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MS-6   Dec, 2009

MS-6 : Marketing for managers

1.(a) Explain the term Marketing and distinguish it from "Selling".

(b) Identify the elements of Marketing Mix for Services. Explain the same taking the

example of a service industry of your choice.

2.(a) Explain briefly the considerations involved in designing a marketing organisation.

(b) Explain the relevance of marketing research for a FMCG Company marketing product like soaps, detergents etc.

3. (a) Taking the example of any consumer durable product of your choice, explain the stages in the buyer decision process.

(b) What is new product development strategy ? As a product manager, discuss the various steps that you would consider in the development process of a new product.

4. Write short notes on any three of the following :

a) Approaches to sales forecasting

b) Merchant middlemen

(c) Classification of Consumer Product

d) Reference group

e) Limitations of Cyber Marketing

5. Mr. 'X' has developed a new product which will help people to get rid of the habit of smoking. The product is made of some herbs and has no side effect. Mr 'X' is now in the process of giving a suitable name for this Unique Product and subsequently wishes to market it in Western India. Assuming that you have been hired as a consultant, suggest suitable answer for the following questions :

Questions :

a) Suggest an appropriate name for the product and justify your choice.

b)Explain the SIP strategy for the above product.

(c) How would you go about in creating awareness and educating the target audience for the product ?

MS-6   Dec, 2010

MS-6 : Marketing for managers

1. (a) What do you understand by the term 'marketing mix' ? How would the marketing

mix strategies vary during different stages of the product life cycle?

(b) Explain the three additional marketing mix elements required in marketing of

services, giving suitable examples.

2. (a) From a consumer behaviour perspective, why is it incorrect to view India as a

single market?

(b) Explain the stages in the new product development process.

3. (a) For each of the following products, should the seller adopt a market skimming or

a market penetration pricing strategy ? Support your decision in each instance

(i) High fashion garments.

(ii) Exterior house paint.

(iii) PC gaming software.

(b) Explain the tasks that have to be accomplished as part of physical distribution.

4. Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a) Perceptual mapping technique.

(b) Applications of marketing research.

(c) Functions of packaging.

(d) Promotion Mix.

(e) Limitations of cyber marketing.

5. Study the following case and answer the questions given at the end.

TEXTBOOK QUOTES

Quotation 1 (By Hammer and Champy) :

Since the early 1980's, the dominant force in the seller-customer relationship has shifted. Sellers no longer have the upper hand; customers do. Customers now tell suppliers what they want, when they want it, how they want it, and what they will pay. This situation is unsettling to companies that have known life only in the mass market. In reality, a mass market never existed, but for most of the twentieth century the idea of the mass market provided manufactures and service providers with the useful fiction that their customers were more or less alike.

Now that they have choices, though, customers no longer behave as if they are all cast in the same mould. Customers - consumers and corporations alike - demand products and services designed for their unique and particular needs. There is no longer any such notion as 'the' customer ; There is only 'this' customer, the one with whom a seller is dealing at the moment and who now has the capacity to indulge in his or her own - personal tastes. The mass market has broken into pieces, some as small as a single customer.

Quotation 2 (Joseph Pine II)

People do not like hard-sell tactics, but they will tolerate them to acquire something they really want. If what they purchase turns out to be not quite what they wanted, their dissatisfaction with the product is magnified by their dissatisfaction with the sales tactics.

The basic problem (in years gone by) was that the focus of the marketing function of mass producers was not on marketing - it was on selling, on 'pushing product'. Selling is a necessary part of the marketing function, but marketing is so much more, as management guru Peter Drucker observes :

"There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available".

Questions :

(a) Market segmentation is based on the proposition that customers can be categorized according to their typical wants, needs and expectations. What is the future of segmentation, given the views of Hammer and Champy ?

(b) Even if Drucker is right in claiming that the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous, what are the practical problems associated with 'knowing and understanding the customer so well that the product or service sells itself ?

(c) To what extent do the arguments advanced in both quotations apply to the public sector organizations ?

MS-6   Dec, 2011

MS-6 : Marketing for managers

1. (a) The essence of Marketing is a "Transaction". Discuss the above statement and give reasons in support of your answers with suitable illustrations.

,(b) Explain the term 'Marketing Strategies'. Outline the possible marketing strategies

that may be used at the growth and decline stages of any Product/Brand of your choice.

2.(a)What type of promotion - mix can be used in the Promotion of the following product services :

(i) School Bags

(ii) Industrial Fans

(iii) Fast food Restaurant

(b) What arc the major functions of Packaging ? What is the type of Packaging you would recommend in the following cases and why ?

(i) Sea food for exports

(ii) Unisex perfume

3. (a) Why do many firms use a family brand ? What are the risks associated with this strategy in case the new product is sub-standard ?

(b) What pricing strategy will you follow for the following Product/Services ? Justify your answer :

(i) a new fruit juice bland

(ii) DTH television broadcast services

4. Write short notes on any three of the following.

(a) Reasons for the growth of service sector

(b) Matrix Organisation

(c) Life style marketing

(d) Approaches for sales forecasting

(e) Bases for market segmentation.

5. (a) You are the Marketing Manager of a medium - sized manufacturing company. The CEO of the company has just made the following statement : "The distribution activity is not a concern of the marketing department. The function of marketing depaitment is to sell the product let the rest of the company handle production and distribution". How would you reply to this statement ? Discuss.

(b) Titan Eye plus, an arm of Titan Industries has announced the launch of sunglasses Fiesta, for a limited period offer show casing best sunglasses brand. Develop a suitable launch strategy for the product.

MS-5   june-2007

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

1. (a) Define Information Technology. Describe various types of information systems. Give example of each type of information system in order to differentiate

between them.

(b) What is an Operating System ? Describe various activities performed by a typical operating system

2. (a) Explain the systems concept in management information and control. Describe the management functions at various levels in the context of relationships between management and information needs.

(b) Discuss the ethical issues involved in the information society. Why is there a need to protect hardware and software from unauthorized access ? Discuss some of these mechanisms

3. (a) Why is it logical to organize IT applications by functional areas ? Discuss the role of computers in one such area.

(b) Briefly discuss the business software solutions provided by any one of the following :

(i) SAP

(ii) Oracle

4. a) Enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing Information System. When should outsourcing be used by the organizations ?

b) "With so many readymade and customized softwares available, the need for a manager is to learn to use them elfectively, rather than learn to program them. " Do you agree ?

5. (a) What are data models ? How would you classify the data models ? Differentiate between various data models, with suitable examples.

b) Explain Artificial Intelligence. Discuss few applications of artificial intelligence

6. Write short notes on any two of the following :

a) Online Analytical Process (OLAP)

b) Groupware

c) Smart Cards

7. Read the case given below and answer the questions given at the end.

Microstrategies DSS Products Help Dairyworld Foods Increase profitability

Dairyworld Foods, Canada's second-largest dairy cooperative and western canada's largest food manufacturer. uses MicroStrategy's DSS Agent tm a decision support tool for conducting business analyses, to better understand performance, improve customer service, and anticipate customer needs and profitability.

MicroStrategy is a leading relational on-line analytical processing (ROLAP) vendor.

The MicroStrategy-based application received industry acclaim for providing Dairyworld with a significant return on investment. In August 1997 it was awarded the 1997 Excellence in Business Information Award for having a significant and measurable impact on Dairyworld's business

"Using MicroStrategy's DSS Agent has had a dramatic impact on our business by helping us to improve our customer service, increase internal accountability, and

make more intelligent marketing and sales decisions," said David Lynn, manager of sales administration and development at Dairyworld.

Before Micro Strategy’s decision support system was implemented, four separate and incompatible sales reporting systems made it impossible for the company to analyze the performance of its 2,500 products and 50,000 customers worldwide a function critical to Dairyworld's survival. Using the system, Dairyworld is now able to analyze massive quantities of data to identify most or least profitable products, promotion performance in different cities, customers who brought in the most revenue, and poorly performing.brands, sizes and product lines.

After less than a year" Dairyworld has realized a positive return on its software, hardware and professional services investments. Since the software's implementation,

product managers have used the system to identify and eliminate poorly performing product lines, sales managers have evaluated specific customers profitability by product or brand, and the distribution group has determined which trucking routes are the most efficient and profitable. DSS Agent tm also errors made years before the was able to discover pricing system was implemented.

Dairyworld was able to develop its decision support system and realize value from its warehouse almost immediately. In just 10 weeks, Dairyworld created a decision support project using MicroStrategy's software and rolled out the pilot DSS project. Within the next six months, Dairyworld built a more detailed data warehouse and enhanced its decision support project. The new, improved decision support project was then rolled out to over 100 users, all of whom were educated on the system

Questions :

(a) What has Micro Strategy done to transaction-level) databases of Dairyworld ?

(b) Give reasons for the improved customer service and increased profitability of Dairyworld.

MS-5   june-2008

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

1,(a) Explain the Management Systems concept with the help of an exarnple. what are the major distinctions between a production organisation and a service organisation ?

(b) Product A consists of three B type sub-assemblies and one C type sub-assembly. The sub-assembly B consists of one D sub-assembly, one E sub-assembly, and one F sub-assembly. The sub-assembly E consists of a D and a K. The sub-assembly C consists of a G and an F.

(i) Prepare a product tree.

(ii) Prepare the Bill of Materials.

iii)Determine the number of each sub-assembly/components required to prepaffe fifty units of item A.

2. a) Discuss briefly with suitable examples, each of the following :

(i) a long-range capacity decision

(ii) an intermediate-range capacity decision

(iii) a short-range capacity decision

b) A small firm intends to increase the capacity of a bottleneck operation by adding a new machine. Two alternatives A and B have been identified, and the

associated costs and revenues have been estimated. Annual fixed costs would be Rs. 40,000 for A, and Rs. 30,000 for B; variable costs per unit would be Rs. 10 for A and Rs. L2 for B; and revenu e per unit would be Rs. 15 for A and Rs. 16 for B.

1. (i)Determine the break- even point, in units, for each alternative.
2. (ii)At what volume of output would the two alternatives yield the same profit ?
3. (iii)If expected annual demand is 12,000 units, which alternative would yield a higher profit ?

3. (a) Why are new facilities built on sites that are far away from the companies'

present sites ? Justify your answer with suitable examples'

(b) The time following observations have been taken in a study experiment :

Determine

(i) the observed time,

(ii) the norrnal time, and

(iii) the standard time,

using a performance rating of 0.95 and a percent allowance of 8 percent

4- (a) Define value analysis. Differentiate between the traditional reduction technique and value analysis.

(b) A group of six jobs are to be processed through a two-step operation. The first operation involves leaning and the second involves painting . Determine a sequence that will minimize the total completion time for this group of jobs. Also, calculate the idle times for both machines.

5. (a) why is R&D a key factor in productivity improvement ? Name some ways in which R&D contributes to productivity improvements.

(b) A local distributor for a national tyre company expects to sale approximately 9600 steel belted radial tyres of a certain size and tread design next year . annual carrying costs are rs 16 per tyre and ordering costs are rs75 . the distributor operates 288 days a year

(i) What is the EOQ ?

(ii) Howmanytimesperyeardoesthestore reorder ?

(iii) What is the length of an order cycle ?

6 The R&D Department is planning to bid on a large project for the development

of a new communication system for commercial planes. The accompanying table shows the activities, times, and sequences required.

(a) Draw the Network Diagram.

(b) What is the critical path ?

(c) Suppose you want to shorten the completion time as much as possible,

and have the option of shortening any or all of B, c, D and G, each two weeks. Which would you shorten ?

1. (b)What is the new critical path and earliest completion time ?

7 . Write short notes on any four of the following :

(a) Cost of Quality

(b) CIM

(c) Standardization and Codification

(d) Buffer Stock

(e) Zero defects

(f) Taxonomy of waste

MS-5   june-2009

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

1. (a) Define a 'system'. Use this concept in explaining a production system. Briefly

indicate the relationship of production systems to operations management.

(b) Discuss how life cycle approach to product and systems can help decision making. Use examples.

2. (a) Why is there a need for maintenance ? Discuss different types of maintenance as used in manufacturing type of organisations.

(b) Draw a flow process chart of changing tyre of your motor cycle or car. Assume all necessary data.

3. (a) Def ine " Value Engineering" . Discuss different phases of value engineering

approach. Use examples.

(b) Diffeierrtiate continuous flow processes from intermittent flow processes. Give exarnpies.

4(a) Why are service organisations usually provided with  higher capacities than the

requirement ? Explain with some examples.

(b) Why are control charts used ? Differentiate between control charts for variables and control charts for attributes. Give examples.

5(a) In a situation of 2 jobs and 'm' machines. How doer do we determine the optimal sequence of these jobs to minimise the total processing time using graphical method ? Elaborate the method using following problem.

1. (b)Discuss the objectives of maintenance how is failure analysis done Explain

6.What is the significance of assembly lines ? Discuss different types of assembly lines and respective advantages and disadvantages.

7.a) Discuss different functions of stores and detail how stores should be organised.

b) Discuss ABC system of inventory control.

8. write a short notes any two of the following.

(a) Waste management

(b) Materials Requirement Planning

(c) Control Charts for attributes

(d) Standardisation and codification

MS-5   june-2010

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

1. a) Why does the "proper" operations strategy keep changing for companies that are world-class competitors ?

(b) Some suggest that customer expectation is the key to service success. Give an example from your own experience to support or refute this assertion.

2.(a) "You don't inspect quality into a product; you have to build it in". Discuss the implications of this statement.

(b) Find the economic order quantity and the reorder point, given the following data :

Annual demand (D) = 1000 units. Ordering cost (S) = Rs. 50 per order. Holding cost (H) = Rs. 12.50 per unit per year Cost per unit (C) = Rs. 125.00. Lead time (L) = 5 days. Assume 250 working days in a year.

3. (a) Why are work measurement and time study activities still necessary today ?

(b) A company that produces pleasure boats has decided to expand one of its lines. Current facilities are insufficient to handle the increased workload, so the company is considering three alternatives, A (new location), B (subcontract), and C (expand existing facilities). Alternative A would involve substantial fixed costs but relatively low variable costs : fixed costs would be Rs. 25,000,00 per year, and variable costs would be Rs. 5000

per boat.

Subcontracting would involve a cost per boat of Rs. 25,000 and expansion would require an annual fixed cost of Rs. 5,00,000 and a variable cost of Rs. 10,000 per boat. For what range of output would each alternative yield the lowest total cost ? Which alternate would yield the lowest total cost for an expected annual volume of 150 boats ?

(a) How does the role of a project manager differ from that of a traditional functional

manager ?

(b) An industrial engineer conducts a time study on an operator and determine that a specific task takes about two minutes to complete. The engineer estimates that the particular operator that she is observing is working about 20 percent faster than normal. The company has an allowance factor of 15 percent of job time for personal needs, delays, and fatigue. Calculate the standard time for this task.

5(a) Explain value engineering giving its area of application in some industry which you are aware of.

(b) There are seven jobs that must be processed in two operations. A and B. All seven jobs must go through A and B in that sequence A first, then B.

( i ) Determine the optimal order in which the jobs should be sequenced through the process using these times.

ii) Draw a graph similar to the solved problems showing the sequence of jobs.

iii) What is the total completion time for all seven jobs

6. The following activities are part of a project to be scheduled using CPM :

a) Draw the network

b) What is the critical path ?

c) How many weeks will it take to complete the project ?

d) How much slack does activity B have ?

7. Write short notes on any four of the following :

a) Preventive Maintenance

b) Automated storage/retrieval

c) CAD/CAM

d) ABC Analysis

e) Tero Technology

f) LIFO system

MS-5   june-2011

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

1. (a) How is value added to any entity using operations function ? Explain the conceptual model of a 'Operations System'.

(b) Discuss life cycle approach in Operations Management. Use examples to elaborate.

2. (a) What is Product Design ? How does it influence the Process Design ? Explain with examples.

(b) What type of layout would you suggest in designing a big hospital ? Discuss.

3. (a) How is computerized layout planning is done ? Discuss its benefits and different

softwares used for this purpose.

(b) Define capacity. Explain the process used for capacity planning. Take example of any organization of your choice.

4. (a) Why is material handling important ? Discuss its classification.

(b) What are common classification systems of materials ? Explain importance of

codification and standardization of materials.

5. (a) What are different forms used by purchase department ? Discuss different criteria

employed for evaluating purchasing system.

(b) Discuss importance of Value Engineering. Also list its various phases.

6. (a) What is acceptance sampling ? Explain different types of sampling plans. Explain

Operating Characteristic Curve.

(b) Why are control charts used ? Discuss mean and R type of control chart. Give its importance.

7. (a) Where do we use work sampling ? Explain its step as used for standard time determination.

(b) Discuss ABC system of Inventory Control. Give its variants as used in Industry.

8. Write short notes on any two of the following

(a) Methods Study

(b) Programme Evaluation and Review Technique.

(c) Assembly line

(d) Planning and Control for job shop production

MS-5   Dec, 2007

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

l. (a) Explain how the system concept can be used in explaining the terms waste and waste management.

(b) A company is considering adding a new feature that will increase unit sales by !2 percent and product cost by 10 percent. Profit is expected to increase by 16 percent of the increased sales. Initially the product cost incurred by the company was 63 percent of the sales price. Should the new feature be added ? Justify your answer.

2. (a) Four different organisations are considering youl home town as a potential location for one of the following :

(i) A medical research centre

(ii) A softdrink producer

(iii) A steel plant

(iv) A software producer

Select any  one of the above four and systematically evaluate the relevant locational factors.

(b) A worker in an engineering corporation is expected to work for 420 minutes in a shift of 8 hours . the remaining time, i.e. 60 minutes is meant  for rest and personal needs etc.

Determine :

(i) Standard time per piece of a job whose normal time is 4 minutes.

(ii) If the operator produces 120 pieces in the shift, what is his efficiency ?

3. a)Explain different types of maintenance, giving suitable examples. Suggest an organisation structure for the maintenance department of a medium-sized company

   (b) A small manufacturing firm has three proposals for a product. Either it can be purchased from an outside vendor at Rs. 4 per unit or it can be manufactured in-plant. There are alternatives for in-plant-manufacturing. One option it that a fully

automatic unit is procured involving fixed cost of Rs. 30,000 and variable cost of Rs. 275 per unit. Alternatively, a semi-automatic unit would cost Rs. 20,000 as fixed cost and Rs. 3 per unit as variable cost.

Draw a break-even chart for these alternatives. Suggest range of production-volume suited for these alternatives.

4. a) Explain various factors that govern the design of any layout of a plant. Give suitable examples.

   b) There are seven jobs as under, each of which has to go through machines A and B in that order. The processing time is in hours.

Determine the sequence of jobs that will minimize the total time for completion of all the jobs.

5. (a) What do you understand by Quality ? What is the difference between inspection and quality ? Describe the concept of Total Quality Management. How is it different from inspection and quality control ?

b) A repair and maintenance company is engaged in providing service to a particular brand o[ popular vehicle. It uses 8000 units of a moving part per year as replacement of the old parts; each part cost Rs. 250. The set-up costs are estimated at Rs. 100 and the inventory carrying cost is the average of 20% of the inventory cost. Supply of the parts is at the rate of 80 per day.

Calculate the following :

(i) Optimal order quantity

(ii) Optimal number of set-ups

(iii) Total variable cost based on optimal policy

Assume 310 working days in a year

6. The R&D department is planning to bid on a large proiect for the development of a new communication system for commercial planes. The following table shows the activities, times, and sequences required

(a) Draw the network diagram.

(b) What is the critical path ?

(c) How many weeks will it take to complete the project ?

(d) Which activities have slack and how much ?

7 . Write short notes on any four of the following :

(a) Operating characteristic curve

(b) ABC Analysis

(c) Job Enrichment

(d) CAD/CAM

(e) Tero Technology

(f) Aggregate planning

MS-5   Dec, 2008

MS-5 : MANAGEMENT OF MACHINES AND MATERIALS

l. (a) Give two examples (with supporting details) for each of a service and manufacturing firm, of the impact of technology in service and product design.

(b) Data for a breal+even analysis revealed that total cost at volumes of 600 and 800 units were Rs. 8,00,000 and Rs. 9,60,000 respectively. Revenue is Rs. 1,440 per unit. Based upon this information, what are

(i) the variable cost per unit, and

(ii) the fixed cost ?

2. (a) How do the capacity considerations in a hospital, automobile service centre and a company making lawn mowers, differ ?

(b) Rocket Propulsion Company is considering the expansion of a solid-propelled manufacturing process by adding more l-ton-capacity curing furnaces. Each batch (1 ton) of propellant must undergo 30 minutes of fumace time, including load and unload operations. However, the furnace is used only 80 percent of the time due

to power restrictions in other parts of the system. The required output for the new layout is to be 16 tons per shift (8 hours). Plant (system) effici,ency is estimated at 50 percent of system capacity.

(i) Determine the number of furnaces required.

(ii) Estimate.the percentage of time the furnace will be idle.

3. (a) How does inventory contribute to the value-adding activities of a firm ? When should inventory be considered a symptom of waste ? Explain with suitable examples.

(b) A plastics moulding firm produces and uses 24,400 Teflon bearing inserts annually. The cost of setting up for production is Rs. 700 and the weekly production rate is 1000 units. If the production cost is Rs. 55 per unit and the anhual carrying cost is Rs. 15 per unit, how many units should the firm produce during each production run ? Assume a 52-week year.

4. (a) Should a firm always attempt to “meet demand" ? Why or why not ? Justify answer with suitable examples.

(b) Define Productivity. How do operations managers contribute in improving productivity ? Explain with examples.

5. (a) Discuss with suitable examples, the process of launching a new product in the market. Explain with the help of suitable examples.

(b) Use Johnson's rule to determine the sequence that results in the minimum flow time for the seven jobs listed below. Alljobs must follow the same sequence of machine first, and then polish.

a) What is the optimal sequence of jobs ?

b) What is the minimum time flow to finish these seven jobs

SECTION B

The following table shows the jobs of a project with their duration in days.

i) Draw the network diagram.

ii) Compute the earliest event time and latest event times

iii) Determine the critical path and total project duration

7 . Write short notes on any of the following :

(a) VED Analysis

(b) Consumer's risk

(c) Learning Curve

(d) Standardization and Codification

(e) Delphi Technique

(f) Bill of Material