Ms-21 dec 2009
MS-21 Dec, 2009
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
1. Describe Maslow's need hierarchy theory and it's relevance in the present day organizational context.
2. Describe Johari window model in enhancing interpersonal relations.
3.Discuss the importance of organisational culture and how it contributes to organisational success.
4. What are the barriers to effective communication and how to overcome them. Give examples.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
a) Learning organisations
b) Counselling
c) Groups vs teams
d) Emotional intelligence
(e) Conflict resolution
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Arun joins 'ZAPTO' chain of casual wear stores as a sales representative, immediately after the completion of graduation and a diploma in sales management. The firm was very happy with his extremely good performance. Arun was awarded the 'Star Performer Prize' for his continuous display of the highest sales volume record for 12 consecutive months. The General Manager of 'ZAPTO' chain of stores, Rajkumar, was informed by his Marketing Manager, Madhuraj, that Arun was a very aggressive and dynamic sales representative having a strong target commitment and orientation. Within a span of two years, based on his good performance appraisal, Arun was promoted to the position of Assistant Marketing Manager. Under his new assignment, Arun had 8 sales representatives reporting to him and also to ensure that the sales target of his shop was met. Arun took to his new promoted assignments with the same zeal and enthusiasm. Arun now set the targets to be met by his team members for the first month and communicated the same, clearly indicating that all the team members have to meet the target without fail. The eight team members (sales representatives) felt that the targets set were too ambitious but declined to comment on it directly. After the meeting, during an informal chat all the team members discussed the matter amongst themselves and then dispersed. Arun called for a review meeting at the end of a fortnight to take stock of the situation and was shocked and disappointed to learn that all the representatives were well behind the target set for them. Arun could not control his disappointment and openly and bluntly condemned them for not reaching the target. He once again reiterated that he expected all his team members to achieve their targets by the end of the month. After the meeting, the team members amongst themselves admitted that they found Arun to be a difficult person with an unapproachable mind-set. However, they also decided to give in their best efforts to achieve the targets assigned to them. But even with their sustained efforts they could achieve only 70 per cent of the target set by Arun, by the end of the
month. At the end of the month, when Arun reviewed the sales statements of his team, he was disappointed though slightly happy with the marginal improved efforts of his team. However, in the meeting instead of praising and encouraging his team's efforts, Arun communicated his displeasure and once again was emphatic and told his team that lack of
commitment from them was stopping them from attaining their target, so they had to try hard once again. This outburst was not liked by his team. And in the next month-end briefing, Arun was greeted with well below the target set. Arun now openly rebuked his sales representatives team, for their slow performance and refused to accept that he had set too high targets for his team. Ultimately, the team members met their Marketing Manager, Madhuraj and conveyed everything to him. Madhuraj was shocked but promised to talk to Arun.
Questions for discussion :
a) In the above case, what are the problems affecting the team's effectiveness and performance ?
b) Do you feel Madhuraj should modify team members roles before talking to Arun ?
(c) Can you suggest ways by which Arun can be developed as good team leader ?
Ms-21 dec 2010
MS-21 Dec, 2010
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
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Ms-21 dec 2011
MS-21 Dec, 2011
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
1.Describe the growing importance of Teams in today's business scenario. Discuss the processes involved in building effective Teams.
2. Discuss any two theories of motivation and their usefulness in organisation cite suitable examples.
3. Define and describe communication channels. Discuss with examples how effectively they can be used in organisations.
4. What is work culture ? Explain various attributes of work culture. Briefly discuss the measures to be undertaken for developing work culture.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Work ethics
(b) Group cohesiveness
(c) Ethical issues in counselling in organisations
(d) Halo effect
(e) Emotional intelligence.
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end.
Case Incident : I can't take it any more! Sonia was the head of the marketing services
division at the Triumph Management Group Head office based in Bangalore. On face it appeared Sonia was very lucky as she had it all - a high profile job with a big company, high pay along with stock options, a likeable enthusiastic team of co-workers. On the personal front Sonia's husband was a senior financial specialist with a multinational firm and they had a daughter who was going to a reputed school with a good housekeeper to look after the daughter and home.
On the job front, Sonia was liked not only by her colleagues but by her subordinates as well as her superiors for her total commitment to the task assigned to her, communication abilities and pleasant personality. The board of the Triumph Management Group were deliberating on the merging of this company with their sister concern Trident Value Group so as to gain strategic competence. After this decision was tentatively communicated there seemed to be visible certain working conditions leading to manager's level of perceived stress. The most stressful organisational change events were the frequent changes in instructions, policies and procedures, facing unexpected crises and deadlines and sudden increase in the activity level or pace of work. Sonia realised that stress was affecting her team's performance because many of her
managers complained about work overload, absence of a proper feedback and only
communication was received when performance was found to be unsatisfactory, along with role conflict and ambiguity. Sonia, at her level tried to address these issues by frankly telling her subordinates that the management had not given clear guidelines on how the organisational changes were going to affect this firm's employees. So till such instructions were received, they (employees) continue to work as per the current requirement. She also advised them to do regular physical exercise and ensure a proper intake of balanced diet so as to reduce stress. Very soon Sonia also started feeling that
stress was affecting her performance. She recalled the turn of events after receiving oral information on the managements decision to elevate her to the post of Vice President (marketing). She had made two presentations of two important issues to the board during the past 11/2 months. And they were reasonably good based on the feedback received from her superior. Sonia remembered that at the time of the presentation though 'keyed up', her presentation had revealed a lot of enthusiasm, energy and confidence. She had been able to answer almost all the questions put forward to
her by the board members. But after the presentations, Sonia started feelling that at the work place, her schedule was dominated by one crisis after another. On most of
the days when she came home it was very late, giving her hardly any time to talk and play with her daughter or talk to her husband. Many of her work days started at 7 a.m. and continued till almost 10 p.m. She longed for quality time specially to be with her family and also pursue her passion of playing the 'Veena', her favourite musical instrument. Finally one fine day Sonia presented her resignation letter to her superior quoting "personal reasons" as the reason for leaving.
Questions for Discussion
1. Identify the causes of stress at the individual level (for Sonia), and the general work stressors in the above case.
2. What methods of stress management would you suggest to the organisation in the above case, to reduce stress at the individual employee level and organisational level ?
Ms-11 june 2007
MS-11 June, 2007
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
l. Why do firms need to have specific set of objectives ? Do objectives form an integral part of Strategic Management ? Critically evaluate the importance of objectives taking into consideration any organisation of your choice. .
2. Briefly discuss McKinsey's 7-S framework. Explain as to how PESTEL grid can be used to understand the role of McKinsey's 7-S framework.
3. Explain the concept of l;ocus as a business level strategy. What are the variants of focus strategy ? discuss the advantages and risks involved. Explain using an example from the automobile sector.
4. What are the factors, which conlribute to successful strategic alliances ? Explain each of them briefly. Give some examples of successful strategic alliances.
5. Do you think that functional strategies are important for a business organization ? Bring out these strategies for all the functional areas of a business organization .
6. Read the following case and answer the questions given at the end
A BRIEFCASE CASE
The time is 8.55 in the morning. Mr. Mehta of Vishala Printers, a division of ABC, has called a meeting of his senior managers at 10.00 . a.m. to discuss a situation. tsy 2.00 p.m. the firm has to submit its bid to its major customer CIMC in a sealed envelope. All the quotations received till the deadline will be opened in front of those present at 3.00 p.m. As he sits in his car, Mr. Mehta is not panicky, but is in a reflective mood
THE HISTORY
The Firm
Associated Business Corporation (ABC) is a diversified, ffiulti-divisional company having business presence in capital-industrial products, consumer durables, and services industries. Through use of strategic planning tools, the company has successfully evolved a strategy of high-specialization and differentiation for its products.
Combined with the company's philosophy of high-ethic practices, the firm has established for itself a reputation for high quality products in each of its three businesses.
Customers perceive the firm and its products as extremely reliable and which give full value for money. As such they readily pay higher prices charged by the company. All the three businesses have an equal prominence in the firm's business portfolio in terms of contribution to sales and net profits and each business unit has a healthy rivalry with the other units for superior results each year.
THE BACKGROUND
The Printing Division
Vishala Printers is a division of Associated Business Corporalion, which specializes in publishing of scientific journals, annual reports and business catalogues. the firm
has a most modern laser printing and computer type-setting unit . It takes pride in the amount it invests (approx. 10 percent of ils annual sales) in maintaining its technological leadership through continuous development of employee skills and purchase of latest computer hardware and soflware. the Chief Executive of this division, Vipul Mehta,: 38 years of age, is a cofounder of ABC, He is a professionally qualified engineer and MBA from one of the premier management institutes of the country. He takes personal care that each and every product that comes out from the Printing Division is impeccable in quality. He started the venture in partnership with lwo other people, after having worked for 3 years in a multinational company in India. Over the past few years, lhe firm has shown consistent pattern in rate of growth and profitability. The market-to-book ratio has usually been above 5 for the previous three years.
A DILEMMA
Central India Manufacturing Corporation (CIMC) One of Vishala Printers' major customers is Central India Manufacturing Corporation. CIMC is a high-profile public sector unit manufacturing strategic goods for the country. It is one of the few PSUs making consistent profits. The yearly volume of business that CIMC
provides to Vishala Printers is roughly 20 percent of.the latter's annual turnover. CIMC's top management regularly publishes performance reports, catalogues, brochures, periodicals, field survey reports, etc., some of which are sent at the highest levels of Government of India including the Prime Minister and concerned Cabinet minister. Of late, some competitors of Vishala Printers who were doing day.to-duy printing jobs in which quality requirements are not stringent, have beeq pressing the
Finance and Accounts (F/A) people in CIMC to do something' so that they could also get a share in the seemingly high-margin quality jobs. These are the jobs which presently Vishala Printers undertakes for CIMC. These printers had also developed personal contacts with some influential persons in the organization. Some
officers and staff from the f / A and stores offices had earlier visited Mr. Mehta and tried to negotiate with him an understanding so that the obligation could become 'mutual'. they had also dropped suitable arm-twisting hints that 'although
we could have done so, we have never delayed your payments or made any adverse comments on the bills presented for payment'. Mr. Mehta had clearly instructed his staff not to encourage such
activities or dealings, and hence the F/A people were politecly refused.
The Decision Problem
Recently, the stores department of CIMC has taken a policy decision that all printing jobs will be awarded to one firm on a yearly contract basis. The acceptance of the tender and final award will be based purely on lowest rates offered. the rates, once accepted, will be valid for a period of one year and remain frozen till the end of the period. Mr. Mehta feels lhis is a trick devised by some
vested interests in the F / A and stores sections in connivance with other printers to eliminate his organization from future contracts with CIMC. It is universally known that the rates charged by Vishala Printers are as much as 40 -50 percent higher than the other'local' printers. Mr. Mehta justifies the difference saying, 'despite the apparently high differential in rates, the net margins for us are only about 15 - 18 percent on the quoted price. Our competitors in their ignorance do not realize the additional fixed and variable costs that we incur and also the extent' of expertise involved.' Mr. Mehta feels that his rates are extremely reasonable and fair and any downward price revision will not justify the amount of his personal and organizational expertise and investments made in executing high-quality printing work.
With the consolidation of all printing work on a yearly basis, even the director of CIMC would not be able to use his discretionary powers to award orders to Vishala Printers as the value of one single contract will far exceed his authority. Till the new policy, the director was using his discretionary authority, for ,!u prestigious and time-bound jobs. Another usual practice had been to form purchase-committees for 'important jobs. The purchase-committee chairman could place orders directly on the firm on the basis of recommendations of the job-committee.
The committee took decisions taking into consideration several other factors such as the nature of job, its purpose, timeliness of delivery, quality of workmanship required, which, in turn, depended upon the skills and resources that the printcr had, past experience of the printer in undertaking similar jobs, etc.
The committee members even visited the printer premises to make an on-the-spot assessrnent. Now this would also not be possible as under the new rules all printing orders were to be given only on the lowest quotation basis. According to Mr. Mehta, 'the work involves lot of value-addition particularly in respect of intangibles, and these additions cannot be neatly quantified for the purpose of calculating and evaluating the rates offered by different competitors. the top management and scientists of CIMC know that nobody else can provide the kind of service required, yet they cannot put this down on paper.'
The Case for Vishala Printers
One senior executive of CIMC made this comment on the quality provided by Vishala Printers : "Previously, we had to run around the printers and chase them for
getting the job done. the proofs usually got delayed and once they were received, carried many mistakes. The superscript and subscript notations and mathematical equations used in our scientific papers particularly were never done properly even after we corrected the proofs. the aesthetic appeal of the catalogue or report would
,always give impressions of shoddiness and corner cutting. I cannot say exactly why the final product was never up to the mark, but causes probably lay in a combination of factors such as the quality of inks used, the layout perspective of the designers employed by the presses, the quality of skills of the machine-men operating the offsets, or God knows what Now since Vishala Printers started doing our prestigious jclbs, all our problems seem to have been taken care of. It is they who chase us for expediting the proof reading and return.
Their usual practice is to sit with us and understand every detail of the job before commencing work. As customers, we were first uncomfortable with this attitude from a supplier but then understood that ultimately we are the beneficiaries in terms of a superior product, , timely delivery, and sustained commitment. This keeps everybody on the toes. You know what, once they even refused to go ahead with our job because our man failed to deliver the proofs for two days, and were ready to bear as losses, all the costs that they had incurred till then on the work. They often improve upon the grammar of the sentences. I am not a technical man but the scientists admit that errors of scientific and technical notations (otherwise hard to detect) which inadvertently ueep in the original typed manuscript get corrected at Vishala. Probably, Mr. Mehta's engineering and rnanagement background' is the reason behind this. We even got the appreciation for improved quality and presentation of our reports from our top boss the Secretary in the ministry. With this new rule about annual rate contract being introduced, I do not know how we will tackle a new printer. "
Questions :
(a) What is the basic problem of CIMC ? How can it be overcome ?
(b) Do you think that the rationale behind opening a printing division was good ? Justify your answer, using the knowledge of Strategic Management.
Ms-11 june 2008
MS-11 June, 2008
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1. (a) Discuss the different levels of strategy. Illustrate your answer with suitable examples
(b) Assume that you are the chief strategist
for an organization. As a strategist discuss the importance of strategy framework for your organization
2. Briefly discuss the concept and relevance of Porter's five forces framework
3. (a) 'Differentiation is normally costly.' Critically comment on this statement giving examples.
(b) Explain in brief the advantages and disadvantages of differentiation strategy.
Give suitable examples.
4(a) What is the rationale behind diversification ? Explain giving examples.
(b) what are the different ways to implement diversification strategies ? Give examples.
5. Briefly explain BCG's growth-share matrix in the context of Business portfolio Analysis.
6. Assume that you are the CEO of a commercial airline. The airline has a long-standing history in the airline industry but now it has to compete with the low-cost strategy of competing airlines.. Describe an appropriate organizational culture for your company so that it is able to maintain its position in the market.
7.Select a public library, which has now decided to serve its constituents and stakeholders even better. From your experience, delermine how the library should formulate and implement an effective strategy to improve its performance.
Ms-11 june 2009
MS-11 June, 2009
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1. a) What do you understand by a mission statement' ? Give two examples of
organizations having a well-formulated 'mission statement'.
(b) Suppose an organization does not have a well stated mission statement. Explain how will the firm be affected ? What is your opinion on the characteristics of Good Mission Statement ?
2. Take the example of Telecom industry and critically evaluate the impact of Porter's Five Forces that drive competition in that industry.
3. How does an organization expand by applying an 'integration strategy' ? Discuss keeping in mind the vertical and horizontal integration. Give Suitable examples.
4 a) Discuss how 'corporate culture influences the behaviour of the employees in the organisation. Illustrate with the help of examples.
(b) How manager as a header taking Corporate Culture into account handles people
effectively ? Explain.
5. Write short notes on any two of the following :
a) Balanced Score Card
b) Leadership in Indian context
c) Differentiation Strategy
d) Ansoff's product-market expansion grid
6. Read and analyze the case nnd finswer the questions given at the end.
Dell Computers aims to stretch its way of business In an interview with the Financial Times in November 2003, Kevin Rollins, the CEO of Dell Computers, explained how he was putting his job on the line by leading a major strategic change in the company.
The US company famous for selling PCs is planning a big push into consumer electronics. If things go according to plan, Michael Dell could eventually become the Henry Ford of the information age
For a maker of desktop personal computers who founded his company, famously, in a University of Taxas dormitory 20 years ago, this may sound unlikely. But the ambitions of Dell Inc are boundless and thanks to a simple business idea that has proved highly adaptable, and a fearsome relentlessness... Consumer electronics
are about to proaide what could well be the biggest test of the Dell way of doing business. Until now, the company has sold mainly to corporate customers : only a fifth of its sales in the US are to consumers, and much less than that elsewhere.
...Dell's simple but effective idea has been to sell standardised electronic products direct to customers, usually over the internet. That removes most of the research and development that is normally required, while also cutting out retailers and other middlemen. Armed with the information it gets from taking orders directly from customers. Dell has gained two other powerful advantages. One is the ability to build products to match orders as they come in, slashing its inventory costs. The second is a highly efficient marketing machine that can adapt its message based on real-time results as orders arrive.' With its lower costs, Dell sets out to undermine profits in the markets it enters and destroy the margins that sustain its more entrenched competitors.
'Our goal is to shrink the profit pool and take the biggest slice,' says Mr Rollins. Consumer electronics companies, often with gross profit margins of more than 30 per cent, make an obvious target for this ruthless approach. 'Our gross marigins are in the L8-19 per cent range : we don't need 40 per cent' he says. A former partner from Bain (management consultants), the Dell president applies the cool analystics and familiar jargon of the strategy consultant to this relentless expansion : search out the markets with the biggest 'profit pools' to be plundered; pick ones with close
'adjacencies' to those DeIl already serves to reduce the risk of wandering into unknown territory; and apply its .'core competences' to conquering new ground. As
a textbook case of applying a proven and repeatable formula, Dell takes some beating. It used the formula to move from selling PCs to businesses to selling them to consumers. Next it followed its businesses customers into servers, then into storage hardware. Now it wants to follow consumers into other areas of electronics as well. Lt has started with products closely linked to the PC. Such as MP3 digital music players and l-7-inch flat-panel television sets that resemble computer monitors. According to Dell’s rivals, success in the PC business in the US has disguised the fact that the company has found it harder to break into other products and new geogaphic regions.
'Dell's success is backward-looking' , claims Jeff Clarke, head of global operations at Hewlett-Packard. According to Steve Milunovich, technology strategist at Merrill Lynch, not all markets are as susceptible to all aspects of the Dell approach as the PC business. Yet he adds that the company has shown great discipline in attacking only those areas where its strengths still give it a clear economic and operational advantage.
Even most of the company's competitors concede that the shift in consumer electronics from analogue to digital technology plays to Dell's strengths. It is already the biggest purchaser of Iiquid crystal display screens and computer hard-drives, for instance, putting it in a strong position as these components come to play a bigger role in television sets and other household items.
When you combine monitors and LCD televisions, we will blow away the consumer electronics grys,'says Mike George, chief marketing officer. More importantly, Dell also benefits from the standardisation that brings down the cost of components and removes the advantage once enjoyed by companies that invest in their own technology. As more of a product's functions come to reside in standardized components such as microprocessors and hard drives, the differentiation that comes from making new versions declines The contrast with others is stark. Sony chief Nobuyuki ldei, for instance, told the FT that the Japanese company was putting a growing emphasis on proprietary components to differentiate its products. In the past four years, 70 per cent of Sony's investment has been in
silicon chips. While the digitisation of consumer electronics may have played to Dell's core strengths, though, there are at least three things about the market that are likely to test its business model. One is the fact that it will rely, at least for now/ on manufacturing by other companies,
reducing its ability to drive down costs. Also, the consumer electronics business is based on comrnon products that are not configured individually for different customers : according to Mr Clarke, that removes one main advantages of Dell's build-to-order model, the ability to customise products for each buyer. Using outside manufacturers is also likely to mean the company 'will not be able to operate on inventory that is as thin as it is in PCs,' says Charlie Kim, a consultant at Bain. Company executives suggest that once manufacturing volumes reach a high enough level, Dell is likely to start production itself. Also, while the cost advantages may be less in 'back-end' activities such as production and sourcing, the real opportunity for Dell in consumer electronics lies in the 'front-end' marketing and sales area, says Mr. Milunovich. 'There's a big chunk of money to be taken out of distribution' he says.
Whether Dell can take advantage of this opportunity with its direct sales system will be the second big challenge. Retail stores suit consumer products best because they bring an instant mass market and let users test the look and feel of products, says Mr Clarke. That is particularly important for products such as television sets, which buyers want to see, or handheld devices, which they want to pick up, say rivals.
Dell executives retort that similar doubts were once expressed about its efforts to sell PCs online, and that its early sales of personal digital assistants suggest that consumers familiar with the quality and style of the company's PCs are willing to buy other items online too. The third test will be whether the Dell brand and marketing approach can be adapted to suit the new market. High name-recognition helps, but will get Dell only part of the way. 'Everyone knows who Dell is-but it's still a PC-focused brantd,' says Mr Kim at Bain. For a company that still relies heavily on selling to corporate customers this will pose a big challenge. 'I,we're very humbled by the fact that there are virtually no other companies that are both consumer and enterprise brands,' says Mr. George. He adds, though, that the basic attributes of the Dell brand-with its connotations of a certain level of value, quality and service-should extend across both types of market. Overcoming obstacles such as these will stretch the Dell model in ways that it has never been stretched before.
Questions
(a) why were the issues facing Dell Computers described as strategic ?
(b) Identify examples of issues that fit each of the different levels of strategy ?
Ms-11 june 2010
MS-11 June, 2010
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1. Explain the process of strategy formulation. Illustrate your answer with the help of examples.
2. Explain different types of resources involved in Internal Analysis and discuss their strategic importance. Also explain the relationship between resources, competencies and competitive advantage with suitable examples.
3. Discuss various techniques used in strategic control systems. Analyse the importance of each giving examples.
4(a) What do you understand by 'survival strategy' ? Discuss its various types and explain them with the help of suitable examples.
(b) Explain the Retrenchment Strategy as a Strategic Alternative with suitable examples.
5. Write short notes on :
a) Hofer's Product/Market Evolution. Matrix
b) Shell's Directional Policy Matrix
Case study
6. What are Mergers and Acquisitions as a part of Strategic Alliance ? Discuss
the concept in the light of the case given above ?
7. How Mergers and Acquisition helped the organisation in becoming global leaders ? Discuss.
Ms-11 june 2011
MS-11 June, 2011
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1. What are the different steps involved in the implementation of strategy ? Discuss each of them in brief giving examples.
2. Explain the concept of Critical Success Factors (CSFs). Take a firm of your choice, which is into consumer durables. Select any two products the firm manufactures and list out the critical success factors that are important for tleP.- firm's success.
3. (a) Explain in brief different types of differentiation, giving examples.
(b) Explain the difference between a niche - low cost - differentiation strategy and a
low-cost differentiation strategy. Support your answer with the help of examples.
4. Differentiate between Vertical integration and Horizontal integration under which conditions each would be advisable ? Discuss.
5. Write short notes on any two.
(a) GE's strategic business planning grid
(b) Mission and vision
(c) Global Product structure
(d) Balanced Score Card (BSC)
6. Read the following illustrations and answer the questions given at the end.
Culture and strategy
Newspapers are about news
the top management team of a newspaper business had spent the morning in small groups analysing the changes in the business environment they faced. They concluded that they faced many major challenges, including changing demographics, electronic media and the growth in free newspapers. Also over 70 percent of their revenue was from the sale of advertising space rather than the newspaper itself. Indeed there seemed
to be so many threats that one group decided that ' the end of the world is night'
In the afternoon they turned their attention to the future strategy of the organisation. This quickly became a series of proposals about how they could improve the coverage of news and sport and the physical presentation of the newspaper itself.
One of the younger members of the team suggested that they might consider a more fundamental question '.... whether we are really in the news business or if we are an advertising medium ?' He was met with astonished silence from his colleagues.
So, in the morning, these managers were quite able to undertake a 'rational' analysis which raised questions about the traditional role of a newspaper. But, in the same afternoon, when it came to what they should do, the paradigm 'newspapers are about news' drove their thinking.
IKEA
In the mid - 2000s the Swedish company IKEA was the leader in the European 'flat-pack' householder furniture business. It had a presence in some 30 countries and was famous for its good -quality products marketed at low prices. This had been achieved
by the vision of the founder, Ingvar Kamprad, and an almost obsessive attention to every item that would add to cost -so much so that cost reduction became ingrained in the company culture. Kampard himself drove an old Volvo and bought fruit and vegetables in the afternoons at markets when they were cheap. IKEA staff always travelled economy class and took buses not taxis. There were wall stickers urging staff to turn off lights, taps and computers. There were prizes for the store or office that saved most electricity.
Cross-border mergers
French and British companies approach business in different ways -strongly shaped by
the different national cultures. This can be an important impediment to successful mergers unless managers are aware of these differences and able to manage their impact
within the merged companies. The impact of national culture is seen in the day -to -day ways that companies function. The French are much more committed to rational, analytical approaches to decision making whereas the British tend to get straight to the point and rely more on 'gut feel'. Meetings in France are held mainly to rubber stamp what has already been decided by 'the boss'. The British expect to go to meetings to influence decisions. The membership of meetings tends to reflect these different purposes. The French have more people involved - since it is part of the education and communication process. In Britain the membership is usually confined to those who have a 'right' to influence the decision.
Questions
(a) For each of the three illustrations make lists of advantages and disadvantages of the (four) corporate cultures described.
(b) Imagine that you work for a French company that is considering a merger with a British company. Write a short executive report to your CEO listing the cultural clashes that might arise and how they could be handled.
Ms-11 Dec 2007
MS-11 Dec, 2007
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1. Identify an organization of your choice. Explain how technological and economic forces can present opportunity as well as a threat to the organization..
2. Diflerentiate between a business level strategy and corporate level strategy. Illustrate your answer with the help of an example and its relevance in the present context.
3. Explain the various steps involved in the Merger and Acquisition deals. Give suitable examples.
4. Explain the methods and techniques used in strategic control systems. Support your answer with examples.
5. a) What are the major factors, which are necessary to match the structure of the organization with the needs of the strategy ?
b) Why is it necessary for the top management in a business organization to match the structure to the strategy ?
6. Assume that you and your friend are investors and wish to start a restaurant in the same city. You wish to cater to family food needs, whereas your friend wishes to cater to the needs of people who pref.er specialized foods like continental, with nice surroundings. It is clear that both the businesses will need different functional strategies. How would you suggest the planning and implementation of functional strategy for each restaurant ?
7. Assume. that you wish to open a bookstore close to your campus. You have already conducted the market research to assess the need for a bookstore. Assume that you belleve that any of the two generic strategies could be' successful for the bookstore : niche low-cost strategy and niche-differentiation strategy. Answer the following for both the strategies separately.
(a) What type of physical store should you create ?
(b) What kind of books would you have as the inventory of the bookstore ?
(c) What kind of in-store services would you provide to customers ?
Ms-11 Dec 2008
MS-11 Dec, 2008
MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1.a) Strategy making requires personwith vision, while strategy implementation requires a person with administrative ability. Critically comment on the statement with respect to implementation of strategy.
(b) Explain the importance of evaluation and control in strategy making process.
2. Explain Critical Success Factors (CSF) and value chain framework as a guide to analyse a firm's strengths and weaknesses.
3.Focus is different from other business strategies'. Explain, how Focus Strategy is different from other business strategies giving examples.
4. Discuss the important issues involved in turnaround strategy. Support your answer with example.
5. a) What do you understand by Strategic Control Process ?
(b) Briefly explain different methods of control.
6. Think of an organization, which is using a corporate growth strategy :
(i) Analyze as to how the organization's strategy has influenced its structure.
(ii) Looking at the present trends, is its current structure the optimal structure for this enterprise ? Discuss.
7. Select a company, which is well-known in the automobile sector. From your
understanding of the PESTLE framework, identify different opportunities and threats
for the following:
- political
- legal
- economical
-technological and
- social forces
