Cases for Practice – LongThe Exotic Melons: You are the manager (Worldwide Sales Cock and Bull Melons) in a Dubai-based company that deals in selling exotic fruits. Cock and Bull Melons are a special variety of melons that can be cultivated only on the sandy dunes surrounding the Cock and Bull oasis in the Sahara desert. Worldwide demand and supply have been quite stable so far at 100 melons a year, with the supply being just sufficient to cover the demand. Cock and Bull Melons have traditionally been sold to the sheikhs in the Middle East, and Hollywood and Bollywood actors and actresses. Their exorbitant prices take them out of reach of common people. In January 2002, the research centre at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), India discovers that Cock and Bull melons can cure the fatal MarGaya syndrome in pregnant women, which kills both the mother and the child. Also, it can cure the fatal MaraGaya syndrome in diabetic patients. Both these symptoms are very rare. Unfortunately for you, in May 2002, the MaraGaya syndrome strikes 2000 people in America and the MarGaya syndrome strikes 1000 pregnant women in Sweden. 100 Cock and Bull melons are required to cure the 1000 cases in America while 100 are required to cure the Swedish problem. You know that the patients in both the countries cannot afford the high cost of Cock and Bull melon treatment. You also know that the revenues from treating patients would be much lower than selling them to sheikhs and film stars. You are in a real dilemma. What would you do? Confidential Information? Mr. SecretKeeper is a Corporate Head (HR) in a company. He is very nice and gets along well with all people. People often consult him for help and advice. One person (named “Mr. A”) approaches him for a job because he is right now jobless. Mr. SecretKeeper takes the guy's qualifications and asks him to come after a week however, since no job available. He keeps frequently postponing the job offer. Mr. A keeps visiting the HR head, Mr. SecretKeeper, often and becomes his close friend. Then, one day, Mr. A confides with the HR Head “I was in prison for 18 years for a Assume that you are the VP of the company. Even now. people in the organization have started losing faith in him. Because of this betrayal of trust by the HR head.crime that I had not committed. A. With two years remaining of the sentence. A senior person in the office complains to the VP that the Mr. SecretKeeper tells the person to go home and that he would give him a job. police is in look out for me. However as soon as he leaves. What would you do about the situation? . A and asks them to arrest Mr. Mr.” Mr. I ran away from jail. SecretKeeper calls up the police and gives the details of Mr. so others could not come to him. SecretKeeper has “broken faith”. He had very few friends. A. the company has done extremely well in a slow.In a fix! You are the young dynamic. A says that the business is slightly out of form and that he might deliver if you grant him complete freedom. B and Mr. A couple of months later Mr. C from different competitors. Bhola joined TELCO from the campus as production supervisor in charge of vehicle assembly. You are wondering what went wrong and what should you do now? Tension on the job: Sujit Bhattacharyya (Bhola) had been an exceptionally bright student throughout his studies at IIT-Kharagpur. Your six monthly profit and loss statement shows that film-making business had been a horrific disaster. sluggish. You manage to hire top talent in this field Mr. sheds a zillion tears and tells you in a choked voice that he would rather die than continue with your business. Mr. The film-making business is started as another division. You grant every freedom to these people to recruit their own subordinates. You can now see your own future as dark as the industrial oils your company specializes in. as a young blooded individual. but he was the darling of all his professors. You have big hopes from the trio as these people have come together as a team for the first time. where the systems and processes are kept the same to have uniformity across businesses. Mr. mature market and has also effectively warded off competition from the superior industrial oil segment. Barely a month after the film-making business has started. Bhola used to manage shop floor operations consisting of truck assembly and in a shift 30-33 operator used to report to him. The only remaining member of the star trio. B throws his cap. you are in a fix! Mr. you decide that the company should branch into something more glamorous and contemporary. He devoted four years in pursuit of academic excellence. C blames your policies and quits. You manage to convince the top management to get into the film-making business. blue-eyed boy (girl) in a firm. Few peers liked him. However. Under your leadership. which is a known leader in the industrial oils business. The IQ level of a . sensing that Bhola had little control over them. He was under tremendous pressure from the top to increase productivity to previous levels.typical operator could be compared to that of a class VIII student. Nilesh also started absenting himself from duty and became casual in his approach. Nilesh was an operator in charge of front axle assembly. on the other hand. had developed a highly robotic style of functioning and were highly resistant to change. Thus. The workers. by virtue of doing the same job for so many years. They deliberately started going slow. had frequent quarrels with his wife and many times used to come drunk to the shop floor. Bhola was helpless. affected productivity. MCF . The management. but years of experience had made them confident about their job. Discuss what the main issues in the case are and what would be your approach in this situation. Bhola did his best to pinpoint the problem. was opposed to any change in the incentive structure. His abrasive behavior had caused a lot of worry to Bhola. Nilesh was looking after a highly sensitive assembly operation. The workers started demanding additional incentives and overtime payments. had lost a lot of money in the stock market. Bhola suffered an emotional breakdown and had to stay away from work for two months. became more aggressive and further slowed their work. to secure incentives and overtime payment. He had to frequently interchange workers who were unable to cope with the high pressure work at the axle assembly. and thereby. provide employment and enable fishermen to sell their excess fish for better returns. Nilesh was transferred to the quality control department to reduce his physical workload. Nilesh. Subsequently. lately. which were fixed at a uniform rate across the departments. He tried his best and at times did the work himself. The operators. The number of trucks that rolled out of the factory was equal to the number of axles assembled. The trade union was powerful and exercised a lot of leverage with the management. Bhola found it very difficult to find a suitable replacement for Nilesh in the assembly area. Tuna-Tuna Lactuna!: The Minicoy Canning Factory (henceforth MCF) was set up by the Lakshadweep administration in 1969 with an aim to step up fishery production. 000 cans per year because of labour constraint. BigMouth were good friends. Et tu Brutus!: Yahan Gadbad Inc. Mr. due to excess production. However. 64. Markets other than the retail market were also being explored. The distributors felt that higher price of Skipjack tuna was the culprit for lower sales vis-à-vis IFP. Bhartus. a government undertaking set up with an aim to introduce and popularize diversified fishery products in rural and urban markets.000 cans amounting to Rs. The management of MCF was pondering over what the problem was and what could be done to resolve it amicably. Bhartu the human heart is frail. I have something to confess to you. IFP also had a stronger dealer network and a much larger promotion budget. but no action had been taken on them. both in the short term as well as in the longer term. Bhartus and Mr. 6. BigMouth then said. I can digest any secret”. is a reputed multinational that specialized in organizing beauty pageants. the flamboyant hospitality manager. Mr. during which he has successfully organized half a dozen pageants at exotic locales around the world. 810. Bhartu dear.could produce only up to 150. “Bhartu. besides you (of course). are Mr. 12. by September 2001. whose meat was harder and different in taste as compared to Yellow fin tuna canned by IFP. for over a decade now. BigMouth said to Mr. The protagonists of this piece. In 2001. the sale of MCF's tuna to these regions has been low. The higher price was on account of higher overheads for MCF attributed to lower volumes. Bhartus. I kind of got bowled over by a contestant. Mr. Mr. BigMouth. BigMouth has been in Yahan Gadbad Inc. Sales enquiries had also been received from the Middle East.380.500 and a profit of Rs. Competition for MCF came from Integrated Fisheries Project (henceforth IFP). “I have big stomach.322 cans were sold resulting in a turnover of Rs. Bhartus. The demand for canned tuna is concentrated in upcountry areas.807. MCF had accumulated an unsold inventory of 150. “Do you remember the pageant we had in Polynesian Islands? You know. “Of course Biggie!” said Mr. However. We had a week of debauchery. the HR Manager and Mr.302. One day after they had had a drink too many. MCF canned a type of tuna called Skipjack tuna.700. People in Yahan Gadbad swear by his integrity and professionalism and he has been the role model in the company for the last decade. I rigged the contest to help her get the second . please listen to me as a friend and not as an HR manager”. On complaints to the institute authorities. Bhartus comes to you (President. This is to be done on a no-profit no-loss basis. what could be the possible solutions? The Video Games Case You are the CEO of a large.8000 at an interest of 18% per annum. 8000 plus interest to the financial institution. On the other hand… God! Please guide me!” Student's BIG problem: In an institute AIM. the council decides to expand its store for the complete instituted. some students begin to boycott the council and start to doubts its intentions. BigMouth. Some council members are alleged to have taken money from the store and the council funds. You think aloud. Mr. the students' council is selected by a voting wherein each student is allocated a vote for each position in the council. As a first.runners up title”. 300. A division of your firm manufactures video games. Each student pays Rs. The division is the third largest manufacturer of . it takes loan of Rs. the store is closed for business till further notice. the council also has to repay Rs. “Damn! What do I do now? The HR department handles confidential information and this fool could not keep a secret. The council is supposed to undertake activities of students' interests. Rumors of bungling of money start floating around the campus. In order to buy these goods. Extending the brief of the council.15000 for the first time and Rs 10000 the second time. it decides to add responsibilities and projects. diversified entertainment company. Seeing this. In the present scenario. Initially.) with the information. it introduces a scheme for students wherein it provides them stationary and hosiery at a subsidized price. They make a profit of Rs.13500. the council has a sale of Rs. In addition. In spite of the promise made to Mr. As a result of the store closure. In addition. 50 per year towards council dues. Extending in the first month. but still it aimed at earning profits. the council is left with stocks of Rs. pending an internal investigation into the matter. it is done only for a select group of students as a pilot exercise. they allege that the store was supposed to be on a no profit no-loss basis. As a result of these rumors. Yahan Gadbad Inc.3500. They buy goods worth Rs. You are expecting a bumper season this time around.000 from company funds.hardware in the industry and has a 10% market share. The industry growth has been strong.g. the division estimates much of the initial target market (young families) has now purchased the video game hardware. also put your career on the fast track. 20. the price of dogs in the developed countries being at an all time high. The top two competitors are estimated to have a 10 to 15% cost advantage currently. the overall industry sales growth has slowed a bit.000 units for your division. in a swift move. dogs are extremely seasonal. Current estimate is annual sales of 500. to appeal to the segments of the market.. Mr. however. 1000. On your questioning. for approval of Rs. The requested expansion will also reduce the cost of manufacture by 5 to 7 % from the present value. international trading firm. an internal audit reveals that Mr. new type of remote joy stick). excluding the marketing costs. Recently. you are expecting record profits which would. your star manager (Procurement Dogs) has siphoned off Rs. a request has come to you. The division's sales have increased rapidly over the last year from a relatively small base. being available only from the middle of May to the end of August. dogs and cats from the dark interiors of Africa and selling them at a profit in developed countries as pets. Idhar Udhar Inc. the CEO. for tripling the division's capacity. The current cost of manufacturing a unit is Rs. Of these products. Bang in the middle of the procurement season. No large new user segments have been identified. 20 Cr. with the top two having 40% and 35% respectively. Also. Your current responsibilities involve procurement of rats. Ghotala Doggy. The selling price of the basic Video Game unit (hardware) is Rs. However. 700. margins have recently been falling. . though over the last few months. Should you approve the expansion? Bow Bow! You are the General Manager (Procurement) in a large. The product features are constantly developed (e. Doggy has excellent relations with the suppliers and you know that it would be impossible to meet targets without him. The division currently exceeds corporate return requirements. at a tremendous cost to the company. the much younger workers are increasingly questioning and resisting his authority. The main departments are the production. This caused bouts of deep depression. He knows the job well. marketing and accounting. is increasingly coming late for work. Doggy reveals that he had taken the money for paying the medical bills of his daughter. His plans met with initial success. from which he recovered . Bitchy Doggy. Om is the production supervisor. He has been with the company for 15 years now. Jai is a young MBA in marketing from a major B-School. he was denied promotion last year. sales of radios have declined due to emergence of TV. Cable etc. Though not an MBA. since your division was the first where such an incident took place. Every time he promises to mend his ways. but has not done so till date. audits were conducted in other divisions and irregularities were found there also. He increasingly feels discontented when some of his new ideas are turned down by the higher management. What would you do? The Dilemma! You are the GM (HR) of a small firm involved in manufacturing and selling AM/FM radios. Also. But. Bharat is a clerk in the accounting department. However. In the years to follow. people are looking at you to set a precedent. He is due to retire in another two years.Mr. Following this incident. his initial success seems to have gone to his head. it might be difficult for him to find another job at his age. he was still hired for the job due to his sharp acumen. Ms. Your company lays extreme emphasis on personal integrity and this is the first time in the company's century old history that such an incident has occurred. Of late. He joined the company a year ago and started new advertising and marketing campaigns. who was seriously ill. but of late. He handles the company's dealers in the northern region. but then the sales were back to its initial levels. He has been with the company since its inception 30 years ago and commands a lot of respect from his workers. He is married with two children and he cites family problems as the cause of late arrival on job. Jagdish is a marketing executive with the company for the last 6 years. age is catching up on him fast. If chucked out of the job. But. with an increasing mumber of MBA's joining the company. B requests a late evening meeting with Mr. your company decides that it must reduce the workforce as a first measure. B. as a group. Ms. accuses him of inappropriate conduct. After that. The vice-president calls the manager and questions him about the situation. The manger says that the workers are bored with their jobs and their salary is not adequate. His boss gives him letters of recommendation to apply elsewhere. Recently. and why? CASES FOR PRACTICE – SHORT In a public sector company. Ms. when is . the workers are very lazy and do not do their allotted jobs in the stipulated time. When Mr. These four are the possible candidates for job termination. But after 8 months a large part of the project was incomplete. B. What should be the company do? Mr. He is not doing well and is feared to be sacked within one year. A goes for the meeting. with Mr. The matter has leaked to the press and is causing bad publicity for the company. A's story and along with Ms. In a desperate cost-cutting measure.P. Ms. What should the company do? A person with software skills gets a job in a hardware firm. You. Due to some problem in the production line. Mr. do? Who is at fault? Devise a solution. At the end of the year. A software company was entering a new area of MIS. he has been complacent in his work and sometimes even rude to the customers. which ones. A works in a multinational firm where he is Senior Manager (Production). The company won a contract for MIS for a pharmaceutical company.after two months. What should the V. have to decide how many you will sack. Not completing the project on schedule will bring loss of face and litigation for the company. B makes some inappropriate advances on him. The HR manager finds it hard to believe Mr. on a temporary basis. A reporting to Ms. The project was scheduled for completion in one year. B was appointed Vice President of the company. He is not willing to take a decision. This company had a good reputation in the software areas. A. A promptly reports the matter to company HR manager. A is unable to pay such a huge amount. showing the recommendation letters. For the restroom. the ground floor is vacated to enable Mr. he files a case against the firm. late at night. He was indifferent to suggestions from superiors and subordinates. Mr. Although it was not his mistake. the court punishes him. How will the company come out of this mess? Mr. During this period he had developed a good rapport with the subordinates. The upper floor tenants have secured a stay order in the case. What should Mr. he accidentally kills a girl crossing the road. However. While driving him. roller towels and hot air dryers.'s driver had been with the company for 25 years. A do? John was the personnel executive of a reputed bank and had been working there for 15 years. should they appoint him? The M. Dryers have an initial cost of Rs. A buys a two-storied house which already has two tenants residing in it. 500 each and monthly service charges of Rs.D. in the time he had spent with the company. Toweling rolls cost Rs. Which option should the owner go for considering this is going to be a posh restaurant? Mr. He was very good at his job. What should the company do? Retain him or fire him? A restaurant owner is currently setting up a new restaurant. The company needs a new regional sales manager to improve the performance of a loss-making region. A's lawyers. The personnel officer in the company recommends dismissal. The subordinates commonly sought his help for their personal problems. 100. In the company it was noticed he was conceited and his interaction with other people was not exactly cordial. A to shift to his new house. However. On court's order. the tenants on upper floor have made life a living hell for Mr. Frank was a clerk and had been working with the bank for the past 20 . in connivance with the tenants. have suggested him to reach for a out-of-court settlement by paying hefty amount to the tenants.to be thrown out. The tenants refuse to vacate the premises even after notices and reminders. A. He joined ABC as salesman.D. X has a distinguished academic record and excels in sports and other extra-curricular activities since childhood. Mr. he has three options: paper towels. Paper towels cost 5 paisa and the number of paper towels used varies directly with the number of customers. 5 per roll and will be changed daily. he was a star performer as salesmen and always crossed targets. One day he took the car home after dropping the M. Three other companies in the same region lose their competent employees to Litson. a textile company is relocated from Murray to Fairley due to high labour costs. One of the three companies which have lost its employees to Litson is a customer of Litson and accounts for 18% of the market share of Litson's products. Frank went to John and confessed to him an event of his past. Since Frank was a runaway convict he had done his social duty by handing him over to the police. He said that when he was a teenager. The major purchasers of jet engines are the commercial airlines. with a 40% market share. This had been a secret since. he sacked John on the grounds that he had breached the faith of the employee. if he doesn't restrain from poaching people from the company. When the Vice-President came to know about John's actions. competitor and a potential Japanese competitor who will not be able to .years. an engineering company. They accuse Litson of foul practices. John wrote a letter to the President explaining that he was not a priest and so cannot be expected to remain confidential. he should be reinstated. John expelled Frank from the bank and handed him over the police.S. but he often had nightmares and he asked John to help him. There is one major U.5 Cr. A is the manufacturer of large jet engines in the U. The management gives an in principle approval. Since all his actions were justified. Illingworth goes ahead and orders for the import. Moreover. he was caught stealing and had been sentenced to prison for 2 years. What should the president do? Illingworth is a engineer in forging division of BAB. He has been working in the organization for the last 6 years and has been consistently rated as one of the most innovative employees of the organization. it was company's policy not to employ any ex-convicts. Rarely calls Illingworth and says that the management is not supporting his project which is going to cost the company 4. At the close of financial year. Illingworth is held responsible for the decision to import the forges. But he escaped from the prison. It Advertises for posts at the new location and gets around 500 applications out which 260 were selected. What should Litson do? Co. What happens to the project initiated by Illingworth? Litson. when 6 months were left. Mr. Rarely the chairman gets to know that the financial position of the company is not sound and that he has to curtail unnecessary expenditure. Mr. Illingworth came out with a proposal to import 2 forges from Germany which could save a lot of money and increase productivity of the organization. One day.S. This company threatens to cancel all its orders to Litson. U. Lata in turn complains that her job is going on perfectly well and if there are any complaints it's because she is being victimized in the male dominated atmosphere. Two of the competitors already have operations in North India.S competitor's prices are below Co. One day. she is given charge of a small territory in which she does very well and is again praised by her colleagues and supervisors alike. The community makes a representation to the Govt. She is then given charge of a much larger territory after a few months. Our company has no experience of retailing n North India and a minimal knowledge of the region. MSoft decides to hire a firm SYSQS to start a training program and to improve their business operations. The retailer has 15% market share in South India. Soft is a software co. SYSQS does a good job and MSoft starts to reap the benefits in the form of several prestigious projects. two senior executives leave for better remuneration. with three major competitors having 10-12% shares each. She is a very bright prospect and does outstandingly well in her training period of one year and her colleagues during that period also vouch for that fact. Even the person in charge of overseeing Lata's training personally. The. Payamudirsholai on the banks of river Pamba. The ultimate aim of MSoft is to enter the export market but in 6 years they do well in the domestic market. What should head office do? M. PCC cannot give a very high salary as it would not be consistent with their other business. reports that she is not performing well. joins a fast moving consumer goods company. Then in the middle of a crucial project. Should the company open stores in North India too? A lady by the name of Lata has been working in an insurance company for the last 5 years. is located near a village. through their local MLA and fishing being the main source of income for .enter the industry for another 10 years. Co. After one year of training. the villagers find fish dying due to fluid waste from the fertilizer plant. A's but it delivers the engines in 3 months while Co. What should the GM of MSoft do? A fertilizer company. A does it in 2 months. A is going into losses. Pizza and Urea. Her supervisor after a time complains to the senior management that Lata has not been good at her job and is finding it difficult to handle her customers. The rest of industry is fragmented amongst smaller players. What should the higher management do? A South India based food retailer is looking to expand into North India. established 6 years ago by PCC (a construction firm). MSoft employs 15 new people. The matter is then reported to the head office. Its trains aren't running on time. Govt. The manager appoints a person as in-charge of a 'Punctuality Cell' and gives him all the powers and asks him to deliver the results. the branches in four of the backward areas are losing money. common villagers suffer due to the death of fish. runs over a village kid and flees from the spot. 2. there is lot of criticism in newspapers. the bank has tried to mandate cost reductions and had formed committees with representatives from each branch. The MD found that the project was only 40% complete and facing serious cost and time overruns. on a three day break. elders in the village come to know about the incident and decide to search for the culprits. Drivers who don't run . For the students this is the only route to get back to their home town. The top management blames the consultant and the plant level managers and workers for the delay. they have to go through a village hamlet. It initiated implementation of an enterprise wide integrated software and systems solution and hired the best consultant . A bindaas group of eight Dil Hai University students plan to go on a motorbike expedition to the nearby hill station. All the branches are operated autonomously and the company as a whole is losing money. Specifically. At the end of 2 yrs. the social activists go to Supreme Court and hope for justice. the consultant blames top management.Dramco. In the past. what would you do? Over the past few years. While. Meanwhile. Suggest a solution to the problem in the case. a committee was formed to review the implementation part. a retail bank has moved from 10 branches in one state to 100 branches in 8 states. government regulations state that it must have some branches in backward areas too. The company manages to get a stay order on the govt. On the other hand. ruling from the High Court. One of the two vehicles. which were cruising ahead of the other two. What should the bank do now? There is a private rail company 'Aage Nahin Jayenge'. The scheduled budget was Rs. If you are the members of this bindaas group. Identify the problem and discuss the course of action. On the way to the hill station. but to no avail. But. So. The group has four girls whose safety had to be taken care of.these villagers. Smile. while the fertilizer company's contention is that it is not due to their fault. issues an order whereby the fertilizer company is to be closed down and they also have to pay compensation to the villagers. Chemco is a subsidiary of an engineering company with a turnover of Rs 75 Crores and a 15% bottomline.5 crores and time frame was 2 years. The person tries to coordinate everything. A major airline with a reservation system is thinking about working with a software developer to add a feature to its system which can track fraud by travel agents. which would lead to a high drop in institute's reputation. a rumor starts floating around in the engineering college that this student cheated in the entrance test to secure very good marks. The tracks are bad and motor engines used are quite old. issuing 14 day advance purchase ticket 10 days before the actual flight. They are accused of “buying” out people and threatened with loss of market share due to losing out on present customers. some students are demanding a high level enquiry. When this plant starts recruiting. This loss of repute for the examination procedures is putting pressure on the Principal to quell the issue. How should the airline evaluate whether they should add this feature or not? A student gets admission to a premier engineering college securing a very high rank in the entrance test. What should the Principal of the engineering college do? New Media is an Internet Service Provider that has had two continuous years of high profits.the train on time are asked to report to the manager. which doesn't have too many skilled workers. What is the manager supposed to do? Gwalior Rooyi is to setting up a textile plant in a Nivunakinapalli. Simultaneously. However. this quarter.g. But the drivers and station masters say that it’s not their fault. The primary fraud perpetrated by travel agents is backdating of tickets. However. However. . the profits have fallen by 50%. What can be the possible causes for this? As a group. his performance in the first year is very bad and he fails in two subjects. they end up with people already employed in the (only) 3 other existing industries. work out an action plan to save the company based on the causes of decline in profits. e.