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INTERNSHIP REPORT ON SAPPHIRE TEXTILE MILLS LTD.

Submitted by
AYESHA MUNIR
L1F11BCOM2101
SESSION 2011-2016
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School of Accounting & Finance

Faculty of Management Studies
University of Central Punjab
1 Khayaban-e-Jinnah, Johar Town Lahore, Pakistan
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INTERNSHIP REPORT ON SAPPHIRE TEXTILE MILLS LTD.

Submitted by

AYESHA MUNIR
L1F11BCOM2101
SESSION 2011-2016

Supervised by

Prof. Waqas Zaki

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelors of Commerce
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School of Accounting & Finance

Faculty of Management Studies
University of Central Punjab
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COPY RIGHTS
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© School of Accounting & Finance, UCP

All rights are reserved. No part of the material protected by this copy right notice may be reproduced
or utilized in any form or mean, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission from SAF, UCP

NON-PLAGIARISM STATEMENT

By submitting this report, the author declares to have written this report completely by
himself, and not to have used sources or resources other than the ones mentioned. All
sources used, quotes and citations that were literally taken from publications, or that were
in close accordance with the meaning of those publications, are indicated as such.

COPYRIGHT©2016 BY AYESHA MUNIR

The UCP has copyright of this report, but also acknowledges the intellectual copyright of
contributions made by the supervisor, which may include important ideas and data.
Author and supervisor will have to make clear agreements about issues such as
confidentiality. Electronic versions of the report are in principle available for inclusion in
any UCP database and repository.

____________________
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(Student’s name)
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CERTIFICATE

Board of examiners, UCP School of Accounting & Finance, University of Central Punjab has
evaluated the report submitted by Mr./Ms. Ayesha Munir, Registration No. l1f11bcom2101
student of UCP School of Accounting & Finance, towards fulfillment of prescribed requirements
for the award of B. Com (Hons.). The title of his/her report is “Internship at Sapphire Textile
Head office”. Based on the result of viva voice, the Board of Examiners has accepted his/her
Internship and recommends that credit hours be awarded to him/her.

________________________

(Waqas Zaki)
Internship In-charge

_______________________

Examiners’ Signature

_______________________

(Prof. Dr. Ather Azim Khan)

Director School of Accounting & Finance
Faculty of Management Studies
University of Central Punjab
Lahore
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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the report “internship at Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd head office”

submitted by me in partial fulfillment of B. Com. (Honors.) degree, is my original work and has

not been submitted or published earlier. I declare that I have prepared this report entirely on the

basis of my personal effort made under the sincere guidance of my supervisor. I also solemnly

declare that it shall not, in future, be submitted by me for obtaining any other degree from this or

any other university or institution.

AYESHA MUNIR
L1F11BCOM210
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

By the grace of God Almighty, I am very much satisfied to announce that I have been able to

complete all the tasks given to me at the head office of SAPPHIRE TEXTILE MILLS LTD. I

would have never been able to get this opportunity without the approval and support of Miss.

Saria Zaheer, head of the HR department at the company’s head office, who helped me in

polishing my skills more and giving me the idea of how the HR department functions at Sapphire

Textile Mills Ltd, Mr. Omar Hasnat, (OD specialist) who helped me and guided me throughout

the internship in order to make me understand about the punctualities of office life and

supervised all the tasks that were to be achieved by me.

I would also like to vigorously thank Miss. Maryam Inam, (HR & OD officer), who guided me

well enough throughout my internship at the head office regarding the tracking and record

keeping of the applicants, Mr. Rizwan Sohail, who gave me tasks related to the compensation

and the knowhow of the life insurance policies of the company and Mr. Ahsan Qureshi, for

advising me about the processes regarding the leave/off day/outdoor duty’s record keeping.

Last but not the least I would like to thank Prof. Waqas Zaki for all the guidance regarding the

internship at the University of Central Punjab.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report is an overview of all the activities related to human resource done for and at the

company. This report gives a clear understanding of all the human resource policies, the minds

behind these policies and the methods by which they implement these policies and how the entire

human resource department functions here at the Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd head office,

moreover this report gives a better understanding of all the departments that are working by

cooperating with the human resource and organizational development department. The total

departments located within the main head office are as follows which includes the names of

some departments that are working in Karachi as well but they are in complete track with the

Lahore departments:

1- Marketing and export

2- Accounts and finance

3- HR and OD (human resource and organizational development)

4- Purchase

5- Administration- ( Karachi and Lahore)

6- Civil

7- Sales

8- Finance and treasury ( Karachi)

9- Income tax ( Karachi)

10- Accounts (Karachi)

11- Corporate
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12- Cotton procurement

As I was in the main head office here I was placed at the department related to the human

resource activities, I came to know about the history of the company, how Sapphire compensates

their employees, what are their interview procedures, what methods do they use for the selection

of the applicants and their interview scheduling, how do they identify the right person for the

right job by assessing the candidate’s C.V and which department is suitable for him to be placed

into. Also the HR department looks after all the other internees that were working in several

departments at the office. I was given various tasks that made me understand in a better way the

processes regarding the human resource management. I was being introduced to all the

department heads and a brief introduction was also given. The other human resource department

is related to the Sapphire retail but they also work in acquiescence with the main head office.
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VISION AND MISSION OF THE COMPANY

Mission and values:

Sapphire has a mission to lead the markets they serve and supply with the quality yarns fabrics

and other textile related goods in order to satisfy their customer’s needs and in order to fulfill

their mission they have strived to excel in the customer service, manufacturing and sales by the

collective effort of all the acquaintances.

Their values comprise of the following initials

P- People

R- Relationship

I - Integrity

D - Diversity

E – Environment

Vision:

Their vision is to be recognized as the foremost leading textile company that leads in awareness,

equipment, agility and eminence. Their vision also focuses on the teamwork achievement and the

worth of the customer’s participation in order to make the company successful, also they believe

that they will achieve worldwide market fame achieved by their skillful workforce.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY:

Sapphire by being run by Mian Abdullah is the vast group of all times in textiles industry by

producing 60,000 tonnes of yarn, 50 million meters of Griege fabric annually and 5 tonnes of

yarn in the dyeing plant and 10 tonnes of knitting in the knitting unit per day which also includes

some of the offshore companies led by Mr. Mian Abdullah by promoting its biggest of the brand

names globally in countries like Asia, Europe, Australia and North America which makes Mr.

Mian Abdullah one of the top richest families of Pakistan ranked at the 13th of the positions.

Sapphire group has a history of starting its business all the way back to the time when India and

Pakistan were known as one i.e. the subcontinent, it started in Calcutta, India starting all of its

functions as the very first spinning unit and hence commencing the business and indulging it to a

leadership level in the industry. In the present day it now includes total of nine mills named as

STML- Sapphire textile mills limited

STML-1

STML-3

STML-4

STML-5

STML-6

STML-7

STML-8

STML-9 and
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SRL as the sapphire retail limited

All of the above mills are located in Karachi and Punjab – two in Karachi and the rest is in

Punjab and collectively it consists of 120,632 spindles, 3120 rotors (spinning), 292 looms

( device for weaving), and 215 stitching machines.

Sapphire works as a vertically integrated unit in which the STML was being incorporated in

1969 with its shares being listed at the Karachi stock exchange hence making it a public limited

company. Sapphire group is a vertically integrated group which means it manufactures cotton

yarn, fabric and garments. It has the most organized setup that it provides to almost 35 of the

destinations worldwide with the employee strength of approximately 16,000 and a very well

recognized formation of the textile management plus with a benefit base of over 500 million US

dollars and annual earnings of 800 million US dollars. Sapphire group has also diversified its

business to dairy and power generation sectors with having a combined electric plant of 234

Mega Watt located at Muridke and the dairy farm at Manga known as the Sapphire dairy farms

private limited with the prospect of milking 300,000 liters milk (10,000) cows per day and with

the herd size of 3000 to be achieved by 2020. It has also concerned itself in the welfare

community programs by setting up two primary schools that are being operated by the sapphire

and the citizen foundation collectively with the vision of providing education to the unfortunate

in terms of resources and also it has set up an eye camp for the treatment of the cataract disease

in the backward areas of the country with regularly donating to the poor and the needy which

also led the company in securing a Sitara-e-Imtiaz , the star of excellence award to the Chairman

of the company Mian Abdullah. Sapphire continues to grow as a pioneer in the textile industry

with the passage of time by establishing its position more and more into the textile world and by
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providing the quality fabric that is very popular amongst the ladies these days and it has now

become the style statement of ladies across Pakistan.

Board of Directors

Chairman:

The chairman of the company is Mr. Mohammad Abdullah, he is the founder of this company

and he has been in this business for more than 50 years which makes him possess the expertise

over the textile business. He keeps a complete record of all the internal and external affairs of the

company by timely interrogating the management and asking them about the company’s

processes. He has not only achieved a milestone in Pakistan but also he has travelled various

countries and set up his business globally making him the holder of the star of Excellency by the

government of Pakistan by providing his services for humanitarian causes.

Chief Executive:

The chairman of this company is Mr. Nadeem Abdullah, his achievements include being a

graduate from the MC Gill university, Canada and being the member and the director of Young

President organization and he is the main head of leading the company to growth by introducing

the idea of more product lines and developing the value added goods, his area of expertise also

includes in the departments of supply chain management, product developing, sales and

marketing etc.
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Directors

Mr. Shahid Abdullah

He is the director of Sapphire group’s various companies; also he has been associated with the

company since 1980. Responsible for deciding and providing the company with all the long and

short term positions, he has not only actively participated in introducing the new projects but also

has planned them leading to the remarkable dimension for the extension of the company. His

area of expertise not only includes the procurement related activities but also he has came up

with the idea of Sapphire power plant and also he has a wide experience in doing business

communications and export markets hence establishing the goodwill of the company.

Amer Abdullah

Not only he holds a masters degree from one of the prestigious universities of America, he also

holds the honor of joining the Sapphire group at a younger age back in the roaring 90’s taking

various projects related to the company’s expansion linked to the textile sector. His excellence in

taking critical decisions is very acknowledgeable.

Yousuf Abdullah

he is not only the Chief Executive of Sapphire finishing mills but also he holds a degree from

U.K, he became the director of the company in 1995, his vast expertise includes having

affirmative knowledge of the textile business, knitting, dyeing and finishing. He has not only

introduced new projects but has also made an effort to complete and implement them. He has

also handled the administrative activities of the company very successfully.

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Nabeel Abdullah

Mr. Nabeel Abdullah has been well trained for an year before he joined the Sapphire group and

currently he has been appointed to seek the activities of the procurement of raw materials, the

sales department and also production, accounts and finance for Sapphire groups.

Shayan Abdullah

He was being well trained for two years approximately before he joined the company as a

director, he is also a graduate from USA with majors in finance and Economics along with

taking several professional courses from LUMS. He currently looks after the raw material

procurement, accounts and marketing activities associated with the spinning divisions of the

Sapphire fibers limited and Reliance cotton mills limited.

Nadeem Karamat

A man with more than 30 years of experience in the in the banking and corporate advisory

system, Mr. Nadeem Karamat is currently working being the member of Soneri Bank limited’s

board of directors. He is also a credit risk management professional for an American bank.
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The chain of command

Chairman

CEO

General Manager

Senior Manager

Deputy Manager

Assistant Manager

Senior Officer

Officer
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The chain of command shows that the orders are being taken from the top management and its

being circulated to the lower management and further decisions are to be made by the

department heads so this shows that Sapphire works as a combination of centralized and

decentralized setup.

Mode of communication within the company

The company’s daily functions and communication mediums include the extensive usage of e-

mails and telephone extension. An e-mail is must be it any day to day function of the

departments. The e-mails are being sent to the lower management from the higher management

and also there are formal meetings in the departments related to any issue or new project.

Culture of the company

The culture of the company is very motivating as I have observed in the HR department they not

only work as a team but they appreciate the efforts and praise all the good work by being humble

and supporting each other by helping the fellow employees, Sapphire has this welcoming attitude

towards the employees and the internees which boosts up the confidence level and helps the

employee or the internee to learn more.

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The I.T department

The I.T department usually has issues with the departments as they are a bit slow in processing

their activities, the company uses oracle as a data base.

Introduction of the HR and OD department

The human resource and organizational development department is being successfully run under

the leadership of Miss. Saria Zaheer, she is the head of the department who looks after both the

human resource related activities in both the offices i.e. the head office and the retail office as

she is directly reporting to the authorities of all the activities and the procedures related to the

human resource department.

Mr. Omer Hasnat then comes second in the department with the duties he has to perform as an

OD specialist (organizational development specialist), both Miss. Saria and Mr. Omer take

decisions by consulting with each other on various issues related to the employee’s

compensations, benefits and what incentives/ perks are to be given to the employees of various

designations across the company. Then there are the duties of Mr. Rizwan Sohail who has to

manage all the life insurance related work according to the designation of the employees and

report it all to the head of the department and then Miss. Maryam Inam is the HR officer who is

responsible for all the handling of the applications and recruitment of the employees and

scheduling of their interviews along with introducing some of the neatly organized and processed

ways of keeping the track of all the applicants and designing of the employee handbook, Mr.

Ahsan then keeps a check on the activities related to the attendance issues and all the employees

leave record keeping from the offices of Karachi and Lahore collectively.
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I was placed was an internee within this department and this department works like a team and is

very efficient in their workings and are very competitive.

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MR.OMER
HASNAT
OD
SPECIALIST

MISS
MISS SARIA MARYAM
MR.AHSAN ZAHEER INAM
QURESHI HEAD OF HR AND OD
DEPARTMENT OFFICER

MR RIZWAN
SOHAIL
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Human Resource Policies of the Company

The human resource policies of the company play a vital role in the management of the day to

day activities within the textile companies and also in their development, the policies introduced

by Sapphire’s human resource department are as follows:

Recruitment:

The recruitment process at the company comprises of scrutinizing the applicant’s C.V’s very

carefully and by identifying the right fit for the right job by specifying what positions are

required and what educational background is to be considered for a certain post that is vacant

requested by the department heads regarding what person they need for the job required.

For example if there is a vacancy of a designer in the mills, the head office human resource

department will identify all the applicants with the background of designing degree and call them

for the interview. If the applicant is from Karachi then a telephonic interview is being done. The

human resource advertises the positions on the linked in profiles, the short listing of the

candidates are being done by any of the member of the human resource department by looking at

the required skills and educational background of the applicant. The interview technique

comprises of stress interviews as well as there are three interviews, the initial interview by the

HR and OD department’s any member and the second by the respective head of the department

of the required vacant post, last interview by the CEO of the company. After hiring the employee

record is being kept and then they are issued the identity cards for the company and also their

thumbprint scan is included on their identities.

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The recruitment steps include:

1: Request generation, from different departments

2: Employee requisitions: job descriptions, job specification and duties

3: Short listing by posting advertisements on social media (employees by referrals), newspapers

and taking help from recruitment agencies.

4: compile and matchup the C.V’s, here the applicant tracking sheet comes in handy in order to

see who we have short listed before and who is not yet being entered.

5: share the C.V’s with department heads who requested the need of a new employee and then

interviews are being done.

6: Interview scheduling is being done; the availability of the candidate is confirmed.

7: The interview is being done by the respective head of the departments and the human

resource department

The compensation policy:

The compensation policy includes many benefits given to the employees including salary,

benefits and incentives and at Sapphire the employees are being compensated according to their

designations for example, the head of the departments are being provided with their laptops also

they are being given cars according to their designations. The further perks are mentioned below:

Annual leaves:

Sapphire has a system of 15 annual leaves after a year of joining but if you do not avail them in

the current year they get added in the next year, for example if any employee has not availed

those leaves at the end of the year then he can avail 30 leaves the next year, also if any employee
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of the various departments wants a leave on a working day, he can get a leave application form

and by filling these form there will a record kept so as to keep a check on the leaves of the

employees and deducting their salary or not to deduct their salary according to that, also if any

employee has worked on any off day, he can avail a leave at any of the working day but for this

process there is also an off day/ Sunday working application form as a proof that the employee

has worked on an off day, there is also an outdoor duty form which is necessary for the employee

to provide it to the human resource department on time so he does not gets marked as absent as

there is a .25% deduction on late absents for a day. If the employee is out of premises of the

office for any work related reasons and cannot mark his attendance at the head office, then he has

to fill up an OD form i.e. the outdoor duty form which includes the information of the alternative

place he has worked in for the company in any of the company’s mills or offices.

Sick Leaves, Casual Leaves, Compensatory Leaves, Official Duty.

Group life insurance:

The policies also include the insurance policy which is not applicable on the employees above

the age of 65-70 (Contract Employees), the addition deletion of employee’s id being done in

order to keep a record of the employees who are eligible for this policy as they are affiliated with

the jubilee life insurance which is being looked after by the human resource department, also if

the employee has left the organization, his working years are being counted in order to

compensate him/her.
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Training:

The training (in house or not) is being seen by the human resource department in order to train

the employees according to the changing environment in the textile sectors, the soft skills

training courses are encouraged in the company as it enhances the sales and the marketing

relating to the strategic management undertaking for enlarged sales volumes.

Medical facilitations:

Medical allowances are being allowed to all the employees relevant to their designations and in

order to avail that the medical treatment bill and medical facilities cost should be sent to the

human resource department on time so that there is no delay in facilitating the deserving

employee for his medical needs, medical policy applies only to the direct dependants of the

employee’s family, i.e. the employee himself, his father, mother, wife and children.

Forecasting:

The human resource department also keeps its ideas jotted down in order to see what the future

needs of the company are in terms of hiring and firing of any employee, what necessary steps are

to be taken for the betterment of the company for lesser employee turnovers and how to always

keep a contingency plan if anything goes wrong and how to overcome the challenges that are to

be faced by the company, in this regard the head of the department, with equal consent of the

other members of the department ,always holds a meeting in order to discuss ideas and solutions

to the problems.
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Termination policies:

Employers have the right to terminate or dismiss any employee on the basis of any cause. These

causes can be of two types “termination with cause” and “without cause” , in termination

without cause, the employee is being given a notice before his dismissal along with some

compensation.

Improvement in performances:

The human resource policies also focus upon the improvement not only in the employee’s

presentation but also of the company’s repute.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

The policy includes an equal employment offer to the people regardless of their religions, caste,

color or any financial statuses.

Employee classification:

This includes the salary structure and the payrolls of employees according to their positions in

the company, there are employees who are permanent, term based, part-time, temporary

employees and their scheduling according to their status, it also includes the following:

1- Department.

2- Salary grade.

3- The lower staff.

4- Internees (first five are being given the benefit of a stipend).

5- Choosing the supervisors.

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Performance appraisals and exit interviews:

There has always been the concept of an employee appraisal at the end of the year in order to

assess the employees but at Sapphire, there is also a way to assess the employee at the time of his

leaving, there is not just only a simple exit interview but also a total record of the employees who

are leaving the company along with an exit survey being attached to the form of the exit

interview, the exit survey is done in order to make the company a much better place to work in,

this survey is done as a research questionnaire in order to get complete knowledge about why the

employee is leaving the firm and the ratings are being measured according to the likerds scale

with strongly agree till N/A. assigned as 1 to 5.

They also have the birthday policy which I personally witnessed, all the employees who share a

common birthday month are being invited and their birthday is being celebrated together with the

heads of the departments. The human resource department was courteous enough to let me attend

one of those parties in order to have an idea of this policy.

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Spinning and weaving department

There are two units in the marketing department:

1- Spinning

2- Weaving

Yarn Cotton

procurement procurement

Weaving Spinning

Fabric Yarn
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Accounts and Finance:

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All the nine units STML – lead by the CFO and the MIS and ERP

CFO
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ASSISTANT ACCOUNT
SERVICE STAFF
MANAGER EXECUTIVES
FUNCTIONS

1- The accounts department is responsible for the record keeping of transactions, invoices,

vouchers and bills.

2- Then it keeps all of the bills and the vouchers at a safe place after being placed into the

files.

3- It also looks after the payment of creditors on time.

4- It is also responsible for the reconciliation of the bank statements with the company’s

bank account.

5- It is also responsible for the preparation of the financial statements.

Purchase department:

It has total of three departments which consists of two located in Lahore and one in Karachi, it

looks after the purchase of the machinery etc. it is responsible for all the possession of goods,

services and the operations regarding the purchase of the raw materials etc.

FUNCTIONS OF PURCHASE DEPARTMENT

The purchase department is responsible for

1- It has the responsibility of material procurement to the company.

2- It also has to evaluate price in order to have a bargaining edge and recognizing better

vendors.
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3- It also handles all the receipts and paper material that is a proof of the transaction

between the vendor and the company.

4- This department keeps in mind that it has to work in conformity with the policies of the

company.

Finance and Treasury:

This department is responsible for all the finances and the treasuries but it is not located in

Lahore, it functions in Karachi. It is responsible for all the daily functions related to the financing

and managing the firm’s liquidity and justifying the financial risks of the company they also seek

the long and short term financing in any of the projects of the company.

Administration:

It consists of two offices one in Lahore and one in Karachi it is responsible to provide all the

information to the departments in a systematic way by keeping an effective communication

process in order to keep all the departments aligned in terms of operating the business at its very

best.

FUNCTIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT

1- To provide the administrative help in managing the information.

2- The payrolls for the human resources.

3- Effectively communicating and attainment of goals.

4- To ensure that all the departments are working to their maximum capability.
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Sales:

The sales department manages the customer relationship so as to gain more customers and how

to sell the product and to identify the forecast that will increase the product’s sale.

Income tax:

It is also located at Karachi hence all the activities are being commenced there. All the tax

contributions are being managed by this department.

Cotton procurement:

This department holds the responsibilities of negotiating with the vendors in order to lock the

products that are required by their company and then looking after all the processes related to the

payment of the ordered products and in this company’s case, buying of the cotton from where

and who is deemed necessary.

Marketing Department

The marketing department of this company consists of people who are highly skilled, qualified

and resourceful in doing their tasks and performing splendidly, they also deal directly with the

foreign customers and it has the duty to identify the customers, forestall them and then satisfying

their requirements.

FUNCTIONS

1- The marketing department monitors the customers.

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2- It also has the duty to manage customer relationships.

3- The processing of orders is done by this department.

4- This department researches about the new markets, in order to increase its sales.

5- The forecasting of sales is also done by this department.

6- Planning of the sales.

7- Analyzing the sales is being done by marketing department as well.

8- They have to analyze the price in order to set the strategies and developing them further.

9- The development of the product and package designing is being fulfilled by this

department.

Management philosophy

The management’s philosophy at Sapphire consists of the following targets:

1- To outshine in sales.

2- The satisfaction of customers by fulfilling their requirements and needs in the products.

3- Keeping the strategy of producing quality product that is light on the pockets of the

customers, i.e. low prices and higher quality products.

4- Maximum profit gain or profit maximization.

5- To have high market share gain.

6- To keep a relation of trust, integrity and honesty with the customers, public and

shareholders.

The main head office

The main head office is located at 7A-k main boulevard, Gulberg 2 Lahore, Pakistan

With provided the contact details: + 94 42 111 000 100

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And the e-mail address: Lahore.office@sapphire.com.pk

Registered office

Its registered office is in Karachi, located at 212, cotton exchange building I.I Chundrigar Road,

Karachi, Pakistan.

Its factories are being located at:

S.I.T.E Kotri

S.I.T.E Nooriabad

Chunian, district Kasur

Feroze watwan

Bhopattan Lahore

Subsidiaries of sapphire textile mills

There are total of six subsidiaries of Sapphire textile mills and it has a total hold of five of them

100% equity held by the Sapphire textile mills limited, these subsidiaries are as follows:

Sapphire retail limited:

Sapphire retail limited is a fully owned subsidiary the Sapphire textile mills limited, the main
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function of this subsidiary consists of operating the all the retail outlets that are for sale of the

textile related products. The company has setup retail outlets in three major cities Lahore,

Karachi and Islamabad, one in each of the mentioned cities.

Sapphire home incorporation

it is also fully owned by the Sapphire textile mills limited and was built-in under the laws of the

United States, New York, facilitating the customers residing in the States with goods landed on

task paid source.

In order to diversify the operations of the company and to overcome the electricity breakdown

problems, the company started its own power production unit by investing in the renewable

energy units, under which there are three subsidiaries working currently:

Sapphire Tech private limited

Its foundation was laid under the companies ordinance of 1984,it was being set up to institute the

electric power production and also in interest of selling the electric power but no further

progresses has been made yet to achieve more in this sector though this sector is wholly equity

owned.

Sapphire Wind power limited

Owned 70% by the Sapphire textile mills and 30% by bank Alfalah limited, its construction is

yet to be done fully.

Sapphire Solar private limited

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this project was to be commenced earlier as an alternative of the electric power generation but it

is still in the process.

Tricon Boston consulting corporation private limited

It was incorporated under the Pakistani laws and it was started in order to commence the electric

power generation business in Sindh, Pakistan, Sapphire has a hold of 100% shares of this

company and some of the technical studies are still being done in order to further expand this

project.

Marketing strategies of the company

The marketing department at Sapphire has two main units “spinning” and “weaving”.

The marketing strategies that are used by the company are meeting with the cotton providers,

which vendors to target, advising the buyers about the accurate materials needed according to the

current trends of the company and also by negotiating trying to win the consideration of the

buyers and business of the company, the marketing department knows that the buyers of their

products are usually ladies as Sapphire has earned itself a brand image in women wear, it has its

own personal outlets across the country, they come up with the promotional campaigns like 50%

off sale etc in order to attract more attention and customers and they are much focused on the

quality control.

SWOT analysis

During my stay at the head office as an internee I observed some of the factors that are directly

related to the company’s SWOT analysis:

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Strengths

Availability of raw materials:

The raw materials are easily available as the nature of the business includes the supply of cotton

in order to make yarn and Pakistan has cotton manufacturing in abundance due to Pakistan being

the fourth largest in the cotton production.

Labor

The labor here in Pakistan is very cheap which helps in amplification of the textile sector as there

is approximately 39% of the labor working in this sector

Increase in the trends:

Unique designs are always appreciated by the customers, so Sapphire has launched many of the

designs which do gain attractions by its customers nationwide.

Weaknesses:

Technological issues

The textile sector is lacking behind in the technologies that enhance the quality of the cotton

where as the developed countries have the advantage of using latest technologies to come up

with the production of different types of cotton, including colored cotton, Pakistan lacks behind

in this technology hence being a far from inventing the modified cotton fibers with no or less

value addition to the textile chain.

Political instabilities

As we are very well aware of all the political conditions here in Pakistan, any policy

implemented by the government can turn out to be a disaster for the textile sector.
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Opportunities

Going global

Sapphire textile mills has commenced its many of the activities and businesses abroad hence

making it a global company that is recognized and well reputed over the years.

Goodwill

Sapphire also is a well reputed firm which adds a plus point to its position as its recognized

globally and domestically.

Threats

Competitors

There are always competitors, and here in Pakistan where the textile business is very much at its

peak, there are many competitors which Sapphire has to outrun on a timely basis, the main

competitors of Sapphire textile mills are:

Nishat mills

Chenab

Crescent

Kohinoor

Firdous

Sitara.

Fashion trends:

In order to stay in the business of textile and retail, it is deemed necessary to provide the
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customer with the latest trends, give a customer something to purchase from your outlet and the

customer will come again looking for the same thing i.e. the latest designs introduced by the

textile sector.

Market shares:

As we all know that the quota system is being governed by the WTO, there is a chance that the

Indian and the Chinese manufacturers might gain a lot of market share.

Porter’s five forces model

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bargaining power of
customers
high demand of
clothing and the home
textiles

threat of substitutes
industry competition
barriers to entry many new cheap
China and India in
almost zero or less clothing brands
competition for higher
barriers in the domestic emerging which might
market share
markets distract the loyalty of
acquisition
the customer

bargaining power of
suppliers
low labor costs and
higher availability of
the cotton
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Micro and Macro analysis of the company

PEST ANALYSIS

Political environment:

Pakistan is considered to be one of the most politically instable lands and this does have an effect

on the textile mills as they have to comply with the changing laws and implementation of all the

new laws is not that easy, one ruling government can be in the favor of the industry but the other

can be the total opposite so there is always a change in laws when the governments change.

There are no such efforts by the government in order to have positive relations with the other

countries for them to shake hands with us in order for exporting purposes, Pakistan has lost its

value due to terrorism problems and the foreign investors might not risk it here.

Economic analysis:

The textile sector has contributed a lot in earning the foreign trade for the country and it has also

helped to reduce the import bills of textile related products.

Sapphire has helped employ many people in this hour of rising unemployment and it also works

upon the expansion of its business which might provide more employment to the people, also the

tax that is imposed on the mills for the domestic supply and income taxes payment contribute a

lot towards the revenue generation for the government.

Social, cultural, environmental and demographics:

The social values at Sapphire is to provide a better working environment to the employees

regardless of their genders so that no one feels biased, in a land like Pakistan where there is male

dominancy, the participation of women are equally encouraged in the company. The

environmental factors may cause a little distress in the functionalities of the business as the
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weather gets unpredictable at times, due to global warming, there are many issues here in

Pakistan even.

Technological factors:

The technological factors matter the most as the world is changing in terms of latest technologies

so at the company, they have latest technologies for the fabric production.

Financial analysis
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Recommendations for the company

There were certain things which I could not resist to observe at the company’s head office and it

was as follows:

1- The head office did not have a proper cafeteria for the employees and the internees; we

have to ask office boys to bring the lunch which at times was not so comfortable for us.

2- The ladies rest room area/washroom is too far away from the departments and in the

rainy days it causes a huge problem for female employees as some of them got their

lunches delayed due to the poor water drainage outside the ladies common room.

3- No proper orientation was being done in order to let the internee know about the deep

insights of other departments.

4- Sapphire should reduce the paper work and work more on the advanced software

available these days that require less paper works.

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Activities report

During my stay as an internee at the head office in the human resource department I was given

certain tasks which I completed and learnt about how the department works,

Task 1:

The GLI (group life insurance)

It covered two aspects, the health and life insurance, in this task I has to enter/rectify and

compile all the record of the employees from the nine mills and the head office plus the retail

office which included the addition of the new employees and deletion of those who have left the

company, it also includes the payroll, social security, permanent partial disability, total

temporary disability, the purpose of keeping or updating this record includes one simple strategy,

to see who is eligible for the insurance benefit and who is not, people aged 65-70 are not eligible

but the employees who are on leave due to any medical problem, they insurance pays back for

them i.e. policy related payback, this also includes the requirements and the cheques that are to

be sent to the employees, the data entry consisted of entering the employees name, CNIC

number, hiss salary unit, his designation, department, date of birth, joining and leaving, factor

and the age of the employee.

I also observed that the newly added employees were briefly given introduction about their work

and there were timely arrangements by the human resource department for the issuance of their

company identity cards.

I was also being told that the policy regarding the attendance marking includes a deduction of

0.25% of the salary if you are late or arrive at 12:30pm this gets counted as the half day; the

newly entered employees have to end a probation period of three months.

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Task -2

Applicant tracking sheet:

The applicant tracking sheet was also being done on excel, it is a proper record for all the

applications and C.V’s which the candidates drop at the company, this was done in order to keep

a track of who has been interviewed, shortlisted and who has not been interviewed yet. I first had

to identify the C.V, which means I was being taught to assess the C.V by looking at the

experience of the applicant, this shows which department he/she is suitable for, their educational

backgrounds on the second priority and then their years of experience, in the end I had to enter

the remarks as well that on which day, date or time the applicant was interviewed and for which

designation, also I had to see and enter the applicants current employer’s name, his current salary

and the contact details of the applicant by adding in their numbers and e-mail addresses and after

entering all the C.V’s in the tracking sheet I had to place the C.V’s in the files of their related

departments for example if someone has a background of CA-finalist, ACCA then that C.V

should be placed in the accounts file.

Then I was being shown the candidate assessment sheet which was to be filled by any of the

member of the Hr department, the measurement criteria was in ratings from 1 to 4 by 4 being the

extraordinary traits. Then there are three interviews (two if there is a panel) which includes any

of the member from HR department is the head of department HR is not available and the

respective head of the department who requested for job vacancies and approvals of the need of

an employee in his/her department and then the final interview is being done by higher

management, if you are rejected by the HR in the first interview there is no going further.

If the candidate is selected the management makes sure the candidate has a knowledge about the

company and his salary expectations are also being asked.

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Task -3

Compensations relating to leaves:

There are three types of forms that are to be filled by the employee

 Outdoor duty form:

 Leave application form

 Sunday/off day duty form

The outdoor duty form:

The outdoor duty form is being filled by the person who was present for the duty but not at his

relative office, in this case he misses his attendance and in order to avoid the salary deductions,

the OD form is a must thing to be provided to the HR department on time as a proof that the

employee was on duty but at some other office of the company or salary unit.

The leave application form:

If due to any reason an employee has the urgency to take a leave from the office, he should give

the HR this form filled by the employee personally so that there is a total record of the leaves he

has availed.

The Sunday/ off day form:

This form is to be filled by the employee who has worked on an off day in order to claim his

leave on any other working day and he/she is being compensated on the basis of this form.

Task-4

Exit interviews and survey form and entry into the excel sheet:
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The exit interview form and survey is done in order to keep the data compiled about the job

satisfaction level of the employee and what areas are there that needs to be focused more in order

to make Sapphire a better place for working, the survey form has several questions related to the

management, compensation, opportunities for personal development and communications which

are to be rated by the employee that is resigning on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being strongly agree

and 5 being N/A.