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INTERNAL ASSIGNMENT APPLICABLE FOR APRIL 2019 EXAMINATION

Financial Institutions and Markets
1. XYZ Private limited wants to expand its business. Therefore, they are in immediate needs for short term funding. As a finance manager you are required to present all the possible options of raising short term funds for the organisation.
2. You have been recently appointed as an insurance agent in an XYZ insurance pvt Limited. Your reporting manager ask you to prepare a presentation on the two broad category of Insurance industry. Help him with his presentation.
3. You are a financial advisor in an investment firm. Mr. Nair wants to invest in the derivative market but he does not have any idea about it. Hence he approaches you inquiring the concept of options which are available in the market.
a. Help Mr Nair with the basic concept on options and how it will help Mr. Nair in diversifying his portfolio.
b. Also explain him the basic hedging techniques which are available in the market

Project Management
Q 1. You are working for a small but growing construction company as a Project Manager. Your CEO has asked you to evaluate few project management software tools and select one of them for the company. Make a comparative evaluation of three software project management tools of your choice and justify selection of one of them. Please make suitable assumptions but specify them explicitly.
Q 2. You are involved in a project that has got nine activities A1 to A9. The project start date is 1st April and estimated end date is 8th July. The project review date is 1st June. Please draw the Gantt chart as it would look on 1st June. Also comment on how Gantt charts help in scheduling and monitoring the project.
Q 3. "I am lost! How can I know how much time this Turnaround Time (TAT) improvement project will take? I can t do crystal gazing! Ninad got so frustrated when he was asked by his boss to start working on a project to improve Turn Around Time (TAT) for support queries. Don t worry. I suggest meet Vandana ma am. She knows how to manage projects and she is very helpful , Nupur, his colleague tried to calm Ninad down as they were speaking at lunch table. That seems to be a good idea. I have never spoken with Vandana ma am but I know she is too good and helpful. Let me contact her immediately after lunch. Ninad seemed to have got relaxed with this idea.
a. Which are the methods that Vandana ma am would suggest to Ninad for performing project planning estimation? Which one she would recommend for the TAT improvement project?
b. Which are the estimation tools that Vandana ma am would suggest to Ninad? Which one would she recommend for the TAT improvement project?

Organizational Theory, Structure and Design
1. As the HR head of a Start-up Go-Tech, you have been asked to create an Organizational Structure. Which factors would you consider while developing the structure. Explain the elements to be considered while finalizing the structure.
2. Royal Paints has been going through a tough business cycle. Competition is intense and market conditions unpredictable. Top management requires to do a detailed external environment analysis for effective planning. Suggest some techniques that can be considered for this exercise.
3. Rita and Rohan both work for a software development company. Rita, a project team member, along with her boss had interviewed Rohan, but strongly opposed hiring him for the project because she thought he was not competent to do the job. Seven months after Rohan was hired, the manager left and recommended that Rohan and Rita serve as joint project leaders. Rita agreed reluctantly. Within a month Rita was angry because Rohan was representing himself to others as the leader of the entire project and giving the impression that Rita was working for him. Rita said: " Rohan called a meeting of the project team without even consulting me about the time or content. At the meeting, Rohan reviewed everyone's duties line by line, including mine, treating me as just another team member working for him. Rohan retorted, "Rita is all hung up with feelings of power and titles. She is too sensitive about everything. I call a meeting and right away she thinks I'm trying to run everything. Rita has other things to do, other projects to run, so she doesn't pay too much attention to this one. She mostly let things slide. But when I take the initiative to set up a meeting, she starts jumping up and down about how I am trying to make her work for me."
Rohan and Rita seem to have several conflicts occurring simultaneously. Keeping the conflict process model in mind,
a. Explain the nature of conflict.
b. How will the conflict get resolved?

Business Ethics, Governance & Risk
1. As department manager, you are tasked with hosting an informal celebration in the office. The food budget is Rs. 20,000. Your next-door neighbor, Rhea Sharma, has just started her own catering business and asks to supply the food for your company s celebration. Since she is just starting out, she'll do it at cost and provide extra items at no charge. Is there a conflict of interest here? What points might you want / need to consider while preparing to discuss her proposal with the department head?
2. You have studied Business Ethics as a structured subject for the first time. Has it influenced your perception and understanding of the process of doing business, how? List 3 ways in which you see it helping you in your day-to-day business decision-making process, irrespective of your function and designation.
3A. It has become quite common to market/target products and services to children in certain advertising campaigns, be it consumer durables or food or FMCG products. Is it ethical to market to children? Justify your answer giving valid reasons.
3B. Pick a current popular advertisement from a national TV channel and critically analyze as to what negative social / ethical messages it is conveying/re-enforcing and what can be changed in the advertisement to convey a positive social/ethical value of the product /service being marketed.

Services Marketing
Q.1 SVC Telecom Ltd is a market leader in basic telephone services. It was rated as the best service provider by a leading business magazine. It is now planning to enter the highly competitive mobile services market on a national scale. What are various options that SVC has regarding the positioning of its new mobile services?
Q.2 Medicare Hospitals, a multi-specialty hospital chain, has branches in all the four metro cities. As part of the exercise to improve the customer service at the hospital, it wants to analyze the adequate service expectations & the factors that affect the adequate service expectations of the customers. What are the possible factors that affect the adequate service expectations in the context of healthcare services?
Q.3 Read the following case & answer the questions:
Banking sector is going through a major transformation and witnessing robust growth. Automation is the order of the day. In order to sustain competition & enhance customer experience new initiatives have been introduced. Technology is the driving force and internet and mobile banking are the recent trends.
You are the chairman of a 30 year old private sector bank with conservatives approach. Employees being from the old school of thought have resisted the new trends now introduced by most of the banks.
Your branches are majorly located in South India. The bank is faced with a few Takeover threats in the past. The government is insisting merger of the bank for viability & modernization. Your product portfolio requires a change to attract new customers and retain the existing ones. The board is expecting from you a thorough overhaul of the marketing mix.
Questions:
(1) Design the service product offering for your bank
(2) Evaluate the role and importance of people in a service industry.

Marketing Research
Q1. Consider the following four research studies:
i) An opinion poll is conducted to understand who is likely to be the future PM of India in the upcoming elections in 2019. A sample of 10,000 people is uniformly split across six metro cities and all age and income groups
ii) A survey is conducted among the people on the streets in Delhi NCR to understand what do they think of the government initiatives against air pollution
iii) A survey needs to be conducted among the Principals of International schools on the scope of IB curriculum in India. Since a list of all Principals is unavailable, the researcher will start with any one Principal and ask him / her to refer to another Principal and the referral shall go on.
iv) The HRD Ministry is conducting a feedback survey among the students of various colleges of Delhi University. Instead of approaching few students from each of the colleges, it has been decided to take a sample of Class Representatives and Members of various clubs, committees and societies.
State the sampling method used in each of the above researches and support your answer with a justification.
Q2. Despite some of the leading Indian cities being on top of the charts of the World s most polluted cities, ironically, Indians are still skeptical about the use of air purifiers for home use. More than half of the purchases are by institutional buyers such as hotels, large companies, government institutions etc. Despite many major cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata oining Delhi NCR in facing worsening air quality each year; air purifiers are still hyped up in India. Marketers such as Eureka Forbes, Kent RO Systems, HiCare Services, Philips and LG, are unable to decode the Indian consumer s mindset and psyche behind this phenomenon.
To address this concern, the air purifier marketers want to conduct a consumer research to understand the consumer perception and psyche around the usage of air purifiers. State the research objective(s) and propose a detailed research design describing the sources of data, research method, target respondent, sample selection method, data collection method.
Q3. Brick and Mortar stores selling consumer electronics are staring at their worst possible Diwali in five years. Low footfalls are being accounted to the consumer expectations of huge discounts on online stores. Despite promotional schemes and discounts being offered by offline retailers, they have still failed to match the unprecedented price cuts and cashback offers on the likes of Amazon and Flipkart. Meeting the consumer s needs and expectations seems to be a daunting task after all.
a. State the management problem(s) being faced by the offline retailers in consumer electronics and the corresponding research objectives that your research will aim to cover
b. Briefly describe the research methods that you would use towards this research

International Business
1. Aditya runs a successful Business in India. His dream is to make his company s presence globally. After sorting the financial needs through the bank, Aditya is now confused as how he can move in regard to international payment. Advise Aditya to understand the various instruments of Payments which are available in the international business.
2. Market Research plays a very vital role in the success of any organisation. Being a market manager, highlight the various advantages of having a sound market Research Department in an organisation.
3. XYZ is an international Consulting firm with its presence worldwide. It assists exporting companies in regard to documentation required in their process of internationalization.
a. Mr. Sharma approached the Consulting Firm, inquiring about the broad classification of export import documents which will be required by him in carrying his business. Advise Mr. Sharma on the same.
b. Additionally, guide him on the Performa Invoice, Purchase order and letter of Credit forms which he needs to fill up while entering into an export contract.

Consumer Behaviour
Q1. Horlicks is an iconic health drink for kids. Over the years, the brand has introduced several variants of Horlicks. What is segmentation and targeting? Identify the type of segmentation done for each of the following:
1. Horlicks Chocolate for fussy children who like fun flavors
2. Mother s Horlicks for pregnant women and lactating mothers
3. Junior Horlicks for newborns and infants
4. Horlicks Lite for calorie-conscious adults
Q2. Consider you are the marketing manager for a Protein supplement brand- MuscleOctane. MuscleOctane is a whey protein supplement targeted towards gym-goers who do heavy weight lifting and have protein requirement which are not met by regular diet. In context of Maslow s Hierarchy of Needs, conceptualize 2 ad campaigns for MuscleOctane that appeal to the Self-actualization need and the Safety need.
Q3. Enumerate the steps in a consumer s decision-making journey for the following situations.
A) You have recently become conscious of your physical fitness and have started running 5 times a week. You think investing in a high-end fitness band will keep you motivated and help you monitor your progress. Being a complete newbie to fitness, you don t have much of an idea about brands, features, pricing, important criteria, etc.
B) You ve always used Paracoco, a coconut oil brand, since childhood and saw your mother using it too. After years of using Paracoco, your needs have changed. With the recent trend of cold-pressed, organic, virgin coconut oils you decide to switch to another brand.

International Finance
1. You are given the following interest rates.
Rs. $
3- months 15% 6%
6-month 14.5% 5.5%
9-month 14% 5.0%
The 3-month forward rate is Rs. 36/$. Calculate the 3-month forward rate 6-months from now.
2. ABC Ltd. is planning to import a multi-purpose machine from Japan at a cost of 3400 lakhs yen. The company can avail loan at 18% interest per annum compounded quarterly with which it can import the machine. However there is an offer from Tokyo branch of an India based bank extending credit of 180 days at 2% per annum against opening of an irrevocable letter of credit. Other information:-
Present exchange rate Rs. 100 = 340 yen
180 days forward rate Rs. 100 = 345 yen
Commission charges for letter of credit at 2% per 12 months.
Advise whether the offer from the foreign branch should be accepted?
3 A) Suppose the spot rate is $ 0.20/FF. The US one-year rate is 6%. The forward rate is $ 0.1923/FF.
What is the current one-year French interest rate that will satisfy the Interest Rate Parity? Suppose the one-year French interest rate is 12% instead. What kind of arbitrage would you perform to take advantage of this opportunity?
3 B) Assume that the Citibank trading room is dealing on the following quotations Spot Sterling = $1.5000, Euro-Sterling interest rate (6-months) = 11.00% p.a. Euro-$ interest rate (6-months) = 6.00% p.a. and that Barclays Bank is quoting Forward Sterling (6-months) at $1.4550.
Describe the transactions you would make to earn risk-free covered interest arbitrage profits? How much profit would you expect to make?

Taxation - Direct & Indirect
Question 1 Kabra builders is a contractor and AV Ltd is liable to make payment to the contractor for certain transactions executed during the year. Discuss the obligations of AV Ltd as a tax deductor and the consequences if tax is not deducted as required.
Question 2 Amman is going to participate in a general awareness quiz at his college. However, he is confused about GST, its various components of GST and how they differ from each other. As a friend of Amman how you will address his confusion? Comment.
Question 3 Mr. Verma owns two residential houses at Chennai. The essential details are as under
Particulars House I House II Municipal valuation 133500 142500 Fair Rent 144500 135500 Standard Rent 144000 148700 Municipal taxes payable 10000 7500 Repairs 15000 3000 Insurance premium 2500 2000 Interest on loan 45000 50000
Advise him which property he should treat as
i. self-occupied and
ii. deemed to be let out, in a manner beneficial to him

Corporate Finance
1. Miss Ninna is planning to open a boutique at link road. Her financial advisor says that its essential to take care and manage well the working capital, as it ensures smooth running of the operating cycle of business. However, there are various factors which affects the working capital management. If you being the financial advisor of Miss Ninna, discuss those factors in detail.
2. Alpha limited is investing $500 million in a new project. The present values of the future after tax cash flows resulting from the project is $750 million. The company has 100 million shares outstanding, having market price of $45 per share. Assuming, the project being independent of other expectations about the company, Calculate the effect of - The new project on the value of the company on the company s stock.
3. The data related to two companies A and B , are as under-
A B Sales 500000 1000000 Variable cost 20% of sales 25% of sales Fixed Cost 1.2 lacs 2 lacs Interest 0.5 lacs 0.75lacs
i. Determine the operating and financial leverage
ii. Determine the combined leverage for them. Also, comment on the relative risk position of the companies

Operations Management
1. Explain how the Theory of Constrains can be applied at an automobile repairing and service center.
2. Your company has compiled the following data on the small set of products that comprise the specialty repair shop. Perform an ABC inventory classification for the data. Which product(s) do you suggest the firm keep the tightest control over?
Item code Annual demand Unit cost (INR.) A1 3000 20 B3 4000 45 D2 3000 35 C2 2000 30 A5 500 50 C9 680 15 D1 460 40 D3 1000 20 C3 450 500 F1 520 400 K5 5000 50 M1 680 400 N2 900 20
3. According to Tar and Sabater (2004), firms must develop both the hard and soft parts of TQM in order to succeed. While the hard elements are related to quality tools and techniques for continuous improvement, the soft side is associated with management concepts and principles such as team work, leadership, customer focus and culture (Fotopoulos and Psomas, 2009). In their study about quality management tools and techniques, Tar and Sabater (2004) analyzed about 30 commonly used tools and techniques such as benchmarking, brainstorming, design of experiments (DOE), failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), flow charts, poka yoke, quality function deployment (QFD), quality improvement teams and statistical process control (SPC). Soft elements indirectly affect performance, because they create an environment that facilitates the implementation of hard elements (Rahman and Bullock, 2005). (Source: Gerolamo et al. (2014), Quality Management: How do Brazilian Companies use it?, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 143 ( 2014 ) 995 1000)
3a. Using examples from manufacturing industry, explain any two management concepts and principles (soft practices) related to TQM.
3b. Using examples from manufacturing industry, explain any two tools or techniques for continuous improvement (hard elements) related to TQM.
Retail Banking
Q1. What are the need /reasons for commercial banks to open branch operations in a newly developing cities/townships? Discuss the various retail banking products these banks can offer in these areas.
Q2. What are the different Marketing modes and the Distribution channels available for commercial banks to be able to reach customers and service them extensively? Discuss the Marketing mode and Distribution channels for a commercial bank if it has to open branch operations in a TIER-II city.
Q3. The Retail Banking Industry has seen a tremendous change in the past few years, especially true in the case of Urban markets where the entry of private and foreign banks has given the Retail Banking customers any options to choose from. With reference to these dynamic changes in retail banking in the urban market discuss the aspects as given below
a. Discuss the various possible ways in which retail banks improve their operational efficiency, provide better customer service and at the same time generate better revenues/profits.
b. What are the recent trends seen in the Retail Banking scenario adopted by banks to provide better products as well as enhance their operations?

Commercial Banking System & Role of RBI
1. Ashok Pvt. Ltd wants to enters into a trade agreement with Martina Pvt. Ltd. For this both the companies want to enter into trade via Letter of Credit. Therefore, Ashok Pvt. Limited approaches his bank for an issue of LC. As a banker what all precautions you would exercise while opening a Letter of Credit.
2. You have recently joined as a loan manager in a private sector bank. You are required to prepare a short note for your team on the necessary factors which the bank will take for assessing the borrower s projections on the working requirements.
3. Mr. Rajesh heads a private Ltd bank. With the growing dynamics in the banking sector, he observes that the modern banks are prone to various kinds of risks. Therefore, he thought to make a presentation on the various types of risk so that his employees are aware of the risks.
a. Help Rajesh with his presentation highlighting the major types of risk which banks faces.
b. Also discuss the significance of BASEL III in the banking sector.

Marketing of Financial Services
1. Design a Financial Literacy program for an Asset Management Company (Mutual Fund) of your choice.
2. Structure a better alternative to the Child Plans offered by Life Insurance companies. The alternative suggested should cover both a life insurance plan as well as an investment avenue.
3. Ashwin Aswani, aged 32 years, working with an IT company, has approached you for preparing his Financial Plan. He earns salary of Rs. 17 lakhs per annum. His wife Kiran, aged 30 years, is a homemaker. They have a son Kabir, aged 3 years. (You can make any assumptions to further build up your case.)
a) Ashwin and Kiran want to start investing for Kabir s higher education. Develop an investment strategy to help them to achieve their goal.
b) Ashwin has expressed his desire to retire by the age of 55. Design a retirement plan for him.
Brand Management
Q1. Sudhir is an entrepreneur planning to launch a new Health-drink. There are already available multiple similar product but they are mostly targeted at consumers looking to lose weight. But Sudhir wants to focus on a new category - Young people too busy to have meal on time. What do you think of his business plan? What are the advantages / disadvantages of building a new category vs. entering an existing category? Which option will you recommend to Sudhir?
Q2. Arpit plans to set-up a new dairy company. It has the network of milk-producers willing to supply milk. He is struggling with finalising which products to focus on in initial stages. His operational-head wants pouch-milk to be the launch product, followed by value-added products like butter, chhas etc. His argument is that these are products easy to sell by sales based strategies like price-discounts, retail push etc. This view is challenged by Shankar, their strategy consultant. Shankar recommends high-value-added and long-shelf-life products like Ghee, Cheese etc. to be the entry products. His argument is that it is possible to differentiate these products basis quality. Milk has become a generic product and is primarily bought on trust and habit. Critically analyse the above two entry-strategy and suggest your recommendation.
Q3. Pover is an Indian manufacturer and supplier of Wind-power equipment. It prides itself on its product quality and technological know-how. It has been able to unsettle world-leaders in couple of international markets. Buoyed by its recent success, company s MD, Mr. Prakash wants to undertake expansion and wants to scale-up Pover s marketing & communication efforts. His team believes that it is the technical superiority of Power products that gets them the contracts and same should be the focus of communication. Mr. Prakash gets an customer-research study done to find out the right things to communicate about Pover. Below are the key findings,
i. Pover products are considered to be high-quality and comparable to global players
ii. Global companies are often found to be bureaucratic while Pover is accessible & responsive
iii. Market is divided in two segments - 1) One set of projects/customers consider the windpower equipment to be commoditised products 2) Customers who believe in extracting the maximum output by investing in better quality products through superior design & not cutting corners in manufacturing & implementation
iv. Global companies are able to demand a premium over other players including Pover.
Unlike the cost-based players & Brand-based global players, Pover s value-proposition (quality vs. price point) is unclear, thus leading to hard-bargain during the sales process Questions
a. Critically analyse the market situation for Pover, articulating its strengths and business challenges.
b. Suggest the objectives and communication plan (target, pitch/positioning, Reasons to Believe) for Pover, keeping the survey findings in consideration.

Marketing Strategy
Case
Mr. Karsanbhai hires you in his business as an advisor. His company M/s Fresh Life manufactures and sells mouth freshener (Mukhwas) Khaas in the Indian market. Mukhwas is a colorful Indian after-meal snack or digestive aid widely used as a mouth freshener, especially after meals. The company is known for its good quality ingredients. The company has followed the traditional way of doing business and has been making profit from last 25 years but the recent competition has put them into the difficult situation where their profitability is getting affected. The company plans to make some changes in its functioning style and you have been asked to advise on the following matters.
1. Prepare the Vision, Mission, Goals and Objective for M/s Fresh Life.
2. Explain various ways to promote Khaas in the Indian Market.
3. a) Explain the PESTEL analysis for M/s Fresh Life.
3. b) Prepare a SWOT Matrix for Mukhwas Business

International Marketing
Q.1) You are the CEO of Bajaj Auto, a 2 wheeler company in India. You decide to compete with the existing 4-wheeler brands in India by launching Qute a quadricycle. How do you plan to undertake your Segmentation strategy along with your Positioning strategy?
Q.2) You are the owner of a well established Pizza chain in South Korea by the name of Mr. Pizza. Suggest 3 ways of entering India. Amongst the provided options, suggest which alternative is the best & why? Once the option is chosen how will the roll-out occur?
Q.3) You are an Australian soft drink brand by the name of Sunkist , a citrus brand & wish to enter India.
A) What aspects of New Product Development will you undertake & execute. Enlist in details with relevant examples.
B) Given that India is a unique market by itself, what specific customized changes will you undertake to your product Sunkist while introducing in India. Would you stick to only Soft drinks category or diversify?

GET SOLVED ASSIGNMENTS AT NOMINAL COST
VISIT WWW.SMUSOLVEDASSIGNMENTS.COM
Or Mail us at [email protected]
YOU MAY CALL US ON - 7506193173
WHATSAPP NUMBER- 9967480770