MANAGEMENT THEORY & PRACTICE

December 2021
Question No .1

Introduction:

SWOT Analysis:

S denotes strengths, W denotes weaknesses, O denotes opportunities and T denotes threats.

The brand image of an organization could be its strength and its inability to reach all the
customers could be its weakness. Generally people focus too much on improves on them. Then
weaknesses could become lesser.

SWOT Analysis aims to identify the key internal and external factors seen as important to
achieving an objective. The factors come from within a company’s unique value chain. SWOT
analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories:

1. Internal factors- the strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization

2. External factors- the opportunities and threats presented by the environment external
to the organization.

Analysis may view the internal factors as strengths or as weaknesses depending upon
their effect on the organization’s objectives. What may represent strengths with respect
to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective.
The factors may include all of the 4Ps-price,product,promotion and place; as well as
personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities and so on.

Amul is one of the largest milk and milk based products manufacturer in India. Amul is an
Indian dairy brand originating from the state of Gujrat. It has huge role to play In India’s White
Revolution, which resulted in India becoming the world’s largest producer of Milk. Amul started
just in India but because of it’s growth, it has now expanded to almost countries in the world.
The product portfolio includes milk, butter, cheese, ice cream etc.

Concept & Application:

SWOT Analysis of a company is done to realize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats of the company.

Doing the SWOT analysis of Amul, we can see:

1|Page
Strengths:

1. Amul has a strong growth as its turnover for previous year increased by almost 18% and
growth revenue by 67% making it the world’s thirteenth largest dairy
organization.(Business Standard,2016).
2. With Amul’s product being popular and being in the market for a while now, it has
developed it’s brand name and their customers are very loyal to the company.
3. Although Amul’s distribution network is wide and dispersed, it has managed to maintain
its quality throughout the world. The credit also goes to the fact that Amul has a very
strong supply chain.
4. Their diverse and wide ranges of products are also one of its strengths.
5. The global mascot (Amul girl) used in their advertising is their icon throughout the world.

Weaknesses:

1. With too many international brands in competition with Amul,it now finds difficult to
control its cost of operation. And thus is facing huge competition especially in
international markets.
2. Amul introduced its chocolate a while back but it has not been able to gain the
acceptance that it was aiming for.
3. The shelf life for most dairy products is limited which makes the company vulnerable to
losses.
4. Despite the distribution being strong, it is still not dispersed to rural areas.
5.
6. Amul invests very low in terms of advertising.

Opportunities:

1. Since Amul has seen good growth in most of the countries it can further expand in more
countries in terms of exporting their products.
2. It can still further expand in product portfolio as the company has now developed a brand
name. Investing pulses, spices,grains.
3. Amul can also incorporate advertising in its operation, especially exploring into the
emerging internet and soc ial media marketing trends.
4. Explore the rural areas by working extensively on distribution.
5. Cater to the rising health conscious customers demanding low fat products.

2|Page
 Threats:

1. The local competition in the international markets as well as emerging competition in the
local market from international brands is a threat to the operation of Amul.
2. Major competition faced by Amul is in the ice-cream market with new brands emerging
3. Fluctuating inflation rate in India can affect the market of Amul,as it directly affects the
purchasing power of the customers.
4. The declining economic conditions all over the world can result in losses for Amul.
5. Sometimes there can be seasonal fluctuations in the milk production which can affect the
production of all the products of Amul.

Conclusion:

Amul will be an outstanding marketing organization, with specialization in marketing of food and
dairy products, both fresh and long life with customer focus and information technology
integration.

The network would consist of over 100 offices, 7500 stockiest covering at least every taluka
head quarter town,servcing nearly 10 lakhs outlets with a turnover of Rs. 10,000 Crore, and
serving several co-operatives.

3|Page
Question No 2.

Introduction

Just in Time Approach

The JIT approach has its roots in the KANBAN system of material flow pioneered by
the Toyota Motor Company. The Japanese manufacturing firms especially in electronic and
automobile industries became the leaders in world markets by setting standards for product
quality and cost against which firms of other countries were compared. This success is
often attributed to the development and application of Just in Time -JIT-production
systems by the Japanese firms.

The first view of JIT is as a form of production scheduling and inventory management
whereby the products are produced to meet actual demand and materials for each stage of
production are received or produced "just in time" for use in the next stage of production or
for delivery to the customer. This definition of JIT is called Little JIT.

The other view of JIT is as a revolutionary approach to manufacture by Japanese firms in

which the entire way the products are designed, work is organized and responsibilities are
assigned is changed drastically and a constant striving for improvement and elimination of
waste is instilled. Thisapproach to manufacture is referred to as Big JIT.

The term "Lean Production" was first used by Womach, Jones and Roos in their landmark
study of the automobile industry and in their book titled "The machine that changed the
world". Now-a-days, firms speak of "going lean", "lean manufacturing", “lean retailing" and
"lean supply chains”.

JIT & Lean Production for MG Motors:

MG Motor, or Morris Garage, is a British marquee known for its sports cars and mini cars. It
was founded in 1924 by Cecil Kimber. Over the years, with its glorious history, the ownership of
the company has changed hands across diversified business conglomerates to finally being
owned by Chinese state-run SAIC Motor.

4|Page
Concept & Application:
The basic ideas behind Big JIT or Lean Production are:

• Work in progress (WIP) inventory is reduced to the barest minimum.

• JIT is a pull system: Production at each stage is initiated only when requested.

• JIT extends beyond the plant boundaries-supplier partnerships ensure that deliveries are
made on "as needed" basis.

• The benefits of JIT extend beyond savings of inventory related costs: quality problem can
be identified earlier, rework and inspection of finished goods are minimized.

• The JIT approach requires a serious commitment from the top management and workers
alike.

More about Lean Manufacturing

During the period from 1970s to 1990s, Japanese organizations spearheaded by Toyota,
Mazda, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi developed a new kind of production technology
referred to as Lean Production Systems. These systems consist of processes that have
been designed to minimize their inherent wastes-of time, materials and money. Lean
production systems use minimal amount of resources to produce a high volume of high
quality goods with some variety. The name "Lean Production Systems" has come to be
used because these systems use much less of certain resources than the mass production
systems use, i.e., less space, less inventory and fewer workers to produce a comparable
quantity of output.

In a manufacturing firm, the various kinds of wastes found are:

• Defect
• Transportation
• Inventory
• Over-production
• Waiting time
• Processing time

It is possible to identify these wastes by just walking around the manufacturing shop floor.
The contributors or sources of these wastes can also be identified by observing the working
conditions, shop practices and management directives.

5|Page
Some of these sources of waste are In MG Motors:

• Large lot production

• Inefficient set-up procedures
• Long production change-over times
• Poor operating performance: long processing times
• Break-down of equipment
• Poor shop-floor coordination
• Poor shop-floor control

The sources of wastes are In MG Motors:

• When production changeovers are costly and time consuming, large production lots are
preferred to keep the change-over costs down. However, large lots contribute to over-
production and excess inventories,which increase inventory carrying costs.

• Machines perform poorly and are unreliable because they are not maintained well and
they are not attended to until they breakdowncompletely all of a sudden.

• Processes consist of wasteful steps and inefficient procedures because no one investigates
them to identify these wastes, no one prescribes improved procedures and no one
provides standards to which the operations should conform.

• Materials on shop floor have to be moved long distances and are made to wait for long
times between operations. This is because equipments are not located properly in the
sequence of processing steps and nobody attempts to re-arrange the layout.

The various elements of lean production are:

• Small lot production

• Set-up time reduction
• Maintaining and improving equipments
• Pull production systems
• Focused factories
• Group technology
• Work cells or cellular manufacturing

Workers in a lean production system are expected to be more competent than workers in
traditional systems such as batch and mass production systems. They must be able to work
in teams and play active roles in operating and improving the system. They have greater
responsibilities than those in traditional systems.

6|Page
 Conclusion:

JIT and Lean Production are the most frequently used systems to regulate production and
ensure profitability.
They are different but share common ground in terms of their applications automotive industry.
JIT is based on production efficiency to increase value for the product end user. MG motors can
apply both systems separately or jointly to reduce waste and increase value in production for
the customers. JIT can be used to eliminate waste and accumulation in excessive inventory.the
company can also apply Lean production across various deparments, including manufacturing,
marketing and distribution, to boost the company’s performance in the Indian market. Both
systems have shown positive outcomes in the automotive industry and the company can
succeed in its application to overcome the challenges.

7|Page
Question No. 3 (A)

Introduction:

Lemon Tree Hotels is a hotel chain company, based in India. It is India's largest hotel chain in
the mid-priced hotel sector.The company owns and operates 84 hotels with 8300 rooms in 52
cities of India till date. Lemon Tree Hotels was founded by Patanjali (Patu) Keswani. This
award-winning Indian hotel chain opened its first hotel with 49 rooms in May 2004.

Concept & Application:

Many factors affect the success and growth of the hotel industry. Everything from governmental
changes to high stake competitors and the uncontrollable weather impedes the hospitality
and tourism industry too.

Political factors:

The government holds extensive power over The Lemontree:

• Travel bans can kill the hotel and tourism industry.

• Hotel owners would enjoy tax reform.

• Fear during presidential elections.

Economic factors:

• Weakened currencies, economic cycles, and tailored offerings

• A big investment expected to grow.
• The strength of currency can bolster the industry.
• The importance of economic cycling.

Sociocultural factors:

• Customers want cheaper hotels and turn to Airbnb instead

• Big trouble with Airbnb.
8|Page
 • New technology to be wary about.
• Fast sharing news thanks to the internet.
• Because of social media,
• Reviews on blogs can make or break a hotel’s reputation.
• Traveling websites forces hotels to remain competitive.

Conclusion:

PESTEL analysis provides a useful framework to understand the general environment, Porter’s
five forces is helpful to make sense of an industry’s profit potential. Strategic groups are
valuable for understanding close competitors that affect a firm more than other industry
members. When executives carefully monitor their organization’s environment using these
tools, they greatly increase the chances of their organization being successful.

9|Page
Question No. 3 (B)

Introduction:

Contingency Approach is known for;

• To identify as to which of the situational factors are most important under a given set
of circumstances.

• To predict which leadership style will be most effective under those circumstances.

Concept & Application:

In Case of Lemontree application of Contingency Approach:

For the hotel management to evaluate the potential suggestions for their customer and supply
chain contracts through reviewing how Covid-19 will affect their capability to perform their
vowed obligations and evaluate what rights they might have if their counterparty is unable to
perform I would encourage them to observe the following for them apply the contingency
approach of Modern approach in order to face the pandemic effectively.

Firstly, they should monitor local Governmental and World Health Organization advice and
notify or remind staff of recommendations not to travel to particular areas and of measures to
help prevent the spread of Covid-19. Secondly, I would encourage them to introduce policies
omitting or limiting business travel, particularly to high-risk areas, and consider alternative
communication solutions. Thirdly, I would provide the staff with the right equipment for
sanitizing hands and protective masks, and with any additional health and safety training or
support that they might need in order to deal with the pandemic effectively.

I would also help by encouraging the management to establish procedures requiring staff to
report if they feel unwell or are absent, and to report possible infection or exposure to the virus
or concerns involving others they have been in contact with at work.

Conclusion:

The Contingency approach often called as Situational Approach is based upon the premise that
all management is essentially situation in nature.

10 | P a g e
Contingency theory is beneficial to organizations because of the potential for learning from
specifics situations and using these lessons to influence future management of the same or
similar situations.

The ability to adapt to external pressures and changes is also an advantage.

11 | P a g e