NMIMS JUNE 21 Answer sheet

Prof.Dr.N.Palaniappan.,MBA.,MCom.,MPhil.,PhD.

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Prof.Dr.N.Palaniappan.,MBA.,MCom.,MPhil.,PhD. has 15 years of teaching

experience in MBA Business schools. For last fifteen years
Prof.Dr.N.Palaniappan.,MBA.,MCom.,MPhil.,PhD has taught various subjects
from Marketing, Finance, Human Resource Management, Information Systems,
International Business and General Specializations. He has written many
research papers and case studies.

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 Organisational Behaviour

1. Explain how GLOBE study has helped managers across the world
understand the complex relationship between culture and organizational
success.

2. What problems do you usually encounter in teamwork at your

organization? What is your approach to overcome them?

3. Essex Enterprises is a renowned logistics company which has spread its

operations in 7 countries across the globe. They are recognized as the best
learning organization due to their policies and processes and systems. One of
the reasons for their success is that they have successfully applied the
Reinforcement Theory of Learning since their inception.

a. Why is Reinforcement Theory also called as Behaviour Modification Theory?

b. How can reinforcement be administered effectively?

Business Economics

1. From the give table calculate Elasticity of Price, Total Revenue and Marginal
Revenue. Also, explain the relationship between AR and MR?
Price Quantity Total Marginal
Revenue Revenue
6 0
5 100
4 200
3 300
2 400
1 500
0 600

2. Demand forecasting is not a speculative exercise into the unknown. It is essentially a

reasonable judgement of future probabilities of the market events based on scientific
background. Explain the statement by elaborating different qualitative and quantitative
methods of demand forecasting.
 3.a. Define elasticity of supply and find the price from the given statement:

If Es of a good is 2 and a firm supplies 200 units at price of Rs 8 per unit, then at what price
will the firm supply 250 units.

3.b. Calculate the elasticity of supply if a 15 %increase in the price of soya

bean oil increases its supply from 300 to 345 units

Financial Accounting & Analysis

1. Discuss and analyze the following transactions for X Ltd, using the concept
of accounting equation (Assets, Liabilities and Equities).

1. Purchased Furniture for Rs675000

2. Capital Introduced by the business Owner by depositing 12 Lakhs in the

bank account

3. Goods purchased on credit from Aman Enterprises for Rs105000

4. Goods sold on credit for Rs 400000. The cost of the goods sold was Rs
300000

5. Purchased goods from Sneha Enterprises for Rs 600000 and made the
payment from the business's bank account

2. Love Doddle is a gifting enterprise of Ms. Dorati. The enterprise

generates inflows by arranging gift hampers for the customer's loved ones.
The inflows arises from the sale of gift hampers Rs 505000 and from bank
interest, dividend receipt Rs4200. Ms. Dorati is confused on how to record
these inflows. She would like to understand from you about the concepts
Revenue from operation and other income, so that she can record the
information so as to prepare the profit and loss statement of the enterprise.
 Define, share examples, and elaborate on your understanding towards the
terms Revenue from Operation and Other Income

3. The following information is given with respect to the ratio's of two

companies

Aman Ltd Roger Ltd

Current ratio 2:01 1.60:1

Quick Ratio 1.35:1 1:01
Return on investment 15% 13%
Debt Equity Ratio 2.5:1 1:01

a. Define the concepts of Current and Quick ratio’s and also, reflect on your
understanding towards the financial performance of the companies by
looking to the above information (2marks for defining and 3 marks for
interpretation and reasoning)

b. Define the terms- Return on Investment and Debt equity ratio and also,
reflect on your understanding towards the financial performance of the
companies (2marks for defining and 3 marks for interpretation and
reasoning)

Marketing Management

1. As a newly appointed Product Manager by Balaji wafers, you are asked to

develop New Product Planning for new flavor of potato wafer. How would
you develop new product planning process? (10 Marks)

2. Health and Nutrition Start-Up, Habbit makes consumer debut with a range
of innovative & delicious Products. Habbit Wise Creams are the lowest
calorie ice creams in the world. Every serving has less than 50 calories, which
is less than half an apple.
Available in 6 gourmet flavours such as Blueberry Crumble, Salted Caramel,
Lychee Blush, etc. Wise Creams contain zero added sugar and are keto +
diabetic friendly. Prepare an appropriate Segmentation Strategy for the new
launch. Considering that they have entered in consumer market for the first
time, how should the brand be positioned in the market?

3. Read the following Case & solve the questions given:

Mr. Ramesh of Unique Industries is contemplating to enter the men’s top end
shirts category. The company already has a brand “CLINGERS” in the middle
segment (₹350-700). The brand is very popular amongst the target audience.
Having got the volumes, Mr. Ramesh now wants to play the value game and
enter the top end (₹700+) category. He knows there are some formidable
brands like Farow etc. that will make life extremely difficult for Unique
Industries. But there are certain advantages which Unique Industries enjoys. It
has one of the best retail networks in the country. They have their own
factory, which ensures regular quality supply. They are the pioneers of
branded shirts in India.

Mr. Ramesh has decided to keep the brand name as “Clingers Gold”. He has
decided to allocate ₹10 crores for sales promotion and advertising budget.

Unique Industries is simultaneously entering the readymade trousers market

and shoes market. Mr. Ramesh has decided to keep the same brand name
“CLINGERS” to leverage the success of the brand name to the two new
categories.

a. Do you think the brand name “Clingers Gold” is right for the top end
segment? Justify your answer.

b. Which factors you think needs to be studied before making such entry in
the market?
 Information Systems for Managers

1. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down with
several businesses shutting shop owing to mounting losses. Yet, in these
pandemic times, e-commerce is one twinkling star that has been gathering
strength after strength. How has Direct Selling Experience via Amazon India
helped small scale manufacturers of handicrafts or any other item of your
choice during these pandemic times. As an external consultant, try to analyse
the reasons behind the success of these small-scale manufacturers. Provide
some statistics on how technology has made the lives of small-scale
manufacturers simpler? In your opinion, do you see this as a future once the
Covid-19 crisis gets over or do you see manufacturers trying to sell their
handicraft/other products face to face again?

2. There has been a greater emphasis being placed on E-Governance in India

which refers to the usage of e-commerce and e-business technologies by
governments & their departments to conduct their own business. Choose your
own city/town municipality & write down the salient features of any
Government to Citizen (G2C) initiative conducted in your area recently. Also
highlight the key benefits of this G2C initiative in your area to the common
man. How has it changed the life of a common citizen? Support the benefits
section with some statistics or Quantitative data (For example: Number of
citizen complaints fell down by 65%). (In case you are living in a rural area,
please choose the nearest city of your region, in case you are living abroad,
you are free to choose your local foreign city to explain)

3. The city of Leh is the joint capital & the largest town of the union territory
of Ladakh in India. Leh is at an altitude of 3,524 metres (11,562 ft), and is
connected via National Highway 1 to Srinagar in the southwest and to Manali
in the south via the Leh-Manali Highway. You have been invited as an
external IT consultant by Government of India with a mandate to convert Leh
into a “Smart City”

a. Which “Smart” city in the world will you choose as a benchmark to

emulate some of the best practices of that city into Leh? Provide atleast 3
reasons with brief descriptions behind your choice of choosing that particular
city as a benchmark?

b. Suggest & describe atleast 2 innovative technology enabled services that

you will introduce into Leh so that it can be called as a “Smart city”?

MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE

Q1. Tanishq Jewellers want to set up MIS in their organization in order to

manage the information better across the organization. Can you guide them
about the same along with the characteristics, components, advantages and
limitations?

Q2. Premier Automobiles plans to set up a base in various countries across

Europe. Can you please explain that how can they analyze the culture using
Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture before setting up a base in those
countries?

Q3. A two-year-old start-up company dealing in 3D Printing is undergoing a

major overhaul due to COVID 19 and require your help

a. They are facing a lot of resistance to the changes being implemented and
want to understand the reasons for this resistance?

b. Can you help them manage these resistances to change?

 Business Communication

1. You worked as an intern at SuperEventz Event Management Solutions in the

summer of 2018. You were reporting to Maneka Sharma, the head of digital
marketing for SuperEventz. You are now applying for a job opportunity at
Manendra & Manendra for the position of Social Media Manager. The HR
department of Manendra & Manendra needs a letter of recommendation as part
of their hiring process. Write an email to Maneka Sharma requesting for a
recommendation. Use your creativity to make up any details you need in order
to craft an effective message.

2. MaxPlus Cottons is closing its Chennai manufacturing plant amidst a slow

economic climate. Mahesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer needs to be the
bearer of bad news. The silver lining is that all employees will be redeployed to
other plants, and there will be no job cuts. Considering the nature of the news,
Mahesh has decided to use the indirect approach while writing the email. He is
thinking of an effective buffer to use in the opening paragraph. What is a
buffer? Explain any 5 types of buffers, illustrate with examples.

3.a. Rewrite these sentences to reflect your audience’s viewpoint or the “You”
Attitude:

1. Your email order cannot be processed; we request that you use the order form
on our website instead.

2. We insist that you always bring your credit card to the store.

3. We want to get rid of all our 15-inch LCD screens to make room in our
warehouse for the new 19-, 23-, and 35-inch monitors. Thus, we are offering a
25 percent discount on all sales of 15-inch models this week.
4. I am applying for the position of accounting intern in your office. I feel my
grades prove that I am bright and capable, and I think I can do a good job for
you.

5. As requested, we are sending the refund for Rs.4500

3.b. Revise the following sentences to be positive rather than negative:

1. You have not filled in every section of the questionnaire we sent you.

2. It’s clear that you have not understood the question.

3. It is very obvious that you are doing everything you can to avoid your
responsibility for refunding all my costs.

4. You failed to specify the colour of the blouse that you ordered.

5. You must understand that by using the water jet cleaner without reading the
instructions carefully means that you are very likely to damage the machine
or possibly cause injury to yourself through incorrect operation.

Strategic Management

1. You have been appointed as a Strategy Consultant to an Italian Luxury Sports

Car manufacturing brand namely “Pagani Huayra” wanting to enter India.
Which one of Porter’s Generic Strategies would you choose to be operational in
India & explain the reasons in detail behind your choice of strategy? Once the
strategy has been chosen, explain the categories of customers you would target
alongwith the price points?

2. Kikkoman, a Japanese soy sauce manufacturer wishes to enter India. Conduct

a PESTLE analysis for Kikkoman in India & suggest whether Kikkoman should
enter India or otherwise.
3. You are the Chairman of a French FMCG company in India by the name of
“FrenchShine”. You are operating in the “Soaps & Detergents” category & are
facing tough rivals like HUL, Nirma & P&G. You have been operating in India
since 2016. During 2020, there has been a steady decline in your revenues &
profitability. Your market share has also fallen from 6% to 2.5% during 2020.
Your competitors are eating into your market share slowly & steadily during
Covid-19 pandemic times.

a. What turnaround strategies can you suggest to arrest the decline of revenues
& profitability of your company?

b. In your opinion, would it be considered appropriate to pursue a Strategic

Alliance or a JV Strategy or should “FrenchShine” go it alone in India? State
your response with appropriate justifications & reasons. What would be the
advantages & disadvantages of such a strategy?

Operations Management

1. What are various decision criteria for deciding a location for a business
setup? Explain these decision criteria with reference to a location decision for
setting up operations of a Large Hospitality Setup (like a Resort. etc).

2. List down briefly the various inventory management techniques prevalent in

the industry. Discuss how some of these techniques would be applicable to a
Medical Store in effective management of their inventories, i.e medical
supplies.

3. Many business organizations have operations in which operations

management is a daily and constant process. Managing a Restaurant is one such
business, wherein the procurement and managing various resources is a very
strategic process. Explain the following concepts (with atleast one example) in
Operations of a Restaurant business, and conclude how relevant is it in the
business?

a) Define Quality and list and discuss in brief the various dimensions of quality
in operations

b) Bill of Material (BOM)

Business Law

1. List out the implied warranties under the Sales of Goods Act, 1930 and
provide an example explaining each implied warranty.

2. Explain in detail two (2) real-life cases of penalties being imposed for
offences under Information Technology Act, 2000. Please explain the facts and
the nature of the offence in detail.

3. Rehan’s father died due to COVID-19 complications but Rehan felt that the
negligence of the hospital authorities led to his father dying. The hospital in
which his father was admitted is a government hospital. Now, Rehan wants to
file a case against the hospital towards this negligence. He requested the
hospital to provide the case papers of his father health records, admission
records and other details of his stay in the hospital. However, the hospital
refused it.

a. Under what law can Rehan apply to obtain the documents and records from
the government hospital in light of the refusal of the government hospital to
provide the same? Please explain the answer with reasons

b. Can the government hospital refuse the provision of the documents, if yes
under which law? Please explain the answer with reasons

Essentials of HRM
1. In your experience what are the barriers which prevent oneself from being
an effective communicator? What were the challenges you faced? Suggest
some ways to handle such challenges.

=======================================

2. Suppose that you are the HR manager at a firm where hiring-freeze has been
declared due to the ongoing pandemic. The plan is to downsize through
attrition. What steps would you take to ensure that you reap the advantages of
this strategy while minimizing the disadvantages.

3. Rahul and Priyanka are partners in a content writing company named as

‘Writing4You’. Rahul says it’s quite clear whether any particular employee of
the company is doing their job properly or not, as they monitor, observe and
give them feedback regularly. Being a small company Rahul feels a formal
appraisal process is of no use because they (both Rahul & Priyanka) can keep in
touch with every employee on a regular basis. Priyanka on the other hand, feels
that sitting down and giving formal feedback will reinforce what employees are
doing right and get them to modify things they may be doing wrong. Now, they
want you, their management consultant to advise them on what to do.

a. What performance appraisal problems will ‘Writing4You’ encounter if they

continue on the course of not using formalized performance appraisals?

b. What guidelines would you recommend to ‘Write4You’ partners for

developing an effective appraisal system?

Decision Science

1. Nemi Mehta is owning 50 Hectares of land near Junagadh. On his Farm, he

cultivates Giloy, which is a medicinal plant in Ayurveda. The below-given table
shows the sales of ‘Giloy Vati’ that his team is preparing as per one Ayurveda
script (book), and the amount they spend on the Advertisement of it. Nemi’s
problem is to analyze the effect of Advertisement on sales. Firstly, He wants to
understand the presence of a linear relationship between the sales and ‘amount
spent in advertisement’. He also wants to run a correlation and regression to
know whether he should keep spending money on Advertisements or not. If
sales figures are not affected by advertisement, he should not spend money on
it.

So, take the EXCEL output of the following and write the interpretation.

 Appropriate type of Graph which can exhibit the linear relation b/w
variables.

 Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient

 Regression Analysis

 Graph that shows predicted v/s actual sales figures.

2. The table given below is the ‘single year age population’ (taken from census
2011). This table shows the population of people (age-wise) living in Leh at the
time of the census 2011 survey. Transform this ungrouped data into Grouped
data by forming age groups (only five age groups), and then find out Mean,
Variance, Standard deviation, Ogive, and Histogram. Write the summary based
on your calculations.

3.a. The given table shows the rainfall of Gujarat Region. Forecast the rainfall
using Exponential Smoothing. Use Alpha =0.2, 0.5 and 0.8. Data is available
from 1997 to 2016, use this series for the calculation and forecast the rainfall for
the year 2017. To know, what extent the prediction is correct, actual rainfall for
2017 (1024.4 millimeters) is provided. Based on MSE and MAD, find out
which alpha values among the three suggestions are relatively near to actual
value?

3.b. A new gas-electric hybrid car has recently hit the market. The distance
traveled on 1 gallon of fuel is normally distributed with a mean of 65 miles and
a standard deviation of 4 miles. Find the probability of the following events.
(show the concerned region by z curve)

1. The car travels more than 70 miles per gallon.

2. The car travels less than 60 miles per gallon.

3. The car travels between 55 and 70 miles per gallon.

Marketing Research

1. As a researcher, you need to identify as to how many Supermarket stores in

Bengaluru sell HUL’s “Nature Protect” Range. Which non-probabilistic
sampling method would you use to complete your research? Also state the
reasons behind choosing that method. Also explain as to how will you proceed
ahead with choosing the areas/ localities in Bengaluru to conduct your research
alongwith timelines.

2. You are the Head of a Market Research Organisation. Your FMCG client
ITC has recently introduced “NimWash,” a new type of fruits and vegetable
wash owing to Covid- 19 pandemic. The FMCG company wants to understand
how customers are reacting to their recently launched product across India.
Draft a Questionnaire containing not more than 20 questions that would
succinctly address the query posed by the FMCG client.

3. You have been recently appointed as a “New Product Development” Head

for Micromax India. You have been asked to develop a brand-new innovative
product namely 5G enabled affordable smartphone as part of their product
portfolio.

a.) Explain the process in detail to arrive at the creation of your new product

b) Is there a need to conduct Test Marketing? If Yes or No, please state your
reasons to support your answer.

Employee Development & Talent Management

1. People centric companies such as Intuit, Aditya Birla, SAP ensure that their
people policies help them retain and engage talent. What are some of the
strategies followed by organizations? Illustrate your points with examples.

2. Aspire ltd has been recently acquired. Shobha , the new HR head wants to
revamp the Performance management system of the company. She would like
her managers to clearly follow the steps involved in the Performance
management system. enumerate the steps that managers should follow. Suggest
any 2-modern methods of performance appraisal that can be adopted at Aspire.

3. Akshat, the Head HR, at Aristocrat Inc is looking at hiring for the executive
role. He believes that using internal sources of talent acquisition is better than
external sources. He also wants to upskill the employees who may be
considered for managerial positions soon

a. Why does Akshat consider internal sources to be more effective? Which

internal sources will he make use of for hiring? (5 Marks)

b. Suggest three on-the-job methods that can be used for upskilling the potential
managers.

International HR Practices

1. CURIOUS INTERNATIONAL Systems Ltd is a leading Indian FMCG

company based in Mumbai. The company has expanded to Brazil in 2019 and
now company is reviewing its HR Practices in Brazil. You, as an HR Manager,
are asked to look into the issue of ethics and responsibilities that employees of
CANDID may face in Brazil. Highlight some of the ethical dilemmas that
employees may face.

2. JEEVAN AUTO Pvt Ltd is a Cycle manufacturing company in India. It is

planning to expand to Africa to capture its emerging market. As a
manufacturing organization, there could be a problem related to employee
relations. In order to face this problem better, the company has asked you to
identify the key issues in international employee relations. You are an HR
Manager of JEEVAN AUTO. Identify the key issues.

3. ESSEX LTD is a leading Garments company in India and it is planning to

expand its operations in Europe. For this company has set up a wholly owned
subsidiary in London. A team of 50 employees is formed to take up this new
project in London in this background, answer the following:

a. What will be the components of pre-departure training program?

b. On which job related factors training would be required?

International Marketing

1. You are a South Indian Snacks brand extremely popular in India that sells
varieties of Dosa, Idli, Vadas and Chutney. You wish to expand your operations
in Qatar. What would be the various Societal & Cultural norms your will
consider and why?

2. You are a manufacturer of electric scooters in US. The overall production

costs of the scooters are extremely high when you manufacture and sell in the
home market. This leaves you with very less profit margin. What would be your
strategy to increase your profit margins and why?
3. You are a well-known Turkish brand TURK-NEY (Turkish Honey) that sells
Organic Honey throughout the world. Even though there is stiff competition,
you see India with a huge potential and plan to expand your retail operations in
India.

a. List down 3 global pricing policies. Which of the 3 global pricing policies
would you consider and why? Also list down competitors in India in the honey
segment (Name any 5).

b. List down the various marketing and product promotion techniques you will
consider and why?

Marketing Strategy

1. Founded in 2011 and launched in 2013 in St Jose California USA, Zoom

Video communications had made steady progress in the enterprise
communications domain with a structured growth pattern, the company also
received regular funding from venture funds and was listed on the New York
Stock exchange in 2019.

It was also the year in which Zoom hit profit territory. In December of 2019
Zoom had a total user base of 10 million; then, the pandemic struck. The user
load of Zoom zoomed from 10 million to 300 million by April of 2020.The
company faced a severe credibility crisis for its brand and had a tough time
managing security, customer satisfaction and other issues because of the sudden
increase of user base across the world. In hindsight it can be argued that Zoom
failed to see the opportunity that existed in the consumer segment and erred in
its strategy to focus more on enterprise customers.

Assuming the Pandemic had not struck and if you were the CMO of Zoom in
November of 2020, what plans would you make to acquire new customers?
What would be your USP and how would you focus on the core brand strategy
to make the brand more relevant.

2. You are the marketing director of ISL, The Indian Super league which is
India’s premiere soccer league. ISL viewership has grown 16% in 2020-21
season over 2019-20 season, but the league compares poorly with the 400
billion viewers delivered by the IPL in 2020. What would you attribute this lag
in viewership despite soccer being the world’s most popular sport? Do a
comparison using the 4P’s of marketing between the IPL and ISL leagues and
create a marketing strategy for the league such that it can increase viewership as
well as fan engagement.

3. You are the marketing director for super events a successful event
organization working with top movie stars and organizing one of the marquee
events in the annual entertainment calendar. The business was doing well, but
the pandemic has thrown your organization in turmoil.

a. As the marketing director what strategies would you evolve in ensuring your
organization remains relevant in the post pandemic world. Create two new
product ideas for the company.

b. How would you reposition your company’s brand in the future? Create a
marketing plan for the two new product ideas that you have created in the
previous question.

Consumer Behaviour

1. What is Consumer Personality? Take any 5 consumer personality traits of

your choice and explain how they affect consumer behaviour.

2. Take an innovative product of your choice. How has it been adopted by

consumers? What is Innovation Adoption? Who are the different adopter
categories as per the Innovation Adoption Curve?
3. In context of Consumer Learning, explain the following behavioural
theories:

a. Classical Conditioning

b. Instrumental Conditioning

Brand Management

1. Steve Forbes, editor in chief of Forbes Magazine has said that brand is the
single most important investment one can make in their business and creating
strong brands should be the ultimate aim of any business. There are many
companies that have been successful in creating strong iconic brands. Colgate,
Maggie, Starbucks, Dettol, and Royal Enfield Bullet are strong brands in their
respective product categories. Study the above brands and identify the common
points these brands have adopted to grow into strong brands.

2. Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has revolutionized the indigenous sport of

kabaddi and positioned it as an aspirational sport for both players and fans. PKL
is a trailblazing initiative by Mashal Sports Private Limited and Star India
Private Limited. They have jointly worked towards elevating the sport of
kabaddi to an international standard and have infused new life into the sport by
bringing it to the major metropolitan cities of India. The bid prices for players
have increased tenfold and sponsors are queuing up to sponsor the league. The
league has witnessed tremendous growth since its inception in 2014. PKL has
grown to become the second most watched league in India on television. PKL is
backed by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), and supported by
participating members of the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) and the
Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF). What are the branding and marketing
challenges PKL has successfully cracked to galvanize the resurgence of
Kabaddi into an aspirational, world class brand with a remarkable fan
following? Critically evaluate the role of brand marketing programs in the
success of PKL.

3.a. Walter Landor is a renowned brand designer and founder of brand

consulting firm Landor. He says, “Products are made in a factory but brands are
created in the mind”. Explain his statement with examples from service and
pharma’s sector in India.

3.b. VIVO is back as Indian Premier League (IPL) title sponsor for 2021 season.
Choose a popular event and identify its sponsor. How the sponsor/sponsors are
building brand equity with their sponsorship? Is the sponsorship integrated with
other marketing communications?

Customer Relationship Management

1. ‘A service industry has a high customer interface.’ As a marketing manager

of Ginger Hotels (an Indian budget hotel chain, part of Indian Hotels Company
Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group), explain to the management as how the
CRM implementation will help your hotel in enhancing its quality of service.
What are the factors you will keep in mind for the successful implementation of
CRM systems and processes at Ginger Hotel?

2. Retention of customers not only develops business but also the profitability
of a company. You have joined as a relationship manager at ICICI Bank. The
bank has number of products such as consumer banking, home loans, car loans,
mortgage, life insurance, general insurance, etc. You have been provided with
the database and account details of the high net worth individual (HNI)
customers. How are you going to enhance the total spending of a customer with
regard to a particular product or services of the bank?
3 a) Will an operation oriented company like Big Bazaar benefit by practicing
CRM integration? Explain with reasons.

3. b) “The spending on IT infrastructure and CRM software involves high

investment while generating long-term rewards that cannot be quantified in
revenues’. Do you agree with this statement, and if so, why?

International Finance

1. Explain different accounts maintained under balance of payments with its

components. Also, explain why a stronger rupee could enlarge the India’s
balance of trade deficit and why a weaker rupee could affect the India balance
of trade deficit.

2. A US based IT firm required GBP 100000 in 180 days. The company feels
that exchange rates are expected to fluctuate in the next 6 months. Their near
accurate estimate based on a good quality research were as below:

Current Rate of GBP = USD 1.50

180 days forward rate for GBP = USD 1.48

Call premium USD 0.02 (strike price of USD 1.50 for 180 days) Interest Rates
in London for deposits – 4.5% and for loans – 5.1% Interest Rates in New York
for deposits – 4.5% and for loans – 5.1%

A fair estimate of exchange rate after 180 days is expected to be USD 1.44 with
a probability of 20%, USD 1.46 with a probability of 60% and USD 1.53 with a
probability of 20%.

Advise the company on a good hedging strategy. Make suitable assumptions if

required and state the same (10 Marks)

3. Conduct the below exercise Step-1: Click the link

https://www.imf.org//media/Files/Publications/WEO/2021/Update/January/Engl
ish/da ta/WEOJan2021update.ashx

Step-2: Answer the below questions

a. What do you understand by Real GDP? What is the Real GDP Growth Rate
of India and China in 2019? What is the estimated real GDP growth rate of
India and China in 2020? What is the projected real GDP growth rate of India
and China in 2021 and 2022?

b. What is the estimated 2022 GDP Loss (in percentage) in comparison to pre-
covid levels (January 2020 forecast) in China and Other Emerging Economies
in Asia other than China?

Financial Institutions and Markets

1. Explain the way Indian Capital Markets is organized. Over the last 3 decades
various reforms have taken place to make the capital markets in India more and
more structured and scam-free. Explain any five such significant reforms

2. Describe how the prevailing interest rates in a country affect its exchange
rates with the currency of its major trading partner

3. Explain different types of money market instruments. In each of the below

cases, which money market instruments would you recommend and why?

a. A mutual fund manager has INR 450 million of cash, which he needs to park
for a period of less than 180 days, where he will move this to equity

b. An oil refining company wishes to borrow INR 1500 million for a period of
90 days to fund its settlement of invoices

Enterprise Resource Planning

1. The following complaint is brought to your attention in the organization:
“Customers are not satisfied because of the lack of prompt response from the
organisation regarding delivery and after sales service ". Can Implementation of
an ERP solution address this complaint? Describe the areas of business you
would identify for implementation in such a situation. How can new
technologies help the organisation create satisfied customers?

2. “A well-executed ERP system is a springboard for launching a company into

e-business “. Discuss this with an example.

3. Whole Foods, a company that manufactures, markets and distributes food

products has a partially computerised system where the sales person prepares a
sales order and a data entry operator records it in a system. This has resulted in
errors and delay in executing the order. The company is planning to develop a
new system to enable salespeople to enter sales data more accurately and
promptly. According to the marketing director who is proposing the system,
salespeople would use the system to record information about customer orders
instead of data entry operators having to transcribe order information from sales
order entry forms. Whole Foods is identifying a solution that would reduce the
production time and provide support to sales and marketing.

a. How can an ERP address their concern? How will integration help in
reducing the production time?

b. Identify the players and discuss the inter relationship between various
functions by presenting the order fulfilment process.

Operations and Supply Chain Strategies

1. Mr. Gupta is supply chain manager at Mega Mart one of the leading retail
organization. In the initial days of COVID 19 situation there was sudden rise in
demand of FMCG products. It was different kind of the disruption for the retail
industry. In that scenario every business required some competitive edge to
sustain in market. Discuss different supply chain drivers with Mr. Gupta that
ultimately helps Mega Mart to enables entire supply chain.

2. Mr. Bansal was working with reputed tuition classes and having rich
experience in teaching. One-day innovative idea came to his mind to start online
classes. This idea will give Mr. Bansal more students and better geographic
reach. Suddenly he left the job and started his online classes business. He
struggles a lot in initial days of business but later he manages his business in
break even. Explain existing situation of online learning classes with respected
to industry life cycle.

3. XYZ Ltd Tourism Company running business from last 10 years and have
many good customer base. Company also operated offices in multiple cities.
But due to COVID 19 company faced a lots of challenges. Because of such
pandemic situation people were not traveling and not using any of company’s
service. At the same time company was not able to generate revenue and not
able provide salaries to employees.

a. You are appointed as business consultant in the organization. Suggest some

corporate level strategies that ultimately helps them.

b. Should company use retrenchment strategy or not? Discuss

Business: Ethics, Governance & Risk

1. We are all concerned with the serious health impacts of the escalating
pollution problem in a country like India where regulation oversight is
comparatively lax and penalties & punishments too few and far? Identify and
select any one pollution reducing/mitigating initiative practiced and embedded
in its business by a listed company that impresses you. Explain this initiative
along with the short term & long term positive impact of the same on the
environment & people. (refer to Sustainability Report and/or Business
Responsibility Report of the company)

2. If business ethics is understood under the concept of universal values then

most of the conflict among ethical values, the laws of state and the codes of the
corporate world could be eliminated. Any individual, professional, corporation
or small & medium business can make one or more of these universal values the
focal point of their business; be it trust, integrity, fairness, compassion etc and
the rest of the values will follow. Identify which two universal values influence
you OR your organization/business and discuss how this influence & focus has
led to ethical decision making and a better reputation for you OR your
organization (Write about any ONE - yourself or your organization).

3a. Gender bias is one of the ills of our society and thus impacts our workplace
too. Most progressive businesses are moving towards gender neutral policies for
talent acquisition & talent management. Explain how are businesses doing it?

3b. How has the study of Business Ethics as a subject helped you make ethical
decisions & choices to navigate your professional life better.

Digital Marketing

1. What is world-wide-web. Discuss Web 1.0 to 5.0 with relevant examples

2. You run a local beauty parlour in Mumbai. Write a Google AdWords

Search Campaign for the same.

3.a. Discuss the various stages of the SOSTAC framework

3.b. With relevant examples support each stage of the SOSTAC framework

Total Quality Management

1. As per news reports, Samsung's clients were asking the company to develop a
200MP sensor last year. However, technical difficulties with production yield
resulted in the failure of Korean company to deliver the sensor on time.
Samsung is trying hard to overcome those hurdles and is all set to introduce a
200MP camera for Smartphone this year. As a consultant how are you going to
help Samsung to understand the client’s needs, and further translate them into
product features and quality plan for the new products while keeping the other
global competitors’ performance in view?

2. Stephen Hawking and other well-renowned scientists attempt to understand

our universe, in part, by trying to understand its beginning, a theory commonly
known as “the big bang.” Starting at, or striving for, the where, why, and how of
something has even become a part of the nomenclature, now often referred to
with a “zero”—Ground Zero (when, where) and Patient Zero (who). It’s no
different with Statistical Process Control, or SPC, minus the zero, perhaps.
Explain the methods of SPC using suitable example(s). Discuss the main
objectives of SPC.

3. In order to foster a culture of Innovation and focus on Quality, the Hindustan

Zinc’s Pantnagar metal plant has 17 active quality circle (QC) teams at present.
The employees also take great pride in voluntarily driving the circles and
achieving new heights to deliver business targets, strengthen reliabilities of
asset and contributing towards sustainable growth, team building, reduction in
waste and create a stress free work environment. Source: India CSR network
(2021, 5th Jan). Hindustan Zinc’s Pantnagar Metal Plant wins big at the
National Convention on Quality Concepts Awards 2020
https://indiacsr.in/hindustan-zincs-pantnagar-metal-plant-wins-big-at-the-
national-convention- on-quality-concepts-awards-2020/

a. Explain the concept of quality circle. Discuss the composition of quality

circle.
b. Discuss the main characteristics of Quality Circles. What are the main
objectives of quality circles? Explain how Quality circles lead to stress free
work environment.

Project Management

1. Provide details for each stages of the “Generic Project Life Cycle Model” for
a hypothetical project of conducting Annual Day in your university. Include
specific actions which are required in this project and give your comment about
which will be the most critical stage for this project.

2. Government is undertaking a major renovation in railway infrastructure.

There are four possible options (Project-01 to Project-04). Based on your
instructions, following data about the feasibility of the projects were collected.
Data is in two parts. The ratings (on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 indicate POOR
and 10 indicate GOOD) on eight aspects and financial information. Conduct the
feasibility analysis – based on rating and using (Net Present Value) NPV
method (use Discounting Rate as 10% per year). Give your recommendation for
the type of project to be selected for this purpose.

Procurement Management

1. Explain Procure to Pay cycle with example for an Automobile spare part
industry who is using SAP ERP. Also explain roles and responsibility of
Procurement Manager within same example?

2. You are the buyer in textile industry M/s Weave, your management has given
you responsibility to procure a critical capex. Using Total cost of ownership
analyze your decision. What all cost are involved in the same? Explain in detail
considering all phases and lifecycle of product and how it will affect your
procurement decision.
3. You are buyer in one of the key real estate organisation M/s Brick
Developers Pvt ltd.

a. You have been given to manage Inventory Management is one of the key
activity which requires daily monitoring. Explain how vendor managed
inventory can help your organization? How does it varies compared to stock
less buying?

b. Your CPO has asked you to help him to write down requirement to keep
in mind for new supplier registration process? What are parameter you will
check before onboarding the supplier?

Strategic Financial Management

1. Compute Discounted Payback Period, Net Present Value and Profitability

Index of a project which costs Rs 50,000, cost of capital is 8% and is expected
to generate following cash inflows:

On the basis of Net Present Value and Profitability Index, suggest if the project
is to be accepted or not.

2. Crown Ltd has the following book value capital structure. Equity capital
(shares of Rs 10 par value each) Rs 15 crore, 12% Preference capital (Rs 100
par value each) Rs 1 crore. Retained earnings Rs 20 crore, 11.5% Debentures
(Rs 100 par value each) 10 crore and 11% Term loan Rs 12.5 crore. The next
year expected dividend on equity is Rs 3.6 per share and has an expected
growth rate of 7%. The market value is Rs 40/share. Preference stock,
redeemable after 10 years is currently trading at Rs 75 per share. Debentures,
trading at Rs 80 are redeemable after 6 years. Corporate tax rate is 40%.
Calculate the WACC as per book value weights. Comment on the relevance of
calculation of WACC.
3. Walter and Gordon model analyse the impact of distribution of dividends on
the valuation of the firm but the formula used in both the cases are different.
Company

ABC Ltd wanted to evaluate the price of the share in both cases. The company
earns ₹ 50 per share and expects the same for the next year. The cost of capital
to the firm is 11%. The company earns return on investment of 15% and the
firm is planning dividend payout ratio of 60%. Calculate:

a. Price of the share using Walter Model. Comment on the relationship between
return on investment and cost of capital in the case above and decision of the
firm whether dividend is to be declared or not.

b. Price of the share using Gordon model. Comment on the relationship between
return on investment and cost of capital in the case above and decision of the
firm whether dividend is to be declared or not.

Sales Management

1. Astus Auto, is a new start up dealing with CNG two wheelers. They have
hired you as a sales consultant. Can you guide them with the Sales process with
regards to their product?

2. You are hired as the HR Manager for Sales Force Mumbai, a company
dealing with managing contract sales for various apparel brands in Western
India. Can you guide your team about the best strategies to recruit, select and
train best sales employees?

3. A newly set up Sales start up, dealing in sales and distribution of different
types of soles for shoes to various shoe manufacturers has hired you as their
consultant.
a. They are confused between whether they should go a centralization or
decentralization in their management style. Can you guide them with features of
both along with their benefits and problems?

b. Also, can you guide them about the various types of Sales Organizational
structures they could choose from for their organization?

Strategic HRM

1. Sharp HR is a leading name in the field of Manpower planning and Business

Consulting. Sharp HR understands that human resource of any organisation if
not managed strategically, it affects the growth of the organisation. With a view
to bring forth the 3 stages of SHRM with its explaination so that Sharp HR can
use these to convince their clients. Help Sharp HR mention the various stages
with a brief explaination.

2. Explain Primary and Secondary activites in Porter’s Model w.r.t MBA Chai
wala. Students are expected to research the case of MBA chaiwala as a brand
apply Explain Primary and Secondary activites in Porter’s Model mentioned in
the concept to explain it.
3. Covid-19 hit the entire globe. Sumeet was a seasoned offline trainer as he
liked to introduce himself. Who till the pandemic hit never shifted to online
methodology and never considered Virtual training as a beneficial tool. He saw
virtual training as a very inhuman and tech-based chore rather than personalized
and effective offline training. Being virtual was suddenly a necessity rather than
a luxury during this difficult phase.

a. Could you as an HR manager brief Sumeet of the characteristics of a

virtual training via a power point format.

b. Give Sumeet tips and tricks to make such virtual sessions as interesting as
the offline one.
 Research Methodology

1. Last Week When Suryadev Menon went to the Byculla market for purchasing
Fruits, he has observed that most of the vendors are using WhatsApp. He has
observed that these traditional vendors have started using WhatsApp for their
business-related communications. One question came to Suryadev’s mind that
“How WhatsApp can be useful to these WhatsApp-users who are running their
fruit shops in Byculla, Mumbai?”. He wanted to survey this. During the
literature review process, Suryadev found TAM (Technology Acceptance
Model) as a suitable framework. Help him to design a questionnaire
accordingly. Also, cite the material (if any) being used for gaining insights for
the formulation of questions.

2. Rewrite the Literature for your Research by referring to the mentioned

paper, this can be a part of your literature study. Imagine you wanted to work
with the following research question: “In India, which factors motivate the
vendors (running small/ micro firms) to utilize WhatsApp?”.

3. A particular government department of Maharashtra wanted to survey

“challenges faced by Companies during the Covid-19 pandemic”. A team of
three belongs to that government Department, has downloaded data of all listed
companies from OGD platform. Now, they strongly believe that their target
group of the current study is; ‘Active companies’. As a part of writing a basic
introduction, they wanted to summarize the data they have received from OGD
platform by keeping only ‘Active Companies’.

a. Simply Identify the measurement type of each column that exists in the data
file and mention it along with the variable name.

b. Summarize the data (prepare frequency table) only for the

“PRINCIPAL_BUSINESS_ACTIVITY_AS_PER_CIN “variable and write
basic interpretation along with an appropriate graph.
Data link: Company Master Data of Maharashtra upto 28th February 2019 |
Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India

Services Marketing

1. You are hired as a consultant by a newly set up supermarket in Noida called

Spark. Can you guide them about the 4 I’s of Service Marketing and what
strategies can they use to overcome the same?

2. Super JET a private chartered flight company wants to use your help in
designing their flower of Service. Can you guide them on the same?

3. XYZ Ltd. is a company which deals with rendering Intellectual Property

Rights services to various corporate houses in Mumbai

a. They are losing out to competitors as they are not able to understand
customer expectations. Can you guide them on the factors influencing customer
expectations and the components of customer expectations?

b. Also, can you guide them that how can they improve the customers service
encounter with the help of the servuction system?

Contact:

Prof.Dr.N.Palaniappan.,MBA.,MCom.,MPhil.,PhD

Mail ID: palaniappanmail@gmail.com

Ph: - 9025810064 (whatsapp available)