Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

Work-Integrated Learning Programmes Division

First Semester 2022-2023

Mid-Semester Test
(EC-2 Regular)

Course No. : BA ZC411

Course Title : MARKETING
Nature of Exam : Open Book
Weightage : 30% No. of Pages =4
Duration : 2 Hours No. of Questions = 3
Date of Exam : Saturday, 24/09/2022 (AN)
Note:
1. Please follow all the Instructions to Candidates given on the cover page of the answer book.
2. All parts of a question should be answered consecutively. Each answer should start from a fresh page.
3. Assumptions made if any, should be stated clearly at the beginning of your answer.

Q.1 Mr. Shanmugasundaram had been in retirement for many years. In the early seventies, he
started as an engineer in a well-known automobile company, M/s Mistry Automotive
Corporation (MACO). His sincerity, skill, and penchant for hard work had seen him rise
through the ranks, and he retired as the company's Chairman in 2010. The company inducted
him into its hall of fame as a tribute to his stellar contribution. It gave him the designation of
Chairman Emeritus, which entitled him to small privileges like a company car, access to
company guest houses, and invitations to events organized at the company.
On a beautiful afternoon in his well-appointed apartment in Chennai, years after his retirement,
his grandson Vinay, an MBA from a well-known university in the USA, was chatting with him
about his days at MACO. Mr. Shanmugasundaram usually avoided talking about his time at
MACO. The company had seen some rough times, and the press sometimes tried to obtain his
opinion on the state of matters there. Mr. Shanmugasundaram frequently stopped at some
innocuous statement and steered clear of saying anything that could prove controversial.
Vinay: The automotive industry has changed dramatically since your days. It is nearly
unrecognizable.
SS (smilingly): That is what every generation thinks about itself. Every young man who puts on
his boots to work believes that the world has changed and his predecessors' wisdom has become
irrelevant.
Yes, many things have changed. Technology is much more advanced these days. But the basics of
management have not changed much.
Vinay: How do you justify that?
SS: See, when I started, the concept of cost, for example, was generally restricted to the price of
the car. A car used to cost about Rs. 10,000 when the starting salary for an engineer used to be
about Rs. 1000 per month. Buying a car was a once-in-a-lifetime affair. At the same time, fuel
was much cheaper. A liter of petrol used to come at less than a rupee. The spares were less
expensive, as were the costs of maintenance.
These days, we have a variety of costs. The customer incurs interest costs when he buys a car on
finance. The expenses for spares and maintenance have increased considerably, as have petrol or
diesel prices. Educated customers have also started thinking in terms of environmental costs.
While cost components have changed, the customer's interest in buying an economical vehicle has
remained unchanged.
Vinay: Maybe you are right.
Vinay: How did you deal with the challenges of change during the over forty-year association
with MACO?
SS: For nearly half of my tenure, a period of twenty years, MACO operated in a controlled
economy. There was just another manufacturer of passenger cars in the country, and the
competition was restricted between the two. The demand was much higher than our production
capacities put together, and the customer mostly had to wait for a period of close to one year
before he could get the product. We virtually sold everything we made. The so-called competition
between us was focused on the waiting period.
That was probably not a good thing as neither of us focused on R&D or improving product
features, quality, or service parameters. It was not required. Why would anyone throw good
money behind such high-risk activities as research when the customer was queuing outside your
door to buy your products?
The times changed in the early nineties when the then Manmohan Singh government
liberalized the economy and exposed Indian businesses to international competition.
Suddenly the situation changed as all the big boys of the automobile industry made a
beeline for the Indian market. We understood we needed to do something different to
survive. We tied up with a German manufacturer, a legendary brand known for its
excellence in automobile engineering and product design. Unfortunately, the
association did not last for long.
Vinay: Why, what happened?
SS: The Germans did not want to adapt to Indian conditions. Their policy was simple. The
product or anything related to it would not be changed at all. They believed they had achieved
perfection that could not be tampered with. If the Indian customer or MACO, for that matter,
was not comfortable with it, they did not care.
SS (continued): There came a period when the company lost ground. No one wanted to buy
our old cars, which could not compete with the sleeker and zippier models our multinational
competitors placed in their showrooms. The company was stuck with a vast inventory, and
our sales persons had to go from door to door trying to sell them by offering price cuts,
incentives, and gifts. There was no margin to make. So the dealers were also unhappy and
started leaving us in large numbers.
Vinay: Yes, I remember the time even though I was very young then. I remember you used to
look stressed, and life at home had changed from normal.
SS: Shakespeare once wrote, "Sweet are the uses of adversity." Difficult times challenge you
and make you stronger. We were lucky on one point. We had made a lot of money and had
tons of cash. We decided to change the culture of the company.
They give me credit for this change. But it was warranted by the difficult times. People
changed because they did not have any other option. We discarded our old arrogant ways. We
started listening to the customer. We engaged well-known research firms to understand the
customers' minds and the various transportation challenges they faced. For example, that set
the ground for the launch of "Shaan," the vehicle we made for rural India. It was rugged,
 came with an engine shield that protected the power train from mud and water, and had a high
ground clearance. It turned out to be a best-seller.
Vinay: Yes. Wasn't it named after you?
Mr. Shanmugasundaram smiled.
(a) 2. Briefly explain the four concepts of marketing. (4)
(b) Find out instances of each from the case, if available. (6)

Q.2 HDFC Bank's mission is to be a world-class Indian bank. We have a two-fold objective: first,
to be the preferred provider of banking services for target retail and wholesale customer
segments. The second objective is to achieve healthy growth in profitability, consistent with
the bank's risk appetite.

 The above, as is already mentioned in the body of the statement, is the mission statement of
HDFC bank.
(a) What are the characteristics of a good mission statement? [4]
(b) Critically evaluate the mission statement of HDFC bank as given above. [6]

Q.3 The Vaishnodevi temple nestles amidst the mountains of the lower Himalayas. It is located on
top of a hill. The 14 km trek up to the shrine is arduous and can easily challenge even a healthy
person. You could either choose to sit atop a mule or walk barefoot though, nowadays, a
helicopter service has become popular. Still, every year, lakhs of pilgrims ignore the pain in
their bodies and choose to trudge atop the mountains on foot to have a darshan of Vaishno
Mata.
This was Ravi's first visit to the famous temple. He was about forty, in great shape thanks to a
5 km morning jog. Though he could have easily afforded other options, he traveled to the
shrine on foot. As he climbed the narrow road to the temple, his thoughts turned to other
things. It was customary on the part of Hindu pilgrims to give up something when they visited
a notable temple. Some promise to stay away from harmful elements like alcohol. A few
intelligent alecs find enterprising ways of getting around these customs. Some of them make
promises not to eat stuff they are sure they would never encounter. They were stuff like
escargot (snail) or octopus, consumed in faraway cultures.
Ravi had decided to give up smoking. Smoking is the most difficult of all addictions to give
up. The great writer Mark Twain once quipped, "It is very easy to give up smoking. I have
done it so many times." This time, up in the cold, salubrious climes of the Himalayan foothills,
he found himself brave enough for the task. He hoped the blessings of the Goddess would also
help him overcome the obnoxious habit.
Ravi never really understood why he smoked. He hated the fumes which crowded past his
airways to his lungs. Often they made him cough. Sometimes he even got mouth ulcers. Still,
he found it difficult to kick the habit. He would inevitably reach out for a cigarette when he
was alone. The funny thing is he also smoked in a group with his friends.
Early in his marriage, his wife had once asked him why he smoked. He had been baffled for an
answer. "It makes me feel cheerful." He had replied and playfully offered a pull to his spouse,
knowing she would refuse.
He had picked up his habit in school. He remembered how he and a few friends would quietly
sneak into the alleys surrounding his school and buy Capstan cigarettes from a shop. The
shopkeeper had strategically placed his shop a little away from the main thoroughfare so that
the students would not risk being caught by their teachers. Often that meant harsh punishment
in school. That did not deter him and his group of friends, none of whom liked school.
Smoking a cigarette, at least back then, felt so glamorous and liberating. With the cigarette
pressed between their lips, they felt like Vijay of Deewar, the movie which had been a
smashing hit and had made a superstar out of the great Amitabh Bachhan. Superman Vijay,
who could take on twenty men with his bare hands, usually smoked a bidi and looked
impressive in his dock worker's blue uniform.
Still, he hated the smoke and was only delighted when the shopkeeper, who had got to know
the students offered them cheap lozenges to suppress the smell of smoke. This he usually did
for free and endeared himself to this group of customers.
In college, he continued the habit. Now it seemed like the man thing to do. He also learned
creative ways of making smoke curls as he exhaled. Amongst his friends, they would hold
competitions about who could have the smoke for the most extended duration. His friend
Prateek, whose abilities in such games were near legendary, later suffered a stroke in his
thirties and only barely managed to survive. There was a feeling among the male students that
girls found smokers attractive. He was enormously disappointed to learn later that was not the
case. His wife told him she found them smelly, obnoxious, and hated being around a smoker.
The habit had continued in his sales career. He and his fellow friends in sales joked about how
tobacco companies these days ran their businesses from the revenues he got from the tribe of
salesmen. Their consumption of cigarettes spiked around month end as pressure mounted to
meet their sales targets. He did not understand this phenomenon. Was he smoking to release
stress? He did not find any information anywhere which would even suggest that nicotine
served to reduce the effects of the stress hormone. So what is it? Or was it smoking an outlet
for his anger toward himself? Was it a punishment he inflicted on himself for not meeting his
target? This line of reasoning explained why his smoking tended to go up under challenging
months. Still, something was missing. And now that he was quitting the stick, he would
probably never know why he virtually smoked away his youth.
(a) Define needs, wants, and desires. [4]
(b) What are the different types of needs? Pull out examples from the case above to
illustrate them. [6]

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