(demb 11) assignment - 1, dec - 2014. executive · pdf file(demb 11) assignment - 2, dec -...

(DEMB 11)

ASSIGNMENT - 1, DEC - 2014.

EXECUTIVE M.B.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION

First and Second Years

Paper – XI : BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS

Answer ALL questions

1) a) Board of Directors.

b) Strategic planning.

c) Forces of competition.

d) Strategy evaluation.

e) BC G matrix.

f) Diversification.

2) What are the techniques used in organisational analysis?

3) State the issues in the implementation of strategies in marketing.

4) Examine the steps involved in the formulation of strategy at the business unit

level.

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(DEMB 11)




Paper – XI : BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Describe the role of Board of Directors.

2) ‘Organisations respond to environmental uncertainty, complexity and

dynamism’. Comment.

3) State the advantages of acquisitions as a means of diversification over others.

4) Chocolate Makers ‘Hershey’s Ine, USA and ‘Ferrero SpA, Italy are

considering a joint bid to buy out’ Cadbury Plc, which could help the British

confectioner tend off a hostile take over by Kraft. Foods Inc, USA this move is

the strongest sign of a possible rwal bid to Kraft’s $ 16.7 Billion offer which

Cadbury rejected and said was "derisory".

Parallely Ferrero could join financial investors and private equity players

considered friendly to cadbury, for a possible alliance. With this proposal, the

advantage for cadbury shareholders is that they would continue to hold shares

in a high growth confectionery group having UK listing rather than being paid

around 50% equity in a low growth US listed conglomerate having a turn over

of $ 11.7 billion a year. Ferrero, has an annual sale of $ 9.3 billion with 18

factories and 21600 employees worldwide. It is also known for its Kinder

‘Chocolates and’ ‘Tic- Tac’ candy.

Questions:

i) Explain ‘intensive’ and ‘integrated growth strategies’ adopted by these

conglomerates.

ii) Explain the five types of competitive advantages pursued by Hershey's

and Ferrero, while formulating their strategic plans; and

iii) Why do companies resort to hostile bidding ?

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(DEMB 12)




Paper – XII : INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Scope of international business.

b) Anti-dumping.

c) Cross culture.

d) Negotiations.

e) LDCS.

f) SDRs.

2) Bring out the role of regional cooperation in international trade.

3) Critically examine the theory of mercantilism.

4) State the relevance of subsidy in international business.

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(DEMB 12)




Paper – XII : INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of MNCs?

2) Enumerate the contribution of WTO to international business.

3) State the difficulties encountered in HRM by MNCS.

4) The Star Corporation is a Hong Kong manufacturing firm that is going to do

business in mainland China. The company’s contract with the Chinese

government calls for it to supply technical know-how and machinery for

producing consumer electronics. These products are not state of the art, but

they will be more than adequate for the needs of the Chinese consumers. Star

has agreed to sell the Chinese its plant, which was being closed because it was

no longer competitive.

The Chinese will pay to move all the machinery and equipment to their

country and install it in a factory that is currently being modified for this

purpose. The two will then become partners in the venture. Star will provide

the management and technical expertise to run the plant, and the Chinese will

provide the workers and will be responsible for paying for all the output. Star

will receive an annual fee of $ 3 million and 5 percent of all sales.

The Star management is very pleased with the arrangement although they are

of Chinese descent, they have lived in Hong Kong all their lives and know

relatively little about doing business either with or in China. To provide Star

with the necessary information and assistance, a native of China, educated

there but living in Hong Kong the past 5 years, was brought in. The individual

told the company the following facts about China:

Chinese managers do not plan. They are usually told what to do and they do it.

Planning is handled by others and simply passed on to them.

Chinese managers are not concerned with profit or loss. They simply do their

jobs and let the government worry about whether the operation is making

money.

No rewards are given to workers who perform well; everyone is treated the

same. If there is no work, the workers are still paid, although they may not be

required to come to the factory.

There is a basic aversion to individual decision making; most decisions are

collective efforts.

The current government of China would like its managers to learn how to run a

profit oriented operation and eventually eliminate the need for foreign

managerial assistance.

When outsiders tell Chinese how to do things, they have to be careful not to

insult or offend the Chinese who are often sensitive about the way they are

treated.

Questions:

a) What selection criteria would you recommend to Star when deciding

whom to send to China?;

b) What procedures should the company use in making the final selection?;

and

c) What type of repatriation agreement would you recommend the firm use ?

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Paper – XIII : MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Hardware

b) Data filing

c) Computer networks

d) Distributed environment

e) Time sharing

f) Features of MIS

2) What are the foundations of MIS?

3) State the steps involved in the analysis and design of system.

4) Assess the importance of computer network system.

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(DEMB 13)




Paper – XIII : MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Bring out the future trend of DBMS.

2) Describe the basic network topologies.

3) Elucidate the applications of information technology.

4) Recent surveys by Gartner Group and Forrester research show that CIOS over whelmingly

favour finance as their top priority for business process reengineering and that financial

information systems can become invaluable decision support systems.

There are many reasons for the growing interest in developing financial information systems

and using them to achieve business goals. First, many financial system are aging because

finance was one of the first functions to be automated in companies. Hence, many venerable

accounting and financial systems are now in desperate need of redesign and rebuilding

second, more and more managers need financial information to make decisions concerning

every aspect of the business, from choosing a marketing campaign to developing new

products. But that information is not always reading available or complete and many

financial reports are in summary form, insufficient to meet management’s need for detailed

information.

At Viacom International, the New-York based parent of MTV, Nickelodeon and other

entertainment interest, the CFO teamed with executives from sales, marketing and

contracting to lead the company new directions. Because financial processes are so

intertwined with the processes of other departments, top managers felt that redesigning

finance should ideally be part of a company wide, comprehensive reengineering project.

Although some turf wars were inevitable executives involved in this large-scale efforts to

reorganize the Company were persuaded to support cross-departmental process change

viacom targeted its financial system to find a better way to handle the financial reporting of

its wholly owned subsidiaries which it is acquiring at the rate of about three every year.

Another goal in rebuilding the financial application was to eliminate the Company’s

dependence on paper, particularly the financial transaction which often involve re-keying,

rechecking and doing accruals. The company plans to develop a systems which reduces

paper pushing and facilities the electronics transmission of transactions from one decision

maker to the next. Another goal of the Company is to build financial systems that give

decisions makers time to analyze data rather than spending their time collecting it.

Questions:

a) Identify the reasons why financial information systems are excellent tools for facilitating

decision making; and

b) Explain why financial information systems were at the centre of initiating change at Viacom.

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(DEMBC 1)




GROUP C — Human Resource Management

Paper – I : HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Task Analysis.

b) Objects of employee monitoring.

c) HRP at macro level.

d) Quality management system.

e) HRD climate.

f) HRD in voluntary organizations.

2) Explain the strategies employed in HRD.

3) Describe the monitoring of activities under HRD.

4) Bring out the recent trend in HRD in India.

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(DEMBC 1)





Paper – I : HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Discuss the techniques employed to forecast HR.

2) Give an account of HRD in police.

3) Examine the impact of culture on HRD.

4) You are a Director of education at a 400 bed hospital. Authorisation has just

been received to create a new job title “Nurse Aide” and to hire 30 individuals

over the next year. None of the other hospitals in your area have a similar job

title, there are no occasional training programme producing nurse aid in your

part of the state. You have been requested to develop a combined classroom and

training Programme (on the job) for the new job. You have a staff of one

secretary and two trainers (who are degreed nurses) to help you. Recruiting will

begin in three months and the first “Class” of fifteen nurse aids will begin

training in four months.

Questions:

i) Develop a complete plan and timetable for needs assessment for this

project; and

ii) What sources of information will you use ?

iii) What methods will you use ?

iv) What kinds of information do you need to get ?

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(DEMBC 2)





Paper – II : ORGANISATIONAL DYNAMICS AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Define change.

b) Organisational dynamics

c) Interventions in Organisational change

d) Causes for resistance to change

e) Management of diversity

f) Group formation

2) Differentiate between formal groups and informal groups.

3) How does responsibility become a source of stress?

4) How does organizational culture differ from social culture?

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(DEMBC 2)





Paper – II : ORGANISATIONAL DYNAMICS AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Discuss the process of managing resistance to change.

2) How do you evaluate the organizational change programme?

3) Bring out some modes of organizational change.

4) Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) is one of the three major communication

networks in America and is involved in television, radio, records, books and

magazine publishing. All major corporate decisions are made by the board of

directors which decides the fate of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs,

careers and reputations. With so much at stake, corporate politics plays a very

important role in making decisions. Such political play is indicated by a major

top level shake-up in the company in 1986. The story of this shake down began

earlier.

In 1980, the founder and chairman of CBS, William Paley hired Thomas

Wyman as Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of the company. Three years later in

1983, because of some economic setbacks and personality conflicts, the board

of directors forced Paley out of the Chairman’s position and appointed Wyman

as the Chairman. This was a big blow to Paley who had started the company and

had brought it up to be one of the major media leaders in the country.

Unfortunately he could not anticipate the political ploy played by Wyman and

his supporters in the board.

From 1983 to 1986, when the big shake up occurred, CBS went through a

number of significant events affecting its operations and its future. For example,

in 1985, a group of entrepreneurs showed its interest in buying the company. On

that speculation, the company stock share value rose and a number of financial

investors made bids for the company, among these bidders was Ted Turner, who

currently owns CNN, the news channel. Turner expressed his desire to focus

purely on broadcasting business and sell off other entities such as records, books

and magazine publishing. None of these bids materialized and CBS started

slipping in its stock price and doing poorly financially.

Another bidder Laurence Tisch bought about 25 per cent of the company

stock in 1985 and by virtue of his portfolio, he was appointed to be a member of

the board of directors.

On the fateful day of September 10, 1986, in a board meeting, William

Paley, who was still on member of the board, tried unsuccessfully to remove

Wyman as Chairman of the company. Wyman had appointed some board

members who supported him along with some others. However, Wyman was

afraid that either Tisch or some other group unfriendly to him might make an

offer to CBS that would be acceptable and he might find himself in a hostile

environment with that fear in mind, Wyman played his card. He announced that

Coca Cola company was willing to by CBS.

This statement stunned the entire board as none of the members knew

anything about it. The company had been fighting to remain independent since

the first bid and now Wyman was asking the board to consider selling the

company to Coca Cola whose leaders were known to be friendly with Wyman.

Since none of the board members knew of this offer prior to the announcement

by Wyman, this made them suspicious that Wyman was negotiating with Coca

Cola behind their backs. They could not know whether this offer was real or

simply a political ploy by Wyman, since he did not bring any concrete evidence

to support his claim, or any other paper suggesting a solid commitment by Coca

Cola, at the meeting.

The move cost Wyman his credibility and integrity and the board became

highly suspicious of his motives. Both Tisch and Paley refused to consider the

offer the many other board members joined them. Wyman was forced to resign

and the board asked Tisch to act as CEO and Paley returned to his position as

Chairman. Soon after, CBS started selling its records, books and magazine

publishing business, which interestingly enough was the focus of Ted Turner

who was one of the original bidders but failed to buy the company. As a post

script to this meeting, it may be noted that Tisch consolidated his position as

CEO of the company and was in solid and total control of CBS within two years

of the shake up on September 10, 1986.

Questions:

a) What type of power and politics you think both Paley and Wyman in

play in the final shake up at CBS?

b) Do you think the various bids to buy CBS in 1985 were real or could

they have been manipulated by vested interests to raise the stock share

price of the company; And

c) Given the later information that Tisch came in firm control of the

company within two years of this shake up, do you think that Tisch was

playing silent politics all along.

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(DEMBC 3)





Paper – III : LABOUR LEGISLATION AND IR

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Duties of conciliation officer

b) Working hours of adults

c) Occupational disease

d) Standing disputes

e) Authorized deductions

f) Principles of natural justice

2) Explain the significance and relevance of labour legislation to HRM.

3) State the salient features of Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

4) Discuss the process of workers participation in management.

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(DEMBC 3)





Paper – III : LABOUR LEGISLATION AND IR

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Describe the machinery available for prevention and settlement of industrial

disputes.

2) Assess the success of collective bargaining in India.

3) State the causes for the rise modern social legislation.

4) Mr. Kamble was a fitter in a workshop drawing a wage of Rs. 890/- p.m. His

duty hours were from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. He was provided with company

accommodation – about 30 minutes walk through regular road, but no transport

was provided.

A railway line and siding divided the workplace belonging to the residences

provided by the company. There was a bridge over the rail track also, but it was

hardly ever used as it was at a distance from the residences and one had to walk

a long way. (Customarily the workers, after finishing their work, go to the

washing place, wash up and then proceed to their quarters in colony through the

kutcha road since this was a shortcut and also saved time).

On the fateful day, Mr. Kamble after completion of his work at 5.20 p.m. (some

workers used to work beyond shift hours to complete the given work but never

claimed OT for the same) went to the work place, washed and then proceeded

towards his residence. At 5.34 p.m. just outside the workshop gate on the

Railway Siding Railway line which he was crossing to get into the kutcha road

leading to his house, he met with an accident by a moving engine coming out

for trial and died on the spot.

The Administration arranged for funeral at their CO St. since Mr. Kamble was

very young and also recently married, hardly about six months ago, the

management gave an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 5,000/- and a tailoring machine

so that she could rehabilitate herself in her future.

The family claimed compensation under Workman’s Compensation Act. While

the Welfare Officer supported and forwarded the claim stating that the accident

arose out of and in the course of employment, the Accounts raised an objection

stating that compensation is not payable since the accident took place outside

the workspot, not even on the regular road to the employees house and the

whole thing can be attributed to sheer negligence of the employee, not arising

out of nor in the course of the employment.

Questions:

a) With whom do you agree? Why?

b) How will you dispose of the case as a Manager of the Company?

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(DEMBC 4)





Paper – IV : ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Johari window.

b) Attitude.

c) Behaviouralism.

d) MC Gregor.

e) Leader-member relationship.

f) Organisational culture.

2) Explain the nature and scope of OB.

3) Elucidate the formation of groups.

4) Critically examine Maslow’s theory of motivation.

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(DEMBC 4)





Paper – IV : ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Which type of leadership style is best suited to India and why?

2) State the impact of job satisfaction on employee performance.

3) Describe the determinants of organizational climate?

4) Dharam Singh, general manager at 'Prithviraj Chemicals’ was worried

about his future even through he had been told that after 'Prithviraj Chemicals’

is merged with Orchid Pharmaceuticals he would be promoted and also be

required to shoulder the additional responsibility of identifying those who

should be retained as employees even after the merger. Dharam was concerned

because he had heard that the organisational culture at ‘Orchid’ was computer

driven, while at ‘Prithviraj Chemicals’, the focus was on “relationship”.

A month later after the official merger of the two companies, the now

management took the decision to shift the headquarters to Bangalore from

Mysore. This decision when communicated to its employees, (many of

‘Prithviraj Chemicals’) had approached Dharam Singh to ask ‘Why was the

new management shifting its Head Quarters to a new place (Bangalore) was it

because the two managements did not trust each other?’ This question was

posed especially because most of Prithviraj’s employees had became used to

the ‘quite, risk averse and friendly work environment' and were worried

whether in Bangalore, with its cosmopoliton’ outlook would lead to cultural

clashes.

As anticipated there were certain instances which had Dharam Singh

wondering how to solve such cultural differences. The ‘Prithviraj Employees’

consensus, relationship-result oriented approach always believed in an open

communication system with all employees keeping each other informed about

any decision and bring about a consensus in all the decisions taken. Whereas,

the ‘Orchid’ employees were individually only concerned with their individual

work i.e., they were more focused on ambitious cost-cutting goals and each

employee was individually responsible for quantifiable results.

• Whenever any work related problem arises, the ‘Prithviraj

Employees’ adopted an attitude ‘Tell us about the problem from all angles and

we will discuss and tell you how best to handle it’. In contrast, the ‘Orchid’

employees attitude was ‘just tell me how this problem will/may affect my

work I am not interested in the whole problem’.

• Many of ‘Orchid’ employees had worked in other cities of North

India and few of them had also travelled abroad for official work and thus

were more confident more computer savvy tough and didn’t mince words.

Because of this, the ‘Prithviraj’ employees felt threatened and preferred to

describe ‘Orchid’ employees as ‘loners’, ‘tough’ and hard working’.

• At ‘Prithviraj’, employees were required to make weekly financial

and staffing updates to their ‘bosses’. However, at Orchid this formality was

considered to be a waste of time and they didn't adopt accept this Practice

• Dharam Singh had been with ‘Prithviraj’ since the last 12 years

and knew that ‘Sudhir’ (the M.D. at ‘Prithviraj’) had a lot of confidence in him

when he had said ‘Dharma, I am very sure that we can count on you to see that

there is no dissent among the employees after the merger. The new company is

looking upon you to solve the societal-level cultural difference which is

prevailing among the employees, so that we can have our own unique culture

which would be a blend of both ‘Prithviraj’ and ‘Orchid's way of doing

business’.

Questions:

i) Understanding the type of culture followed by ‘Prithiviraj’ and ‘Orchid’,

what type of culture should the newly merged company adopt; and?

i) Can you suggest ways to help ‘Dharam Singh’ to handle the cultural

differences?

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(DEMBC 5)





Paper – V : EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) a) Living wage.

b) Adjudication.

c) Incremental time scale.

d) Incentive.

e) Compensation in MNCs.

f) Job evaluation.

2) State the recent trend in compensation management.

3) Explain different methods of Job Evaluation.

4) State the procedure of installing incentive system of Wage Payment.

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(DEMBC 5)





Paper – V : EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT

Maximum : 25 MARKS


1) Examine the working of Wage Boards.

2) How is wage determined in India.

3) Describe the evolution of DA.

4) Last year, and in three of the five preceding years, NPC India incurred heavy

losses. Although a large conglomerate, NPC has found these losses hard to

accept and has sought to place a freeze on wage increases for its executives.

However, after conferring with the Directors, CEO has decided to offer non

financial incentives. His reasoning was that the competition was headhunting,

and to make such a blatant no-increase statement might cause the more–

promising executives to leave the organization. This, he felt, would be

extremely detrimental. He believed that when times were tough, as they had

been, that is when excellent managers are needed. Losing them now could only

snowball the decline.

Accordingly, the Board of Directors has voted to provide each executive with

a membership in the local health club. While considered a permanent perk and

in lieu of a raise this year, the board rationalized that managing the corporation

in the months ahead would be extremely stressful and that this membership

would be a means of reducing the stress while enabling the executives to

become healthier.

Unfortunately, however, the perk was not enough. Grumbling about the chain

of events, two executives jumped ship, the ones that stayed did so because of

their time invested in the company’s pension. However, they too were upset

over the board’s decision.

Questions :

a) How could this perk have been offered or marketed better to these

executives? ;

b) What do you believe is the reason why most of the executives did not find

the perk rewarding? ;

c) Faced with a similar dilemma, what would you have done if you had been

the chairman of the Board? What would you do now that the executives are

upset?

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