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Saturday 28 February 2015

IIBM Exam papers/ case studies: contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com

Examination Paper of Semester III
IIBM Institute of Business Management 1
IIBM Institute of Business Management
Semester-III Examination Paper MM.100
Marketing Research
Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)
??This section consists of Multiple Choice questions & Short Answer type questions.
??Answer all the questions.
??Part One questions carry 1 mark each & Part Two questions carry 5 marks each.
Part One:   
Multiple Choices:
1. Process involving segmentation target market selection and positioning is called
a. Marketing Strategy
b. Marketing plan
c. Marketing Intelligence
d. None of the above
2. 4 Ps of Marketing is
a. Product, Pricing, Procurement, Place
b. Place, Pricing, Plan, Product
c. Product, Pricing, Promotion, Place
d. None of the above
3. Type of Marketing research scale in which variable can be used to compute the commonly used
statistical measures like average etc is
a. Ordinal scale
b. Ratio scale
c. Internal scale
d. Nominal scale
4. Technique of Market research, which include the word associations and a respondent is asked to
think of a word which comes to mind when he thinks of a brand is
a. Qualitative Technique
b. Retail Audit
c. T. V. Audience measurements
d. None of the above
5. The Error which occurs due to the selection of some units and non-selection of other units into
the sample is
a. Non-sampling error
b. Sampling error
c. Total error
d. None of the above
Examination Paper of Semester III
IIBM Institute of Business Management 2
6. Data Nominal and Ordinal scale data are
a. Metric data
b. Non-metric data
c. Clustered data
d. None of the above
7. In the algebraic formula, the symbol for correlation is
a. c
b. r
c. a
d. None of the above
8. Graph useful for making extrapolations beyond observed data points is
a. Scatter graph
b. Histograph
c. Pistograph
d. Line graph
9. Ho symbolises for
a. Null hypothesis
b. ANOVA series
c. Both (a) & (b)
d. None of the above
10. Target population in sampling process is
a. Population which is to be sampled
b. Population which is distributed
c. Population which is isolated
d. None of the above
Part Two:
1. What are the major methods of doing primary research?
2. What is missing data?
3. What do you understand by Survey?
4. Define Data mining?
END OF SECTION A
Section B: Caselets (40 marks)
??This section consists of Caselets.
??Answer all the questions.
??Each caselet carries 20 marks.
??Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).
Examination Paper of Semester III
IIBM Institute of Business Management 3
Caselet 1
HERO CYCLES PVT. LIMITED
Hero Bicycles Pvt. Ltd. is a Ludhiana-based bicycle manufacturing company. Hero is one of the
biggest bicycle manufacturing companies in the world. Basically, Hero has attained its present
commanding heights after long years of struggle. It started as a sole proprietorship concern in 1950.
Mr. C. L. Munjal who owned a bicycle repair shop in Ludhiana has four sons who joined hands with
their father and established a partnership concern. Now, this company has developed into a Pvt. Ltd.
Company. There are several companies at present in Hero Group which manufacture a wide range of
products, viz., mopeds, motorcycles, shock-absorbers, bicycles, spare parts, textile fibres, etc. at
present, Hero group has many professional managers working in their various companies which have
become public limited (widely held) companies but Hero Bicycle still remains a private limited
company (narrowly held). Lala type tendencies are very ostensively visible in the functioning of this
group as a whole and more particularly in the Hero Bicycles Pvt. Ltd. As a result, many employees of
this company and the group as a whole are not a highly satisfied lot. But still Hero Group and Hero
Cycles in particular are working as highly efficient and profit making unit in their business.
Lately, Hero started experiencing a cut-throat competition in the bicycle business in the home and
world markets. They have started experiencing some flatness in their sales and profit curves.
Recently, Hero Cycles Pvt. Ltd. recruited an M.B.A. Miss Anuradha Goswami. Miss Anuradha who
specialised in Marketing, was the first M.B.A. to be recruited from the outside as there was an
emphasis to recruit only technically equipped people like engineers, etc., without management
qualifications. But some of the sons of the four brothers of Hero Group are having technical as well as
management qualifications. Even some of these third generation, Hero Promoters and managers are
M.B.A.’s from some reputed universities. They have lot of management exposure in India as well as
abroad as they keep on touring domestic and international markets quite frequently. The chairman,
Mr. Ravinder Lall is also a very ambitious and dynamic man who talks of promoting a Hero culture
among Hero Group employees as a whole. He aspires to take bigger strides and make the group as
one of the few big business houses in India. He intends to start his own training college to impact
management training to his group employees and also to managers of other companies.
One day, Mr. Ravinder Lall called his marketing Manager Mr. Siripat Dass in his cabin and
discussed with him in detail the marketing problems facing Hero Cycles Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Dass told Mr.
Ravinder Lall, “Sir, our main problem is that we are continuing our manufacturing on traditional lines
hence many problems of marketing are the result of that. We never tried to have a feel of the
consumers in domestic as well as in international markets. To be very frank sir, we must undertake
some marketing research projects so that we can understand the purchase behaviour of bicycle buyers.
Also there is a need to understand the dealers’ view-points through certain dealers’ surveys.” I think
you can guide and instruct Ms. Anuradha Goswami on this and she would be able to carry out the
research work. Ask her to prepare a research report on the basis of collected research data.”
Mr. Dass summoned Miss. Anuradha to his cabin and asked her to prepare a research proposal
and get it approved to study buyers’ and dealers’ behaviour within ten days. Miss Anuradha started
the maiden exercise of preparing a research design from that moment onwards. She established the
study objectives as follows:
1. To study the buyers’ needs and behaviour after establishing certain basic attributes of bicycles
needed by them.
2. To study the dealers’ attitudes towards Hero Bicycle policies and its products.
3. To distinguish the rural buyers’ needs and attitudes from those of the urban buyers.
Examination Paper of Semester III
IIBM Institute of Business Management 4
Ms. Anuradha decided to adopt an exploratory research design because much secondary data
were not available. She wanted to collect primary data on the buyer’s and dealers’ attitudes. For this,
she decided to take a sample of 100 buyers (males and females) from each of the urban and rural
population from and around Ludhiana city in the samples. She decided to include some juveniles,
children and students. In the samples, she decided to take a sample of 50 dealers from the North
Indian States. Buyers’ sample was to be taken on the judgement and convenience basis whereas
dealers’ sample was to be taken on the random stratified sampling basis.
She decided that data collection from buyers will be carried out with the help of a structuredundisguised
interview schedule. Personal interviews would also be conducted with the dealers with
the help of a separately designed interview schedules. She decided that many questions on each
schedule would be on attitude measurement on the pattern of Likert Scaling Techniques covering the
bicycle attributes like price, quality, colour, availability of spare parts, repair costs, sleekness in looks,
durability etc.
Further, Ms. Anuradha decided that data thus collected would be categorized in favorable and
unfavorable categories (with regard to attributes) and z-test would be applied to examine the
significance after calculating the mean scores. Ranking of various attributes will also be carried out.
General profile of consumers and dealers will also be prepared on the basis of their biographic
information like age, sex, qualifications, income, place of living, etc.
Finally, it was decided that two outside investigators (MBA students) would be engaged for the
purpose of survey who would collect and compile the survey results.
She assumed that survey would be having certain limitations as the samples would be small in size
because of limited time within which the research report is to be prepared. But she justified that
buyers and dealers attitudes would be same even in larger sample as people have similar viewpoints
regarding bicycles.
1. Was the problem identification and formulation systematically carried out? Discuss and put
forward your viewpoints for improvement in this regard.
2. Whether the objectives were decided and listed in an appropriate manner? Whether hypothesis
were to be formulated? What can be the hypothesis in this case?
Caselet 2
Robotronics, Inc
Robotronics has just finished its third year of operations. A wholly owned subsidiary of a major
manufacturing company, Robotronics had been set up to handle the manufacture and sales of an
industrial production robot developed by the parent company. Primarily used for transferring material
in the manufacturing process, the robot has uses in machine loading and unloading, stacking, welding,
and molding operations. Once its memory was “programmed,” the robot would repeat an operation as
often as desired. However, the robot’s main attraction is in reducing labor costs and the possibility of
industrial accidents.
Priced at $25,000, sales of seven units over the previous three years had not provided sufficient
revenues to cover development, marketing, and manufacturing costs. Robotronics’ president, Mr.
Kline, faces the task of finding new markets for his product. As part of his decision making, it is
necessary to determine the potential market for the industrial robot over the next five years. He
decides to concentrate on three selected industries of the electrical equipment group as having a
greater prospect of utilizing robots: lighting fixtures, radio and TV communications, and electronic
components. The major areas of information he needs from this group are the company’s major
Examination Paper of Semester III
IIBM Institute of Business Management 5
products, nature of their operation, number of employees, number of shifts worked, degree of
automation, and the present and/or prospectus product applications for a robot within the company.
Mr. Kline has found from the most recent issue of the Census of Manufacturing the total number
of establishments in each category of interest. The following tables represents the number of
companies in each category with the number of employees.
____________________________________________________________________________
NUMBER OF COMPANIES WITH
_________________________________________
TOTAL 20 OR 50 OR
NUMBER OF MORE MORE 100 OR MORE
INDUSTRY GROUP COMPANIES EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEES
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Lighting fixtures 1213 524 281 151
Radio and TV 1296 782 543 389
Communications
Electronic components 2068 1213 808 534
__________________________________________________________________________________________
1. If a sample of 100 of each category were requested, what sampling technique would you
recommend be used? Why?
2. What types of errors, if any, would likely be present because of the sampling process being used?
END OF SECTION B
Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)
??This section consists of Long Questions.
??Answer all the questions.
??Each question carries 15 marks.
??Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).
1. What is Right to Privacy? Why is it relevant to Marketing Research.
2. What do you understand by cluster analysis and how they are useful in Market Segmentation?
END OF SECTION C
--------------------------------------------------------------- ***- -----------------------------------------------------

Friday 27 February 2015

IIBM Exam papers/ case studies: contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com


Attempt Only Four Case Study

CASE – 1   Consumer Perception of High-end IT Education

This case study of recent origin (2001), illustrates the use of free-response questions which permit respondents to give unstructured answers. The responses are given in the form of excerpted quotes from the study at the end of the case. The entire study was bigger in scope and results. These reported results are only for the purpose of illustration and do not constitute the complete analysis.

BACKGROUND

SSI, a computer education centre, has added Internet to its portfolio. Now SSI plans to re-launch its course called Internet in its updated form. The course includes ASP, XML, WAP, .NET and BLUETOOTH, the last one being offered only by SSI’s Internet.

Research Objectives

To find out
•    the deciding factors for taking up a particular High-End I.T. course.
•    whether the course contents of Internet are actually in “demand”.
•    the strengths and weaknesses of Internet.

Methodology

Collecting information through
•    questionnaires
•    face-to-face interviews
•    telephonic interviews
•    internet

Sample Composition

Students of SSI as well as from competing computer education providers (NIIT, Aptech, Radiant, Tata Infotech).

Sample size : 80 (25% SSI + 75% others)

Results from Some Free Response Questions for Students’ Comments

The following are quotations from some students’ comments on the institute, course, and so on.
“Right now the I.T. market in U.S. has gone down. Bluetooth is still in a kind of an infancy stage with no real commercially proven success. There is a lot of investment in the technology. Recently it has hit a few roadblocks—you will see from the info in the links (viz http://www.bluetooth.com/ and http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/1999/04/bluetooth/)”
•    Computer professional (New Jersey, USA)

“MS (Micro Soft) has come up with the .NET, which works on the Windows 2000 platform. Anything to do with Internet will be ‘hot’. And MS won't leave it halfway”.
?   Faculty (Radiant)

“I did my GNIIT, now I am doing Java at RADIANT. Did not continue there because I wanted to do only Java; and NIIT, though it is very good, has only long-term courses. Want to get into an I.T. career. From what I have heard, Aptech is not up to the mark. Don’t know much about SSI or Internet. .NET is the latest course here.”
•    Student (Radiant)

“I am doing Radiant.NET with C#, ASP.NET, XML, SOAP, and so forth because it is the latest after Java”.
•    Student (Radiant)

“I joined Radiant because I heard that the course material is very good. Faculty is also good. Finished my Java from there. And I plan to do a post graduate in I.T. NIIT is too expensive. Cost-wise, I guess SSI and Radiant are comparable. Don’t know more about SSI.”
•    Student (Radiant)

“I did my Java from TCI because I stay close by (Annanagar). Radiant is more expensive. Also TCI gives me a ‘Government of India’ certificate. I am working as a web page designer. I am being trained in XML and so on by my company itself.”
•    Ex-Student (TCI)
“.NET has not yet come into the market. hence we do not have the course. We have C#, XML, WAP.”
•    Counselor (NIIT)

“Of course NIIT is expensive compared to the other institutes. But when one is focussed on one’s career, one does not crib about money. After interacting with my faculty, I have a very good knowledge about the I.T. world. Now I would not even think of changing. I have a background in BCA and am doing my Java here.”
•    Student (NIIT)

“NIIT has got a name that is recognised the world over more than any other institute in India. Hence I prefer to be in NIIT. I plan to work abroad. I am currently doing E-Commerce course in NIIT, which includes XML, ASP, WAP and so forth.”
•    Student (NIIT)

“I just know about NIIT. So I am here. Plan to do a short-term course here itself after my GNIIT, which I will finish this year.”
•    Student (NIIT)

“I have no background in computers, but I do not find any difficulty in doing my Internet course. NIIT and APTECH are too expensive.”
•    Student (SSI)

Question

1.    Write don a brief summary of all the answers given above. How does this differ from the analysis of structured-response questions?










CASE – 2   Chi-square Test

Methodology

1.    A fictitious data set consisting of thirty respondents was created. The data was mainly constructed to find the relationship between the dependent and independent variable. Age was taken as the independent variable and choice of a drink as dependent variable. Six brands of soft drinks were considered as the different choices for the respondents.
2.    The age group coded into six categories as 1 to 6 and the brands of soft drinks were coded into six categories and the codings are as follows:
(a)  Independent variable
          Age                         Coding
         <15                               1
        16 – 25                          2
        26 – 35                          3
        36 – 45                          4
        46 – 55                          5
         >55                               6
 (b)  Dependent variable
       Different brands          Coding
           Coke                           1
           Pepsi                           2
           Mirinda                       3
           Sprite                          4
           Slice                            5
           Fruit Juice                   6

3.    Chi-square test has been used to cross-tabulate and to understand the relationship between the independent and the dependent variable.
4.    Calculation of contingency coefficient and the lambda asymmetric coefficient is done to find the strength of the association between the two variables.
5.    Sample size is taken as thirty.
6.    Analysis of cross-tabulation.
7.    SPSS software package for the cross tabulation analysis.

Problem

This is a bivariate problem. The basic intention of the problem is to understand the relationship between AGE and BRAND PREFERENCE of different brands of soft drinks.

Input Data Table
Serial No.    Age    AGECODE    SOFT DRINK    DRINK CODE
1    <15    1    FRUIT JUICE    6
2    <15    1    SPRITE    4
3    <15    1    MIRINDA    3
4    <15    1    PEPSI    2
5    <15    1    FRUIT JUICE    6
6    16-25    2    COKE    1
7    16-25    2    SLICE    5
8    16-25    2    COKE    1
9    16-25    2    PEPSI    2
10    16-25    2    MIRINDA    3
11    26-35    3    SLICE    5
12    26-35    3    SPRITE    4
13    26-35    3    FRUIT JUICE    6
14    26-35    3    PEPSI    2
15    26-35    3    SLICE    5
16    36-45    4    MIRINDA    3
17    36-45    4    FRUIT JUICE    6
18    36-45    4    FRUIT JUICE    6
19    36-45    4    SLICE    5
20    36-45    4    PEPSI    2
21    46-55    5    COKE    1
22    46-55    5    SPRITE    4
23    46-55    5    SLICE    5
24    46-55    5    FRUIT JUICE    6
25    46-55    5    SLICE    5
26    >55    6    MIRINDA    3
27    >55    6    COKE    1
28    >55    6    COKE    1
29    >55    6    PEPSI    2
30    >55    6    FRUIT JUICE    6


Output Data
Age by Drink Preference
                                                  Age
Drink Preference    Code     <15    16-25    26-35    36-45    46-55    >55   
Total
Coke    1    0    2
  33.32%     0     0     1
  20%      1
  40%         5
  16.67%
Pepsi    2    1
  20%     1
  16.67%     1
  25%      1
  20%     0     1
  20%          5
  16.67%
Mirinda    3     1
  20%     1
  16.67%     0     1
  20%     0     1
  20%         4
  13.33%
Sprite    4    1
  20%     0      1
  25%     0    1
  20%     0        3
   30%
Slice    5     0    1
  16.67%      2
  50%     1
  20%         2
   40%    0    6
40%
Fruit Juice    6         2
40%    1
  16.67%    0          2
40%     1
  20%     1
  20%       7
  23.33%
Total             5
100%        6
100%         4
100%       5
100%       5
100%       5
100%      30
100%

Chi-Square    Value    DF    Significance
Pearson    18.22857    25    .08325
Likelihood Ratio    25.52646    25    .04332
Mantel-Haenszel test for linear association    .13961    1    .07086
              
             Minimum Expected Frequency -.500
             Cells with Expected Frequency <5-36 of 36 (100.0%)
Approximate Statistics     Value     ASE 1    VAL/ASE 0    Significance
Contigency Coefficient     .61479            .08325*1
Lambda:               
Symmetric    .18750    .08892    1.99754   
With 'DRINK CODE' dependent    .21739    .12757    1.56813   
With 'AGE CODE' dependent    .16000    .07332    2.14834   
Goodman & Kruskal Tau:               
With 'DRINK CODE' dependent    .12432    .03912        .08412*2
With 'AGE CODE' dependent    .12152    .02580         .08580*2
   *1  Pearson Chi-square probability
   *2  Based on Chi-square approximation
         Number of Missing Observations: 0
Analysis

In a Chi-square test, for a 90 per cent confidence level, if the significance level is greater than or equal to 0.1, it signifies that there is no association between the two variables in the cross-tabulation and if significance level is less than 0.1, then it signifies that there is a significance relationship between the selected variables.

The result of the cross-tabulation

From the output tables, the Chi-square test read a significance level of 0.08325 at 90 percent confidence level. For 90 per cent, significance level is 0.1, that is (1-0.9), so the above result shows that at 0.08 (which is less than 0.1), there is a significant relationship between the two variables. At 95 per cent confidence level, significance level being 0.05, and the above output giving a significance level of 0.08 which is greater than 0.05, there is no relationship between the variables:
If contingency coefficient value is greater than +0.5 then the variables are strongly associated. In the above case the contingency coefficient value being 0.6 which is greater than 0.5, hence the variables are strongly associated.
The asymmetric lambda value (with DRINKCODE dependent) 0.21739 means that 21.7% of error is reduced in predicting brand preference when age is known.
From the above result we can conclude that there is a significant relationship between AGE (independent variable) and BRAND PREFERENCE (dependent variable), of the respondents.
Thus we can conclude that the age of the respondent plays an important role in the purchasing intention of a particular brand of soft drink.










Question

Case 2:  Conduct Chi-square test to cross-tabulate and to understand the relationship between the independent and the dependent variable. Also calculate contingency coefficient and the lambda asymmetric coefficient to find the strength of the association between the two variables. Take Sample size as thirty. Analysis of cross-tabulation using  SPSS software package would be required.








CASE – 3   Tamarind Menswear

Given below is a preliminary questionnaire for retailers and consumers of a recently launched menswear brand. Can you list down the research objectives for both questionnaire? Can you modify the given questionnaires to a final draft?

TAMARIND QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RETAILERS

1.    Do you have Tamarind?                     Yes/No
2.    What do you think about it?
3.    Is there place in the market for one more readymade garment company?
4.    What kind of products does Tamarind have? Are they good?
5.    Is it a threat to any existing brand? If yes, which one?
6.    If it is not a available, what is your view about advertising so heavily before the product is launched?
7.    Are people coming and asking for Tamarind?
8.    The range of clothes with the retailer.
9.    Price range.
10.    Name of the shop and so on.

TAMARIND QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CONSUMERS

1.    Which ads do you recall?
2.    Which garment ads do you recall?
3.    Have you seen the Tamarind ad?
4.    What do you remember from the ads?
5.    Do you like the ad? Why?
6.    What is the main message?
7.    What kind of clothes are Tamarind?
8.    What do you think will be the price range?
9.    Will you buy it? Why?






CASE – 4    Logistics Regression

A pharmaceutical firm that developed particular drug for women wants to understand the characteristics that cause some of them to have an adverse reaction to a particular drug. They collect data on 15 women who had such a reaction and 15 who did not. The variables measured are:
1.    Systolic Blood Pressure
2.    Cholesterol Level
3.    Age of the person
4.    Whether or not the woman was pregnant (1 = yes)
The dependent variable indicates if there was an adverse reaction (1 = yes)

TABLE 1
BP    Cholesterol    Age     Pregnant     DrugReaction
100    150    20    0    0
120    160    16    0    0
110    150    18    0    0
100    175    25    0    0
95    250    36    0    0
110    200    56    0    0
120    180    59    0    0
150    175    45    0    0
160    185    40    0    0
125    195    20    1    0
135    190    18    1    0
165    200    25    1    0
145    175    30    1    0
120    180    28    1    0
100    180    21    1    0
100    160    19    1    1
95    250    18    1    1
120    200    30    1    1
125    240    29    1    1
130    172    30    1    1
120    130    35    1    1
120    140    38    1    1
125    160    32    1    1
115    185    40    1    1
150    195    65    0    1
130    175    72    0    1
170    200    56    0    1
145    210    58    0    1
180    200    81    0    1
140    190    73    0    1
SPSS Output
TABLE 2 Model Summary
Step    -2Log likelihood    Cox & Snell R Square    Nogelkerke R Square
1    21.84 (a)    .482    .643

Estimation terminated at iteration number 7 because parameter estimates changed by less than .001.

TABLE 3 Hosmer and Lemeshow Test
Step     Chi-Square    df    Sig
1    4.412    8    .818

The lack of significance of the Chi-Squared test indicates that the model is a good fit

TABLE 4  Classification Table


Observed     Predicted
    DrugReaction   

Percentage Correct
   
      0                      1   

Step 1          DrugReaction



Overall Percentage   
0

1   
     11                     4

       2                    13   
              73.3

              86.7   

              80.0

The cut value is .500.

    The classification table shows that the model makes a correct prediction 80% of the time overall. Of the 15 women with no reaction, the model correctly identified 11 of them as not likely to have one. Similarly, of the 15 who did have a reaction, the model correctly identifies 13 as likely to have one.

TABLE 5  Variables in the Equation
     B    S.E.    Wald     df    Sig     Exp (B)
Step 1 (a) BP    -.018    .27    .463    1    .496    .982
Cholesterol    .027    .025    1.182    1    .277    1.027
                              Age    .265    .114    5.404    1    .20    1.304
                              Pregnant      8.501    3.884    4.790    1    0.29    4918.147
                              Constant    -17.874    10.158    3.096    1    0.78    .000
Variable(s) entered on Step 1: BP, Cholesterol, Age, Pregnant.
     Since BP and Cholesterol show up as not significant, one can try to run the regression again without those variables to see how it impacts the prediction accuracy. Since the sample size is low, one cannot assume that they are insignificant. Wald’s test is best suited to large sample sizes.
    The prediction equation is:
    Log (odds of a reaction to drug) = -17.874-0.018(BP) + (Cholesterol) + 0.265 (Age) + 8.501 (Pregnant)
    As with any regression, the positive coefficients indicate a positive relationship with the dependent variable.

TABLE 6   Predicted Probabilities and Classification
BP    Cholesterol    Age    Pregnant      Drug Reaction    Pred_Prob    Pred_Class
100    150    20    0    0    .00003    0
120    160    16    0    0    .00001    0
110    150    18    0    0    .00002    0
100    175    25    0    0    .00023    0
95    250    36    0    0    .03352    0
110    200    56    0    0    .58319    1
120    180    59    0    0    .60219    1
150    175    45    0    0    .01829    0
160    185    40    0    0    .00535    0
125    195    20    1    0    .24475    0
135    190    18    1    0    .12197    0
165    200    25    1    0    .40238    0
145    175    30    1    0    .65193    1
120    180    28    1    0    .66520    1
100    180    21    1    0    .30860    0
100    160    19    1    1    .13323    0
95    250    18    1    1    .58936    1
120    200    30    1    1    .85228    1
125    240    29    1    1    .92175   
130    172    30    1    1    .69443    1
120    130    35    1    1    .76972    1
120    140    38    1    1    .90642    1
125    160    32    1    1    .75435    1
115    185    40    1    1    .98365    1
150    195    65    0    1    .86545    1
130    175    72    0    1    .97205    1
170    200    56    0    1    .31892    0
145    210    58    0    1    .62148    1
180    200    81    0    1    .99665    1
140    190    73    0    1    .98260    1
    The table above shows the predicted probabilities of an adverse reaction, and the classification of each into group 0 or 1 on the basis of that probability, using 0.5 as the cut-off score.

Question:

Case 4: Using logistic regression proof that particular drug for women has characteristics that cause some of them an adverse reaction to a particular drug.


CASE – 5   Conjoint Analysis

Problem

XYZ paint company identified the attributes which are important to their customers and also classified each of the attributes into their levels. Based on this, they want to use the technique of conjoint analysis to determine from a potential customer’s point of view, how important each attribute is to him. They also want to know how much utility the customer derives from a given combination of these levels of attributes. It also helps to understand the feasible offerings from the marketer’s point of view. The three important attributes identified for the paint are:
1.    Life—this is the number of years the paint coat lasts.
2.    Price—the price of one litre of paint.
3.    Colour—the colour of paint.
       The levels of the above mentioned attributes are as follows:
•    Life—3 years, 4 years, 5 years
•    Price—Rs. 50 per litre, Rs. 60 per litre, Rs. 70 per litre
•    Colour—Green, Blue, Cream

Input data

After the attributes and their levels are decided, the next stage is to collect from the respondent, the ranking of all 27 combinations of levels. This can be seen from Table 1.1.
TABLE 1.1  Input Data for Conjoint Analysis
S.No.    Life (in years)    Price (Rs/Litre)    Colour    Rating (27 to 10
1    5    50    Green    27
2    4    50    Green    26
3    5    50    Cream    25
4    5    50    Blue    24
5    5    60    Green    23
6    4    60    Green    22
7    5    70    Green    21
8    5    60    Blue    20
9    5    60    Cream    19
10    4    50    Blue    18
11    4    50    Cream    17
12    5    70    Blue    16
13    3    50    Green    15
14    5    70    Cream    14
15    3    50    Blue    13
16    4    60    Blue    12
17    4    60    Cream    11
18    3    50    Cream    10
19    4    70    Green    9
20    3    60    Green    8
21    4    70    Blue    7
22    3    60    Blue    6
23    4    70    Cream    5
24    3    60    Cream    4
25    3    70    Green    3
26    3    70    Blue    2
27    3    70    Cream    1

Table 1.2  Shows different codes assumed for various levels of attributes for a regression run. The coding of the attribute levels for this purpose is known as ‘effects coding’. In this table, which is similar to the coding of dummy variables, the three levels of life are coded as follows:

           Life in years    Var 1    Var 2
3    1    0
4    0    1
5    -1    -1

    Thus, the two variables, Var 1 and Var 2 are used to indicate the 3 levels of life, as per the coding scheme mentioned above.
    Similarly the coding scheme for the three levels of the price is as shown as follows:

Price
(Rs. Per liter)    Var 3    Var 4
50    1    0
60    0    1
70    -1    -1

    Finally, the coding scheme for colour is as shown below:

 Colour     Var 3    Var 4
Green    1    0
Blue    0    1
Cream    -1    -1
    Thus, 6 variables, that is Var 1 - Var 6 are used to represent the 3 levels of life of the paint (3, 4, 5), 3 levels of price per litre (50, 60 & 70) and 3 levels of colour (green, blue and cream). All the six variables are independent variables in the regression run. Var 7 is the rating of each combination given by the respondent, and forms the dependent variable for the regression curve. The recoded input data are shown in Table 1.3.
    If the conjoint analysis is run as a regression model, the rating (which is the reverse of ranking) is used as a dependent variable. All combinations from the first to the twenty-seventh are ranked by the respondent. Rank 1 can be considered as the highest rating and given a rating of 27. Rank 2 can be given a rating of 26 and so on. This is not an interval-scaled rating, and should have only ordinal interpretation.

Table 1.3   Conjoint Problem Input Data Coded for Regression

Var 1    Var 2    Var 3    Var 4    Var 5    Var 6    Var 7
-1.00    -1.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    27.00
0.00    1.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    26.00
-1.00    -1.00    1.00    0.00    -1.00    -1.00    25.00
-1.00    -1.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    24.00
-1.00    -1.00    0.00    1.00    1.00    0.00    23.00
0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    1.00    0.00    22.00
-1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    1.00    0.00    21.00
-1.00    -1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    20.00
-1.00    -1.00    0.00    1.00    -1.00    -1.00    19.00
0.00    1.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    18.00
0.00    1.00    1.00    0.00    -1.00    -1.00    17.00
-1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    0.00    1.00    16.00
1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    15.00
-1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    14.00
1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    13.00
0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    12.00
0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    -1.00    -1.00    11.00
1.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    -1.00    -1.00    10.00
0.00    1.00    -1.00    -1.00    1.00    0.00    9.00
1.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    1.00    0.00    8.00
0.00    1.00    -1.00    -1.00    0.00    1.00    7.00
1.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    1.00    6.00
0.00    1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    5.00
1.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    -1.00    -1.00    4.00
1.00    0.00    -1.00    -1.00    1.00    0.00    3.00
1.00    0.00    -1.00    -1.00    0.00    1.00    2.00
1.00    0.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    -1.00    1.00


OUTPUT AND ITS INTERPRETATION

The output of the regression model is shown in Table 1.4. Variables 1 to 6 are treated as independent variables. The column titled ‘B’ (the regression coefficient column) provides the part utility of each level of attributes.

Table 1.4   Multiple regression output for conjoint problem (partial output shown)

  Variables in the regression equation
VARIABLE    B
Var 1    -7.00
Var 2    0.11
Var 3    5.44
Var 4    -0.11
Var 5    3.11
Var 6    -0.88


    For example, the life of 3 years is represented by variable 1 as per our coding scheme. Its utility is equal to -7.11 (looking under column ‘B’ of Table 1.4 for variable 1). Similarly the utility for variable 2, representing life of 4 years is 0.11. The utility for the 3rd level of life, is not in the table, but is derived from the property of this coding, that all the utilities for a given attributes should sum to 0. Thus, utility for life of 5 years should be equal to 7 (-7.11 + 0.11).

    Similarly for price, the utilities of Rs. 50/litre and Rs. 70/litre are given by the numbers 5.44 and -0.11, as shown against 3 and 4 in Table 1.4 in Table 1.4 but the utility for Rs. 80/litre is derived from the same property, that the sum of the utilities for different levels of price should sum to 0. Therefore the price Rs. 80/litre has the utility of 5.33 (5.44 + (-0.11).

    Finally for colour, green has the utility of 3.11 and blue has the utility of -0.88. Cream has a derived utility of 2.23 (3.11 + (-0.88).






TABLE 1.5    Utilities Table for Conjoint Analysis

Attributes     Levels    Part Utility         Range of Utility
      (Max - Min)   
Life     3 years    -7.11     = 7.00 - (-7.11)   
     4 years    0.11    = 14.11   
     5 years    7.00        
Price    Rs. 50/litre    5.44        
     Rs. 60/litre    -0.11     = 5.44 - (-0.11)   
     Rs. 70/litre    5.33    = 5.55   
Colour    Green    3.11    = 3.11 - (-0.88)   
     Blue     -0.88     = 3.99   
     Cream    2.23        

    From the Table 1.5 we can conclude that the life or the number of years the paint lasts is the most important attribute for the customer. There are two indicators for this.
1.    The range of utility value is highest (14.11) for the life. (From Range of Utility column)
2.    The highest individual value of this attributes is at its 3rd level that is, i.e., 7.00.

Both these figures indicate that the number of years the paint lasts is the most important attribute at given levels of attributes. The price/litre seems to be the second most important attribute, as its range of utilities is 5.55. The last attribute in relative importance is the colour, with the utility range of 3.99.

Combination Utilities

The total utility of any combination can be calculated by picking the attribute levels of our choice. For example, the combined utility of the combination 4 years of life, Rs. 70/litre, and cream colour is 0.11 + 5.33 + 2.33 = 7.67. If we want to know the best combination, it is advisable to pick the highest utilities from each attribute, and add them. The possible combination is 5 years of life, Rs. 50/litre, and green colour, that is, 7.00 + 5.44 + 3.11 = 15.55. The next best combination is 5 years of life, Rs. 70/litre, and green colour, with the combined utility of 7 + 5.33 + 3.11 = 15.44.



Individual Attributes

The difference in utility with the change of one level in one attribute can also be checked. For the life of 3 years to 4 years, there is increase in utility value of 7.22 units, but the next level, that is, 4 years to 5 years has an increase in utility of 6.89.
    Similarly, increase in price from Rs. 50/litre to Rs. 60/litre induces a utility drop of 5.55, whereas from Rs. 60/litre to Rs. 70/litre there is an increase in utility of 5.44.
    Finally, colour green to colour blue induces 3.99 drop in utility. Next, from colour blue to colour cream there is an increase in utility of 3.11.


Question:
Case 5: Use conjoint analysis to determine from a potential customer’s point of view, how important each attribute is to him. Also determine how much utility the customer derives from a given combination of these levels of attributes. The attributes are life, price and colour.


CASE 6

A recent case study for a cellular phone service provider in Chennai listed its research objectives and methodology (including sampling plan) for a marketing research study as follows:

SKCELL, A CELLULAR OPERATOR/STUDY ON VALUE ADDED SERVICES LIKE SMS (SHORT MESSAGING SERVICE), VOICE MAIL, AND SO ON

Research Objectives

To find out
•    whether people actually use the mobile phone just for talking
•    to what extent the mobile phone is used for its VAS (Value Added Services)
•    factors influencing choice of service provider
•    awareness of Skycell’s improved coverage

Locations Covered

Chennai city and the suburbs

Methodology

Primary data:
Through questionnaires

Sample Composition

•    Mobile phone users
•    Business pesons
•    Executives
•    Youth

Sample size: 75

Age group: 18 – 45 years
Questions:

1.    Can you add to methodology section?

2.    Distribute the sample of 75 among the different categories of respondents mentioned under “Sample Composition”.

Thursday 26 February 2015

IIBM Exam papers/ case studies: contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com

Examination Paper of Marketing Management
1
IIBM Institute of Business Management
IIBM Institute of Business Management
Examination Paper MM.100
Subject Code- B104 Marketing Management
Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)
•?This section consists of multiple choices & short answer type questions.
•?Answer all the questions.
•?Part One carries I mark each & Part II carries 5 marks each.
Part One
Multiple Choices:
1. It is a concept where goods are produced without taking into consideration the choices or tastes of
customers.
a. Marketing mix
b. Production concept
c. Marketing concept
d. Relationship marketing
2. It involves individuals who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or
resale.
a. Environment analysis
b. Macro environment
c. Micro environment
d. Consumer
3. It is the groups of people who interact formally or informally influencing each other?s attitudes&
behavior.
a. Consumer behavior
b. Culture
c. Reference groups
d. Primary groups
4. The concept of the product that passes through various changes in its total life known as:
a. Product life cycle
b. Line stretching
c. Consumer adoption
d. Product
5. It refers to unique set of brand associations that brand strategist aspires to create or maintain:
a. Branding
b. Packaging
c. Brand identity
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d. Brand image
6. It involves a pricing strategy that charges customers different prices for the same product or
service.
a. Promotional pricing
b. Price discrimination
c. Non price competition
d. None of the above
7. It refers to an arrangement where another company through its own marketing channel sells the
products of one producers.
a. End customer
b. Wholesaler
c. Retailing
d. Strategic channel alliance
8. It involves facility consisting of the means & equipments necessary for the movement of
passengers of goods.
a. Logistics
b. Warehousing
c. Transportation
d. None of the above
9. The advertising which is used to inform consumers about a new product or feature & to build
primary demands is known as:
a. Advertising
b. Informative advertising
c. Persuasive advertising
d. Advertising strategy
10. An art that predicts the likelihood of economic activity on the basis of certain assumptions:
a. Compensation
b. Sales forecasting
c. Sales budgeting
d. Selling policy
Part Two:
1. Define Marketing Mix.
2. Discuss the concept of Benchmarking.
3. Write a short note on Target Marketing.
4. What do you understand by Pricing Strategy?
END OF SECTION A
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IIBM Institute of Business Management
Section B: Caselets (40 marks)
•?This section consists of Caselets.
•?Answer all the questions.
•?Each Caselet carries 20 marks.
•?Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).
Caselet 1
Ask the company top brass what „almost there? means. The answer: a premier Indian retail company
that has come to be known as a specialty chain of apparel and accessories. With 52 product categories
under one roof, Shoppers? Stop has a line-up of 350 brands. Set up and headed by former Corona
employee, B. S. Nagesh, Shoppers? Stop is India?s answer to Selfridges and Printemps. As it proudly
announces, „We don?t sell, we help you buy.? Back in 1991, there was the question of what to retail.
Should it be a supermarket or a departmental store? Even an electronics store was considered. Finally,
common sense and understanding won out. The safest bet, for the all-male team was to retail men?s
wear. They knew the male psyche and felt that they had discerning taste in men?s clothing. The
concept would be that of a lifestyle store in a luxurious space, which would make for a great shopping
experience. The first Shoppers? Stop store took shape in Andheri, Mumbai, in October 1991, with an
investment of nearly Rs. 20 lakh. The original concept that formed the basis of a successful marketing
campaign for seven years is here to stay. And the result is an annual turnover of Rs. 160 crores and
five stores, nine years later. Everything went right from the beginning, except for one strange
happening. More than 60 per cent of the customers who walked into Shoppers? Stop in Mumbai were
women. This gave rise to ideas. Soon, the store set up its women?s section. Later, it expanded to
include children?s wear and then, household accessories. The second store in Bangalore came in
1995. The store at Hyderabad followed in 1998 with the largest area of 60,000 sq. ft. The New Delhi
and Jaipur stores were inaugurated in 1999. All this while, the product range kept increasing to suit
customer needs. The most recent experiment was home furnishings. Secure in the knowledge that
organized retailing in global brands was still in its infancy in India, Shoppers? Stop laid the ground
rules which the competition followed. The biggest advantage for Shoppers? Stop is that it knows how
the Indian consumer thinks and feels while shopping. Yes, feeling – for in India, shopping remains an
outing. And how does it compare itself to foreign stores? While it is not modeled on any one foreign
retailer, the „basic construct? is taken from the experience of a number of successfully managed retail
companies. It has leveraged expertise for a critical component like technology from all over the
world, going as far as hiring expatriates from Littlewoods and using state-of-the-art ERP models.
Shoppers? Stop went a step further by even integrating its financial system with the ERP model.
Expertise was imported wherever it felt that expertise available in-house was inadequate. But the
store felt there was one acute problem. A shortage of the most important resource of them all was
trained humans. Since Indian business institutes did not have professional courses in retail
management, people were hired from different walks of life and the training programme was
internalized. By 1994, the senior executives at Shoppers? Stop were taking lectures at management
institutes in Mumbai. The Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) even
restructured its course to include retail management as a subject. Getting the company access to the
latest global retail trends and exchange of information with business greats was an exclusive
membership to the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS). It allows membership by
invitation to one company from a country and Shoppers? Stop rubs shoulders with 29 of the hottest
names in retailing – Selfridges from the UK, C.K. Tang from Singapore, Lamcy Plaza from Dubai
and the like. With logistics I in place, the accent moved to the customer. Shoppers? Stop conducted
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IIBM Institute of Business Management
surveys with ORG-MARG and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) and undertook in-house
wardrobe audits. The studies confirmed what it already knew. The Indian customer is still evolving
and is very different from, say, a European customer, who knows exactly what he wants to purchase,
walks up to a shelf, picks up the merchandise, pays and walks out. In India, customers like to touch
and feel the merchandise, and scout for options. Also, the majority of Indian shoppers still prefer to
pay in cash. So, transactions must be in cash as against plastic money used the world over.
Additionally, the Indian customer likes being served – whether it is food, or otherwise. The
company?s customer profile includes people who want the same salesperson each time they came to
the store to walk them through the shop floors and assist in the purchase. Others came with families,
kids and maids in tow and expected to be suitably attended to. Still others wanted someone to carry
the bags. So, the shops have self-help counters, with an assistant at hand for queries or help. The inhouse
wardrobe audit also helped with another facet of the business. It enabled Shoppers? Stop to
work out which brands to stock, based on customer preferences. In fact, the USP of Shoppers? Stop
lies in judiciously selected global brands, displayed alongside an in-house range of affordable
designer wear. The line-up includes Levi?s, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Walt Disney, Ray Ban and
Reebok, besides in-house labels STOP and I. Brand selection is the same across the five locations,
though the product mix may be somewhat city-based to accommodate cuts and styles in women?s
wear, as well as allowing for seasonal variations (winter in Delhi, for instance, is a case in point).
Stocking of brands is based on popular demand – recently, Provogue, MTV Style, and Benetton have
been added. In-house labels are available at competitive prices and target the value-for-money
customer and make up around 12 per cent of Shoppers? Stop?s business. Sometimes in-house brands
plug the price gap in certain product categories. To cash in on this, the company has big plans for its
in-house brands: from re-branding to repositioning, to homing in on product categories where existing
brands are not strong. Competition between brands is not an issue, because being a trading house, all
brands get equal emphasis. The in-house brand shopper is one who places immense trust in the
company and the quality of its goods and returns for repeat buys. And the company reposed its faith
in regular customers by including them in a concept called the First Citizen?s Club (FCC). With
60,000 odd members, FCC customers account for 10 per cent of entries and for 34 per cent of the
turnover. It was the sheer appeal of the experience that kept pulling these people back. Not one to let
such an opportunity pass, the company ran a successful ad campaign (that talks about just this factor)
in print for more than eight years. The theme is still the same. In 1999, a TV spot, which liked the
shopping experience to the slowing down of one?s internal clock and the beauty of the whole
experience, was aired. More recently, ads that spell out the store?s benefits (in a highly oblique
manner) are being aired.
The campaign is based on entries entered in the Visitors? Book. None of the ads has a visual or text –
or any heavy handedly direct reference to the store or the merchandise. The ads only show shoppers
having the time of their lives in calm and serene locales, or elements that make shopping at the store a
pleasure – quite the perfect getaway for a cosmopolitan shopper aged between 25 and 45. The brief to
the agency, Contract, ensured that brand recall came in terms of the shopping experience, not the
product. And it has worked wonders. Value-addition at each store also comes in the form of special
care with car parks, power backup, customer paging, alteration service and gift-wrapping. To top it
all, cafes and coffee bars make sure that the customer does not step out of the store. In Hyderabad, it
has even created a Food Court. Although the food counter was not planned, it came about as there
was extra space of 67,000 sq. ft. Carrying the perfect experience to the shop floor is an attempt to
stack goods in vast open spaces neatly. Every store has a generic structure, though regional customer
variances are accounted for. Each store is on lease, and this is clearly Shoppers? Stop?s most
expensive resource proposition – renting huge spaces in prime properties across metros, so far
totaling 210,000 sq. ft of retail space. Getting that space was easy enough for Shoppers? Stop, since
its promoter is the Mumbai-based Raheja Group, which also owns 62 per cent of the share capital.
Examination Paper of Marketing Management
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IIBM Institute of Business Management
Questions:
1. What are the significant factors that have led to the success of Shoppers? Stop?
2. How should Shoppers? Stop develop its demand forecasts?
Caselet 2
The rise of personal computers in the mid 1980s spurred interest in computer games. This caused a
crash in home Video game market. Interest in Video games was rekindled when a number of different
companies developed hardware consoles that provided graphics superior to the capabilities of
computer games. By 1990, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the product category. Sega
surpassed Nintendo when it introduced its Genesis System. By 1993, Sega commanded almost 60 per
cent of Video game market and was one of the most recognized brand names among the children.
Sega?s success was short lived. In 1995, Saturn (a division of General Motors) launched a new 32-bit
system. The product was a miserable failure for a number of reasons. Sega was the primary software
developer for Saturn and it did not support efforts by outside game developers to design compatible
games. In addition, Sega?s games were often delivered quite late to retailers. Finally, the price of the
Saturn system was greater than other comparable game consoles. This situation of Saturn?s misstep
benefited Nintendo and Sony greatly. Sony?s Play Station was unveiled in 1994 and was available in
70 million homes worldwide by the end of 1999. Its “Open design” encouraged the efforts of outside
developers, resulting in almost 3,000 different games that were compatible with the PlayStation. It too
featured 32-bit graphics that appealed to older audience. As a result, at one time, more than 30 per
cent of PlayStation owners were over 30 years old. Nintendo 64 was introduced in 1996 and had eyepopping
64-bit graphics and entered in more than 28 million homes by 1999. Its primary users were
between the age of 6 and 13 as a result of Nintendo?s efforts to limit the amount of violent and adultoriented
material featured on games that can be played on its systems. Because the company
exercised considerable control over software development, Nintendo 64 had only one-tenth the
number of compatible games as Sony?s PlayStation did. By 1999, Sony had captured 56 per cent of
the video game market, followed by Nintendo with 42 per cent. Sega?s share had fallen to a low of
1%. Hence, Sega had two options, either to concede defeat or introduce an innovative video machine
that would bring in huge sales. And Sega had to do so before either Nintendo or Sony could bring
their next-generation console to market. The Sega Dreamcast arrived in stores in September 1999
with an initial price tag of $199. Anxious gamers placed 300,000 advance orders, and initial sales
were quite encouraging. A total of 1.5 million Dreamcast machines were bought within the first four
months, and initial reviews were positive. The 128-bit system was capable of generating 3-D visuals,
and 40 different games were available within three months of Dream cast?s introduction. By the end
of the year, Sega had captured a market share to 15 per cent. But the Dreamcast could not sustain its
momentum. Although its game capabilities were impressive, the system did not deliver all the
functionality Sega had promised. A 56K modem (which used a home phone line) and a Web browser
were meant to allow access to the Internet so that gamers could play each other online, surf the Web,
and visit the Dreamcast Network for product information and playing tips. Unfortunately, these
features either were not immediately available or were disappointing in their execution. Sega was not
the only one in having the strategy of adding functionality beyond games. Sony and Nintendo
followed the same approach for their machines introduced in 1999. Both Nintendo?s Neptune and
Sony?s PlayStation 2 (PS2) were built on a DVD platform and featured a 128-bit processor. Analysts
applauded the move to DVD because it is less expensive to produce and allows more storage than
CDs. It also gives buyers the ability to use the machine as CD music player and DVD movie player.
As Sony marketing director commented, “The full entertainment offering from Play Station 2
definitely appeals to a much broader audience. I have friends in their 30s who bought it not only
Examination Paper of Marketing Management
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IIBM Institute of Business Management
because it?s a gaming system for their kids, but also a DVD for them.” In addition, PlayStation 2 is
able to play games developed for its earlier model that was CD-based. This gives the PS2 an
enormous advantage in the number of compatible game titles that were immediately available to
gamers. Further enhancing the PS2?s appeal is its high-speed modem and allows the user?s easy
access to the Internet through digital cable as well as over telephone lines. This gives Sony the ability
to distribute movies, music, and games directly to PS2 consoles. “We are positioning this as an allround
entertainment player,” commented Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment.
However, some prospective customers were put off by the console?s initial price of $360. Shortly
after the introduction of Neptune, Nintendo changed its strategies and announced the impending
release of its newest game console, The GameCube. However, unlike the Neptune, the GameCube
would not run on a DVD platform and also would not initially offer any online capabilities. It would
be more attractively priced at $199. A marketing vice president for Nintendo explained the
company?s change in direction, “We are the only competitor whose business is video games. We want
to create the best gaming system.” Nintendo also made the GameCube friendly for outside developers
and started adding games that included sports titles to attract an older audience. Best known for its
extra ordinary successes with games aimed at the younger set, such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario
Bros, and Pokemon, Nintendo sought to attract older users, especially because the average video
game player is 28. Youthful Nintendo users were particularly pleased to hear that they could use their
handheld Game Boy Advance systems as controllers for the GameCube. Nintendo scrambled to
ensure there would be an adequate supply of Game Cubes on the date in November 2001, when they
were scheduled to be available to customers. It also budgeted $450 million to market its new product,
as it anticipated stiff competition during the holiday shopping season. With more than 20 million
PlayStation 2 sold worldwide, the GameCube as a new entry in the video game market would make
the battle for market share even more intense. For almost a decade, the video game industry had only
Sega, Nintendo, and Sony; just three players. Because of strong brand loyalty and high product
development costs, newcomers faced a daunting task in entering this race and being competitive. In
November 2001, Microsoft began selling its new Xbox, just three days before the GameCube made
its debut. Some observers felt the Xbox was aimed to rival PlayStation 2, which has similar functions
that rival Microsoft?s Web TV system and even some lower level PCs. Like the Sony?s PlayStation 2,
Xbox was also built using a DVD platform, but it used an Intel processor in its construction. This
open design allowed Microsoft to develop the Xbox in just two years, and gave developers the option
of using standard PC tool for creating compatible games. In addition, Microsoft also sought the
advice of successful game developers and even incorporated some of their feedback into the design of
the console and its controllers. As a result of developers? efforts, Microsoft had about 20 games ready
when the Xbox became available. By contrast, the GameCube had only eight games available.
Microsoft online strategy was another feature that differentiated of the Xbox from the GameCube.
Whereas Nintendo had no immediate plans for Web-based play, the Xbox came equipped with an
Ethernet port for broadband access to Internet. Microsoft also announced its own Web-based network
on which gamers can come together for online head-to head play and for organized online matches
and tournaments. Subscribers to this service were to pay a small monthly fee and must have highspeed
access to the Internet. This is a potential drawback considering that a very low percentage of
households world over currently have broadband connections. By contrast Sony promoted an open
network, which allows software developers to manage their own games, including associated fees
charged to users. However, interested players must purchase a network adapter for an additional
$39.99. Although game companies are not keen on the prospect of submitting to the control of a
Microsoft-controlled network, it would require a significant investment for them to manage their own
service on the Sony-based network. Initially the price of Microsoft?s Xbox was $299. Prior to the
introduction of Xbox, in a competitive move Sony dropped the price of the PlayStation 2 to $299.
Nintendo?s GameCube already enjoyed a significant price advantage, as it was selling for $100 less
than either Microsoft or Sony products. Gamers eagerly snapped up the new consoles and made 2001
Examination Paper of Marketing Management
7
IIBM Institute of Business Management
the best year ever for video game sales. For the first time, consumers spent $9.4 billion on video
game equipment, which was more than they did at the box office. By the end of 2001 holiday season,
6.6 million PlayStation 2 consoles had been sold in North America alone, followed by 1.5 million
Xbox units and 1.2 million Game Cubes. What ensued was an all out price war. This started when
Sony decided to put even more pressure on the Microsoft?s Xbox by cutting the PlayStation 2 price to
$199. Microsoft quickly matched that price.
Wanting to maintain its low-price status, Nintendo in turn responded by reducing the price of its the
GameCube by $50, to $149. By mid 2002, Microsoft Xbox had sold between 3.5 and 4 million units
worldwide. However, Nintendo had surpassed Xbox sales by selling 4.5 million Game Cubes. Sony
had the benefit of healthy head start, and had shipped 32 million PlayStation 2s. However, seven
years after the introduction of original PlayStation, it was being sold in retail outlets for a mere $49. It
had a significant lead in terms of numbers of units in homes around the world with a 43 per cent
share. Nintendo 64 was second with 30 per cent, followed by Sony PlayStation 2 with 14 per cent.
The Xbox and GameCube each claimed about 3 per cent of the market, with Sega Dreamcast
comprising the last and least market share of 4.7 per cent. Sega, once an industry leader, announced in
2001 that it had decided to stop producing the Dreamcast and other video game hardware
components. The company said it would develop games for its competitors? consoles. Thus Sega
slashed the price of the Dreamcast to just $99 in an effort to liquidate its piled up inventory of more
than 2 million units and immediately began developing 11 new games for the Xbox, four for
PlayStation 2, and three for Nintendo?s Game Boy Advance. As the prices of video game consoles
have dropped, consoles and games have become the equivalent of razors and blades. This means the
consoles generate little if any profit, but the games are a highly profitable proposition. The profit
margins on games are highly attractive, affected to some degree by whether the content is developed
by the console maker (such as Sony) or by an independent game publisher (such as Electronic Arts).
Thus, the competition to develop appealing, or perhaps even addictive, games may be even more
intense than the battle among players to produce the best console. In particular, Nintendo, Sony, and
Microsoft want games that are exclusive to their own systems. With that in mind, they not only rely
on large in-house staffs that design games but they also pay added fees to independent publishers for
exclusive rights to new games. The sales of video games in 2001 rose to 43 per cent, compared to just
4 per cent increase for computer-based games. But computer game players are believed to be a loyal
bunch, as they see many advantages in playing games on their computers rather than consoles. For
one thing, they have a big advantage of having access to a mouse and a keyboard that allow them to
play far more sophisticated games. In addition, they have been utilizing the Internet for years to
receive game updates and modifications and to play each other over the Web. Sony and Microsoft are
intent on capturing a portion of the online gaming opportunity. Even Nintendo has decided to make
available a modem that will allow GameCube users to play online. As prices continue to fall and
technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, it remains to be seen whether these three
companies can keep their names on the industry?s list of “high scorers”.
Questions:
1. Considering the concept of product life cycle, where would you put video games in their life cycle?
2. Should video game companies continue to alter their products to include other functions, such as
email?
END OF SECTION B
Examination Paper of Marketing Management
8
IIBM Institute of Business Management
Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)
•?This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.
•?Answer all the questions.
•?Each question carries 15 marks.
•?Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200-250 words).
1. What do you understand by product life cycle? Discuss implications and limitations of product
life cycle concept.
2. Describe role of marketing channels. List the different types of marketing channels.
END OF SECTION C
S-2-250613

Wednesday 25 February 2015

IIBM Exam papers/ case studies: contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com

Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 1 

IIBM Institute of Business Management
Examination Paper MM.100
Managing Hotel Operations
Section A: Objective Type (30 Marks)
• This section consists of Multiple Choice Questions and Short notes type Questions.
• Answer all the questions.
• Part one carry 1 mark each and Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part One:
Multiple Choices:
1. Housekeeping is the responsibility of:
a. Hotel manager
b. Reservation manager
c. Rooms manager
d. Executive assistant manager

2. Which of the following is not the method of minimizing the overbooking problem:
a. Increasing restrictive policy
b. Third party guaranty
c. Threat of legislation
d. Advance- deposit reservation

3. Which of the following is the channel of the traditional reservation:
a. The changing role of travel agent
b. In-house reservation
c. Central reservation center
d. All of these

4. The real component of “TQM” is?
a. Bedding
b. Cleanliness
c. Noise ,temperature and darkness
d. All of the above

5. Arrange the following into hotel organizational structure:
i. The room manager
ii. The general manager
iii. The hotel manager
iv. Manager of guest services.


Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 2 

a. i, ii, iii, iv
b. ii, iv, i, iii
c. ii, iii ,i, iv
d. iv, ii, iii, i

6. Alphabetical list of the day’s expected arrival, individually and by group is:
a. Cancellation and change report
b. Daily analysis report
c. Arrival report
d. Central reservation report

7. Which is not the component of credit management :
a. Extending credit
b. Credit alert and skippers
c. Minimizing charge backs
d. None of these

8. Reservation contained following information during the procedure are design to improve the effectiveness of the front office:
a. Arriving and departure dates
b. Number of night
c. Number of person
d. All of the above

9. Bank card is the kind of?
a. Debit card
b. Smart card
c. Credit card
d. None of these

10. Segmentation comes under:
a. New product pattern
b. New market Pattern
c. New product segmentation
d. New management pattern

Part Two:
1. Explain the special characteristics of hotel business?

2. Differentiate between the marketing to the individual and marketing to the group?


Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 3 

3. List the Information contained in reservation.

4. Explain the organizational structure of hotel management?

END OF SECTION A 

END OF SECT
Section B: Caselets (40 Marks)
• This section consists of Caselets.
• Answer all the questions.
• Each Caselet carries 20 marks.
• Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 Words)

Caselet 1
The Benson Hotel, a mid-sized independent property required new leadership. Mike Schwartz, Vice- president of operations, pondered his next move as he reviewed last month’s financial statements. The Benson was an eighty-five-room three-star property with a full-service restaurant, lounge, banquet and health club facilities. The rapidly changing marketplace and new competition from well-established franchises had made Mike’s job and the Benson’s position more tenuous. Mike decided to commission a consultant’s report on the property. He called up his longtime friend Jim Burke, who had worked for major chains across the country and was now a hospitality consultant.
“Jim, how are you old buddy?” Mike asked.
“I am doing very well Mike. This consulting work has run me off my feet. What can I do for you?” Jim Asked.
“Well Jim, I need an independent review of the Benson. We’re holding our own but these franchise guys with their management contracts are really getting aggressive,” Mike said.
“Yes, I know what you mean Mike. I have just completed a marketing study for a new building across town. These guys have some great programs. You have to try and stay ahead of them,” said Jim.
Mike asked, “Do you think you could visit the property and have some lunch next week? I would like to start with an employee survey and some site work. You’ll be working alongside my general manager, Sean Waters. Sean’s been with us for about two years. Jim, I have some concerns about this guy and I’d like to have a fresh set of eyes look at what’s going on at the Benson. Okay?”
Jim hesitated, “Okay Mike. How about next Thursday 10:00 a.m.? I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
“Wonderful, Jim. We’ll see you then.”
Sean waters had been recruited by Mike as a rising star. Sean’s background led Mike to believe he possessed a true spirit for hospitality, especially in the food service area. Sean had worked his way up in reputable full – service properties and restaurants while completing an undergraduate degree in hospitability. So, what had gone so wrong at the Benson for Mike to feel he needed to bring in a consultant to figure it out? Three months later Mike had an interim report on his desk.
Physical Plant Priorities
The following is a review of specific areas of the Benson Hotel that require attention. 

Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 4 

Sales Office- Located just off the lobby, this space is open to the public and is well below standards for this level of property. The property has worked hard to attract the corporate market. A well-renovated business center shared with a working sales area would enhance this area gently.
Banquet Servery- Located on the lower level from the main kitchen, this area seems more of a storage area; in fact this could serve as a limited holding area for banquet service. There is no counter space and no secure shelving to store dishes, glassware, or cutlery. Floors and walls are in need of refinishing. Guests have gained access to this area on occasion.
Exterior Garbage Area- The main compactor located in the rear parking lot of the hotel should be enclosed. It is unsightly to guests and can be viewed from the road by surrounding residences. A possible solution would be to pour a concrete slab allowing for drainage and build an enclosure on three sides to ensure access for pick-up.
Access for persons with disabilities –Presently, the Benson has no access or rooms for guests with disabilities. At least two units should be converted for this purpose. The main reconfigurations are the bathrooms and doorways. On a few occasions guests with disabilities were observed leaving the hotel for other properties in the area that had such facilities. It is a good marketing initiative and may become necessary to maintain the rating of the property.
Lobby- The lobby chairs and broadloom should be upgraded to reflect the marketplace and reputation of the property.
Back Office Computer– There is presently no stand- alone back office computer. The computers on the property are dated and solely devoted to a property management system that is not Windows based. The following functions could be served with a back office computer.
• Inventory analysis
• Database marketing
• Effective and professional word processing

Parking Lot –The rear parking lot is of particular concern; it does not reflect a three-star property.
Human Resources
The Benson Hotel, like many others before it, had over the years placed people in positions of authority with little or no training to support their efforts. This was true in the following revenue centers.
Dining Room – During high season the dining room enjoys record covers on many nights. However, there was one very stressful situation observed. The staffing was mixed with senior staff followed by poorly trained “warm bodies”. The situation was made worse by the supervisor, Rachel, who was perceived by the staff as unfair, unapproachable, and often playing favorites with her friends and family. Rachel, in all fairness, has had no training and was clearly not the person for the job. She repeatedly showed disrespect for her fellow workers and kitchen staff. Unfairness was clearly displayed in the allotment of high-gratuity-paying work such as banquets and bus tours. Rachel played favorites. She would schedule herself and friends to serve high-gratuity events. If you were not her favorite, you were relegated to breakfast shifts or similar low-gratuity work. An example is the new girl, Donna, who Rachel hired this summer. Rachel is already giving preferential shifts to Donna over Isabel, who has been at the Benson for more than five years. Rachel based her decision on Isabel’s poor performance, which Rachel said other employees would agree with. This was not the case when fellow workers were asked. Rachel had also threatened to lay off Isabel in the slow months instead of Donna or Rachel’s daughter Lucy. This was clearly an old management style and unacceptable in any operation. Rachel is also resentful that the kitchen receives 25 percent of group meal gratuities. In her opinion they do not deserve it. This feeling has permeated among her allies, instilling an “us against them” animosity between the kitchen and service staff.
Kitchen Operation – The kitchen staff is competent, but leadership is seriously lacking in this area. James, the interim kitchen supervisor, has difficulty coping with the restricted responsibilities placed on him and often projects these feelings onto fellow staff. This attitude also has a further negative effect on Rachel and her staff in the dining area. Chief Wilhelm left three months ago and left little incentive for James to perform his duties as sous-chef. James is somewhat adrift, constantly complaining that he is doing a chef’s job and receiving cook’s pay. 

Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 5 

Management controls and reporting such as inventory are inaccurate at best, with related reports poorly presented. Production and food handling require improvement from a quality and sanitation point of view. It seems that many foods taken out for preparation or serving then are left out in a hot kitchen to deteriorate or go to waste. Scheduling of kitchen employees does not seem to relate to business peaks and valleys. This has resulted in calling in casual kitchen staff on short notice, resulting in paid-outs over the counter. One such employee is Gerald, the dishwasher who is Lucy’s boyfriend. Rachel on occasion has taken it upon herself to call Gerald in for dishwashing duty when clearly it is James’s responsibility to make the call. This situation provides an opportunity for Rachel to extend her influence beyond the realm of her authority and has led to increased friction between Rachel and James.
Employee Audit
This part of Jim’s report was a detailed employee audit interviewing employees on issues from the parking lot all the way up to the general manager. It provided Mike with some food for thought. Jim’s opening comments was: “if I had to make only one general statement about the relationship between the employer and employees at this time, I would have to say that it is limping along at a slow, steady pace. Most of the employees appear satisfied with the type of work they are doing and they speak well for the company.” Under the section “Lack of Credibility on the part of the General Manager,” Mike’s worst fears were confirmed. Jim’s report continued, “As far as the remainder of the employees are concerned, they do what they have to and then ignore the general manager. His level of credibility with these employees is zero. One employee was very philosophical about it when she said “At least we know what we have to deal with, and we are learning how to deal with him. If they get rid of him we could get someone worse.” Supporting comments from employees included:
• The general manager is always right.
• The morale of the employees varies with the moods of the general manager
• The general manager intimidates some employees.
• The general manager tries to impress the upper management by pitching in to help when they are here, but when they are not here he doesn’t lift a finger.

Jim summed up this section of his report to Mike like this: “This is a case of employees working well in spite of the general manager rather than because of him. The main problem with this situation is that a reputable company such as the Benson Hotel cannot support the actions of a general manager with this type of comportment and still maintain a workable relationship with its employees. My opinion at this point is that something has to change.”
Questions:
1. Do you feel it was necessary for Mike to commission a consultant’s report on the Benson? Why or why not? How would you have approached the situation?
2. Identify and propose solutions for the supervisory challenges in the kitchen and dining areas of the Benson Hotel.
Caselet 2
The Rainbow Golf resort had something to celebrate. The 120- unit golf resort consisting of villas and condominiums had recently been “re-branded” from a franchise to an independent property. The new owner, Ken Okura, was reviewing the present organizational structure of the Rainbow along with the files of key personnel presently running the operation. During the transition period Ken had recruited his own team including a Vice-President of operations, Director of sales and marketing and Director of Food and Beverage to restructure the organization; however, he still had a few key areas to fill in. In the past, each 

Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 6 

member of the resort’s management team had staked out his or her own turf with little internal communication. As a case in point, ken often noticed Shirley, the accountant, regularly directing the front desk on policies and procedures. All this happened under the watch of Jeremy, the resort’s Rooms Division Manager, who didn’t seem to take notice of such actions. Ken thought that this overlap of authority surely must confuse the front desk staff.
The transition period had provided Ken with a window of opportunity to evaluate the line and supervisory staff. Ken had retained Ted Barrow, a human resources consultant; his report’s findings were quite a surprise to Ken. Ted’s report began with the following staff concerns:
• The management does not work together. There is no teamwork, only “flexing” for power. Managers are out to protect their turf. This attitude pervades the resort.
• There is no apparent overall direction for the resort. If there is, it is not being communicated throughout the organization.
• There is no general manager or controller on site. The feeling is that if these people were around, conflict among the department heads could be avoided.
• There is insufficient training. Employees are thrown into their jobs without being ready to perform them properly. They should have proper preparation before they have to deal with guests.
• Some departments (front desk in particular) are terribly understaffed. This causes service problems as well as high staff turnover.
• The staff morale is low. Employees work in separate departments and get caught in a rut. There is no overall team spirit. It’s more like “every man for himself.”
• There is little or no awareness of how other departments operate. This knowledge is necessary to help us understand how we impact each other.
• Many people are currently unhappy. The labor pool is small, and if they leave it will be tough to replace them. Management should work to keep the staff happy.
• There seems to be a consensus that staff members want to be able to provide good service, but too many constraints are placed on them to be able to do so.
• It is difficult to know who to go if someone has a problem with his or her manager. There should be someone designated as the resort manager so that employees have someone to communicate with should the need to do so arise.

Ken assembled his new team to map out strategies to address the operational challenges and employee concerns.
Questions:
1. Identify and describe four short-term operational strategies Ken should implement immediately at

the Rainbow Golf Resort.
2. Which form of top-down communication would be most suitable for the Rainbow Golf Resort to achieve its objectives?



END OF SECTION B 

Examination Paper: Hotel Management 
IIBM Institute of Business Management 7 

Section C: Applied Theory (30 Marks)
• This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.
• Answer all the questions.
• Each question carries 10 marks.
• Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 Words)

1. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of hotel technology?

2. Discuss how the room rates impact on guest demand?

3. Explain the traditional hotel industry?

END OF SECTION C