IMT-16: International Trade-2014
IMT-16: International Trade-2014
SECTION - A
1. Discuss the major benefits and risks of international trade?
2. Explain the various types of Non-Tariff Barriers of international trade.
3. Critically discuss the major changes that have taken in global trade in the last decade.
4. Explain the comparative cost advantage theory of trade with the help of an example.
5. What is the importance of TRIPS in India?
SECTION - B
1. Describe the factor endowments theory of Heckscher-Ohlin.
2. Distinguish between FDI and FII.
3. Explain the inward-oriented and outward oriented trade strategy.
4. How is WTO different from GATT?
5. What is current account deficit? How can it be minimised?
SECTION - C
1. Discuss the Doha Development Agenda of World Trade Organisation.
2. What are the objectives of ASEAN and SAPTA?
3. Explain the different stages of economic integration in formation of Regional Trade Agreements with examples.
4. How is IMF different from IBRD?
5. Describe the stages of issuing a letter of credit (L/C) for international payments.
CASE STUDY - 1
Regional Trading Agreements (RTAs)
The proliferation of regional trading arrangements (RTAs), especially after 1990, has sparked a lot of interest. Prof Bhagwati, a staunch multilateralist, has likened them to ‘stumbling blocs’ to the multilateral focus of the World Trade Organization (WTO). As countries perceive that the multilateralism of WTO is falling apart, they are rushing to get into regional alliances as a defensive response. Presumably, RTAs act as an insurance against protectionism, particularly for small and developing countries. Small countries, it can be argued, conclude RTAs with large countries before they are excluded by other countries doing the same — a kind of first-mover advantage. But do developing countries benefit from these RTAs? Are these benefits economic in terms of market access? These are two issues I will take up in this article.
The number of RTAs was negligible — around 20 — till about 1990 or so, and increased exponentially to over 300 by 2005, and are close to 400 today. In addition, around 75% are now operational. Second, more than 50% of these are between developing countries, including the so-called transition economies. Third, according to a World Bank estimate — usually read with a bucket of salt next to you! — if we exclude RTAs involving countries that have close to aero most-favoured nation (MNF) tariffs, the share of world trade in RTAs falls from 33% to about 20%. Finally, 85% of these RTAs are free trade agreements (FTAs) rather than Customs unions (CUs). In the former, countries retain their tariff-setting independence vis-a-vis non- RTA members. Last, most countries are members of multiple RTAs. This feature is particularly true of developing countries, especially those in the African continent.
The gains from an RTA stem from the fact that some countries are excluded from the RTA. Hence, members of RTAs have tariff advantages in other RTA markets vis-a-vis non-RTA suppliers. If the non-RTA member loses an RTA market only on account of the tariff preferences available to RTA members, this is called trade diversion. However, trade increase within the RTA due to removal of tariffs is called trade creation. Without going into the relative intricacies of calculating the net effect of trade diversion and trade creation, one implication is that the RTA must lead to increased trade among the RTA members if the RTA is presumed to have been beneficial to the members of the RTA.
What is the evidence? One simple calculation would be to look at the share of intra-RTA trade compared to total global trade of all the RTA countries before and after implementation of an RTA. As a rough approximation, one can argue that this must increase if RTAs have been beneficial. Since there is a time gap between the signing of an RTA and the actual implementation of tariff concession, a rough rule would be to look at this ratio a few years before and after the implementation of an RTA. Such a calculation for major RTAs is shown in the accompanying table. The conclusion is obvious. Barring Mercosur, in no other RTA has there been a significant increase in intra-RTA trade after implementation of the agreement. The logic of taking just few years before and after was to try to isolate trade increase that can be attributed to the RTA alone, that is, trade that is not influenced by other well-known factors such as incomes, prices, etc, and that would have occurred anyway.
It must also be remembered that an RTA has administrative costs in terms of implementing the system of rules of origin, cumulation, etc, that are an integral part of such agreements. It is debatable — I have seen no calculations — whether the small percentage increase in RTA trade — as in the case of ASEAN — justifies such costs. So, RTAs do not give a significant market access benefits to members. Yet, RTAs continue to flourish. In fact, India, a latecomer to RTAs, is now stepping up efforts to contract a number of RTAs.
Source: The ET, Aug. 2010
Questions
1. On the basis of the case analyse the reasons for the countries to sign Regional Trading Arrangements (RTAs), especially after 1990.
2. Do you consider the regional trading arrangements (RTAs) as a threat to free trade? Give reasons.
CASE STUDY - 2
Global Operations of P & G
Proctor and Gamble (P & G), “a global consumer products giant,” stormed the Japanese market with American products, American managers, American sales methods and strategies. The result was disastrous until the company learnt how to adapt products and marketing style of Japanese culture. P & G which entered the Japanese market in 1973 lost money until 1987, but by 1991 it became the second largest foreign market.”
P & G, acclaimed as “the world’s most admired marketing machine”, entered India, which has been considered as one of the largest emerging markets, in 1985. It entered the Indian detergent market in the early nineties with the Ariel brand through P & G India (in which it had a 51 percent holding which was raised to 65% in January 1993 the remaining 35% being held by the public). Later in 1993 it established a 100 % subsidiary, P & G Home Products.
Over a period of about one and a half decades since its entry in India, P & G invested several thousand crores. However, dissatisfied with its performance in India, it decided to restructure its operations, which in several respects
meant a shrinking of activities – the manpower was drastically cut, and thousands of stockists were terminated. P & G however holds that, it will continue to invest in India.
China, on the other hand, with business worth several times than in India in less than 12 years, has emerged as a highly promising market for P & G. When the Chinese market was opened up, P & G was one of the first MNCs to enter. Prior to liberalization, Chinese consumers had to content with shoddy products manufactured by government companies. Per capita income of China is substantially higher than India’s and the Chinese economy was growing faster than that of India. Further, the success of the single child concept in China means higher disposable income.
It is also pointed out that for a global company like P & G, understanding Chinese culture was far easier since the expat Chinese in the US was not very different from those back home where as most Indian expats tended to adapt for ore to the cultural nuances of the immigrant country.
One of P&Gs big bets in India was the compact technology premium detergent brand ‘Ariel’. After an initial show, Ariel, however, failed to generate enough sales – consumers seem to have gone by the per kilo cost than the cost per wash propagated by the promotion. To start with, P&G had to import the expensive state-of-the-art ingredients, which attracted heavy custom duties. The company estimated that it would cost Rs 60 per kilo for Ariel compared to Rs 27 for Surf and Rs 8 for Nirma, Because of the Rupee devaluation of the early 1990s, the test market price of Rs 35 for 500 gms was soon Rs 41 by the time the product was launched. HLL fought Ariel back with premium variants for Surf like Surf Excel.
It is pointed out that, “in hindsight, even P & G managers privately admit that bringing in the latest compact technology was a big blunder. In the eighties, P & G had taken a huge beating in one of its most profitable markets, Japan, at the hands of local company Kao. Knowing the Japanese consumer’s fondness for small things, Kao weaved magic with its new found compact technology. For a company that prided itself on technology, the drubbing in Japan was particularly painful. It was, therefore, decided that compacts would now be the lead brand for the entire Asia-Pacific region. When P & G launched Ariel in India, it hoped that the Indian consumer would devise appropriate benchmarks to evaluate Ariel. As compacts provided economy of use, P&G hoped that consumers would buy in the low-cost-per-wash story. But selling that story through advertising was particularly difficult, especially since Indian consumers believed that the washing wasn’t over unless the bar had been used for scrubbing. Even though Ariel was targeted at the consumers with high disposable income, who represented half the urban population, consumers simply baulked the outlay.
Thereafter, one thing led to another. Ariel’s strategy of introducing variants was a smart move to flank Lever at every price point by cleverly using the brand’s halo effect. And by supporting the brand in mass media and retaining the share of voice. By 1996, it had become clear that Ariels’s equity as a high performance detergent had begun to take a beating. Its equity as a top-of –the-line detergent was getting eroded. Nowhere in P&G’s history had a concept like Super Soaker been used to gain volumes. It was decided that Super Soaker would no longer be supported, nor Ariel bar be supported in media.
Questions
1. Discuss the reasons for the differences in the performance of P&G in India and China.
2. From the evidence given in the case, state the benefits and risks of investment by an MNC in foreign countries.
IMT-15: Production and Operations Management-2014
IMT-15: Production and Operations Management-2014
SECTION - A
Q1: What is operations management? Describe the different typical measures for quality, speed of delivery and flexibility.
Q2: Neotech Corporation is considering adding a new feature that will increase unit sales by 7.5% and product cost by 13%. The profit is expected to increase by 23% of the increased sales. Initially the product cost incurred by the company was 54% of the sales price. Should the new feature be added by the company?
Q3: Amit drives his own car on company business. His employer reimburses him for such travel at the rate of Rs. 8.50 per km. Amit estimates that his fixed costs per year such as taxes, insurance and depreciation are Rs. 25000. The direct or variable costs such as gas, oil and maintenance average about Rs. 2.40 per km. How many km must he drive to break even?
Q4: A small manufacturing facility is being planned that will feed parts to three heavy manufacturing facilities. The locations of the current plants with their coordinates and volume requirements are given in the following table:
Use the centroid method to determine the best location for this new facility.
Q5: What are the qualitative techniques used in forecasting?
SECTION - B
Q1: A firm’s sales for a product line during the 12 quarters of the past three years were as follows:
Quarter
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Sales
600
1550
1500
1500
2400
3100
2600
2900
3800
4500
4000
4900
Forecast sales of each quarter of the fourth year i.e. quarters 13, 14, 15 and 16.
Q2: What is the major difference between aggregate planning in manufacturing and aggregate planning in service?
Q3: Madan Mathur is the supervisor of Legal Cop-Express, which provides copy services for downtown Los Angeles law firms. Five customers submitted their orders at the beginning of the week. Specific scheduling data are as follows:
imt solved assignments
All orders require the use of the only color copy machine available. Mr. Mathur must decide on the processing sequence for the five orders. The evaluation criterion is minimum flow time. Suppose that Mathur decides to use the FCFS rule in an attempt to make Legal Copy-Express appear fair to its customers.
Q4: What is the role of safety stock in an MRP system? “MRP just prepares shopping lists. It does not do the shopping or cook the dinner.” Comment.
Q5: Items purchased from a vendor cost Rs.20 each and the forecast for next year demand is 1000 units. If it costs Rs.5 every time an order is placed for more units and the storage cost is Rs.4 per unit per year. Find that
a. What quantity should be ordered each time?
b. What is the total ordering cost for a year?
c. What is the total storage cost for a year?
SECTION - C
Q1: "You don't inspect quality into a product; you have to build it in." Discuss the implications of this statement.
Q2: A & B company has yearly demand for one of its products as follows
Year
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Demand
710
660
720
780
730
690
750
770
Develop a three-period moving average forecast and a three-period weighted moving average forecast with weights of 0.50, 0.35 and 0.15 for the most recent demand values, in that order. Calculate mean absolute deviation for each forecast and indicate which would seem to be most accurate.
Q3: Discuss the purpose of and differences between p charts and R charts.
Q4: What is meant by PMT and MRO? How MRO performs is different functions for maintenance and repairs?
Q5: Describe the concepts of competitive priorities, competitive capabilities, order winners and order qualifiers.
CASE STUDY - 1
Ten samples of 15 parts each were taken from an ongoing process to establish a p chart for control. The samples and the number of defectives in each are shown in the following table:
imt latest solved assignments 2014
a. Develop a p chart for 95 percent confidence (1.96 standard deviations).
b. Based on the plotted data points, what comments can you make?
CASE STUDY - 2
The R & D department is planning to bid on a large project for the development of a new communication system for commercial planes. The accompanying table shows the activities, times and sequences require:
imt-15 solved assignments
a. Draw the network diagram.
b. What is the critical path?
c. Suppose you want to shorten completion time as much as possible and you have the option of shortening any or all of B, C, D and G each one week. Which would you shorten?
d. What is the new critical path and earliest completion time?
IMT-14: Organization Structure and Behaviour-2014
IMT-14: Organization Structure and Behaviour-2014
SECTION - A
Question 1: How do Indian organizations differ from their Western counterparts?
Question 2: Why is it important for organizations in India to search for hybrid, improvised models of management?
Question 3: What is Organisational Citizenship Behaviour?
Question 4: How would you differentiate between perceptual errors and attributional errors?
Question 5: Explain with example Distinctiveness in Attribution process.
SECTION - B
Question 1: Explain Herzberg’s two factor theory.
Question 2: Write a note on Pioneering-Innovating motive.
Question 3: What is emotional intelligence?
Question 4: What are existential positions in Transaction Analysis?
Question 5: What are the gains from synergistic group-working?
SECTION - C
Question 1: Which are the commonly used power tactics?
Question 2: What are roles? How do they compare with a job description?
Question 3: What are the advantages and limitations of a strong organizational culture?
Question 4: Explain the process of change.
Question 5: Discuss feminine styles of leadership.
CASE STUDY - 1
Donnelly Mirrors, a small company employing about 750 workers, manufactures practically all of the rear-view mirrors for the automobiles produced in America. Even though it is a privately held corporation, it has developed a participative management style where the workers are actively and genuinely involved in the governance of the company. This may be one of the reasons why the company has been enjoying continuous success over the years.
The participative system started in 1952 and initially, the employees simply participated in cost saving efforts and they shared those savings among themselves and with the company. Employees were assured that they would not lose jobs because of introduction of technologically advanced machinery or change in the production methods. This resulted in reduced resistance for change on the part of employees.
The employees became so involved in cost reduction efforts and activities that they started to volunteer various ways of improving operational efficiency including selection of equipment and machines. Various problem solving groups were formed for various operational areas and in order to achieve efficient coordination among all the groups and activities, a linking-pin organizational structure was adopted, whereby members of various groups make decisions relative to their own tasks and these decisions are presented to the next higher level of management for consideration.
There are no time clocks and even though workers get paid on a salary basis, their working times are not closely watched or scrutinized. There is sufficient group cohesion so that the workers do not take undue advantage of these relaxed rules. If a member is late or absent for a good reason, other workers in the group will make up for his work. If some one misses work frequently, he becomes answerable to other group members. The group selects its own leader and together the members set their own production goals within the general framework of the objectives of the organization and are responsible for meeting such goals. The company has formed a committee comprising representatives both from employees as well as management and the committee handles all personnel matters such as pay policies, fringe benefits and employee grievances. Since the workers are represented in this committee, all decisions made by this committee are accepted by all. Pay scales are also recommended to the management by this committee and these are consistent with the industry practices. As per pay policies, the company is guaranteed a return of 5.2% on its investment and the balance of the profit is shared with the employees. If a 5.2% return is not achieved in a given year, the deficit is compensated from the earning of the following year before any additional bonuses are given to the employees.
Because of its reputation for employee treatment, it attracts a large number of applicants for jobs, but because the turnover rate is very low, the company can select the best from this pool of applicants. The company is like a close-knit family and enjoys a reputation for productivity, quality and employee loyalty and dedication.
Question 1: Does the success of the company reflect a general statement that profit sharing and employee involvement in company affairs is highly motivating for employees? Explain your reasons in detail.
Question 2: How do you think that the group dynamics is at work in this organization? How the group goals are integrated with the organization goals?
Question 3: Is the concept of worker participation in the management of the company equally applicable in the work culture of Indian organizations? Give examples
CASE STUDY - 2
Bob’s is one of the largest fast food chains in Latin America. Headquartered in Rio De Janerio, more than half of this McDonald’s clone’s 225 outlets are located in Brazil. What’s it like to work at Bob’s? A day at an outlet in a mall in Sao Paulo provides some insights.
The most notable characteristic of this fast food restaurant is the youth of the 12 employees. Silvana, who supervises the training of new hires, has had two promotions in her four years on the job. Yet she’s only 21 years old. Levy, the short order cook, is 20 and has been doing his job for a year. Elisangela is 21 and a Bob’s employee for two years. The restaurant’s manager, who has seven years at Bob’s, is 23. Simone is one of the oldest employees at 25.
Bob’s employees have another commonality besides their youth. They’re all from a humble social background. Middle-class kids in Brazil want to avoid working in fast-food places.
The jobs at Bob’s have a highly structured routine. For instance, if you’re working the grill, you need to know that a Big Bob gets two slices of beef, 11 grams of lettuce and seven grams of sliced onions on a sesame seed bun; a Bob’s Burger is also two slices of beef with special sauce but only a slice of tomato n a plain bun; and a Franburgao gets a chicken breast, tomato, and curry sauce on a sesame seed bun. If you’re working the French fryer, you need to check the temperature of the oil, make sure it’s 345 degrees Fahrenheit, put one package of fries into the bin, push it down slowly into the oil until you hear the click, wait for the machine to bring it back up, shake the bin three times and pour the fries into the steel container.
Employees seem generally content with their jobs. In spite of having to wear a silly red tie, a blue and red baseball cap and an apron that says Bob’s, these people are glad to have a job in a country where as many as one in five is unemployed. Standard employees at Bob’s earn 500 reais (less than $ 300 U.S. a month). The manager’s salary is around 1300 reais a month.
Question 1: Describe an entry-level job at Bob’s in JCM terms.
Question 2: What type of person do you think would fit well into jobs at Bob’s?
Question 3: Could jobs at Bob’s be enriched or reengineered to make employees more productive?
Question 4: How might technology change fast-food jobs over the next 10 years? Could flextime work at Bob’s? Explain.
IMT-16: International Trade-2014
SECTION - A
1. Discuss the major benefits and risks of international trade?
2. Explain the various types of Non-Tariff Barriers of international trade.
3. Critically discuss the major changes that have taken in global trade in the last decade.
4. Explain the comparative cost advantage theory of trade with the help of an example.
5. What is the importance of TRIPS in India?
SECTION - B
1. Describe the factor endowments theory of Heckscher-Ohlin.
2. Distinguish between FDI and FII.
3. Explain the inward-oriented and outward oriented trade strategy.
4. How is WTO different from GATT?
5. What is current account deficit? How can it be minimised?
SECTION - C
1. Discuss the Doha Development Agenda of World Trade Organisation.
2. What are the objectives of ASEAN and SAPTA?
3. Explain the different stages of economic integration in formation of Regional Trade Agreements with examples.
4. How is IMF different from IBRD?
5. Describe the stages of issuing a letter of credit (L/C) for international payments.
CASE STUDY - 1
Regional Trading Agreements (RTAs)
The proliferation of regional trading arrangements (RTAs), especially after 1990, has sparked a lot of interest. Prof Bhagwati, a staunch multilateralist, has likened them to ‘stumbling blocs’ to the multilateral focus of the World Trade Organization (WTO). As countries perceive that the multilateralism of WTO is falling apart, they are rushing to get into regional alliances as a defensive response. Presumably, RTAs act as an insurance against protectionism, particularly for small and developing countries. Small countries, it can be argued, conclude RTAs with large countries before they are excluded by other countries doing the same — a kind of first-mover advantage. But do developing countries benefit from these RTAs? Are these benefits economic in terms of market access? These are two issues I will take up in this article.
The number of RTAs was negligible — around 20 — till about 1990 or so, and increased exponentially to over 300 by 2005, and are close to 400 today. In addition, around 75% are now operational. Second, more than 50% of these are between developing countries, including the so-called transition economies. Third, according to a World Bank estimate — usually read with a bucket of salt next to you! — if we exclude RTAs involving countries that have close to aero most-favoured nation (MNF) tariffs, the share of world trade in RTAs falls from 33% to about 20%. Finally, 85% of these RTAs are free trade agreements (FTAs) rather than Customs unions (CUs). In the former, countries retain their tariff-setting independence vis-a-vis non- RTA members. Last, most countries are members of multiple RTAs. This feature is particularly true of developing countries, especially those in the African continent.
The gains from an RTA stem from the fact that some countries are excluded from the RTA. Hence, members of RTAs have tariff advantages in other RTA markets vis-a-vis non-RTA suppliers. If the non-RTA member loses an RTA market only on account of the tariff preferences available to RTA members, this is called trade diversion. However, trade increase within the RTA due to removal of tariffs is called trade creation. Without going into the relative intricacies of calculating the net effect of trade diversion and trade creation, one implication is that the RTA must lead to increased trade among the RTA members if the RTA is presumed to have been beneficial to the members of the RTA.
What is the evidence? One simple calculation would be to look at the share of intra-RTA trade compared to total global trade of all the RTA countries before and after implementation of an RTA. As a rough approximation, one can argue that this must increase if RTAs have been beneficial. Since there is a time gap between the signing of an RTA and the actual implementation of tariff concession, a rough rule would be to look at this ratio a few years before and after the implementation of an RTA. Such a calculation for major RTAs is shown in the accompanying table. The conclusion is obvious. Barring Mercosur, in no other RTA has there been a significant increase in intra-RTA trade after implementation of the agreement. The logic of taking just few years before and after was to try to isolate trade increase that can be attributed to the RTA alone, that is, trade that is not influenced by other well-known factors such as incomes, prices, etc, and that would have occurred anyway.
It must also be remembered that an RTA has administrative costs in terms of implementing the system of rules of origin, cumulation, etc, that are an integral part of such agreements. It is debatable — I have seen no calculations — whether the small percentage increase in RTA trade — as in the case of ASEAN — justifies such costs. So, RTAs do not give a significant market access benefits to members. Yet, RTAs continue to flourish. In fact, India, a latecomer to RTAs, is now stepping up efforts to contract a number of RTAs.
Source: The ET, Aug. 2010
Questions
1. On the basis of the case analyse the reasons for the countries to sign Regional Trading Arrangements (RTAs), especially after 1990.
2. Do you consider the regional trading arrangements (RTAs) as a threat to free trade? Give reasons.
CASE STUDY - 2
Global Operations of P & G
Proctor and Gamble (P & G), “a global consumer products giant,” stormed the Japanese market with American products, American managers, American sales methods and strategies. The result was disastrous until the company learnt how to adapt products and marketing style of Japanese culture. P & G which entered the Japanese market in 1973 lost money until 1987, but by 1991 it became the second largest foreign market.”
P & G, acclaimed as “the world’s most admired marketing machine”, entered India, which has been considered as one of the largest emerging markets, in 1985. It entered the Indian detergent market in the early nineties with the Ariel brand through P & G India (in which it had a 51 percent holding which was raised to 65% in January 1993 the remaining 35% being held by the public). Later in 1993 it established a 100 % subsidiary, P & G Home Products.
Over a period of about one and a half decades since its entry in India, P & G invested several thousand crores. However, dissatisfied with its performance in India, it decided to restructure its operations, which in several respects
meant a shrinking of activities – the manpower was drastically cut, and thousands of stockists were terminated. P & G however holds that, it will continue to invest in India.
China, on the other hand, with business worth several times than in India in less than 12 years, has emerged as a highly promising market for P & G. When the Chinese market was opened up, P & G was one of the first MNCs to enter. Prior to liberalization, Chinese consumers had to content with shoddy products manufactured by government companies. Per capita income of China is substantially higher than India’s and the Chinese economy was growing faster than that of India. Further, the success of the single child concept in China means higher disposable income.
It is also pointed out that for a global company like P & G, understanding Chinese culture was far easier since the expat Chinese in the US was not very different from those back home where as most Indian expats tended to adapt for ore to the cultural nuances of the immigrant country.
One of P&Gs big bets in India was the compact technology premium detergent brand ‘Ariel’. After an initial show, Ariel, however, failed to generate enough sales – consumers seem to have gone by the per kilo cost than the cost per wash propagated by the promotion. To start with, P&G had to import the expensive state-of-the-art ingredients, which attracted heavy custom duties. The company estimated that it would cost Rs 60 per kilo for Ariel compared to Rs 27 for Surf and Rs 8 for Nirma, Because of the Rupee devaluation of the early 1990s, the test market price of Rs 35 for 500 gms was soon Rs 41 by the time the product was launched. HLL fought Ariel back with premium variants for Surf like Surf Excel.
It is pointed out that, “in hindsight, even P & G managers privately admit that bringing in the latest compact technology was a big blunder. In the eighties, P & G had taken a huge beating in one of its most profitable markets, Japan, at the hands of local company Kao. Knowing the Japanese consumer’s fondness for small things, Kao weaved magic with its new found compact technology. For a company that prided itself on technology, the drubbing in Japan was particularly painful. It was, therefore, decided that compacts would now be the lead brand for the entire Asia-Pacific region. When P & G launched Ariel in India, it hoped that the Indian consumer would devise appropriate benchmarks to evaluate Ariel. As compacts provided economy of use, P&G hoped that consumers would buy in the low-cost-per-wash story. But selling that story through advertising was particularly difficult, especially since Indian consumers believed that the washing wasn’t over unless the bar had been used for scrubbing. Even though Ariel was targeted at the consumers with high disposable income, who represented half the urban population, consumers simply baulked the outlay.
Thereafter, one thing led to another. Ariel’s strategy of introducing variants was a smart move to flank Lever at every price point by cleverly using the brand’s halo effect. And by supporting the brand in mass media and retaining the share of voice. By 1996, it had become clear that Ariels’s equity as a high performance detergent had begun to take a beating. Its equity as a top-of –the-line detergent was getting eroded. Nowhere in P&G’s history had a concept like Super Soaker been used to gain volumes. It was decided that Super Soaker would no longer be supported, nor Ariel bar be supported in media.
Questions
1. Discuss the reasons for the differences in the performance of P&G in India and China.
2. From the evidence given in the case, state the benefits and risks of investment by an MNC in foreign countries.
IMT-15: Production and Operations Management-2014
IMT-15: Production and Operations Management-2014
SECTION - A
Q1: What is operations management? Describe the different typical measures for quality, speed of delivery and flexibility.
Q2: Neotech Corporation is considering adding a new feature that will increase unit sales by 7.5% and product cost by 13%. The profit is expected to increase by 23% of the increased sales. Initially the product cost incurred by the company was 54% of the sales price. Should the new feature be added by the company?
Q3: Amit drives his own car on company business. His employer reimburses him for such travel at the rate of Rs. 8.50 per km. Amit estimates that his fixed costs per year such as taxes, insurance and depreciation are Rs. 25000. The direct or variable costs such as gas, oil and maintenance average about Rs. 2.40 per km. How many km must he drive to break even?
Q4: A small manufacturing facility is being planned that will feed parts to three heavy manufacturing facilities. The locations of the current plants with their coordinates and volume requirements are given in the following table:
Use the centroid method to determine the best location for this new facility.
Q5: What are the qualitative techniques used in forecasting?
SECTION - B
Q1: A firm’s sales for a product line during the 12 quarters of the past three years were as follows:
Quarter
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Sales
600
1550
1500
1500
2400
3100
2600
2900
3800
4500
4000
4900
Forecast sales of each quarter of the fourth year i.e. quarters 13, 14, 15 and 16.
Q2: What is the major difference between aggregate planning in manufacturing and aggregate planning in service?
Q3: Madan Mathur is the supervisor of Legal Cop-Express, which provides copy services for downtown Los Angeles law firms. Five customers submitted their orders at the beginning of the week. Specific scheduling data are as follows:
imt solved assignments
All orders require the use of the only color copy machine available. Mr. Mathur must decide on the processing sequence for the five orders. The evaluation criterion is minimum flow time. Suppose that Mathur decides to use the FCFS rule in an attempt to make Legal Copy-Express appear fair to its customers.
Q4: What is the role of safety stock in an MRP system? “MRP just prepares shopping lists. It does not do the shopping or cook the dinner.” Comment.
Q5: Items purchased from a vendor cost Rs.20 each and the forecast for next year demand is 1000 units. If it costs Rs.5 every time an order is placed for more units and the storage cost is Rs.4 per unit per year. Find that
a. What quantity should be ordered each time?
b. What is the total ordering cost for a year?
c. What is the total storage cost for a year?
SECTION - C
Q1: "You don't inspect quality into a product; you have to build it in." Discuss the implications of this statement.
Q2: A & B company has yearly demand for one of its products as follows
Year
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Demand
710
660
720
780
730
690
750
770
Develop a three-period moving average forecast and a three-period weighted moving average forecast with weights of 0.50, 0.35 and 0.15 for the most recent demand values, in that order. Calculate mean absolute deviation for each forecast and indicate which would seem to be most accurate.
Q3: Discuss the purpose of and differences between p charts and R charts.
Q4: What is meant by PMT and MRO? How MRO performs is different functions for maintenance and repairs?
Q5: Describe the concepts of competitive priorities, competitive capabilities, order winners and order qualifiers.
CASE STUDY - 1
Ten samples of 15 parts each were taken from an ongoing process to establish a p chart for control. The samples and the number of defectives in each are shown in the following table:
imt latest solved assignments 2014
a. Develop a p chart for 95 percent confidence (1.96 standard deviations).
b. Based on the plotted data points, what comments can you make?
CASE STUDY - 2
The R & D department is planning to bid on a large project for the development of a new communication system for commercial planes. The accompanying table shows the activities, times and sequences require:
imt-15 solved assignments
a. Draw the network diagram.
b. What is the critical path?
c. Suppose you want to shorten completion time as much as possible and you have the option of shortening any or all of B, C, D and G each one week. Which would you shorten?
d. What is the new critical path and earliest completion time?
IMT-14: Organization Structure and Behaviour-2014
IMT-14: Organization Structure and Behaviour-2014
SECTION - A
Question 1: How do Indian organizations differ from their Western counterparts?
Question 2: Why is it important for organizations in India to search for hybrid, improvised models of management?
Question 3: What is Organisational Citizenship Behaviour?
Question 4: How would you differentiate between perceptual errors and attributional errors?
Question 5: Explain with example Distinctiveness in Attribution process.
SECTION - B
Question 1: Explain Herzberg’s two factor theory.
Question 2: Write a note on Pioneering-Innovating motive.
Question 3: What is emotional intelligence?
Question 4: What are existential positions in Transaction Analysis?
Question 5: What are the gains from synergistic group-working?
SECTION - C
Question 1: Which are the commonly used power tactics?
Question 2: What are roles? How do they compare with a job description?
Question 3: What are the advantages and limitations of a strong organizational culture?
Question 4: Explain the process of change.
Question 5: Discuss feminine styles of leadership.
CASE STUDY - 1
Donnelly Mirrors, a small company employing about 750 workers, manufactures practically all of the rear-view mirrors for the automobiles produced in America. Even though it is a privately held corporation, it has developed a participative management style where the workers are actively and genuinely involved in the governance of the company. This may be one of the reasons why the company has been enjoying continuous success over the years.
The participative system started in 1952 and initially, the employees simply participated in cost saving efforts and they shared those savings among themselves and with the company. Employees were assured that they would not lose jobs because of introduction of technologically advanced machinery or change in the production methods. This resulted in reduced resistance for change on the part of employees.
The employees became so involved in cost reduction efforts and activities that they started to volunteer various ways of improving operational efficiency including selection of equipment and machines. Various problem solving groups were formed for various operational areas and in order to achieve efficient coordination among all the groups and activities, a linking-pin organizational structure was adopted, whereby members of various groups make decisions relative to their own tasks and these decisions are presented to the next higher level of management for consideration.
There are no time clocks and even though workers get paid on a salary basis, their working times are not closely watched or scrutinized. There is sufficient group cohesion so that the workers do not take undue advantage of these relaxed rules. If a member is late or absent for a good reason, other workers in the group will make up for his work. If some one misses work frequently, he becomes answerable to other group members. The group selects its own leader and together the members set their own production goals within the general framework of the objectives of the organization and are responsible for meeting such goals. The company has formed a committee comprising representatives both from employees as well as management and the committee handles all personnel matters such as pay policies, fringe benefits and employee grievances. Since the workers are represented in this committee, all decisions made by this committee are accepted by all. Pay scales are also recommended to the management by this committee and these are consistent with the industry practices. As per pay policies, the company is guaranteed a return of 5.2% on its investment and the balance of the profit is shared with the employees. If a 5.2% return is not achieved in a given year, the deficit is compensated from the earning of the following year before any additional bonuses are given to the employees.
Because of its reputation for employee treatment, it attracts a large number of applicants for jobs, but because the turnover rate is very low, the company can select the best from this pool of applicants. The company is like a close-knit family and enjoys a reputation for productivity, quality and employee loyalty and dedication.
Question 1: Does the success of the company reflect a general statement that profit sharing and employee involvement in company affairs is highly motivating for employees? Explain your reasons in detail.
Question 2: How do you think that the group dynamics is at work in this organization? How the group goals are integrated with the organization goals?
Question 3: Is the concept of worker participation in the management of the company equally applicable in the work culture of Indian organizations? Give examples
CASE STUDY - 2
Bob’s is one of the largest fast food chains in Latin America. Headquartered in Rio De Janerio, more than half of this McDonald’s clone’s 225 outlets are located in Brazil. What’s it like to work at Bob’s? A day at an outlet in a mall in Sao Paulo provides some insights.
The most notable characteristic of this fast food restaurant is the youth of the 12 employees. Silvana, who supervises the training of new hires, has had two promotions in her four years on the job. Yet she’s only 21 years old. Levy, the short order cook, is 20 and has been doing his job for a year. Elisangela is 21 and a Bob’s employee for two years. The restaurant’s manager, who has seven years at Bob’s, is 23. Simone is one of the oldest employees at 25.
Bob’s employees have another commonality besides their youth. They’re all from a humble social background. Middle-class kids in Brazil want to avoid working in fast-food places.
The jobs at Bob’s have a highly structured routine. For instance, if you’re working the grill, you need to know that a Big Bob gets two slices of beef, 11 grams of lettuce and seven grams of sliced onions on a sesame seed bun; a Bob’s Burger is also two slices of beef with special sauce but only a slice of tomato n a plain bun; and a Franburgao gets a chicken breast, tomato, and curry sauce on a sesame seed bun. If you’re working the French fryer, you need to check the temperature of the oil, make sure it’s 345 degrees Fahrenheit, put one package of fries into the bin, push it down slowly into the oil until you hear the click, wait for the machine to bring it back up, shake the bin three times and pour the fries into the steel container.
Employees seem generally content with their jobs. In spite of having to wear a silly red tie, a blue and red baseball cap and an apron that says Bob’s, these people are glad to have a job in a country where as many as one in five is unemployed. Standard employees at Bob’s earn 500 reais (less than $ 300 U.S. a month). The manager’s salary is around 1300 reais a month.
Question 1: Describe an entry-level job at Bob’s in JCM terms.
Question 2: What type of person do you think would fit well into jobs at Bob’s?
Question 3: Could jobs at Bob’s be enriched or reengineered to make employees more productive?
Question 4: How might technology change fast-food jobs over the next 10 years? Could flextime work at Bob’s? Explain.
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