Seat Number RATH-03

A-5.3
Case Studies in Management
(73503)
Total Pages : 6]
Time : 2 Hours Max Marks : 60

Note : Attempt any three cases from the following :

1. Case : 20

Sweet Drinks Ltd. is a drinks company whose core business is manufacturing

and selling soft drinks to 80,000 outlets throughout India. The business of

the company is good with annual turnover exceeding three billions of rupees.

Profits are good and shareholders are often rewarded with lucrative dividends

and bonuses. Four years back the company has diversified into the alcoholic

drinks industry and has takenover two small breweries located in Western

India. The company has also diversified into hotels with purchase of twenty-

five hotels of three/four star category across the country. To its advantage

the company has been able to obtain a monopoly for the sale of its soft drinks

in its hotel and is beginning to establish itself as a brand name in the brewery

industry. Part of the strategy of the company is to continue to purchase hotel,

particular by targeting National Capital Region of Delhi where Tourism is

likely to pick up with the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. The company

also intends to construct of five star hotel in Gurgaon to take tax advantage

announced recently by the Finance Ministers. Everything was going on well

until recently, when a public Interest Litigation from NGO accused the company

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 of indulging in surrogate advertising of its brewery products. In fact the

company has similar brand names for its soft drinks and brewery products.

This triggered a lot of protests and demonstrations against the company.

Newspapers were flooded with the articles against the company. There were

also some demonstration and some small incidents of stone pelting in a few

of its hotels.

Answer the following questions :

(a) Discuss the factors related to the SWOT Analysis for the company.

(b) Suggest the suitable marketing strategies for diversification adopted

by the company.

2. Case : 20

Mrs. Krupa Devi worked for 20 years in the Horlicks Biscuits Ltd., she joined

very recently the Nutrine Biscuits Ltd., as the production manager, she was

supposed to attend a routine departmental heads meeting last Friday at 4.30

p.m., which was presided over by the managing director of the company. She

did not attend the meeting as there was no formal or informal communication

to her, the managing director, didn’t like her absence as there were many

important items to be discussed regarding production department, Mrs. Krupa

Devi was called by the managing director on the next day and asked explanation

for not attending the meeting, Mrs. Krupa Devi replies that there was no

information. The secretary said that it was a routine meeting and as such

information was not sent to any departmental head. But all other heads, except

Mrs. Krupa Devi, attended the meeting.

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 Questions :

(a) Who is responsible for the occurrence of such a mistake ?

(b) Find out the reason for the incident.

(c) How do you propose to solve such problems in future ?

3. Case : 20

Amol and Vishal are two enterprising youth. They have passed out from IIM,
Bangalore. They thought instead of doing a job, they will launch fresh
vegetables in Indian markets. Having learnt of the future conventional foods,
they decided to venture into cultivation of mushrooms.

Mushrooms are known to be the best alternative food for vegetarians. For
Amol and Vishal fund raising was a serious handicap for mass production.
However, the first trial batch of mushrooms that they produced was bought
by Star Hotel in Bangalore. Further, the hotel placed orders for supply of
20 kgs everyday.

Now Mushrooms industry is run by small entrepreneurs, like Amol and Vishal
Another big player M/s Siddhivinayak Mushrooms, equipped with cold storage
facility was more interested in the export market. Amol and Vishal have set
their sight high. They aim to sell mushrooms in a very big way all over India.
Mushrooms have a great market potential and is a perishable food.

Questions :

(1) How will you advise Amol and Vishal, as how to increase the consumer
awareness about this new food ?

(2) What would be your suggestions for distribution channel for

mushrooms ?

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4. Case : 20

Raghav started a take away eating joint in a nearby market. His business

was doing well. He ensured that the food was properly cooked, a standard

taste was maintained packing of food was done effectively and the orders were

executed on time. But unfortunately he met with an accident and was advised

three months bed rest. In his absence, his cousin Rohit took charge of his

business. When he resumed his work after three months, he realized that his

clientele had dropped. The people were not happy with the services as the

quality of food had deteriorated and the delivery time for orders had increased

considerably. All this was happening because most of his previous staff had

left as Rohit used to adopt a very strict and authoritative approach towards

them.

Questions :

(1) List any two aspects about this business that Raghav was controlling

in order to make it successful.

(2) Explain briefly any two points to highlight the importance of the

controlling function.

5. Case : 20

By any measure, Ajit Khurana, the CEO of Easy to Palate Corporation, is

a successful man. He owns 54 franchises of his firm's hamburger chain which

generate huge revenues for the firm. The restaurants make 18% more than

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 the national average and the employee turnover is incredibly low for the fast-

food industry, with a supervisor’s average tenure at 12.4 years. He knows what

he wants, how to retain employees and how to get high profits.

Many say that you should be soft, participative, open to ideas and empower

employees for leading them but Ajit runs his business by his own principle

''My Way !'' He tolerates little deviance form what he wants, his instructions

and his training. He is absolutely sure he knows the best way and more than

one employee is scared of disagreeing with him. He likes keeping people a

little off balance and a little queasy so they will work harder to avoid his

wrath. He even has his own rules and he will fire those who break any of

them twice.

His restaurants run like clockwork. He does the top level hiring himself. He

usually spends hours with his managers and their families to know their

personal lives, their financial health and looks for right responses. He says,

''I want them to understand this is not a job to me. This is a lifetime of working

together. I want partners who are going to die with me.''

For all their trouble and unquestioning obedience and loyalty, Ajit's Employees

and supervisors find a home, a family, a community and a place to grow. If

you have problems, he will listen to you and allow you to be relaxed. He always

wants to make his employees to be worked happily because he thinks that

you can focus on making money when you are out of worry. He pays his

employees considerably higher than national averages, plays golf with them

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 and gets involved with their personal lives. He also likes to have fun, practical

jokes but he also works hard. Eighty four hours a week is normal. His presence,

his energy and his unbending confidence in ''his way'' style make

changes.

Questions :

(1) How would you describe Ajit Khurana's leadership style ?

(2) As an employee would you like to work for him ? Why ?

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