poland for 6 months and will return to their home countries after 6 months, including a senior manager coming from France.
a. How will you (in the Global HR role) plan and prepare for the repatriation process for these returnees?
b. What could be the challenges faced by repatriates while returning to their homeland?
Employee Development Talent Management
Q1. ‘The Jaipur Collective’ is a textile manufacturing unit located in the city of Jaipur with enough infrastructure and a good workforce. The organization is specialized in block printing particularly, the supplies that are done in Rajasthan only. The organization is run by the CEO who is commonly known as well educated, experienced, a businessman with a humane approach. He considered the employees as a competitive advantage of his organization and want to keep the workforce always motivated and updated to face the challenges from their competitors. What points should be considered by the CEO for framing effective motivational strategies?
Q2. Cyber Gateway is an IT firm located in Mumbai. Career planning has always been a pretty low-priority item for the firm. The HR manager believes that just getting workers to come to work and then keeping them honest is enough of a problem. Over a period of time he realized that many of their employees had been with them for years and it would be good to help them gain a better perspective on what they want to do. He also believed that career support would have an effect on improving company’s employee retention. Outline the career planning process you would propose for the designers working with the company.
Q3. Infinity Ltd. is an IT based company that provides software packages to its users. It was doing well until it observed a lack of cooperation among its employees and the management, which affected its business performance. It was observed that employees at various levels were either demotivated or were frustrated. The management asked the HR department to look for a reason behind the rising number of demotivated and frustrated employees. The HR manager worked with managers from other departments and found out that a new technology was introduced by the organisation around a year back to develop software. Most of the employees in the organisation were not aware of this technology; thus, they were having a hard time using it. This reflected on their performance which eventually leads to unsatisfied appraisals, thus increasing frustration among employees and no cooperation with the management.
The HR department was asked to suggest a solution for the problem as soon as possible. The department then came up with an idea of conducting employee development programthat aimed at making employees aware of the new technology so that they can perform better.
a. Considering the situation given in the case, explain the benefits of conducting employee development programs in the company.
b. Is it essential to evaluate the employee development programme? Justify
Strategic HRM
Q.1 Motocrop is a mid-sized manufacturing firm that specializes in producing automotive parts. Over the years, the company has seen a steady growth in its operations and market presence. However, the industry is rapidly evolving, with technological advancementssuch as automation, robotics, and AI becoming integral to manufacturing processes. Motocrop recognizes the need to adapt and invest in these technologies to remain competitive and efficient. As the Head of Human Resources, you have been tasked with developing a strategic human resource plan to guide the company through this technological transformation.
Q.2 You are the HR Manager of a rapidly growing technology start-up. The company has been experiencing a high rate of employee turnover, particularly among top-performing employees who are leaving for better opportunities elsewhere. This turnover is not only affecting the company’s productivity but also hindering its ability to innovate and stay competitive in the industry. As the HR Manager, you are tasked with developing some retention strategies.
Q.3 InnovateTech is a mid-sized technology-consulting firm known for its innovative solutions and expertise in emerging technologies. However, the company has been facing challenges related to employee engagement and retention. Despite offering competitive compensation, some top-performing employees have been leaving the company for opportunities elsewhere. InnovateTech’s leadership recognizes the need to implement a Career Planning for the employees and needs to work on the same.
a. Discuss the initiatives taken by the organisation for Career Development & Planning for employees.
b. Explain the significance of a well-designed process of succession planning increasing employee satisfaction and retention rates at InnovateTech?
Industrial Relations & Labour Laws
Q1. “Industrial dispute” is a dispute between workers and management. Discuss main causes of industrial dispute.
Q2. International labor organization is an important source for labor statistics on employment, educational level, economic performance, and worker participation. Discuss topics of interest for this organization.
Q3. “Workers’ participation in management” means involvement of representatives of workers in the decision-making process of an organization.
a) Discuss in what different ways workers can participate in management.
b) Discuss at what levels workers can participate in management.
Compensation & Benefits
Q1) ABC Metallurgicals Pvt Ltd is a medium scale manufacturer engaged in producing castings (big, medium & small) for the auto industry. It proposes to set-up a new plant in the vicinity of Pune, Maharashtra and their MD has approached you to design their Compensation structure. Explain briefly how you would proceed from the principles.
Q2) The M.D of a big hospital has approached you to solve the problem of manpower attrition. It seems that good people are being recruited but they are leaving after two or three years which is not only hampering service to patients but is also affecting the hospital’s reputation. He wants you to study the situation and recommend appropriate strategies. What will your strategy be to improve the situation in the hospital?
Q3) Get-well hospitals is a reputed chain of hospitals in the southern part of the country and recently they have decided to open a branch in a city in Western India. As a first step they had advertised for the position of “Staff Nurses” with nursing qualification and adequate experience. From the numerous applicants they selected fifteen ladies from diverse background, w.r.t age, qualification, experience, attitude, physical fitness & communication skill.
Q3a) The “Administrator” of that hospital wants you to design an appropriate scheme so that they can rank these ladies (from best to last) and give them the compensation befitting their worth to the orgn. Discuss the “scheme” that you would design to assess these ladies. Their requisite Job Description & Job Specification is given below.
Q3b) You are requested to suggest how the selected persons can be compensated.
Manpower Planning Recruitment and Selection
Q. 1. As a Training Manager of a fast-growing tech company, you are tasked to select a trainer for a training program to enhance the leadership skills of mid-level managers. The company has a diverse workforce, including remote employees. Outline the skills you will be looking for thetrainer for creating a comprehensive leadership-training program that caters to different learning styles and accommodates remote participants.
Q. 2. You are the HR Manager of a well-established manufacturing company that has been using traditional methods of performance appraisal for many years. The management team is considering a potential shift to more modern performance management approaches. Your task is to provide an in-depth analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of traditional performance appraisal methods in the context of your organization.
Q.3 a) You are the Human Resources Manager of a rapidly expanding technology company that values fair and accurate employee performance appraisal. However, you’ve noticed that various biases and cognitive effects can impact the objectivity of performance evaluations. Analyze any three challenges faced while appraising the performance of employees and explain how each one can potentially distort the assessment process.
Q.3 b) You are the Recruitment Manager of a dynamic multinational corporation aiming to attract top talent in the competitive tech industry. The company recognizes the need for modern recruitment methods to identify and select the best candidates. Select any three of the modern recruitment methods and explain why you have selected these three methods.
Organisation Culture
1. Culture can be a double-edged sword, serving as an asset or a liability for an organization. Analyse the concept of “culture as a liability” with respect to its potential negative effects on organizational performance, employee behaviour, and overall organisational engagement outcomes. Provide an example of a company that has experienced culture-related liabilities and analyse the reasons behind the challenges.
2. Identify and debunk three common myths about organizational culture. Provide a detailed explanation of each myth and support your arguments with real-life example or a case study that illustrate the negative impact of believing in these myths.
3.a. Analyse the role of communication in the process of changing organizational culture. How can leaders effectively communicate the need for change, foster employee engagement, and overcome resistance during times of significant transformation?
3.b. Analyse the risks and benefits of cultural alignment in mergers and acquisitions, citing a real-world example. How can leaders effectively balance cultural differences to achieve successful post-merger integration and preserve the strengths of each organisation involved?
Organisational Theory, Structure and Design
1. Henri Fayol, the father of the classical approach was the first to present his observations on organisational management. What according to you are the 4 major principles driving this approach that are still relevant in today’s organisations? Give suitable examples.
2. LookBook is launching its new mobile application. It is facing many internal management problems. According to Greiner’s Organisational Growth Model, explain the different phases of crisis that the company may go through. Highlight with examples.
3. Ashish and Avanti are planning to enhance the organisational effectiveness of their e-commerce start-up business. Keeping the above scenario in mind,
a. How do you think they will measure the organisational effectiveness of their business? Add examples
b. They are in favor of the systems approach. Explain this and state what the benefits of it, with examples.
Performance Management System
Question-1)
You have joined as HR Manager at Sonata Logistics which is a five year old company. You are required to design a ‘360 degree appraisal form’ as a method of employee appraisal.
Question-2)
Network Limited is a computer hardware manufacturer and is introducing self-appraisal as a method for employee evaluation. Design a employee self appraisal form.
Question-3)
SmartClass Ltd is a start-up company that conducts coaching, tuitions for students across India. The company is expanding rapidly across India and is hiring Teachers.
Using the SMART principles, prepare 2 goals each for each of the following:
a) Training Manager at SmartClass Ltd
b) Hiring Manager at SmartClass Ltd
Enterprise Resource Planning
Question: Read the case study – ‘AuroVision Consulting (AVC) moves Human Resources to the Cloud’ and answer the following questions.
1. AnalyzeAuroVision Consulting’s problems with its legacy human resources systems. What was the business impact of these problems?
2. Was a cloud-based system appropriate for AuroVision Consulting? Justify your answer by giving suitable explanations.
3. Keeping the above case as a reference,
a. Explain the integration of mobile app with the Oracle HCM ERP
b. Benefits of HCM solution implementation in developing Reporting and Analytics by AVC’s US-based analytics group? Explain using any one use case for the same.
Operations and Supply Chain Strategies
1. How can the full set of logistical and cross-functional drivers be used to create strategic fit for a PC manufacturer targeting both time-sensitive and price-conscious customers?
2. “SCOR model links business processes, performance metrics, skills and practices into a unified structure” Comment.
3. Yomato is an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company. Company reported first-ever profitable quarter brought a whole lot of cheer among management. Company is also planning to expand its business to other countries as well.
a. Explain various competitive dimensions in detail that company needs to rework to get sustainable profitability.
b. You are appointed as consultant for the Yomato. Suggest some corporate level strategies that ultimately helps them.
Procurement Management
1. XYZ Corporation is a medium-sized manufacturing company that specializes in producing electronic components. Over the years, the company has experienced growth and expansion, leading to an increased demand for various raw materials, components, and services. However, the procurement processes within the organization have not evolved to accommodate these changes. As a result, there have been instances of delays in sourcing materials, inconsistent purchase practices, and potential cost inefficiencies. Evaluate the current purchase policy and procedures at XYZ Corporation and recommend improvements to the purchase policy and procedures that could lead to more streamlined and effective procurement processes. Also, Identify and describe the various requisition types that XYZ Corporation might encounter in its procurement operations by explaining the importance of categorizing requisition types and how it can help in better procurement planning and execution. Lastly, propose a step-by-step process for issuing an RFx for XYZ Corporation to ensure effective supplier selection and negotiation.
2. GlobalMart Inc. is a multinational retail company that operates in various countries. The company sources products from suppliers located worldwide and distributes them to its retail stores. However, GlobalMart Inc. has been facing challenges in ensuring timely and cost-effective transportation and delivery of goods. The lack of standardized transportation strategies, documentation discrepancies, and limited shipment traceability have led to operational inefficiencies. Explain the concept of INCO terms and their significance in international procurement and shipping by evaluating how selecting appropriate INCO terms can impact GlobalMart Inc.’s transportation costs and responsibilities. Also, discuss the potential consequences of inaccurate or incomplete documentation on the transportation and delivery process by Proposing strategies or technologies that GlobalMart Inc. can implement to improve shipment tracking and visibility. Lastly, recommend a comprehensive transportation and logistics strategy that aligns with the company’s global operations, focusing on cost efficiency and timely delivery.
3. TechCom Solutions is a fast-growing IT services company that provides a wide range of solutions to its clients. As the company expands its operations, it faces challenges in effectively sourcing reliable suppliers, streamlining the supplier registration process, and evaluating supplier performance. These challenges have the potential to impact the company’s service delivery and profitability.
a) Discuss the importance of conducting spend analysis for TechCom Solutions to identify cost-saving opportunities and strategic sourcing possibilities. Also, recommend steps and criteria for enhancing the supplier selection process, ensuring the registration of qualified and reliable suppliers. (5 Marks)
b) Discuss how understanding total cost ownership can contribute to TechCom Solutions’ decision-making process when selecting suppliers and products. Also, explain how ABC can help TechCom Solutions allocate costs more accurately and make informed procurement decisions.
Supply Chain Management
1. “Fast Fashion”, a new generation fashion and utility wear network of stores, has about 200 high end fashion stores in the country. They have heir own brand which appeals to youngsters and kids. They plan to expand to 500 stores by the year 2025. Along with this growth plan, they already are facing delays in getting stock, stock out situations, higher cost due to stocks not arriving within season, quality issue with apparel manufacturers etc. They want to open new stores and also optimize cost along with higher service. How can they leverage various supply chain drivers to meet their objective by 2025?
2. “Drunken Monkey” is a fast food and healthy snack chain. They are a post covid start up by fresh graduates and technocrats. Being creative thinkers, they have expanded to about 6 locations within the city. They plan is to put up 6 more stores within next year. Brand has picked up well but due to lack of sufficient experience they are already facing cost issues, sourcing is not able to meet customer demand, not able to meet required heathy snack demand. With more customers visiting outlets, non-availability is leading to negative social media reviews which is an issue for their brand and growth plan. They are aiming at making their process agile to meet increasing and variable demand. Also make the business lean so that profits can be maintained while growing number of stores. How will they transition through different stages to reach LEAN and AGILE value chain stage?
3. “Winners” are a sports tourism agency who under take guided sports tourism package around major events like IPL, Football World Cup, F1 races and even smaller European and American sports / games events. They need to forecast from number of potential tourism package bookings, visa needs, travel bookings, organize stay, food etc.
a. Describe steps in demand forecasting in this case situation.
b. Describe methods of demand forecasting.
Total Quality Management
Q1. Maxx Industry is in the process of implementing TQM across the entire organization. You are asked to make a presentation to the senior managers on the aspects of TQM and points to consider while implementing. Discuss your presentation.
Q2. What would be your advice to a design team on quality management techniques that may support in removing defects in products at design phase or the production phase?
Q3. Below is data collected for the percentage of defective from a process (n=100).
| Sample | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| p | .04 | .02 | .05 | .03 | .06 | .04 | .03 | .07 | .01 | .02 | .03 | .02 | .02 | .08 | .03 |
a. Find all control limits for this process.
b. Discuss two types of control charts you will use for attributes data.
Warehouse Management
1. Provide a comprehensive overview of the benefits, challenges, and best practices associated with outsourcing warehouse operations for businesses seeking to optimize their supply chain management.
2. Discuss the essential features and functionalities that businesses should look for when selecting a warehouse management system to improve inventory management, streamline operations, and enhance overall supply chain performance for Food and Beverage Industry warehouse.
3. You are a warehouse manager for an E-commerce company that deals with a wide range of products. The company has been experiencing inefficiencies in its warehouse operations, leading to delayed order processing, increased errors, and rising inventory carrying costs. Your task is to analyze the situation and propose solutions to address the challenges.
a. Identify the key issues and challenges faced by the warehouse in terms of efficiency and inventory management. Discuss the factors contributing to the delays in order processing, the reasons for the increased error rates, and the factors leading to higher inventory carrying costs.
b. Propose a comprehensive plan to improve warehouse efficiency and optimize inventory management. Outline the strategies you would implement to address the identified challenges. Include steps to streamline order processing, minimize errors, and reduce inventory carrying costs. Support your proposed plan with relevant theories, industry best practices, and real-life examples of successful warehouse management implementations.
Lean Six Sigma
1. Assume that you are working in a business process outsourcing (BPO) company. Identify a process in your organization that needs some improvement and create a broad outline for using the DMAIC methodology for process improvement. Also, assuming that you are the project leader of a Six Sigma project. Create a list of a fewrules that you would lay down for your team to abide by to avoid any situations of conflict.
2. Imagine yourself to be a Six Sigma project leader in a big multi-specialty hospital. Prepare a schedule for all activities starting with patient admission till the patient occupies the bed. Also, draw a process map for the process of a patient admission to the hospital at the point of registration till occupying the bed.
3. Suppose you work in an organization that provides computer software and web-based business tools to other organizations.
a) Identify a particular process (any 1) in your organization and break it down into smaller activities to identify Non-Value Added (NVA), Business Value Added (BVA), and Value Added (VA) activities.
b) Assuming you are the project leader of a Six Sigma project undertaken based on the identified process in part a, list down the responsibilities covered under different six sigma belts such as Master Black Belt (MBB), Black Belt (BB), Green Belt (GB), Yellow Belt (YB) and White Belt (WB).
New Product Development and Managing Innovation
1. Vinesh works as a product manager for a large multi-national automobile company (eg. Volkswagen, Ford etc.). The company would like to create a new car targeted at youngsters in the age group of 25-35 years. Vinesh is responsible for the end toend product development process. Describe the approach across the different steps in generic product design and development process that he should follow.
2. Vinesh (from the previous example) has done good job assembling a team. He now has to generate product ideas. What are different idea generation strategies that he can use and what are the characteristics of each.
3a. Consider that you work for an Android app development company, NeuApps. The company needs your help in analyzing the different types product features for a new fitness tracking app they are developing, using the Kano model? Give a brief description of Kano model and explain the different types of features described by it in the context of a smartphone.
3b. You are a product manager at a new age start up. A friend of yours is setting up a company and would like understand the nuances of Intellectual Property Rights? Explain the different types of IPR and the need for considering IPR during a new product development. Provide an example for each type of IPR.
World Class Operations
Q1. As a consultant dealing with TQM practices, you are concerned with the objectives or the principles for implementing TQM. In this regard, explain the principles for which TQM is implemented.
Q2. In order to develop and maintain quality in processes, products and services, there are factors that need to be considered. Please explain the factors with suitable examples
Q3.
a) Quality Awards act as motivation for the companies to carry on with the world class standards in manufacturing. There are some awards, which are international, and some are domestic. Refer to one international and one domestic award and explain how are they different. (5 Marks)
b) With reference to Quality Awards how Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence assesses for the award?
Digital Payments
1) Outline the steps involved in implementing digital wallets, and then evaluate the opportunities they provide to both businesses and customers.
2) Explain how blockchain technology is utilized in digital payments and evaluate its potential impact on the future of the financial industry.
3) You are a business consultant working with a small retail store that specializes in handmade crafts. The store primarily operates with cash transactions and has a limited customer base. The store owner is interested in exploring digital payment options to improve customer convenience and expand their business. As a consultant, you need to recommend and analyze the implementation of digital payment solutions.
a) Suggest and justify two suitable digital payment options that the small retail store can implement to enhance customer convenience. Consider factors such as ease of use, security, and cost-effectiveness in your recommendations.
b) Analyze the potential impact of adopting digital payments on the small retail store’s business growth and customer acquisition. Discuss how digital payments can help reach a broader customer base and improve overall sales.
IT Security and Risk Management
1. As a term, people, process, and technology (PPT) refers to the methodology in which the balance of people, process, and technology drives action: People perform a specific type of work for an organization using processes (and often, technology) to streamline andimprove these processes. What do you mean by security awareness for people, process, and technology?
2. Access control is a method of guaranteeing that users are who they say they are and that they have the appropriate access to company data. Companies often grant access to information and assets to staff even if it is not relevant to that member of staff’s role. Describe access control methodologies and implementation for purpose of security? Give detailed justifications for your recommendations.
3. Bangladesh Bank is the central bank of Bangladesh, responsible for managing the country’s monetary and financial stability. In February 2016, cybercriminals launched a sophisticated attack on the bank’s foreign exchange reserves, attempting to steal hundreds of millions of dollars.
a. In the Bangladesh Bank Cyber Heist case, what were the key vulnerabilities and security lapses that allowed the cybercriminals to compromise the bank’s systems and attempt a fraudulent transfer of funds? Provide specific examples from the case to support your answer.
b. Discuss the role of international cooperation and information sharing in responding to cyber attacks on financial institutions, as illustrated by the Bangladesh Bank Cyber Heist. What lessons can be drawn from this case regarding the importance of cross-border cooperation in cybersecurity?
Managing Business Process Outsourcing
1. Many companies have considered outsourcing a broad range of business processes, including IT services, to achieve critical cost savings. Although this kind of agreement can be structured in many ways, a thoughtful contractual arrangement, with appropriate cost sharing, pass-through mechanisms and pricing adjustments, allows the parties to share certain risks and at the same time establish a productiveand profitable relationship. Explain BPO contract negotiation and monitoring and their risk impact?
2. Organizations typically undertake periodic process improvement that are focused on specific business processes and may or may not align with the business strategy. In order to realize all the benefits of sometimes disparate BPM efforts, there needs to be an ongoing, organization-wide effort to assess and measure the results and continue to use the successful implementations. A process portfolio is widely considered the answer.
What are the benefits of effective process portfolio management?
3. For ALPHA CallCenter, a leading healthcare BPO company based out of Gulf approached MeraBPO with a requirement to improve their BPO process. The customer’s BPO division handles over a million customer calls every month, but their customer satisfaction levels were plummeting downwards. Even their CSAT was as low as 47%. Since the customer was a part of the healthcare industry, it was unacceptable for the company to find a low level of satisfaction from their customers. MeraBPO’s role was to nail down the causes for the low CSAT levels and then to provide a customized BPO solution that would help the company’s performance to soar.
At the onset of the project, the BPO team at MeraBPO decided to dissect the problem and get to the root cause. Through a detailed analysis, they identified some of the critical issues in the process that were affecting the customer’s BPO’s performance. The following were the requirements of the customer:
a. What were the cultural challenges faced by ALPHA call center and how were these specific cultural challenges met by ALPHA call center.
b. What are the advantages of outsourcing call center operations of a hospital to a BPO like ALPHA call center?
Decision Science
Q1. Draw the decision tree diagram and explain the best possible decision based on EMVs (expected Monetary Values) On the 1st April 2023, RajinderSaproo, an investor is in a dilemma for the investment of 10 lakh INR. He has consulted his Mumbai based friend, MukulBhaiGadhecha, an investment expert for this matter. Mr Saproo went to meet him at his office located at Prabhadevi. Mukulbhai asked him to express his feeling for the market situation in coming economic year.
Mr Saproo assumed the economic growth for the coming year in the following way. 10 % optimist for the ‘Good Economic Growth’
50 % optimist for the ‘Moderate Economic Growth’ 40 % optimist for the ‘Lower Economic Growth’.
In addition to this, MuKulbhaiGadhecha carried out his analysis to derive possible payoff values considering the various investment options as per the economic situations (presented in the table given below). Figures are in INR on the investment of whole amount of 10 lakhs.
| Options | Good Economic Growth | Moderate Economic Growth | Lower Economic Growth’ |
| Mauti Suzuki Shares | 3,00,000 | 1,20,000 | 50,000 |
| TATA Motor Shares | 4,00,000 | 1,00,000 | 10,000 |
| D Mart shares | 4,50,000 | 2,30,000 | 30,000 |
If you were in place of MukulbhaiGadhecha, What do you recommend to Mr. Saproo?
Note: You are not allowed to use any software for the calculation. But for the preparation of Decision tree diagram you are advised to use Software like MS -Word, PowerPoint etc.
Q2. Draw the appropriate chart using MS EXCEL, also carryout Exponential Smoothing model in MS EXCEL for the given Alpha values, copy the results (from EXCEL to Word) and explain which alpha is relatively better for the forecast. In this journey of identification of relatively better way of forecasting you may take the support of MAD and MSE type of errors. Suggested Alpha values are 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9. (10 Marks)
| Yield ofGroundnut (Kg./hectare) | |
| 2000-01 | 977 |
| 2001-02 | 1127 |
| 2002-03 | 694 |
| 2003-04 | 1357 |
| 2004-05 | 1020 |
| 2005-06 | 1187 |
| 2006-07 | 866 |
| 2007-08 | 1459 |
| 2008-09 | 1163 |
| 2009-10 | 991 |
| 2010-11 | 1411 |
| 2011-12 | 1323 |
| 2012-13 | 995 |
| 2013-14 | 1764 |
| 2014-15 | 1552 |
| 2015-16 | 1465 |
| 2016-17 | 1398 |
| 2017-18 | 1893 |
| 2018-19 | 1422 |
| 2019-20 | 2063 |
| 2020-21 | 1703 |
| 2021-22 | 1758 |
Data Source: RBI
Q3. A) You are not advised to use Software in this case, show the calculation-steps typed in your MS-word file.
In Roshni lights ( manufacturer of Mirchi lights) A production run of 2000 set of Mirchi lights being tested for the life, the data shows that life is normally distributed with an average life span of 90 days and a standard deviation of 10 days. What is the probability if a set of Mirchi lights randomly selected from that lot, survived up to 100 days?
Q3 B) Draw an appropriate chart to show the contribution of each category (in percent form) of Micro, small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs) at the state level. (You may use the MS EXCEL). In conclusion also write, why you have chosen this graph for this problem?
| StateName | DistrictName | Total MSMEs | Micro | Small | Medium |
| UTTARAKHAND | ALMORA | 1235 | 1068 | 150 | 17 |
| UTTARAKHAND | BAGESHWAR | 838 | 807 | 29 | 2 |
| UTTARAKHAND | CHAMOLI | 739 | 688 | 49 | 2 |
| UTTARAKHAND | CHAMPAWAT | 802 | 745 | 55 | 2 |
| UTTARAKHAND | DEHRADUN | 12605 | 10600 | 1909 | 96 |
| UTTARAKHAND | HARIDWAR | 8883 | 6416 | 2263 | 204 |
| UTTARAKHAND | NAINITAL | 3752 | 3003 | 675 | 74 |
| UTTARAKHAND | PAURI GARHWAL | 4955 | 4678 | 264 | 13 |
| UTTARAKHAND | PITHORAGARH | 1061 | 962 | 95 | 4 |
| UTTARAKHAND | RUDRA PRAYAG | 740 | 698 | 37 | 5 |
| UTTARAKHAND | TEHRI GARHWAL | 1399 | 1227 | 162 | 10 |
| UTTARAKHAND | UDHAM SINGH NAGAR | 9746 | 7767 | 1839 | 140 |
| UTTARAKHAND | UTTARKASHI | 1114 | 1002 | 111 | 1 |