Category: MBA Assignments

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A Case Study of Operational issues in Retail Outlets

Retail Outlet is an retail store which has complete package of items which every house needs. Right from groceries to to electronics, cloths etc., all are available in this store. For case study I have taken few operational issues which were addressed in this assignment. MIS i.e., management information system shall be considered as dash board of all transactions which is a report. Its analytics driven reports which enables management to take right decisions at right time. Based on level of understanding, requirements, deep study, minute detailing etc., The MIS module can be customized and developed if necessary.

When it comes to Retail Outlet there are  so many analytical reports can be generated which shall enable good decision making few of the are like performance based incentives leads to employee motivation and increase in sales, Individual store performance leads to develop competitive environments with in Retail Outlet stores again leads to increase in sales, watch on new products or trends in market in line with high moving and slow moving products/ items store wise to take shall lead to taking strategic decisions which shall again enable increase in sales.

Increase in sales increase in revenues which increases profitability when organization is in profits it leads to expansions and diversifications. Hence this MIS plays vital role in decision making and therefore all cycles mentioned store wise shall be integrated store wise so that analytical reports can be generated for taking strategic decisions by the management of Retail Outlet.

Below mentioned are the competencies observed in Retail Outlets controlling Systems which were observed:

  1. Store manager was held responsible for all activities of the store.
  2. Dedicated audit team who does surprise visits to stores and audit.
  3. Multiple levels of controls and audits of financials as well as materials and products.
  4. Job allocation and well-defined operations process.
  5. The maximum sales volume happens through electronic payments mode
  6. Not technologically but through other means of communication all 30 stores are connected to each other.
  7. Store manager is getting completely occupied with administrative role and he could not focus on growth of sales, increasing customer base, customer satisfaction etc., strategic roles.
  8. Getting manpower on part time basis as and when required and their payment which is an hourly based required petty cash where as maximum sales happen through electronic payments hence managing this is becoming herculean task for store manager.
  9. The Surprise auditors strength is less and the turnaround time for surprise visit to individual store is happening at 3 months once which is less where usually it should be minimum monthly once.
  10. Manual maintenance of records and the documents.
  11. Defining exact job roles and allocating the same and the strategies like job rotation, succession planning etc., are not observed.
  12. Four step manual process of controls is again a bottle neck or the pain point for decision making and ensuring transparent transactions and record keeping.

 As the automated system is not available in Retail Outlet retail outlets there are many chances of integrity issues like difference in materials, cash, products, sales etc., the chances of employees involvement in fraudulent shall be more and the main reasons could be work pressure or due to an opportunity, or  by mistake  (Carries Minnich, 2017).

Usually this is termed as fraud triangle which consists of Opportunity, Pressure and the Rationalization are the components involved in fraud triangle. There are external factors and the Internal factors are also involved in this such as Management behaviour type, emotional, financial, etc., which are pertaining to employees working in particular organization especially Retail Outlet in this case.

Data base is the brain of the system and based on database only the major decision-making reports gets generated. Data comes from various resources but the access to data shall be structures with controls and maintain logs and documentation of the same is the key. The centralised database shall consist of data of all 30 stores which can be made available or accessible to HO and the top management and there shall be decentralized database management system which shall be part of centralised database shall be made available to respective store manager to add or access data.

The Retail Outlet has got strong controls with six strengths but they are not sufficient compared to Increasing business needs and requirements, hence there is a need for implementation of Integrated technological solution which shall enable management to address issues of Integration, Data Visualizations, report generations etc., and ensuring transparent transactions with all statutory and legal compliance. The decision making is the key and that shall happen only if there is an proper technological solution in place.

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Strategic Information System For Business & Enterprise – A Case Study of Retail Apparel Store

Executive Summary

 This case study is about XYZ Store which is retail apparel having 30 Stores. The major focus group is young ladies’ fashion and they have stores around the world.  The existing process of sale is controlled, or transaction check is happening at 4 stages i.e., Sales Associate, Billing Accountant, Finance controller, and Store Manager. The study in this case gives an insight into the implementation of technology and how it enables organizations, especially Retail Apparel Store in this case to grow their operations which indirectly increases their profitability.

The study is been done systematically with contemporary evaluation and analysis of existing systems of Retail Apparel Stores which Includes Six strengths of Retail Apparel Stores with respect to their controlling systems, accounting systems, Sales transactions, The systems of the existing calculations, etc., there are challenges which were observed particularly Integrity issues. There were differences observed in terms of money as well as in terms of items.

At the time of the global count, the difference in stock is observed and at the time of quarterly financial audits, the difference in cash is observed. There may be several reasons for fraud and a few reasons may be pressure from work, personal issues, etc., Usually, the retail organizations’ work is on sale per square feet which excludes public areas, carpet areas, etc., and even brand sales Versus retail space allocated for that particular brand. There were a few analyses pertaining to the centralization & De centralization of Databases of the Retail Apparel Store which were given in this report.

Six Strengths of Retail Apparel Store Controlling Systems

Below mentioned are the competencies observed in Retail Apparel Store controlling Systems which were observed:

  1. The store manager was held responsible for all activities of the store.
  2. Dedicated audit team who does surprise visits to stores and audits.
  3. Multiple levels of controls and audits of financials as well as materials and products.
  4. Job allocation and well-defined operations process.
  5. The maximum sales volume happens through the electronic payments mode
  6. Not technologically but through other means of communication, all 30 stores are connected to each other.

Concerns Retail Apparel Store has overcome by Incorporating competency in controlling Sales Transactions

  1. The store manager is getting completely occupied with the administrative role and he could not focus on the growth of sales, increasing customer base, customer satisfaction, etc., strategic roles.
  2. Getting manpower on a part-time basis as and when required and their payment which is hourly based required petty cash whereas maximum sales happen through electronic payments hence managing this is becoming a herculean task for the store manager.
  3. The Surprise auditor’s strength is less and the turnaround time for surprise visits to individual stores is happening at 3 months once which is less when usually it should be a minimum of monthly once.
  4. Manual maintenance of records and documents.
  5. Defining exact job roles and allocating the same and the strategies like job rotation, succession planning, etc., are not observed.
  6. Four steps manual process of controls is again a bottleneck or the pain point for decision-making and ensuring transparent transactions and record keeping.

 Situational Pressure Vs Fraud

As the automated system is not available in Apparel Store retail outlets there are many chances of integrity issues like differences in materials, cash, products, and sales, etc., the chances of employees’ involvement in fraudulent shall and the main reasons could be work pressure or due to an opportunity, or by mistake  (Carries Minnich, 2017).

Usually, this is termed the fraud triangle which consists of Opportunity, Pressure, and Rationalization are the components involved in fraud triangle. There are external factors and Internal factors also involved in this such as Management behavior type, emotional, financial, etc., which pertain to employees working in a particular organization especially Retail Apparel Store in this case.

Centralized Vs Distributed Database Management System

The database is the brain of the system and based on the database only the major decision-making reports get generated. Data comes from various resources but the access to data shall be structured with controls and maintaining logs and documentation of the same is the key.

The centralized database shall consist of data from all 30 stores which can be made available or accessible to HO and the top management and there shall be a decentralized database management system that shall be part of the centralized database and shall be made available to the respective store manager to add or access data.

Conclusion

The Retail Apparel Store has got strong controls with six strengths but they are not sufficient compared to Increasing business needs and requirements, hence there is a need for the implementation of an Integrated technological solution that shall enable management to address issues of Integration, Data Visualizations, report generations, etc., and ensuring transparent transactions with all statutory and legal compliance. The decision making is the key and that shall happen only if there is a proper technological solution in place.

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Business Analysis Report of Health Medical Insurance Company

Evaluation of company analysis is deals with financial performance and the status of the selected company by analyzing the stare prices, assets, liabilities etc., which shall enable investors to take decision on investing in shares of the particular company. In this Study the Health Medical Insurance Company is the organization which has been taken for evaluation and analysis of the company. 2018-19, 2019-20 & 2020-21 financial statements and stock movement in share market is been considered for analysis in this assignment.

Objectives of the Study:

  • To understand the concept of Company analysis with respect to financials.
  • To Analyze the Financial position of Health Medical Insurance Company.
  • To do data analysis & Interpretation which shall enable investors to take decision on investing opportunities.

Need of the Study:

Now a days the Investments in companies through stock markets has become prominent and individuals are investing their hard owned in stock markets and there are many cases of break even, loss gain etc., as the share market prices are not stable, and they fluctuate hence this type of analysis helps investors to take better decisions at the time of Investments. Hence there is need for this type of company evaluation and analysis.

Scope of the study:

The scope of the study is confined to Health Medical Insurance Company and there is no comparative study with any other company. The data from 31st December 2018 to 31st December 2021 is been taken for analysis. The financial and non financial data taken from their website and the scope was limited as the capital budgeting, expansion or diversifications, budget allocations after 31st December 2021 is not in the scope. The scope is all about financial and company related data available on website and other resources.

 Evaluation Methodology: 

Primary Data: The primary data is been collected from the company website, articles and journals etc., which are relevant for the study.

Secondary Data: The secondary data is been collected from Australian stock exchange and through other sources which are essential for data analysis and interpretation.

Review of Literature: There are multiple aspects involved in this study, they are financial and accounting concepts like ratio analysis, Share price fluctuations, WACC calculation, Capital structure, etc., and the other side evaluation techniques, Company profile, analyzing the data etc., needs conceptual knowledge and in literature review all concepts which shall help in finalizing the study were covered in this chapter.

Data Analysis & Interpretation: The Financial data of Health Medical Insurance Company is been analyzed by using accounting principles and the formulas which shall enable to do findings and the same shall lead to recommendations and conclusion and the same is been done under this chapter.

Findings: After data analysis there will be few points which outcomes of the analysis are Included in this chapter.

Recommendations: After identifying gaps or the findings, proposing the recommendations based on analysis and findings are covered in this chapter

Conclusion: This chapter contains a small brief about the study and its outcome and whether it is a right decision to invest in Health Medical Insurance Company or not and the current position of Health Medical Insurance Company and future scope of Health Medical Insurance Company are covered in this chapter.

Limitations:

In websites and financial statements which they publish are only consolidated ones where as detailed transactions of cash flows, funds flows, fixed assets and their values, variable assets and their values cannot be studied in detail to have further better understanding of the financial position of the Health Medical Insurance Company.

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Product Life Cycle Management System (PLC) Research Paper

Introduction:

Every product will have a life cycle which is called PLC and maintaining the life cycle using technology in a systematic process is called a Product Life Cycle Management System (PLC). Every product shall have an expiry date. Any product management, right from the introduction to disposal is called PLC. It helps companies to increase profitability by selling products within expiry dates. If companies don’t have systematic expiry dates process management of their products leads to having a huge quantity of stocks without a sale and for disposal which is a loss for any organization.

If we see apparel, accessories, etc., usually companies sell products with discounts and offer if their products are going to expire in the near dates. There are products that cannot be sold using discounts and offers and a few of them are medicines etc., where companies have to dispose of the expired medicines is a process defined by the pollution control board etc.,

The entire product management cycle consists of five important steps they Stage of product development, the Stage of Introduction of the product to the market, the stage of growth which can also be called sales, the Stage of maturity, and the final stage id decline or disposal. Every product and service will have all these five steps irrespective of the company size and volume. It is not mandatory to follow these five steps exactly where based on products and companies’ strategies they can also be further divided into smaller steps.

Objectives of the study:

  • The understanding of the concept of PLC.
  • The process of PLC management system.
  • How PLC helps organizations to increase their profits or to control losses.
  • How technology is incorporated in PLC.
  • The practical applicability of PLC and analysis.

 Scope of the Study:

The scope of the study is to understand the concept of PLC and it can be designed using technology with well-defined systems and processes. The examples of a few real-time companies and their case studies shall also be studied, and the findings and the conclusions shall be derived, and the scope is limited to study using books, articles, journals, and case studies.

Need of the Study:

The success of any organization depends on the performance and sales of its products or services. There are many areas where organizations operate and one of the important and crucial areas is managing the product life cycle. Unless companies have the data pertaining to the expiry dates of their products with alarming pop-up mechanisms etc., companies will not have any clue and finally, products shall remain expired before sales within timelines, if the pop-up mechanism is there then the companies can sell their products with various strategies like offers, discounts, etc. if the product expiry dates are coming close. Hence there is a huge need for studying this concept called PLC management system.

Limitations

Every study shall have limitations and the limitations in this research are:

  1. Time is one major constraint
  2. The availability of data where in case of studies there may be many aspects that might have been included in that particular case study.
  3. Working on Applicability in industry type could not be done

Research Methodology

Denscombe (2007) cited that a social analyst can make use of a variety of surveys to perform this. While carried out, however, the alternatives have the tendency to rotate around the philosophy of qualitative and quantitative research the primary data and the secondary data were collected through books, journals, articles, and other internet sources and the same is applied by talking case studies of different companies and finally the findings and recommendations along with conclusion were given. The future scope of further research is also given in the conclusion chapter. This research is qualitative research.

Conclusion

Except in product development, stage rest of the stages the price, promotion, distribution, sales, market share, competition, etc., plays an important role. Companies can sustain themselves only if they follow the technology-driven product life cycle. The key components of PLC are Strategic goals and competitive analysis of Product, price, Promotion, Logistics, and Distribution at all stages of PLC which are product development, Introduction, growth, Maturity, and decline. Their PLC management should be done using technology which shall enhance quality in strategy at all levels of the PLC.

There should be a separate standard operating procedure and policies which should have guiding principles and which shall help companies to develop and execute PLC to have sustainability, consistent growth, and increase in profitability. There are so many organizations that were there in our childhood but do not exist now. The products which are there in our childhood are not there now. Landline phones are rarely seen, and the big and remote TV is not there now, which clearly shows that every organization should have well-defined PLC in place.

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Product Data Management System Research Paper

Product Data Management (PDM) is the requirement that has come up based on product life cycle management, various numbers of products, variants, and the complexity of managing the data in a systematic order. There are various standards that certify the quality of the PDM systems and a few of them are ISO 13584, STEP, IEC 6130, etc., The PDM has become the need of the hour for organizations. Small-scale companies might not require the PDM system, but medium and large-scale industries definitely require the PDM system.

The retail and apparel companies and the companies who manufacture more variant products should have the PDM system to track and trace the sales and the status of their products. Usually, companies engage third-party companies to take audit their product and the global count is the concept that happens every six months. This study gives the concept and the overview along with the strategies which help organizations to set up their PDM systems based on their requirements.

Objectives of the Study:

  • A deep understanding of the concept of PDM
  • Analyzing different models of PDM
  • To analyze the various Components of PDM
  • To understand the various Phases of PDM
  • To analyze how PDM helps organizations
  • To know the frameworks and the bodies which certify the standards of PDM

Scope of the Study:

The scope of the study is related to PDM and its design and implementation in manufacturing industries. The theoretical concepts along with the case studies of manufacturing industries is been covered. There are cases where organizations struggled because of not having well-defined PDM systems and policies and there are companies who have transformed and restructured their policies where the special emphasis has been given on PDM and they came to success track with these systems and the scope of this study covers all aspects of PDM.

Need of the Study:

The competition in every business is increasing and companies have to sustain in this competitive environment there is a need for companies to manufacture various different types of companies and managing the data of the products is important to have track of the products and hence there is a need of PDM system and that is the reason and need for study on Product Data Management (PDM) System and that is why this topic is been selected for the research study.

Limitations:

Every research shall have limitations for this study the major limitation is the practical approach. Time is one more constraint. The live study in companies who manufactures more types of products in bulk quantities. The study could have been done in a pharmaceutical company that manufactures more types of drugs for every drug the data sheets are different and there are expiry dates that vary from product to product how do pharmaceutical manufacturing companies manage their product data, what are the systems which they have designed and how does it work for them, are there any chances to make them much more competitive, etc., are the areas which shall have been made this study much more productive one.

Research Methodology:

Every study or research has to follow a systematic approach, which is called methodology. The research methodology which is been adopted in this study is qualitative research. The primary and secondary data is been collected from sources like the internet, books, articles, and journals. There are few case studies and data collected from people working in different organizations and the data collected is verbally noted and it is not been recorded or documented as the data collected is not structural and not formal. The collected data is been analyzed and based on which findings and conclusions are derived.

Conclusion & future Scope:

There are many types of Product Data Management software, technologies, tools, and solutions available in the market but integrated solutions like SAP, Oracle, etc., are preferred as the data pertaining to a company and individual product are used by different departments for different purposes and the data should be available in customizable formats to generate analytics and metrics, etc.,

There is a concept called STEP which describes the standards and the quality of the PDM system. The key components of STEP are Language Expression, Classification of entities, the alignment of attributes to objects, Arrays and relations between data sets, Data Representation, Data Visualization, Integration of data sources and resources, etc., There are certifications available for PDM for quality standards and they are IEC 6130, ISO 13584, etc., Data security and the access control are very important and crucial elements in PDM. Technology is evolving at a faster phase and it is helping organizations to grow it is the organization’s tactic to adopt and update to new technologies to have sustainability and growth as the competition is very high.

Designing and maintaining product data in multiple languages which suits the respective country is also very important this concept is called localization and many companies are maintaining data only in English language but it is very important to maintain a website, product details, etc., in all countries languages where they have their business operations and this strategy does not cost more but the security is the concern, If companies adopt this and secure this shall definitely yield very good results. Product data management is only one part where this part plays a very important role in product manufacturing techniques and processes as well as in maintaining product life cycle.

There is a lot of scope for future study as the PDM varies from organization to organization and even from industry segment to industry segment. Every industry has its own work flows and data flows and it is necessary for an individual organization to have its own technology and product-related data management.

The markets are evolving, more and more new products are getting introduced to the market, and competition between products and organizations is increasing hence the scope for further study of PDM has a larger scope. It’s not only Product development but along with PDM, there are also concepts like Product life cycle management, Design for manufacturing techniques, and the process which are an integral part of PDM all these are interrelated, and the scope in huge for future study.

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New Business Model for Diamond Jewelry Segment

Executive Summary

This society is diversified in all aspects. The Income levels of the people of India is been increasing which is enabling to increase in the buying capacity. The tastes and preferences are changing. The maximum individuals especially the women of India spend most of their money on shopping whereas the major spending goes into buying Jewelry.

The money spent on buying Jewelry can be treated in two ways and is social status and the second one is an investment. There are so many players who are in this business. This industry is been recording consistent growth of 5% every year. The government of India has identified the future boom for this segment and they have come up with wide range of initiatives like tax exemptions, liberalization of taxes etc., As foreign direct Investment has opened doors for the foreign players to invest their money in India.

There are different types of business models that came into the picture. Earlier there was only a traditional way of business where they will have fixed customers and Even the traditional customers if they have any function they prefer the only vendor whom they know but now a days the tastes and preferences are changing and traditional these traditional players could not cope up with changing environments. Now the trend is the retail business.

There are national and International players who are into this business. Every company has got its own business strategy, business plans, and models. In this study, I have gone through the various business models which are being adopted by various companies and there are a few players who are not coping with the change and they are getting into losses. In this study, I have proposed a  new business model which will help the existing players to cope with this and even it will help the new entrants of business people who want to enter into this diamond Jewelry business.

Introduction

India once is called the golden bird where we used to have a tremendous wealth of diamonds and Jewelers. India was a land for precious gems, diamonds, etc., world’s famous Kohinoor diamond was also born in India. Nowadays diamond jewelry has become fashionable and it is being considered a Prestige symbol and status signature. This trend is seen across the globe in almost all parts of the world. The increase in GDP and the Income levels of population of has created an urge to spend money towards luxury and the major contribution is from investing on diamond jewelry.

The economy of India has created a wide range of markets for diamond jewelry which leads to competition. There are so many national and international players who came into the business in India with huge Investments, new designs, and Models with sophisticated research & Development teams. The brand ambassadors of this segment are being paid huge.

This business in India is being done in two ways first is the old and traditional way where they have fixed customers and they do it in a disciplined way on a small scale where as when it comes the second model is a modern way where they educate customers on how to check the quality of the diamond etc., they invest huge amount of ambiance, quality staff, research, and development, etc., where they have to reap returns in this heavy competitive environment. There is an upcoming trend that is recording 5% consistent growth is the online purchasing of diamond jewelry. 

The rationale of the Study:

The way of doing business in the diamond jewelry segment is dynamic in nature in current business competition and the environment. Diamond jewelry is one of the segments which is playing important role in the Indian economy by contributing 7% of India’s GDP. The government of India has identified this segment as fastest growing segment in India and it has liberalized regulations in Imports and exports. We believe or not there are more than 500000 diamond jewelry players are there in India.

The gross exports of Diamonds and gems from India to different parts of the world are worth US$ 3.23 Billion. It is been estimated that there will be consistent growth of 16% per Annum consistently till 2022 in India. In spite of having available resources except for quality human resources, there are few players who are getting into losses and there are players who are game changers who work on strategies and they are being successful. Keeping in mind the facts and figures of the diamond jewelry market in India, I have chosen the topic: Business Plan for Diamond Jewelry. This has to help and it should be like a ready reckoner for new entrants as well as for the players who could not cope with the competition.

Objectives of the Study:

  • The major objective of the study is to identify, analyze and plan a competent business model which suits the Indian market
  • The Business Model should help traditional diamond jewelry businessmen to compete with the corporate brands
  • This Business Model has to help and it should be like a guide for new companies who want to step into the diamond jewelry business.
  • The Business model should be competent where it has to consider the fluctuations of the markets, season and un season with respect to different parts of India, customer buying behaviors of a particular location, changing customer preferences, etc.,
  • The key attributes which make the diamond jewelry business success

Scope of the Study:

The Scope of the Study is in India. The study consists of considering the existing models of business which are being adopted by corporates, traditional business men and the upcoming and successful retailers, online vendors, etc., The functional scope consists of considering almost all aspects of the business.

For retail business the scope covers the ambience, designs, models, staff, amenities, discounts, prices, events, etc., for online model it covers technical aspects and for traditional diamond jewelry business segment the current model which they are doing and the identification of gaps. The scope is huge as the objective is to prepare a competent business model which has to suit maximum number of entrants who are there in this business and who want to enter into this business.

Methodology:

The Methodology consists of Qualitative and Quantitative methods. The first one is a questionnaire-based model where the responses will be collected from the customers who buy diamond jewelry. This is a quantitative technique that I would be using in the project. The Qualitative technique is to observe the current business plans and the models of existing players.

The primary data will be collected from the different organizations that are in this business. The data will be collected from Corporates, senior leaders of the corporates, the traditional businessmen who are in diamond jewelry business. I’ll collect the data in a sequential way with a predefined questions which will be shared in final draft as it is tend to change from company to company and from person to person.

There will be additions and deletions in this set of questionnaires. The objective here is to understand exactly the mode of operations, business strategy existing and future etc., There is another set of questionnaire where the responses will be collected from the customers who buy diamond jewelry through various modes or at various stores or at various defined places or locations.

The secondary data will be collected through data analytics and statistics. The data will be collected from magazines, books, journals, and our academic concepts, etc., the secondary data mainly focuses on the strategies, theoretical knowledge, facts, and figures of the market and its analysis, etc.,

The Data Analysis part will be done by using statistical tools, and percentage methods for questionnaires from customers, and the final business plan will be derived based on responses collected from the business heads and representatives of different organizations and they will be compiled in line with the secondary data and finally, the business model or the Business Plan will be derived. This will be derived from the findings and conclusion as a part of the result of the Study.

Expected outcome:

The expected outcome is a Diamond Jewelry business model which is competent and which has to suit the Indian market which is domestic. In this project, I will not consider exports. This Model will be focusing on the domestic market which is a plan which has to help retailers, and traditional businessmen and coping up with online sales which is an alternative.

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Employee Job Satisfaction A Study at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co Ltd

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this Employee Job Satisfaction A Study MBA HR Project at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co Ltd is to describe the various expectations that determine the satisfaction level of employee.

To identify the factors concerning employee job satisfaction and to analyze and interpret the collected data.

LIMITATIONS

  1. Due to the constraint of time and resources, the study was conducted in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd and the results of the study cannot be generalized.
  2. The accuracy of the analysis and conclusion drawn entirely depends upon the reliability of the information provided by the employees.
  3. Sincere efforts were made to cover maximum departments of the employees, but the study may not fully reflect the entire opinion of the employees.
  4. In the fast moving/changing employee’s behavior, many new and better things may emerge in the near future, which cannot be a safeguard in this report.
  5. Confidential matters restricted to an in-depth study.

FINDINGS

  • 78% of employees are receiving regular job performance feedback in the organization, remaining 22% of employees specified that the organization needs to take regular job performance feedback.
  • 80% of the employees said that they are satisfied with the employee welfare programmes
  • 80% of employees felt that they are treated fairly by the superiors as well as by the organization members
  • 74% of respondents satisfied with the employee policies at the company remaining 6% are neutral and 20% of respondents are dissatisfied.
  • 62% of respondents are satisfied with the salary structure, 18% of respondents are extremely satisfied, 7% of the respondents are neutral, 13% of the respondents are dissatisfied that the company offers a salary structure.
  • 50% of respondents said good about the safety and health standard of the company.
  • 55% of respondents are giving very important towards the recognition and 35% of respondents are giving importance remaining 10% respondents are neutral towards the recognition.
  • 20% of the respondents are highly satisfied with their position in the company and 30% of respondents are satisfied 10% are neither or nor 40% of respondents are dissatisfied with their position.
  • 62% of the respondents satisfied with the vision & values of management, 18% of the respondents are highly satisfied.
  • 28% of the respondents felt relaxed, 58% are felt normal, and remaining 14% of the respondents felt the work is burdened for them.
  • 80% of respondents give more importance to training & development provided by the company,10% are neutral, 10% of respondents have not given importance.
  • 72% of the respondents have expressed satisfaction towards existing career plan & growth opportunities in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
  • 65% of employees are receiving cooperation from all other departments remaining 35% of employees are not receiving cooperation from all other departments.
  • 40% of respondents are satisfied with the company’s quality management system.
  • 71% of the respondents are satisfied with the reward system which is provided by the company.
  • 80% of the employees agree the organization environment is suitable for developing their self-esteem
  • 63% of respondents are satisfied with the appraisal system of the company, 27% of respondents are dissatisfied, 10% of respondents are neutral.
  • 65% of respondents felt duty timings schedule is convenient remaining 35% of respondents felt duty timings schedule is inconvenient.

SUGGESTIONS

  • The organization should try to maintain the same level of satisfaction among employees through better recognition & reward system mechanism.
  • The organization may further try to create a healthy competitive environment through its Programs like employee meeting.
  • An organization may go for facilitating the security for the employees and create awareness about the safety measures provided by the company.
  • For improving the employee’s problem-solving abilities company HR Manager has to take training sessions through the Case study Methods.
  • The company has to provide some better packages like Target achieve incentives, Cash Awards.
    The company has to give the salaries through their performances and provide better positions to best workers.
  • Mainly company has to decentralize the authority to make decisions for better growth and Provide all above-mentioned benefits to the employees.
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Marketing plan to expand services in a private hospital and to be the provider of choice in the region

Marketing plan to expand services in a private hospital and to be the provider of choice in the region.-Analytical Business report Format-5000 words excluding references.

The assignment is to construct an initial marketing plan, in the capacity of a newly created role of a marketing manager in a private healthcare organisation. The marketing manager reports to the director responsible for organisational strategy, who herself has been recently appointed from a private healthcare provider.

The plan will review the current situation for the organisation, with special regard for the provider role the organisation plays and then specify the services that will be included in the scope of the marketing plan for submission to the board. The organisation has current deficit and you have been tasked to generate additional income for the organisation, meanwhile other parts of the organisation are managing to cost cutting exercises.

Your challenge is to produce an initial marketing plan for a range of services you have defined.

It should include:

1. Executive summary
2. Background
2.1. Summary of preconditions and assumptions.
2.2 Defined objectives
2.3 Defined budget
2.4 Past performance against plan
2.5 Resource allocation cascade
3. Analysis
3.1. Corporate vision, corporate strategy
3.2. Internal market research
3.3. SWOT analysis
3.4. External market research
3.4.1. Demography
3.4.2 Target market and target customer
3.4.3 Customer segmentation
3.4.4. Reasons for diversion of referrals to other providers
3.4.5. External market competition
3.4.6. Risk analysis for the option of NOT introducing promotion to the expansion of services
3.5. Analytical Tools
3.5.1. STEEPLE
3.5.2. Analysis using Boston matrix (Boston consulting group)
3.6. Growth Strategy
3.7. Resource allocation cascade for the marketing
3.8. Performance analysis
3.9. Forecasting
3.10. Return On Investments
3.11. Risks
3.12. Contingencies
4. Marketing strategy
4.1. Major programmes
4.2. Measures of success
5. Conclusions-marketing execution / call to action.
6. References

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Role of Joint Ventures in Profitability Strategies

From this case study, we can understand the Importance of Joint Ventures for two different countries to keep their brand reputation and earn profits rather than competing in line with their business objectives.

Abstract

The logistics operations in India is gearing up in India due to many reasons like FDI, Increase in Manufacturing inline with Make in India Initiatives etc., which has created a tremendous demand for trucks, tippers with wide range of capacities, models etc., In this case study Eicher which is an Indian Company based out of Gurgaon which has a strategic alliance with Swedish based truck manufacturer Volvo in capturing business demand in India with technological and strategically aspects by protecting their individual business objectives and profitability getting ahead of competition.

Introduction:

Objectives of the case study:

To understand the Logistics & Supply Chain Management Industry trend in India.

How Indian companies are trying to come up with the Increasing demand in line with increasing the market share.

How strategically the foreign companies are entering into Indian markets either Individually or in association with Indian companies.

The Association of Eiche and Volvo (VE Commercial vehicles) in meeting the demand of trucks in India and how it leads to mutual benefits.

Need of the Study:

Any business if it has to grow irrespective of Industry or the nation is purely based on the trends in the industry and increase in economy of the particular country/nation. Indian GDP, Per Capita Income is increasing as the Industrialization is growing as a part of Make in India or the Government initiatives like foreign policy, Industrial Policy, Foreign Direct Investment etc., lead to tremendous change and demand in Indian Supply Chain, Warehouse Management, Logistics and allied  segments and Industries and Heavy and Normal commercial Vehicles and one of the key components in transportation etc.,  Based on above mentioned reasons I felt there is need and because of my interest I have selected this case study for assessment on how Volvo has streamlined their business in India after series of concerns, issues and damages etc.,

The scope of the Study:

The Scope of the study is confined to Eicher which is one of the leading truck manufacturers in India and the Volvo which is a Swedish truck manufacturing company and the scopes here is further confined to the trends in the market and their business growth etc., which will not speak about the key strategies and decision-making, key points in alliance and the financials.

Limitations:

The major limitation is the data availability. The major data analysis is purely based on the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats of Volvo and Eicher inline of their association to tap Indian Market as per increasing demand.  The financials, top line, bottom line, legal terminologies, etc, were not discussed or not evaluated which is a limitation while arriving for the conclusion and writing suggestions and recommendations. The time is one more constraint along with the getting the data from companies associates and even from the market.

Research Methodology:

The case taken in this study is how Volvo has resolved its issues while entering into Indian market which came with a plan of penetrating into the Indian market and the methodology used in this study is:

Primary data & Secondary data was collected from the websites of the Volvo & Eicher Companies. The merging business-related data is been collected from different articles and the theoretical part of data pertaining to business metrics has been collected from academic and other books. The SWOT analysis was the technique used in this case study to arrive at a conclusion and to give suggestions and recommendations.

Data Analysis & Interpretation:

SWOT Analysis & PESTLE Analysis:

Strengths:

Eicher:

Eicher is an Indian Company which has its presence in the automobile business since 1948 which entered into Heavy trucks business in 1986 with vast experience on Market.

Infrastructure facilities:  Recently Eicher has built world-class facility at Gurgaon which is built on green concepts where there are maximum resources which are renewable. It’s based on Mantra “Maximum utilization of available resources”

Availability of resources: There is the availability of wide range of resources like Manpower, Infrastructure, Government subsidies etc., which will help them to expand.

Volvo:

Financially Strong: Volvo has Invested Rs.1083 Crore in India on VECV (Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles) which has given a boost to Eicher to get set and go.

Technology: It took 7 years for Eicher to build a truck and the cost Implication is Rs 25 Crore after association with Volvo Eicher has Managed to produce trucks with the very low process. The technology and changing demands and needs of the market helped Eicher and Volvo to capture the market. The vehicles from 6 ton capacity to 40 ton capacity with the latest technology were made to cater the needs of the Industry in India.

Weakness:

Eicher:

Technology: Eicher has got experience in service and retail model business of Automobile and it has no R & D facility and even the latest technology to build high-end commercial vehicles.

Expansion: The commercial truck manufacturing and selling business are viable only if the business is carried out in more than one country whereas Eicher don’t have operations other than India.

Financial: Eicher cannot afford to build high-end trucks and sell them within India and even expanding business across the horizons which is an obstructive aspect of Eicher.

Volvo:

They don’t have an understanding of the needs of the logistics, warehousing, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, power etc. in India which is a demand.

The cost Implications will be more if they have to start from scratch.

The government policies on FDI & may change because it is a political area and the Investment etc., will go on the toss.

Opportunities:

Eicher:

Eicher can improve technologically as they are associated with world No. 2 truck manufacturer Volvo and the strategies and the mode of operandi can also be Improvised.

Eicher can expand its business in other parts of the world as they have expertise in maintaining retail business in Automobile Industry along with service centers.

Volvo:

Volvo can get exposure and expertise in Indian Market.

Volvo can sell its vehicles like trucks and buses in India with low cost in India.

It can have trusted service centers in India as it is in association with Eicher.

Threats:

Eicher:

If Volvo gets market leader position in India it will have a wide range of opportunities and which may affect the market presence of Eicher.

As Volvo is Investing on Eicher in terms of technology, etc. and Eicher is providing only Infrastructure facility may lead to misperceptions.

Volvo:

Eicher can adopt the technology, mode of operandi etc., from Volvo and can Start its own manufacturing and produce high-end commercial vehicles at low cost.

Volvo has already Invested Rs. 1083 Crore in India as a part of Joint Venture / Strategic Alliance and if anything goes wrong there may be so many legal consequences which will lead to stake of Brand Reputation etc.,

PESTLE Analysis:

Political:

The Political stability and if the government is firm on its policy on foreign direct investment etc. will give a positive wave to this alliance.

The legalities and the inconsistency in Politics and the governments at the state level and central level may lead to unnecessary obligations.

Economical:

As the economy, GDP & Per Capita Income grows the earning capacity Increases which lead to business transactions at various levels which is a boost to Industry.

Social:

The people in India are emotional and sentimental and as Volvo is a foreign company it always has to ensure that the emotion of Indians is been taken care of Business at various levels like Promotional activities, designing the product etc.

Technological:

Volvo may be very strong in Technology but the Roads and Infrastructure challenge any technology which means the technology has to be customized as per the requirements and Infrastructure of India and the locations.

Legal:

The constitution of Indian and the legal framework of India is a typical framework which will give results often after postmortem of the issue.

Volvo & Eicher has to focus more on a legal framework which has to be in long-term relationship in line with their respective business needs and objectives.

Environmental:

The Eicher Plant at Gurgaon is strategically located where the climatically it is a cool place and the chance of natural calamities are low. The connectivity to different parts of the country and logistically to the ports and other means of transport is good.

Findings:

Swedish based company Volvo is the second largest manufacturer of trucks in the world after Daimler which is from Germany has tied up with Indian truck manufacturer Eicher to expand their Business in India by Investing Rs. 1083 Crore which is equal to 50% share.

Volvo has contributed and brought their advances technology in Manufacturing, Warehousing, Retail and after-sales service in Eicher in India.

Volvo is clear in Expanding its business India and on the other hand, Eicher is keen on and working towards expanding its business through exports to other nations keeping India as a base.

VECV Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles has Invested Rs. 1300 Crore on New facility which is been set up in Pithanpur, Madhya Pradesh which has got the capacity of making 100000 Engines/ Year out of which the target is to export 30% of the engines to Europe. The VEVC has also Invested Rs. 1200 Crore on Body Shop plant to make closed body trucks.

The growth rate of VEVC is consistent by recording 27 % growth every year. The VEVC has crossed the turnover of Rs. 5443 Crore with a cash surplus of Rs. 700 Crore recording net profit of Rs. 366 Crore.

The exports of 4% were recorded for neighboring countries like Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh & Bhutan whereas 12% exports were to Southeast Asia, West Asia & Africa.

Conclusion & Recommendations:

Joint venture will always have tricky issues as there will be an alliance of two businesses with two philosophies. VEVC has to concentrate more on Management principles: Convergence, Complementaries, Compatability, and the Commitment. Now VEVC stood as 5th Largest commercial Vehicle manufacturer at the Global level and they have to strive hard to keep this alliance alive and expand strategically t other locations as they have reached only 50% of the targeted exports.

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Direct Marketing Campaign of Human Resource Consulting firm

Thousand Projects Technologies is a start up Human Resource Consulting firm at Hyderabad, India. They are into Providing all types of like Personnel & Strategic HR services under one roof including staffing etc.,

The another wing of Thousand Projects technologies is Learning & Development for corporate employees and core & Practical training for graduates from different streams with placement assistance.

 Objective:

 “Thousand Projects Technologies” Taking this brand into masses of Non – IT set ups of Hyderabad.

  • Creating Brand Awareness among corporates of IT segment through Direct and In direct Marketing
  • Taking the credibility and the brand loyalty to the young graduates who are looking for opportunities and challenges in corporates.
  • Bridging the gap between the companies requirements from the fresh graduates and the academics, like bridging the gap between theory and the practical. This strategy is targeting the educational Institutes through direct Marketing.

Plan of Action:

  1. Dividing The Business Into 3 Segments like Non – IT, IT & Educational Institutes.
  2. Preparation of Marketing Materials like Catalogues, Pamphlets, Brochures, Business Cards, Kiosk, Info Desks, Presentations etc.,
  3. Dividing topography of Hyderabad into 10 regions and putting 3 Marketing Executives in every region which is equal to 30 field marketing staff.
  4. In House 10 Technical Team Members who will send emails, contents etc.,
  5. Tele calling team of 5 Members who will be following up with the clients visited by the Marketing teams.

 The Marketing Strategy is been divided into 4 segments:

  1. Non – IT Companies: Direct Marketing
  2. Non – IT Companies: Digital Marketing & Tele Marketing
  3. IT Companies: Direct Marketing
  4. IT Companies: Digital Marketing & Tele Marketing
  5. Educational Institutes: Direct Marketing
  6. Educational Institutes: Digital & Tele Marketing

The Mode of Marketing is divided into Four models:

  1. Sending Marketing executives to every door step of IT, Non – IT & Educational Institutes.
  2. Collecting the data base of the required HRs and the Academic heads and following up them by tele callers.
  3. Digital Marketing by 10 Internal technical teams who will be focusing completely on promoting the brand in social media, etc., through content writing, articles, search engine optimization, increasing traffic to the website.
  4. Event Management: Again here the strategy is getting associated with NHIRD, MHIRD, HRD, APITCO, FAPCCI, CII etc., government and independent organizations and organizing events with their partner ships.
  5. Funding students events related to Management fests etc.,
  6. Free sessions on latest improvements in engineering and the management etc., targeting the young talent/ fresh graduates from different streams.

Strategic Importance & Business Importance: 

  • There are many consultancies in Hyderabad who struggling to meet the client’s expectations, there is the wide range of scope in Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction, ITES, Tourism, Health Care, Hospitality, service sectors as more than 90% of the existing consultancies are focusing on only IT.
  • There are many consultancies who are cheating job seekers by collecting lakhs of rupees in the name of placing them in good and reputed companies.
  • There is been a lot of gap between the companies expectations and the academic content and the objective of starting educational wing parallel to consulting is to train the candidates as per the requirement of organizations requirements which not been done at colleges.
  • There HR related compliance related to statutory in India is hectic. There are many companies who are looking for standard and ethical consultancies who can take care of their statutory compliance as the same is being done by Individual consultants in a traditional way even after a lot of technical changes and the amendments.
  • Staffing is the another challenge which is being faced by IT start-ups as they don’t want to put all employees on their rolls as the business depends on the technicalities and the Projects.
  • There are many Companies in India and Hyderabad who have started their business long back and were successful but as there is growing FDI and MNC companies are ruling the business in India, all the traditionally managed companies in India has understood the importance of Talent Management, talent development, talent retention, Standard Operating Procedures, Systems, Policies etc., there is a huge scope of setting up HR department, HR Restructuring etc.,
  • The mind set and the strategy of the leaders of the company are changing and they want to focus on the key area and the key function of the business and rest they are ready to out the source. The payroll systems, Talent Acquisition, On Boarding, Record Management, Staffing, Statutory Compliances etc.,
  • Based on above-mentioned facts and figures the Thousand Projects technologies management has framed the Marketing Model as they want to penetrate deep into the targeted market and the customers aggressively. The Marketing team may take the maximum of three months to meet all the targeted customers and after that their role will be delivering the services as per service level agreements and even retaining the customers. This will be an ongoing activity.

Desired Results:

  • The plan is 30 Marketing Executives will meet minimum 5 Clients in a day for 26 days and in a Month they will cover 3900 Clients in Month and in a quarter 11700 clients which are huge.
  • Maximum 12000 Companies and Institutes will be aware of Thousand Projects technologies and their services.
  • Through associations and events, the HRs of companies will be aware of the services provided by Thousand Projects technologies and they will contact immediately if they need any assistance related to HR.
  • Generating revenue by conducting training sessions to corporates, as well as students and Job seekers.
  • Generating revenue by other HR services to corporate clients from IT, Non – IT Clients.
  • Promoting and highlighting Brand in every possible way with in 3 Months and they believed the tie ups and business will come definitely after 3 Months of promotion.

Outcome:

  • Marketing Executives were not able to reach targets as it was a Herculean task for them to enter into company with out an appointment and they can’t get an appointment unless they know anyone in that company.
  • The business is exclusively into HR related services, it is not that easy to describe the product and the services to HRs of the company by Marketing executives.
  • Many of the educational institutes were reluctant and they have not agreed that there is a gap between academics and the industry needs.
  • They were successful and they got to break even business but the strategy planned earlier got modified as per the challenges and they took things under control.

Critics:

  1. 30 Field Marketing executives, 20 Back end team and they will work on the same agenda which will take things for loss as 2 – 3 associates contact the same customer and if the deal close and to whose basket it has to go????
  2. Taking HR services brand to corporates and their door steps by executives might not be the strategy, in fact, it will defame the brand.
  3. Spending money on events and funding management fests, how can we measure the brand penetrating and the revenue generated through this strategy.

Recommendations: 

Rather than taking the brand in a massive and aggressive way, they can focus on below-mentioned strategies:

Getting the Contact details of HRs/Business Heads through:

  1. The HR Name and contact numbers from Job Portals adds posted by companies in different websites, paper ads etc.,
  2. Bank executives who give salary accounts to new joiners of companies.
  3. Telecom: SIM cards providers who deal with corporate clients etc.,

If they would have invested money, time in above-mentioned strategy etc., they would have got the exact contact person name and the contact details based on which the target for the tele caller is to fix an appointment with the concerned person and the  responsibility of the marketing executive to close the deal as per the fixed appointment. In this strategy, we can clearly see the performance. The phase may be slow but we can get an exact desired result. It will definitely take times but it will work out.