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Sunday 31 May 2015

IIBM Exam Papers : Contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com


Master Program in Business Administration (MBA)

Note :- Solve any 4 Case Study
             All Case Carry equal Marks.
CASE I

Sunder Singh
Sunder Singh had studied only up to high school. He was 32-years of age, lived alone in a rented room, and worked eight-hour shift at one petrol pump, then went to the other one for another eight-hour shift. He had a girl friend and was planning to marry.

One day when he returned from work, he got a note from his girl friend that she was getting married to someone else and he need not bother her. This was a terrible shock to Sunder Singh and he fell apart. He stopped going to work, spent sleepless nights, and was very depressed. After a month, he was running Iowan his savings and approached his earlier employers to get back his job, but they would not give him a second chance. He had to quit his rented room, and sold few things that he had. He would do some odd jobs at the railway station or the bus terminal.

One day, nearly two years ago, he was very hungry and did not have any money and saw a young man selling newspapers. He asked him what he was selling and he told him about Guzara (an independent, non-profit, independent newspaper sold by the homeless, and economically disadvantaged men and women of this metro city). Sunder Singh approached the office and started selling the newspaper. He did not make a lot of money, but was good at saving it. He started saving money for a warm jacket for next winter.

…………………….transportation, spend very little on entertainment of any kind, and have no security of any kind. Their fight is mainly day-to-day survival.



QUESTIONS
1.    What does the purchase of a product like Nike mean to Sunder Singh?

Ans: In this story Nike a high class brand shoe represents a high class living standard for sunder sing. Because, once he really struggled in his life even for food. But later he manages to buy a Nike brand means the development of the living standard of his life style.

2.    What does the story say about our society and the impact of marketing on consumer behavior?

?    What does the story say about our society :-
o    Unstable relation and careless attitude of manner less personalities (Sunder Singh’s girlfriend)
o    Helping hand or positive attitude towards the survivals(young man selling newspapers)
o    Hidden opportunities from public (Guzara)
o    Necessity of survival, Positive attitude and ambition towards life (Sunder Singh)

?    impact of marketing on consumer behavior :-

?    Consumer behavior is the behavior that consumers interest in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of, products and services.


o    Influenced by high standard of living and modern culture
o    Introduce the available products and services in the market
o    Changing attitude and personal influences
o    Changing Emotions of personalities
o    Influenced by Brands
CASE II
Key to Buyers' Minds

Consumer buying research has turned a new leaf in India. The era of demographics ………..
(Prof Deepak Khanna, colleague, has developed these profiles based on his perceptions of certain personality types).


QUESTIONS
1.    Explain how the above-mentioned information is likely to benefit a marketer?
2.    Which of the above mentioned types are likely to respond to sales promotion? Explain.
3.    A manufacturer of personal care products in the premium segment starts frequent sales promotions. What is likely to be the impact on the above-mentioned types?
Case III
Star Airways

Star Airways offered passengers air services within the country and served a territory of 18, 000 sq. miles with an expanding population of over 70 lakh of people who are potential users of the airline services…………….The direct mail letter would be sent to a database of 85,000 clients in four months. The letter will contain information on the airline and again stress on the same theme of' quality and customer service'.

1.    ….What is likely to be the decision process in case of choosing an airline?
2.    Would this plan suggested by the vice president help in convincing the customers to use Star Airways? Give your reasons.

Case IV

Mouse-Rid

One hot May morning, Shobha, general manager of Innotrap India Ltd., entered her office in Delhi. She paused for a moment to contemplate the quote, which she had framed and hung on a wall facing her table.

"If a man can make a better mousetrap than his neighbour, the world will make a beaten path to his door." She vaguely recalled that probably it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said this. Perhaps, she wondered, Emerson knew something that she didn't. She had the ……….
impatience. To keep the investors happy, the company needed to sell enough traps to cover costs and make a profit.




QUESTIONS
1.    Has Shobha identified the best target market for Mouse-Rid? Why or why not?
2.    Does Shobha have enough needed data on consumer behaviour? What type of consumer research should Shobha conduct?
3.    What type of advertising can influence consumers for this type of product?
Case V

Golden Glow Soap

Anil Mahajan absent -mindedly ran his finger over the cake of soap before him. He traced the name 'Golden Glow' embossed on the soap as he inhaled its unmistakable sesame fragrance. It was a small soap, ……………..
top-end of the low-priced range. You end up creating an image of being on the opportunity fence. It is a mere pricing ploy, with no strategic value."



QUESTIONS
1.    Discuss the nature of problem(s) in this case?
2.    Suggest the kind of consumer research needed?
3.    How should Golden Glow be positioned/ repositioned to bring about the desired change among consumers? Give your reasons.
CASE VI


Impact of Retail Promotions on Consumers

Shoppers' Delight, a large retail store, had above-average quality and competitive prices. It advertised its retail promotions in local newspapers. Its TV advertising was mainly aimed at building store image and did not address retail promotions. The management knew it well that they had to advertise their retail promotions more, but they did not feel comfortable with the effectiveness of present efforts and wanted to better understand the impact of their present promotions.

To better understand the effectiveness of present efforts, a study of advertising exposure, interpretation, and purchases was undertaken. Researchers conducted 50 in-depth interviews with customers of the store's target market to determine the appropriate product mix, price, ad copy and media for the test. In addition, the store's image and that of its two competitors were measured.

……believed that a better ad would have at least 75 per cent correct comprehension among those aware of the ad. This in turn would almost double sales without any additional cost.


QUESTIONS

1.    Why would some consumers have high-involvement levels in learning about this sales promotion?
2     Is a level of 75 per cent comprehension realistic among those who become aware of an ad?  Why or why not?
3.    Do you think such promotions are likely to influence the quality image of the retail store? Explain.



Saturday 30 May 2015

IIBM Exam Papers : Contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com


MASTER’S PROGRAM IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Note: Solve any Five Case studies















   



No. 1
The slogan for the movie Godzilla was “Size does matter.”  Should this be the slogan for America as well?  Many marketers seem to believe so.  The average serving size for a fountain drink has gone from 12 ounces to 20 ounces.  An industry consultant explains that the 32 – ounce Big Gulp is so popular because “people like something large in their hands.  The large the better.”  Hardee’s Monster Burger, complete with two beef patties and five pieces of bacon, weighs in at 63 grams of fat and more than 900 calories.  Clothes have ballooned as well: Kick wear makes women’s jeans with 40 – inch diameter legs.  The standard for TV sets used to be 19 inches; now it’s 32 inches.  Hulking SUVs have replaced tiny sports cars as the status vehicle of the new millennium.  One consumer psychologist theorizes that consuming big things is reassuring: “Large things compensate for our vulnerability,” she says.  “It gives us insulation.  The feeling that we’re less likely to die.”  What’s up with our fascination with bigness?  Is this a uniquely American preference?  Do you believe that “bigger’s better?”  Is this a sound marketing strategy? 











NO. 2
Some die-hard fans were not pleased when the Rolling Stones sold the tune “Start Me Up” for about $4 million to Microsoft, which wanted the classic song to promote its windows 95 launch.  The Beach Boys sold “Good Vibrations” to Cadbury Schweppes for its Sunkist soft drink, Steppenwolf offered its “Born to be Wild” to plug the Mercury Cougar, and even Bob Dylan sold “The Times They Are A- Changin” to Coopers & Lybrand (now called price Waterhouse Coopers).  Other rock legends have refused to play the commercial game, including Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, R.E.M. and U2.  According to U2’s manager, “Rock’ n roll is the last vestige of independence.  It is undignified to put that creative effort and hard work to the disposal of a soft drink or beer or car.”  Singer Neil Young is especially adamant about not selling out; in his song “This Note’s for you,” he croons, “Ain’t singing for Pepsi, ain’t singing for Coke, I don’t sing for nobody, makes me look like a joke”.  What’s your take on this issue?  How do you react when one of your favorite songs turns up in a commercial?  Is this use of nostalgia an effective way to market a product?  Why or why not?
















NO. 3
Some market analysts see a shift in values among young people.  They claim that this generation has not had a lot of stability in their lives. They are fed up with superficial relationships, and are yearning for a return to tradition.  This change is reflected in attitudes toward marriage and family.  One survey of 22 –24 year old women found that 82 percent thought motherhood was the most important job in the world.  Brides’ magazine reports a swing toward traditional weddings – 80 percent of brides today are tossing their garters.  Daddy walks 78 percent of them down the aisle.  So, what’s your take on this?  Are young people indeed returning to the value of their parents (or even their grandparents)?  How have these changes influenced your perspective on marriage and family?














NO. 4
Does sex sell?  There’s certainly enough of it around, whether in print ads, television commercials, or on Web sites.  When Victoria’s Secret broadcast a provocative fashion show of skimpy lingerie live on the Web (after advertising the show on the Super Bowl) 1.5 million visitors checked out the site before it crashed due to an excessive number of hits.  Of course, the retailer was taking a risk since by its own estimate 90 percent of its sales are from women.  Some of them did not like this display of skin.  One customer said she did not feel comfortable watching the Super Bowl ad with her boyfriend: “It’s not that I’m offended by it; it just makes me feel inferior”. 
Perhaps the appropriate question is not does sex sell, but should sex sell?  What are your feelings about the blatant use of sex to sell products? Do you think this tactic works better when selling to men than to women?  Does exposure to unbelievably attractive men and women models only make the rest of us “normal” folks unhappy and insecure? Under what conditions (if any) should sex be used as a marketing strategy? 










NO. 5
New interactive tools are being introduced that allow surfers on sites such as landsend.com to view apparel product selections on virtual models in full, 360 – degree rotational view.   In some cases the viewer can modify the bodies, face, skin coloring, and the hairstyles of these models.  In others, the consumer can project his or her own likeness into the space by scanning a photo into a “makeover” program.  Boo.com plans to offer – 3-D pictures that can be rotated for close looks, even down to the stitching on a sweater, as well as online mannequins that will incorporate photos of shoppers and mimic voice patterns.  Visit landsend.com or another site that offers a personalized mannequin.  Surf around.  Try on some clothes.  How was your experience – how helpful was this mannequin?  When you shop for clothes online, would you rather see how they look on a body with dimensions the same as yours, or on a different body?  What advice can give Web site designers who are trying to personalize theses shopping environments by creating life – like models to guide you through the site?









NO. 6
Religious symbolism increasingly is being used in advertising, even though some people object to this practice.  For example, a French Volkswagen ad for the relaunch of the Golf showed a modern version of the Last Supper with the tagline, “Let’s us rejoice, my friends, for a new Golf has been born.”  A group of clergy in France sued the company and the ad had to be removed from 10,000 billboards.  One of the bishops involved in the suit said, “Advertising experts have told us that ads aim for the sacred in order to shock, because using sex does work anymore.”  Do you agree? Should religion be used to market products?  Do you find this strategy effective or offensive?  When and where is this appropriate, if at all?














NO. 7.
Boots with six – inch heels are the latest fashion rage among young Japanese women.  Several teens have died after tripping over their shoes and fracturing their skulls.  However, followers of the style claim they  are willing to risk twisted ankles, broken bones, bruised faces, and other dangers associated with the platform shoes.  One teenager said, “ I’ve fallen and twisted my ankle many times, but they are so cute that I won’t give them up until they go out of fashion.”   Many consumers around the world seem to be willing to suffer for the sake of fashion.  Others argue that we are merely pawns in the hands of designers, who conspire to force unwieldy fashions down our throats.  What do you think ?  What is and what should be the role of fashion in our society ?  How important is it for people to be in style ?  What are the pros and cons of keeping up with the latest fashions ?  Do you believe that we are at the mercy of designers.

Friday 29 May 2015

IIBM Exam Papers : Contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com


MASTER’S PROGRAM IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Note: Solve any Five Case studies















   



No. 1
The slogan for the movie Godzilla was “Size does matter.”  Should this be the slogan for America as well?  Many marketers seem to believe so.  The average serving size for a fountain drink has gone from 12 ounces to 20 ounces.  An industry consultant explains that the 32 – ounce Big Gulp is so popular because “people like something large in their hands.  The large the better.”  Hardee’s Monster Burger, complete with two beef patties and five pieces of bacon, weighs in at 63 grams of fat and more than 900 calories.  Clothes have ballooned as well: Kick wear makes women’s jeans with 40 – inch diameter legs.  The standard for TV sets used to be 19 inches; now it’s 32 inches.  Hulking SUVs have replaced tiny sports cars as the status vehicle of the new millennium.  One consumer psychologist theorizes that consuming big things is reassuring: “Large things compensate for our vulnerability,” she says.  “It gives us insulation.  The feeling that we’re less likely to die.”  What’s up with our fascination with bigness?  Is this a uniquely American preference?  Do you believe that “bigger’s better?”  Is this a sound marketing strategy? 











NO. 2
Some die-hard fans were not pleased when the Rolling Stones sold the tune “Start Me Up” for about $4 million to Microsoft, which wanted the classic song to promote its windows 95 launch.  The Beach Boys sold “Good Vibrations” to Cadbury Schweppes for its Sunkist soft drink, Steppenwolf offered its “Born to be Wild” to plug the Mercury Cougar, and even Bob Dylan sold “The Times They Are A- Changin” to Coopers & Lybrand (now called price Waterhouse Coopers).  Other rock legends have refused to play the commercial game, including Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, R.E.M. and U2.  According to U2’s manager, “Rock’ n roll is the last vestige of independence.  It is undignified to put that creative effort and hard work to the disposal of a soft drink or beer or car.”  Singer Neil Young is especially adamant about not selling out; in his song “This Note’s for you,” he croons, “Ain’t singing for Pepsi, ain’t singing for Coke, I don’t sing for nobody, makes me look like a joke”.  What’s your take on this issue?  How do you react when one of your favorite songs turns up in a commercial?  Is this use of nostalgia an effective way to market a product?  Why or why not?
















NO. 3
Some market analysts see a shift in values among young people.  They claim that this generation has not had a lot of stability in their lives. They are fed up with superficial relationships, and are yearning for a return to tradition.  This change is reflected in attitudes toward marriage and family.  One survey of 22 –24 year old women found that 82 percent thought motherhood was the most important job in the world.  Brides’ magazine reports a swing toward traditional weddings – 80 percent of brides today are tossing their garters.  Daddy walks 78 percent of them down the aisle.  So, what’s your take on this?  Are young people indeed returning to the value of their parents (or even their grandparents)?  How have these changes influenced your perspective on marriage and family?














NO. 4
Does sex sell?  There’s certainly enough of it around, whether in print ads, television commercials, or on Web sites.  When Victoria’s Secret broadcast a provocative fashion show of skimpy lingerie live on the Web (after advertising the show on the Super Bowl) 1.5 million visitors checked out the site before it crashed due to an excessive number of hits.  Of course, the retailer was taking a risk since by its own estimate 90 percent of its sales are from women.  Some of them did not like this display of skin.  One customer said she did not feel comfortable watching the Super Bowl ad with her boyfriend: “It’s not that I’m offended by it; it just makes me feel inferior”. 
Perhaps the appropriate question is not does sex sell, but should sex sell?  What are your feelings about the blatant use of sex to sell products? Do you think this tactic works better when selling to men than to women?  Does exposure to unbelievably attractive men and women models only make the rest of us “normal” folks unhappy and insecure? Under what conditions (if any) should sex be used as a marketing strategy? 










NO. 5
New interactive tools are being introduced that allow surfers on sites such as landsend.com to view apparel product selections on virtual models in full, 360 – degree rotational view.   In some cases the viewer can modify the bodies, face, skin coloring, and the hairstyles of these models.  In others, the consumer can project his or her own likeness into the space by scanning a photo into a “makeover” program.  Boo.com plans to offer – 3-D pictures that can be rotated for close looks, even down to the stitching on a sweater, as well as online mannequins that will incorporate photos of shoppers and mimic voice patterns.  Visit landsend.com or another site that offers a personalized mannequin.  Surf around.  Try on some clothes.  How was your experience – how helpful was this mannequin?  When you shop for clothes online, would you rather see how they look on a body with dimensions the same as yours, or on a different body?  What advice can give Web site designers who are trying to personalize theses shopping environments by creating life – like models to guide you through the site?









NO. 6
Religious symbolism increasingly is being used in advertising, even though some people object to this practice.  For example, a French Volkswagen ad for the relaunch of the Golf showed a modern version of the Last Supper with the tagline, “Let’s us rejoice, my friends, for a new Golf has been born.”  A group of clergy in France sued the company and the ad had to be removed from 10,000 billboards.  One of the bishops involved in the suit said, “Advertising experts have told us that ads aim for the sacred in order to shock, because using sex does work anymore.”  Do you agree? Should religion be used to market products?  Do you find this strategy effective or offensive?  When and where is this appropriate, if at all?














NO. 7.
Boots with six – inch heels are the latest fashion rage among young Japanese women.  Several teens have died after tripping over their shoes and fracturing their skulls.  However, followers of the style claim they  are willing to risk twisted ankles, broken bones, bruised faces, and other dangers associated with the platform shoes.  One teenager said, “ I’ve fallen and twisted my ankle many times, but they are so cute that I won’t give them up until they go out of fashion.”   Many consumers around the world seem to be willing to suffer for the sake of fashion.  Others argue that we are merely pawns in the hands of designers, who conspire to force unwieldy fashions down our throats.  What do you think ?  What is and what should be the role of fashion in our society ?  How important is it for people to be in style ?  What are the pros and cons of keeping up with the latest fashions ?  Do you believe that we are at the mercy of designers.

Thursday 28 May 2015

IIBM Exam Papers : Contact us for answers at assignmentssolution@gmail.com


Case I: Tudor Fashions

Tudor Fashions is a four-decade old company.  Its two major product lines are footwear and ready-to-wear garments.  It was nearly 10 am and the company CEO, Prashant Gupta, decided to take a walk in the Connaught Place area to observe people in general and office goers in particular, before going to his office on Barakhamba Road.  His idea was to have a first-hand feeling of consumer response to the Tudor shoes and observe in general the footwear habit of urban Indians.  He parked his car and walked purposefully.

    Tudor shoes were positioned as simple, no fuss yet elegant shoes particularly targeted at office goers.  The shoes had a reputation of being comfortable and reasonably priced and had a good market share despite competition from Bata, Windsor, Lee Cooper, Woodland and Liberty etc.

    Prashant looked keenly at the moving feet of hurrying office goers.  His trained eyes could notice the changing scenario.  A significantly large number of office goers no longer seemed to have any preference for “no fuss” shoes.  There was a very distinct shift in preference for heavy looking bold shoes.  Consumers’ perceptions about the type of shoes appropriate for wearing to office were changing from regular six-hole laced shoes to these heavy looking bold shoes.  As a result of this shift in consumer perceptions and preferences, the market share of Tundor shoes had declined by 10 percent within the last two years.

    The trend was disturbing, and Prashant called a meeting of departmental heads.  The outcome of the meeting was an agreement by all that perceptions, attitudes and preferences of Indian urban consumers had undergone a significant change about the workplace and products.  No longer did they perceive the workplace as dull and boring where a “no nonsense and stiff upper lip” attitude has to be maintained.  The office was viewed more as a part of everyday life where one can be reasonably relaxed and within limits, “you can be yourself” attitude was OK.  A major decision was taken that Tudor shoes should shed off its image of being “traditional,” and keeping pace with times should become “contemporary”, as more and more consumers were going for branded shoes.

    Departmental heads agreed that consumers carry a definite “Price- quality” perception about most branded products, including shoes.  High price is generally perceived as denoting high quality.  To take advantage of such consumer perceptions, it was decided to move away from “high quality- affordable price” and targeting the growing middle class consumers to a “high price- high quality” image.  The decision-makers saw better prospects for the company by making such a move.  In larger cities especially, shoes were no longer viewed a necessity but had become a part of fashion accessory and life style expression.

    For the past nearly four decades, Tudor Fashions was known for making popular and affordable shoes.  After the decision, the company took a one hundred and eighty degree turn.  It developed dedicated showroom with premium priced shoes and other accessories such as leather bags, belts, purses, and T-shirts etc.

    The results were quite contrary to expectations and the decrease in market share continued despite the new efforts.  Apparently, the reasons for such results seem to be quite simple – for decades, consumers carried the image of Tudor shoes as good quality in the affordable range.  This created considerable confusion among consumers and they felt betrayed.  They turned to other brands, national as well as local.  The main appeal for the consumer was missing.  The premium brands were perceived to be in a category that catered to upper middle and upper class consumers.  When consumers considered premium shoes, other brands came to recall, not tudor.

QUESTIONS

1.    What kind of information was the basis for the CEO’s decision about Tudor shoes?
2.    Analyse the pros and cons of Prashant’s decision about Tudor shoes.
3.    Suggest an approach which in your view might have been successful in changing consumer perceptions and attitudes about Tudor shoes.
4.    You are a marketing communications consultant.  Suggest an ad campaign to help Tudor establish a premium image for its shoes.



Case II : Burnol

Do marketers have the freedom to reposition a brand? Or can a brand develop a life of its own in the consumer’s mind- and grow so strong as to become intractable?
    Burnol is available in a yellow tube.  This burns-relief ointment has been around for six decades- long enough to become generic to the usage category.
    Originally, the yellow ointment was a breakthrough idea, at least partly because it resembled turmeric paste, the traditional household burns-relief application in India.
    Recently, the brand was acquired by Morepen, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Morepen Laboratories Ltd., from Reckitt Piramal.  It is not often that one of India’s strongest brands changes hands (In its February 2002 issue A&M reported Burnol occupying 34th rank in India’s Top Brands).  According to Sushil Suri, chairman and managing director, Morepen Laboratories Ltd., Burnol has a recall of over 90% in India, even amongst below-25s.
    The other facts worth mentioning, however, are that Morepen is the brand’s third owner, and the brand was sold for just 8.95 crore.  For a brand of its strength, it smells suspiciously like a distress sale.  Observers are not surprised.  The market for such ointments has been stagnant for years.  Revival teams have even tried to widen the brand’s usage to secure growth, but in vain.  Some analysts place Burnol way beyond the ‘maturity stage’ of its life cycle.  Yet, Morepen feels that the brand holds potential.  Could it be right?
    This is the story of a brand that simply refuses to budge from the ‘burns’ spot in consumers’ mind space.  Nonetheless, the brand must still find new growth avenues.
    Burnol was first launched around 60 years ago as a cream to soothe and heal skin burns by Boots Pure Drug Co (India) Private Ltd. Boots was importing it from its parent in the U.K. Domestic manufacture started in 1948.  With J. Walter Thompson as he advertising agency.  It was launched at about a rupee per 25 gm pack, and was available only on doctor’s prescription.  It was only in 1960 that Burnol began being sold as OTC, when Boots began expanding its distribution network.
    By the mid 1960s, Burnol had become an integral part of the Indian housewife’s life, as much of it revolved around either wood-fed or kerosene cooking stoves.  The first attempt to broaden its appeal was made in 1967, when Boots started highlighting the fact that its active ingredients served just as well as any other antiseptic for cuts and other wounds.  It didn’t work, so Boots contended itself with selling a burns ointment, a market in which it had monopoly.
    In 1972 came competition when SK&F launched Shield, a rival cream.  It was followed by Mediguard from J.L. Morison.  Burnol saw them both off.  By 1974, Burnol was being advertised on Doordarshan, India’s first TV station, with a commercial showing a mother using Burnol on the arm of her daughter who springs on her mother in the kitchen and gets splashed with hot oil.  The voiceover, “Haath jal gaya? Shukar hai ghar mein Burnol jo bai,” (hand got burnt? Thankfully, there is Burnal at home).  The brand burrowed its way deep into the Indian house-care consciousness.
    The 1980s saw a decline in the dangers of kitchen cooking, as most middle-class homes switched to LPG stoves, which had controlled flames.  Electric spark lighters also started replacing matchboxes, making it safer still.  Almost on cue, Burnol sales started stagnating.
    Boots resorted to measures such as advertising on the back of matchboxes and wall paintings in rural areas.  But still, it was no help.  In 1987-1988, it hired IMRB to conduct a product usage and as awareness study.  The results indicated that for 98% of respondents the spontaneous solution to any burn was Burnol, but only 60% said they had the product, a figure that fell to 20% when IMRB conducted actual checks.  The brand had a strong presence in the mind, but was not in widespread use.  By now, public awareness campaigns were urging people to use plain water to treat burns.  Burnol's turmeric was also becoming a liability, since it was seen to stain clothes.  So Boots changed the cream from deep to non-staining light yellow, and re-launched it in tubes of 12 gm (Rs. 4.50) and 30 gm (Rs. 7.80).  The new ad campaign urged people to keep the product in easy reach.  The result: a short-lived blip in sales.  Sales stayed at around 5.4 million tubes (plus around 30% more at non-chemist outlets).
    By 1990s, Burnol's sales were crawling along in low single digits.  To get larger volumes, Boots again decided to try repositioning Burnol as a wide-appeal, multiple usage antiseptic.  The brand was re-launched as Antiseptic Burnol 3-in-1.  Its colour was made even lighter, dissociating it with turmeric, and was given a new perfume.  The product hit the shelves in 1994, with a campaign showing neighbours raising their eyebrows at Burnol being 'misused' on a non-burn wound.  But alas, the brand couldn't dent the established brand equity of other OTC antiseptic creams, such Boroline and Dettol.  What's more, its share of voice (SOV) in the mid 1990s was far less than it had been in the pre-liberalisation era- which meant that the new message was simply drowned out.  In other words, in the average consumer's mind, the brand remained where it had always been- in 'burns' spot firmly anchored.  The name was such.  Ironically, its very strength of (strong generic branding) had trapped it into a stagnant market.
    Frustrated, in July 1997, Boots sold Burnol to Reckitt Piramal, a joint venture (JV) for OTC product between Reckitt Benckister and Nicholas Piramal, for Rs. 12.5 crore.  The new owner named it, Burnol Plus, and repositioned it as a 'First Aid Cream', as was printed on the pack.  With HTA as the ad agency, Reckitt Piramal went for an ad blitz, which helped it gain power on A&M's chart of Top Brands for 1999.  This happened after years of steady decline.  In calendar year 2000, Burnol registered a turnover of 6.2 crore.  Before this increase in figure, however, the Reckitt Piramal JV came apart-leaving Burnol 'orphaned'.   It was unavailable for almost half of 2001- till Dr. Morepen decided to buy it.  The deal was sealed in late 2001.
    Dr. Morepen is realistic about Burnol's association with burns; even if it is a major handicap in a market where the old needs is fast passing into history.  The 'burns' market is placed at 39 crore, including hospital dressings, which is much less than the antiseptic market of Rs. 210 crore.
    Morepen is convinced that jumping from a well-defined application to a crowded market, as a me-too, was a disastrous idea, for it left the brand as neither this nor that.  The better way would be to retain the brand's essential uniqueness, but stretch the original application as wide as possible without diluting the core brand values.

Questions
1.    Analyse the case and identify the significant issues.
2.    What is the level of consumer involvement in such a product category?
3.    What strategies would you recommend to change consumer attitude towards the brand?
4.    Why have attempts to reposition the brand failed? Has it anything to do with consumer attitudes or appropriateness of communication messages?

Case III: Consumer Insight - Tattoos and Extended Self

Most products and services associated with extended self are physically separated from the physical self. Until recently, exceptions were limited primarily to hairstyles and colouring, and cosmetics.  One could also alter the physical self through exercise, diet, weight training and plastic surgery.  In recent years, body piercing and tattooing have become additional ways to alter both the extended self and the physical self.  Tattooing is unique (except for plastic surgery) in that it is a relatively unalterable change to physical self.  It can be done primarily for adomment or beauty enhancement reasons.  Or, it can serve primarily as public or private symbol.

    For most of this century, tattooing was not socially acceptable among most social groups in the United States.  The most noticeable exception was enlisted men in the Navy, and even then alcohol consumption was frequently involved in the decision to secure a tattoo.  This has changed sharply in the recent years.  Why has this become socially acceptable and what does it mean to the self-concept of those who secure tattoos? Research on tattoos focuses on four themes- the renaissance of tattooing, the impact of the tattoo on the extended self, the risks associated with acquiring a tattoo, and the satisfaction/ dissatisfaction that can result.

    A tattoo renaissance began in the 1960s with the hippie movement and the evolution of skilled tattoo artists in the San Francisco area.  Interest also began to grow in the historical and ethnographic aspects of the tattoo medium.  The commercial art world and academic art historians began to pay attention t tattooing as an art form.  This, in turn, attracted better tattoo artists.  By the early 1990s, public figures, particularly arthletes, began to wear visible tattoos, which increased their acceptability among the more venturesome members of “mainstream” society.  Tattoos have meanings on at least three levels. First, there is the meaning associated with having a tattoo.  While increasingly common, having a tattoo is still far from the norm.  Thus, having a tattoo in and of itself makes a statement about the person.  A  person with a tattoo is still viewed as somewhat of a risk taker or non-conformist.  The location of the tattoo also contains meaning.  The more visible the tattoo, the more rebellious or non-conforming the individual appears to be. The tattoo itself is a major source of meaning, both private and symbolic.  Tattoos may symbolize group membership, interests, activities, relationships, life transitions, or values.  Tattoos may symbolize group membership, interests, activities, relationships, life transitions, or values.  Tattoos may be unique and filled primarily with personal meaning or their meaning may be rooted in cultural practice and myths.

    Acquiring a tattoo is risky.  It is very expensive to remove or alter a tattoo.  Thus, if you don’t like your tattoo or your tastes change over time, you are at a financial risk.  There is also the social risk that one’s current or future friends, colleagues, or employers will have a negative reaction to the tattoo.  Finally, there is still physiological risk associated with acquiring a tattoo.

    Ultimately, there is evaluation and satisfaction or dissatisfaction.  As mentioned earlier, dissatisfaction is difficult and expensive to correct.  Satisfaction, often at a high level, is a frequent outcome.  Some research indictes that this may even produce addiction.
(Source : Advances in Consumer Research, ed.J.W. Alba and J.W. Hutchinson, 1998).
(Author’s note : Tattooing has been in India for the last several decades.  Rural people visiting melas were often keen to get their names tattooed on their forearms.  Womenfolk were more interested in getting some design or flowers tattooed.  Probably, they did not have such complex psychological reasons as the research in United States shows.  In acquiring a tattoo, the new generation youth may be having complex psychological reasons as reported in the study).

Questions :
1.    What is the significance of acquiring a tattoo in India?  Are tattoos considered a way of making a personality statement?
2.    Contact two educated persons who wear a tattoo (not just the name).  Interview them to find out what does it mean to them?
3.    Interview three of your friends.  Find out about their self-concept and what kind of tattoo would they like to have.

Case IV: Golden Glow Soap

Anil Mahajan absent -mindedly ran his finger over the cake of soap before him. He traced the name 'Golden Glow' embossed on the soap as he inhaled its unmistakable sesame fragrance. It was a small soap, almost like a bar of gold. There were no frills, no coloured packaging, and no fancy shape. Just a golden glow and the fragrance of sesame and Lucida font that quietly stated' Golden Glow'.

Mahajan smiled wanly and clasped the soap in his hands, as if protecting it from an unseen predator. He was wondering with quiet concern if the 30-year-old brand would last long. Sensi India, where Mahajan was marketing manager, was taking a long, hard look at the soap, as it was proving to be a strain on resources.

There were varying stories about how Golden Glow was launched. Some said the brand was a 'gift' from the departing English parent company. Others claimed that it was created for the then chairman's British wife, as the Indian climate did not agree with her skin. They also claimed that the lady also coined the copy "The honest soap that loves your skin" was also coined by the lady. The line had stuck through three decades. Only the visuals had changed, with newer models replacing the older ones.

Zeni was basically a speciality products company producing household hygiene, fabricare, and dental care products. Golden Glow was the only soap in its product mix, produced and marketed by Sensi. Its reliable quality and value delivery had earned it a lot of respect in the market. Golden Glow equity was such that Sensi was known as the Golden Glow Company. Indeed, the brand name Golden Glow denoted purity, reliability, and gentle skincare.

In 1994, Sensi UK increased its stake in the Indian subsidiary to 51%. Within months, all of Sensi's products were given a facelift, thanks to the inflow of foreign capital. New packaging, new fragrances, new formulations and more variants were introduced.

Only Golden Glow was left untouched. For, although it had a growing skincare business following some strategic acquisitions in Europe in the early eighties, Sensi UK was not a soap company. The UK marketing team ran an audit of every brand and product in the company's portfolio. But when it came to Golden Glow, it faltered. "We don't know this one," officials at the parent company said.
"We don't want this one to be touched," Mahajan had said protectively, a sentiment tliat was endorsed by the managing director, Rajan Sharma. "Golden Glow is too sacred, we will leave it as it is," he said.

But the UK marketing team was confounded. What was a lone soap doing in the midst of toilet cleaners and fabric protectors; they wondered, however they somehow agreed that their proposed revamp strategy would only look at up-gradation, not tinkering with what wasn't broken.

Indeed, for 30 long years no one had tampered with the Golden Glow brand. And Mahajan felt there was no reason to start now. Golden Glow, in his view, was a self-sustaining brand. That was a bit of an understatement because advertising for the brand was moderate and Sensi India had never used any promotional gimmick for it.

Now, after four years of nurturing the other categories, Sensi UK had decided to launch its Vio range of skincare products in India. But Golden Glow's presence and profile was a major roadblock to Vio's success. "It will create dissonance, confuse our skincare equity and deter the articulation of Vio's credo. It will stand out as a genetic flaw," argued the UK marketing head. "You need to do a rethink on Golden Glow."

Mahajan protested. "Why? It has such a strong equity and loyal following. So much has been invested in it all these years. Why give up all that?"

Rajan, however, had another idea. "Let us then extend the Golden Glow brand." He said It was the simplest solution. Companies were now investing heavily in creating new equities for their brands. But in Golden Glow's case, Sensi was already sitting on a brand with a terrific equity. He felt that extending this equity to other categories, such as skincare products would be successful.

But Golden Glow needed a new positioning before it could be extended. Till a few years ago, it had been in premium category, priced at Rs.15. Then new brands with specific positioning and higher price tags entered the market. This created a level above Rs.15 soaps and pushed Golden Glow down to the mid-priced range. So Golden Glow's price was not commensurate with its premium position and image.

Over the years, Golden Glow had become so sacred that Sensi India had been too scared to do anything to it. As a result, the soap was left with niche category of loyal users. This category neither shrank or increased, just kept getting older and older, and with it the brand also kept growing older. For example, when Mahajan's wife had her first baby at 25, her mother had recommended Golden Glow for her dry skin and also for baby's tender skin because it contained sesame oil. That was in 1979. Today, Mahajan's daughter had turned 21 and was being wooed by Dove, Camay, even Santoor, and Lifebuoy Gold, with their aggressive advertising. Golden Glow had begun to lose its image of being contemporary as newer brands came in with newer values.

Today, at 46, Mahajan's wife still used Golden Glow, but when she recommended Golden Glow to her daughter, she said, "But Golden Glow is a soap for mothers, for older people."

That was a major problem. The Golden Glow brand had aged, and Sensi India hadn't even been aware of it. While its equity had grown with its users, its personality had aged considerably in the last 30 years. "I don't think you can keep the personality young, unless you keep renewing the brand. The objective now is to widen your equity so that your image becomes young," continued Rajan. "For instance, if today you were to personify a Golden Glow user now, it would be a woman of 45 years using the same brand for many years, who is aver-se to experimenting, very skincare conscious, very trusting, and very one-dimensional. As you can see, this is not a very competitive personality. These are the strengths of our Golden Glow, but these are also its weaknesses," he analysed.

The context had changed. Today, youth demanded brands that stood for freedom and fearlessness. They demanded bold brands that dared to cure, not just p;eserve. "Preservation is for old people. Those are the attributes being presented in evolved markets," said Rajan. To make Golden Glow contemporary, the attributes had to be re-framed, he felt. "You can't make a young brand trusting caring, loving, without adding other attributes to it. Today, youth stands for freedom, for laughter, for frankness, for forthrightness. That's what Close Up, Lifebuoy Gold, Vatika, and other brands propagate. So, either come clean and say it is for older skin which needs trust and kindness, or reposition the brand," said Rajan.cost.

QUESTIONS

1.    Why would some consumers have high-involvement levels in learning about this sales promotion?
2     Is a level of 75 per cent comprehension realistic among those who become aware of an ad?  Why or why not?
3.    Do you think such promotions are likely to influence the quality image of the retail store? Explain.

Wednesday 27 May 2015

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SECTION I                                        
Any four:                                                 Marks: 20
1.    What a note on tender and tender notices.
2.    Discuss the different types of tenders?
3.    Write a note on EMD and SD.
4.    What are the procedures followed after the opening of a tender?
5.    Write a note on tender document.

Answer any two:                                      Marks:40
1.    Explain the importance of organization in construction activities.
2.    Enumerate the general principles to be followed in forming an organization system.
3.    Under what situations, a functional organization is suitable for construction management?

Compulsory question:                                 Marks: 40
4.    A multi-purpose river valley project across a major river is planned for construction. Irrigation, power development, fisheries and picnic development are all planned. Suggest a suitable organization structure for construction and maintenance of this project.
















Tuesday 26 May 2015

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CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND NEGOTIATION SKILLS

CASE I: MARUTI UDYOG LIMITED
PART A: Conflict

Case of Labour Unrest at Maruti Udyog Limited.

Introduction of the company
   
Maruti Udyog Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) of Japan, manufactures cars in the 800cc range. The commercial production started in December, 83. The installed capacity has been gradually increased to 350000 units per annum. During the fiscal year 2007-08, the production was 680,000 units. Maruti has become the largest Asian car company (Outside Japan and Korea). In the first half of 2007-08, Maruti sold more cars in the Indian market than sold by Suzuki in the Japanese market.

Even though there was no real competition and Maruti was the dominant player, it has been regularly introducing new models to meet rapidly changing customer needs. Till now 9 major models, namely Maruti -800, Omni, Gypsy, Alto, Esteem, Swift, Zen, Estilo, SX-4, and Wagon R have been introduced.

 Maruti’s contribution as the engine of the growth of the auto industry indeed has its impact on the lifestyle and psyche of an entire generation of Indian middle class. Maruti has been instrumental in laying the foundation for strong vendor base in India. In 2000-01, J D Power, the reputed name in car market surveys, has rated Maruti as the number one car company in customer service. It has noted that this is the first instance anywhere in the world of a market leader topping in customer satisfaction as well. Shortly after that, J D Power’s Quality Survey rated Maruti has maintained the position since then.

Maruti has identified Pre-owned car business, leasing and fleet management, Car insurance and Auto finance as strategic areas of growth.

Source of Conflict

To motivate the workmen for higher productivity, in 1989, management introduced an incentive scheme valid for 4 years and this was modified form time to time in consultation with union. After expiry of the scheme on 31.03.1995, as no common understanding could be reached with union, management introduced a revised scheme through notification on 01.01.1996, effective from 01.04.1995 for 4 years, and was implemented and accepted by the workmen without any dispute.

As the scheme has lapsed on 31.3.1999, management has given a proposal of the revised incentive scheme to be effective from 1.4.1999. When the initial incentive schemes were formulated, the need of the day at that time was higher production. Accordingly, the focus in the earlier schemes was achieving higher productivity. However, in the current
Questions:

1.    Do you think that the conflict was resolved in proper manner? Give reasons?

2.    If you were the union leader how would you have solved this dispute?

3.    Amongst all the incentives schemes from the negotiated settlement which 3 skills are more effective? And why?



CASE STUDY 2: PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
   
The pharmaceutical industry has been growing at fast pace with the introduction of new molecule and newer brands of the existing molecule in market. The sale of a company is totally dependant on the prescription of a doctor. To promote their brand every company recruits their representatives, who are required to visit the doctor on a regular basis. A representative has to either take appointment with the doctor for visit or meet him on their convenient timings; this could be in morning, afternoon or evening.
Conflict between the sales representative and his manager on sales territory:
As per the norm of the company, every representative has to meet a specific number of doctors and chemist in a day. This case is of a newly recruited representative Sachin, who Sachin was new to industry Sachin, was recruited due to his good communication skills and his great interest to work for the organization.

Questions:

1.    Does role of power play a vital impact in negotiation? Take the base of case and explain?

2.    Explain the behavior during negotiation in this case (that is the opening move, negotiation dance & influence mechanism)?

3.    What was the main reason for the communication gap in this case? And also explain the classification of conflict?




















CASE STUDY 3: RESENTMENT OF LOCAL VILLAGERS TO PRESERVE THEIR INTEREST AND GOVERNMENT’S DRIVE TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT OF THAT AREA BY OPENING AN ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Conflict

It is common to hear of conflicts arising out of rural population getting displaced for development projects. They often charge government of taking over their lands at prices considerably lower then the market price. Though sometimes it is also true that for any future projects Government acquires land and the project may take years to take off. Meanwhile landowners, in most cases the poor farmers, continue to use their sold land as before and being unable to utilize money properly end up in this intervening period getting dependent on the produce from this land which was sold to Government. When the project does start these poor villagers find it as a direct attack on their livelihood. This results into a conflict of interest and for survival as far as villagers are concerned.

Questions:

1.    Who was the main reason for this conflict? Government or the rural population? Explain in detail?

2.    Was it possible to avoid this conflict? Give reasons to your answers?

3.    In this case, explain the different levels of conflict (That is low level, optimum level, high level)?
   








Monday 25 May 2015

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Case – 2 

In the mid 1990s piracy was endemic. So the game industry responded with “budget games” which were
priced at £1.99, making them hardly worth copying. However, this resulted in very thin operating margin
to the publishers.

  Bruce Everises was  in charge of marketing at a new publisher called Codemasters. The created a
brand  with  ……..
elasticity problems.
  It appears  that Game  pricing  is based on what  the market will  bear and  probably prices are not
optimized for profitability.

Questions:-


1.  Do  you  think  games  in  this  case  present  an  exception  to  law  of  demand  or  not?  Give  logic  in
support of your answer.
2.  On basis of  the  case  can  it be  concluded  that demand  for games was not elastic  to price,  rather
some other variables were important? If yes then identify the other variables.
3.  The case presents an interesting dimension to consumes’ behaviour. Discuss.
 




Case- 4                     

The Industry  

The automotive sector is one of the core industries of the Indian economy, whose prospect is reflective of
the economic  resilience of  the country. The automobile  industry witnessed a growth of 19.35 percent  in
April-July  2006 when  compared  to  April-July  2005.  As  per  Davos  Report  2006,  Indian  is  largest  three
wheeler  market  in  the  world;  2nd
  largest  two  wheeler  market;  4th
  largest  tractor  market;  5th
  largest
commercial  vehicle  market  and  11th
  largest  passenger  car  market  in  the  world  and  expected  to  the
seventh  largest by 2016. India  is among  …….
  transmission  assemblies  for  four  wheeled  vehicles.  The  project  is  being
implemented  in  the  existing  Joint  Venture  Company  viz.  Suzuki  Metal  India  Limited  (renamed  Suzuki
Power train India Limited).

Questions:-


1.  Identify  the most  important  factors of production  in case of automobile  industry. Also attempt  to
explain the relative significance of each of these factors.
2.  What more  information would you  like to obtain  in order to draw a production  function  for Maruti
Udyog? Explain with logic.
3.  Automobile industry is a good example of capital augmenting technical progress. Discuss.          
























Sunday 24 May 2015

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Case Study-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?

Case Study-2

Over the past two years Linux has spread like wildfire through corporate data centers. Companies
once dependent on expensive proprietary systems from Sun, IBM, or Hewlett-Packard have replaced
them with dirt-cheap Dell or no-name servers that are Intel powered and loaded with the Linux
operating system. Linux now runs almost 15 percent of all servers and is growing at about 23 percent
a year. And even mainframe systems have joined in, with IBM estimating that over 10 percent of its
mainframe sales are for running Linux applications.
Though PC users haven’t switched to Linux – less than 1 percent of all computers run Linux – a
2002 survey by CIO magazine found that almost 30 percent of chief technologists were considering
moving their companies’ PCs to a Linux PC operating system like Windows. Wal-Mart, which began
selling Lindows-ready PCs on its website in September 2002, had such success with that offering
that by Christmas it was having trouble meeting demand. Almost every major PC electronics maker,
from HP in printers to Epson in scanners, is making sure it has Linux-compatible offerings. And Sun
has poured millions of dollars into its Star Office software suite, which gives Linux users programs
that work like – and more important, are compatible with – Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
Backed by technology titans such as Intel, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Dell, Linux is just now
going mainstream. From DaimlerChrysler to Tommy Hilfiger – not to mention just about every
major brokerage on Wall Street – Linux is gaining ground. Coming from near zero three years ago,
Linux grabbed 13.7 percent of the $50.9 billion market for server computers in 2002. That figure is
expected to jump to 25.2 percent in 2006, putting Linux in the No. 2 position, according to market
researcher IDC. And get this: Starting in 2003, No. 1 Microsoft’s 59.9 percent share in the
backwards. Even the surprise but shaky assault on Linux by SCO in its suit of IBM is not expected
to slow the steady growth of Linux.
Meanwhile, Linux is finding its way into countless consumer-electronics gizmos, including Sony
PlayStation videogame consoles and TiVo TV-program recorders. “Has Linux come of age? The
answer is absolutely, positively, unequivocally yes,” says Steven A. Mills, group executive for IBM
Software.
How did Linux make the jump into the mainstream? A trio of powerful forces converged. First,
credit the sagging economy. Corporations under intense pressure to reduce their computing bills
began casting about for low-cost alternatives. Second, Intel Corp., the dominant maker of processors
for PCs, loosened its tight links with Microsoft and started marking chips for Linux; at the same time
a resurgent IBM made a $1 billion investment in Linux compatibility across its entire product line.
This made it possible for corporations to get all the computing power they wanted at a fraction of the
price. The third ingredient was widespread resentment of Microsoft and fear that the company was
on the verge of gaining a stranglehold on corporate customers. “I always want to have the right
competitive dynamics. That’s why we focus on Linux. Riding that were will give us choices going
forward,” says John A. McKinley Jr., executive vice-president for global technology and services at
Merrill Lynch Co., which runs some key securities trading applications on Linux.
Using open-source software like Linux is a no-brainer for many companies. It’s stable and can be
fixed easily if bugs appear, and you can’t beat the price. But some companies and government
organizations are taking their commitment to open source a step further by actively participating in
the open-source community that develops Linux. When their developers write patches, modifications
Examination Paper of Semester III
IIBM Institute of Business Management 4
or new implementations of open-source software for in-house use, these organizations are releasing
that new code back to the open-source community, thereby assisting in the software’s ongoing
development.
What’s the payoff? It makes for better software. “If we find a bug or a problem, we’re interested
fixing that problem. We’re also interested in not fixing it again in the next version,” explains Robert
M. Lefkowitz, director of open-source strategy at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York.
This is why Merrill Lunch sent the fixes it made to open-source software during one of its
projects back to the open-source community. “The way a typical open-source project works is that
there is a core team in the open-source community with direct access to modifying the code on its
central website,” Lefkowitz says. “People who want to contribute to that community submit their
code, which is looked at by a core team and integrated if found appropriate.”
For all contributions, Lefkowitz emphasizes the importance of creating a corporate policy with
help from the departments that could be affected by open-source involvement. At Merrill Lynch, an
eight-member Open-Source Review Board determines when contributing is appropriate.

1. Should businesses continue to switch to the Linux operating system on servers and mainframes?
Why or why not?

2. Should the IT departments of companies like Merrill Lynch contribute their software
improvements to the open-source community for products like Linux? Explain your reasoning?

Case Study-3
This case is based on an actual incident which took place in an Army Unit deployed in field area. A part of a Battery (about ¼ of an Artillery Regiment) was deployed in a snow bound high altitude area of Kashmir. This was the first time, an artillery unit was deployed in an area with roads and tracks still under development. Preparation of this area for such a development needed a lot of digging for guns, pits for ammunition storage, living place of the personnel, slit trenches and weapon pits for local ….
incident very sympathetically and promised to assist in whatever way he could. This officer was a contemporary of the unit in a previous station and had excellent relations and interaction with the unit. Some items were offered by the workshop officer and replaced accordingly. The vehicle was made roadworthy again within a fortnight and put on road for duty. All the enquiries were dispensed with and there was no loss of face by anyone at any level. It is pertinent to mention that it had snowed in that location as soon as the recovery party came out of the hills.

QUESTIONS:

1.    Which factors contributed to motivate the troops to go ahead for such a difficult task as recovering a damaged vehicle from such a difficult and treacherous terrain and getting it repaired in such a short time?
2.    Which incidents indicate the importance of good interpersonal relationships with juniors, peers and superiors and what is the importance of good interpersonal relationships?
Case Study-4
The stakes were high for Gene Elliot, whose on-the-job injuries were estimated to be serious enough
to merit at least a $2.4 million settlement. But who should pay for his injuries: Turner Construction
or B&C Steel? Or should he be forced to pay for at least part of his injuries because of his own
carelessness?
Gene Elliot worked for Mabey Bridge and Shore, a small business that rented temporary steel
pedestrian foot bridges to other companies. The temporary bridges had to be put together by the
renter, and Gene Elliot’s job was to go to the site where the steel bridge was going to be installed,
show the renter how to bolt the bridge sections together and how to install the bridge over a river or
waterway, and inspect the bridge to make sure it was done properly and according to Mabey
Bridge’s high standards. Elliot was a devoted hard worker who strove to do everything possible to
ensure that a bridge installation was successful and according to Mabey’s standards.
Turner Construction was a general contractor hired to build Invesco Field at the Mile High
Stadium in Denver, Colorado. Part of the job involved installing a temporary pedestrian bridge over
the Platte River near the stadium. Turner Construction subcontracted (hired) B&C Steel to build and
install the bridge, which Turner Construction would pay for. B&C Steel was a small company that
specialized in putting together and installing steel structures like those Mabey Bridge rented out.
B&C Steel would pick up the bridge, put it together, and install it for Turner.
Turner Construction rented the long steel bridge from Mabey Bridge. Mabey Bridge agreed that
the rental included the services of Gene Elliot, who would be loaned to Turner to instruct and inspect
the bridge assembly and installation. B&C Steel’s workers picked up the bridge sections from
Mabey Bridge’s warehouse and drove them to the river but didn’t unload the bridge sections where
they had to be assembled. B&C then had to move the sections to the correct site but didn’t plan for
the fence, guardrails, and trolley tracks that were in the way and later had to work around these
obstructions. B&C Steel began bolting the bridge sections together. When Elliot inspected the job,
he found the bridge had been bolted together upside down. Elliot made B&C do the job over, while
he climbed up and down and over the bridge, continuously checking and making sure that all the
bolts were tight and all the pieces were in the right place so that the installation would be a success.
When the bridge was finished, B&C workers used a truck to move the long steel structure to the
edge of the river. Unfortunately, B&C had not adequately checked the route and their truck hit a low
hanging power line, which sparked and started a fire. The fire department arrived and put out the
fire. Afterwards, the installation job continued.
B&C workers set up a crane on the other side of the river near a retaining wall, and a strong nylon
strap was strung from the crane, over the water, and tied to one end of the bridge, which was set on
rollers. The B&C crane would lift and pull the bridge over the river to its side, while workers on the
other side of the river pushed on their end of the bridge. The work began, and as the pulling crane
held the bridge suspended in the air about a quarter of the way over the river, Elliot noticed that the
retaining wall which was supporting the crane on the other side of the river was beginning to
collapse, causing the crane to begin to tip sideways. The B&C crane operator on the other side began
to untie the strap holding the bridge, Concerned that once the strap was cut the bridge would fall into
the river and the installation would end in failure, Elliot ran up on the bridge and gave the standard
Examination Paper of Business Ethics
IIBM Institute of Business Management 4
emergency OSHA all-stop signal that all construction workers know means not to move anything.
But the bridge, still attached to the crane, somehow moved, and Elliot felt, sustaining numerous
pelvic injuries and a severed urethra (the tube that carries urine). The cause of the movement was
never established.
Elliot sued Turner Construction and B&C Steel for negligence resulting in economic losses of
$28,000, noneconomic injuries of $1,200,000, and permanent impairment of $1,200,000. These
figures were established by a qualified expert in the field of worker injuries and were not seriously
contested.
Turner Construction, however, denied its responsibility. It claimed that Turner was Elliot’s
temporary employer and workers’ compensation law required employees to pay only the economic
looses, here only $28,000, suffered by their employees. Turner Construction pointed to the law,
which stated: “Any company leasing or contracting out any part of the work to any lessee or
subcontractor, shall be constructed to be an employer and shall be liable to pay [only] compensation
for injury resulting therefrom to said lessees and subcontractors and their employees.” Turner
Construction claimed that Mabey was a subcontractor to Turner, so Turner should be construed to be
Elliot’s temporary employer. Moreover, Colorado’s worker’s compensation law, which was
designed to ensure that employers always paid for workers injuries “grants an injured employee
compensation from the employer without regard to negligence and, in return, the responsible
employer is granted immunity from common law negligence liability.”
B&C claimed that it, too, was not responsible, because according to the law a company is not
responsible for negligence when an injury is not “reasonably foreseeable” to the company. B&C
contended that a reasonable person could not have anticipated that placing the crane near to the
retaining wall and subsequently attempting to remove the nylon strap holding up the bridge might
end by prompting someone to get on the bridge in an attempt to save it from falling into the river. On
the other hand, B&C claimed, since “Elliot chose to remove himself from a secure and safe position
and placed himself in one that he understood was potentially unsafe,” Elliot was himself responsible
for his injuries.
Elliot claimed that he was not really Turner’s employee, since he was working for Mabey. He
also argued that B&C had shown a pattern of negligence from the time that the bridge was received
until the time that it was installed. B&C and its employees, he said, were unprepared for the project
and negligently failed to adequately plan for it, as shown by the sequence of events leading up to his
injury. B&C there fore did not exercise the degree of care that a reasonably careful person should
have exercised in similar circumstances and so was liable to him for his injuries. He himself was not
responsible, he said, because good, devoted employee would try his best to ensure that the bridge
installation did not end in failure, and he would have been perfectly safe if the standard OSHA allstop
signal had been followed by B&C employees, as he had a right to expect it to be.
1. In your judgement, and from an ethical point of view, should Turner Construction and/or B&C
Steel pay for all or part of the $2,428,000 (if part, indicate which part)? Explain your view?
2. In your judgement, is the Colorado worker’s compensation law to which Turner Construction
appealed fair? Explain your view?
Case Study-5
Most companies store reams of data about their customers. The IT challenge has been how to
integrate and massage that information so the business units can respond immediately to changes in
sales and customer preferences.
Hency Schein Inc. (www.henryschein.com) has it figured out. The $2.8 billion distributor of
health care products designed and built a data warehouse with an in-house team of six IS
professionals. CIO Jim Harding says he knew that having the right skills was critical to the data
warehouse project, yet at the time, Schein had zero warehousing experience in its IT shop. So he and
Grace Monahan, vice president of business systems, hired people for what they call “Team Schein.”
Because Harding had chosen two key tools for the data warehouse – data extraction software
from Informatica Corp. and user query and reporting software from Micro Strategy Inc. – the focus
was on finding people who had experience with those tools. So Monahan hired three people from
outside: project director Daryll Kelly, data modeler Christine Bates, and front-end specialist Rena
Levy, who’s responsible for the user interface and data analysis, as well as user support and training.
Dawen Sun, who handles extract, transform, and load issues, and database administrator Jamil
Uddin hold two other key positions. Another term member is rotated in form Schein’s application
development group.
Besides having the right skills, the other top priority was ensuring data quality. “It seems kind of
obvious,” says Harding, “but sometimes these projects forget about quality, and then the data
warehouse ends up being worthless because nobody trusts it.” So at the outset of the project, the
team interviewed about 175 potential business users to determine the information they needed to
access and the reports they wanted to see. Plus, the team analyzed the old paper reports and the
condition of the data housed in the company’s core transaction system. Monahan says those steps
brought to light the importance of cleansing data in a system that’s designed for transactional
purpose but not suitable for a data warehouse. That led to a long period of standardizing
transactional codes in order to produce the sales reporting that business analysts needed.
“It’s in-house people who have this gold coin of knowledge of how their systems really work,
which data is really good and not so good, and how the end users really want to use the data,”
Kimball says. “Data quality is the hardest part of the project, because it’s very time-consuming and
detailed, and not everyone appreciates it unless they’ve been through a couple of projects, like Daryll
has,” Harding says.
And there was yet another tedious obstacle. The data warehouse was designed to provide a very
granular level of detail about customers, “so we can slice and dice at will,” Harding says. But the
result was sluggish system performance. So the team created summary tables to make the queries
work faster, and those tables needed to be tested. It was a lengthy process, Harding says, but in the
end, it worked very well. The journey has taken well over two years. The system went live 18
months ago but “really came into its own” in February, Harding says.
Of course, building a data warehouse is a never-ending job. New companies are acquired,
products are added, customers come and go, and new features and enhancements are ongoing. But
from an IT standpoint, the data warehouse is complete and has 85 percent of the data is to provide
the European operation with its own data warehouse system and tie it into in the U.S.
Examination Paper of Semester IV
IIBM Institute of Business Management 4
Harding says his project will surely justify the costs, but he lacks hard numbers. “We didn’t have
a formal ROI that you could track later. I don’t even know how you would do it,” he says. “The
reason we’re doing the project is because of the value it brings to the business.”
Lou Ferraro, vice president and general manager of Schein’s medical group, says the business
benefits are outstanding. He can now figure out who his most profitable customers are, target
customers for certain types of promotions, and look at the business by product categories or sales
territories. Ferraro says the data warehouse also helps select customers for direct-mail marketing
campaigns that range “upward of million pieces annually.”
One of the most valuable features of the data warehouse has been the ability it gives users to add
more fields to reports as they are using the system. “Once you create a basic report, draw a
conclusion, and drill further based on those assumptions, it allows you to use that data and go even
further, as opposed to creating a new report, and another and another,” Ferraro says. The IT
department used to create, edit, revise, run, download, reprogram, and print piles of paper reports –
daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly – for the analysis of sales and market trends. But today,
business users search, sort, and drill down for that information themselves in a fraction of the time.
The data warehouse has become “a part of our culture,” says Harding. “It’s got that kind of aura
about it within the company.”
1. What are some of the key requirements for building a good data warehouse? Use Henry Schein
Inc. as an example.
2. What are the key software tools needed to construct and use a data warehouse?
Case Study-6
A company has a central warehouse in Chicago that supplies the demand of three branch warehouse: one in Baltimore, one in New Orleans, and one in Cleveland. The following tables provide the relevant data:

Warehouse     Safety Stock         Lead Time         Order Quantity     On-hand
Baltimore             50         2 periods                  350              250
New Orleans           100         1 period         200             150
Cleveland     80             2 periods         500             200
Chicago     200             2 periods         1500             750

Gross requirements on the branch warehouses:st
season of the year.
1. Evaluate the Allen Specialty Company’s organization and plan for coordinating sales and
advertising?
2. How should Biggerstaff answer Halloram’s complaint?
Case Study-8
Tech Knowledge is a start-up founded in 1997 by Robert Thyer. The company is a distributer of
presentation technologies, including computer based projection systems, video equipment, and
display technologies. The firm has 25 employees and does $5 million in sales. It is growing rapidly.
The owner, Robert Thyer, would like to netsource the back-office functions of the firm because the
company does not have an internal IT capability. The applications to be netsourced would include
sales and distribution, financial accounting, and inventory management.
TechKnowledge would like to source SAP or another ERP vendor via a hosting arrangement. It
does not expect to do much customization, and it does not have any legacy systems.
1. What factors should it use to evaluate each of these potential hosts?
2. What controls should be in place to monitor the hosting arrangement?






Saturday 23 May 2015

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Case - 1
GlaxoSmitbKine, Bristol – Myers Squibb, and AIDS in Africa 1

In 2004, the United Nations estimated that the previous year 5 million more people around the world had contracted the AIDS virus, 3 million had died, and a total of 40 million people were living with the infection. Seventy percent, or about 28 million of these, lived in sub – Saharan Africa, where the epidemic was at its worst. Sub – Saharan Africa consists of the 48 countries and 643 million people who reside south of the Saharan desert. In 16 of these countries, 10 percent are infected with the virus, in 6 other nation, 20 percent are infected. The UN predicted that in these 6 nations two – thirds of all 15 – year olds would eventually die of AIDS and in those where 10 percent were infected, half of all 15 – year – olds would die of AIDS.
        For the entire sub –Saharan region, the average level of infection among adults was 8.8 percent of Botswana’s population was infected, 34 percent of  Zimbabwe’s, 31 percent of Lesotho’s, and 33 percent of Swaziland’s. Family life had been destroyed by the deaths of hundreds of thousands of married couples, who left more than 11 million orphans to fend for themselves. Gangs and rebel armies forced thousands of orphans to join them. While crime and violence were rising, agriculture was in decline as orphaned farm children tried desperately to remember had to manage on their own. Labor productivity had been cut by 50 percent in the hardest – hit nations, school and hospital systems were decimated, and entire national economies were on the verge of collapse.
         With its huge burden of AIDS illnesses, African nation desperately needed medicines, both antibiotics to treat the many opportunistic diseases that strike …….
nounced in 2003 that it would try to collect from governments the funds needed to bring antiretrovirals to at least 3 million people by the end of 2005.
Questions
1.    Explain, in light of their theories, what Locke, Smith, Ricardo, and Marx would probably say about the events in this case.
2.    Explain which view of property-Locke’s or Marx’s- lies behind the positions of the drug companies GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb and of the Indian companies such as Cipla. Which of the two group-GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb on the one hand, and the Indian companies on the other –do you think holds the correct view of property in this case? Explain your answer.
3.    Evaluate the position of Cipla and of GlaxoSmithKline in terms of utilitarianism, right, justice, and caring. Which of these two positions do you think is correct from an ethical point of view?

Case - 2
Playing Monopoly: Microsoft

On November 5, 1999, then the richest man in the world, learned that a federal judge, Thomas Jackson, had just issued “findings of fact” declaring that his company, Microsoft, “enjoys monopoly power” and that it had used its monopoly power to “harm consumers” and crush competitors to maintain its Windows monopoly and to establish a new monopoly in Web browsers by bundling its Internet Explorer with Windows. On the day the judgment was issued, Microsoft stock began its decline. The decline was hastened by an announcement in February  2000 that the European Commission, which enforces European Union lows on competition and monopolization, had been investigating Microsoft’ …….
          Meanwhile, some government had stopped purchasing Windows and had instead adopted Linux, a free “open source” operating system. Among these were Italy, Germany, Great Britain, France, India, South Korea, China, Brazil and South Africa. Several Companies, including Amazon.com, FedEx, and Google, had moved to Linux. A study by Forrester Research found that 72 percent of companies it surveyed were increasing their use of Linux, and over half of them were planning to replace Windows with Linux.
  
Questions                                         
1.    Identify the behaviors that you think are ethically questionable in the history of Microsoft. Evaluate the ethics of these behaviors.
2.    What characteristics of the market for operating systems do you think created the monopoly market that Microsoft’s operating system enjoyed? Evaluate this market in terms of utilitarianism, rights, and justice (your analysis should make use of the textbook’s discussion of the effects of monopoly markets on the utility of participants in the market, on the moral rights of participants in the market, and on the distribution of benefits and burdens among participants in the market), giving explicit examples from the operating systems industry to illustrate your points.                                                
3.    In your view, should the government have sued Microsoft for violation of the antitrust laws? In your view, was Judge Jackson’s order that Microsoft be broken into two companies fair to Microsoft? Was Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s November 1, 2004 decision fair? Was the April 2004 decision of the European Commission fair to Microsoft? Explain your answers.
4.      Who, if anyone, is harmed by the kind of market that Microsoft’s operating system has enjoyed? Explain your answer. What kind of public policies, if any, should we have to deal with industries like the operating system industry?

Case - 3
Gas or Grouse?

The Pinedale Mesa (sometime called the Pinedale Anticline) is a 40-mile-long mesa extending north and south along the eastern side of Wyoming’s Green River Basin, an area that is famous as the gateway to the hunting, fishing, and hiking treasures of the Bridger-Teton wilderness. The city of Pinedale sits below the mesa, a short distance from its northern end, surrounded by hundreds of recently drilled wells ceaselessly pumping natural gas from the vast pockets that are buried underneath the long mesa. Questar Corporation, an energy company with assets valued at about $4 billion, is the main developer of the gas wells around the city and up on the mesa overlooking the city. Occasionally elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and other wildlife, including the imperiled greater sage grouse, descend from their habitats atop the mesa and gingerly make their way around and between the Questar wells around Pinedale. Not surprisingly, environmentalists are at war with …..
In a preliminary report on the study, the Bureau of Land Management said there was “no conclusive data to indicate quantifiable, adverse effects to deer” from the drilling. The Upper Green River Vslley Coslition, however, sued the bureau for failing to adhere to its own rules when it allowed Questar and other companies to drill on mule deer range on the mesa during winter and for failing to conduct an analysis of the potential impact before granting the permits, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. As of this writing, the suit has not been resolved.
   Question
1. What are the systemic, corporate, and individual issues raised in this case?
2. How should wildlife species like grouse or deer be valued, and how should that value be balanced against                           
    the economic interests of the of company like Questar?
3. In light of the U.S. economy’s dependence on oil, and in light of the environmental impact of Questar                    drilling operation, is Questar morally obligated to cease its drilling operation on the Pinedale Mesa? Explain
4. What, if anything, should Questar be doing differently?
5. In your view, have the environmental interest groups identified in the case behaved ethically?   `                                      
Case - 4
Becton Dickinson and Needle Sticks
During the 1990s, the AIDS epidemic posed peculiarly acute dilemmas for health workers. After routinely removing an intravenous system, drawing blood, or delivering an injection to an AIDS patient, nurses could easily stick themselves with the needle they were using. “Rarely a day goes by in any large hospital where a needle stick incident is not reported. “ In fact, needlestick injuries accounted for about 80 percent of reported occupational exposure to the AIDS virus among health care workers.2 It was conservatively estimated in 1991 that about 64 health care workers were infected with the AIDS virus each year as a result of needlestick injuries.3
AIDS was not the only risk posed by needlestick injuries. ……

         Continuing to find itself locked out of the market by Becton Dickinson’s contracts with Premier and Novation, Retractable sued Premier, Novation and Becton Dickinson in federal court alleging that they violated antitrust laws and harmed consumers and numerous health care workers by using the GPO system to monopolize the safety needle market.19 In 2003, Premier and Novation settled with Retractable out of court, agreeing to henceforth allow its member hospitals to purchase Retractable’s safety syringes when they wanted. In 2004, Becton Dickinson also settled out of court, agreeing to pay Retractable $ 100 million in compensation for the damage Becton Dickinson inflicted on Retractable. During the 6 years that Becton Dickinson’s contracts prevented Retractable and other manufacturers from selling their safety needles to hospitals and clinics, thousands of health workers continued to be infected by needlesticks each year.
            
     Questions    
1.    In your judgment, did Becton Dickinson have an obligation to provide the safety syringe in all its sizes in 1991? Explain your position, using the materials from this chapter and the principles of utilitarianism, rights, justice, and caring.
2.    Should manufacturers be held liable for failing to market all the products for which they hold exclusive patents when someone’s injury would have been avoided if they had marketed those products? Explain your answer. 
3.    In your judgment, who was morally responsible for Maryann Rockwood’s accidental needlestick: Maryann Rockwood? The clinic that employed her? The government agencies that merely issued guidelines? Becton Dickinson?
4.    Evaluate the ethics of Becton Dickinson’s use of the GPO system in the late 1990s. Are the GPO’s monopolies? Are they ethical? Explain.