ANNAMALAI Solved Assignment MBA General (English Medium)

ANNAMALAI

UNIVERSITY

DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

M.B.A. SECOND YEAR

Academic Year : 2019 – 2020

ASSIGNMENT TOPICS

2.1 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1. “Human resource planning is a pre-requisite for effective management of human resources”. In the light of this statement, analyse the significance of human resource planning.
2. Explain a sample HR departmental structure for a large manufacturing organization and explain the functions.
3. You are appointed as HR manager for a mid size leather company which is new. Now you are asked to fix pay scale for the employees. Explain your process of pay fixation.
4. Performance Appraisal System helps employees to identify the areas in which they need to improve – Do You agree or disagree? Justify with the suitable methods.

2.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT

1. What is market segmentation? What are the different ways of segmentation? Suggest the segmentation strategy for the following products: Edible oil, Table top wet grinder and Business magazine.
2. What strategies you would recommend to be followed during the four stages of PLC? Identify one product and one service for each stage in the PLC. Give reasons for your answer.
3. What are the objectives of pricing strategies? Discuss the merits of different pricing techniques that you would recommend for the following products. Laptop, Sports utility vehicle, designer tiles.
4. Do you think that social media advertisements would kill all other traditional media? Discuss your answer with proper justification. Also explain under what circumstances online advertisements would be highly recommended.

2.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

1. It is usual to declare good dividends when the company is making good profit. It is profitable for companies not to declare any dividend even when they are making good profits. What will be the reaction of the shareholders? – Discuss.
2. “In managing working capital the finance manager faces the problem of compromising the conflicting goals of liquidity and profitability”. – Comment. What strategy should the finance manager develop to solve this problem?
3. Design an appropriate capital structure which yield more profitability for a service industry. Illustrate your answer with the help of EBIT-EPS analysis.
4. “The success of a business concern depends upon the way in which it’s earnings are computed, distributed and retained”- Comment on this statement.

2.4 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

1. Elaborate the role of SAP software applications on supply chain management.
2. As an automobile production manager, how will you take Make or Buy decision in your unit?
3. “Spending Money for Maintenance is waste” – Discuss.
4. Describe the steps in ISO quality certification process by any Agency in India.

2.5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1. Identify five common project risk strategies employed to address the threats in the new Mall construction. Give an example of each.
2. How the software projects are different from other project. Describe the various phases of software project life cycle with the illustration.
3. Critically examine the generic strategies that can help an entrepreneur to maintain competitive advantage of their products. Use the relevant examples to support the answer.
4. Does Government of India policy measures are promoting Women entrepreneurship in India? Suggest the ways to develop women entrepreneurs.

2.6 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

1. Take an imaginary situation relating to pricing or investment policy in a selected industry in which there are few sellers and show how the adoption of different strategies by a leading player defines different possible paths. Use a decision tree to illustrate these different possible paths.
2. Carry out SWOT analysis of Indian Railways. Suggest measure to run it profitable.
3. Nowadays Product Diversification is a mandatory process in Indian Industry. Give an example for success and failure. Give reasons for the success and failure.
4. “Technological factors represent major opportunities and threats, which must be taken into account while formulating strategies.” –Discuss. How will a firm build a sustainable technology based competitive advantage?

2.7.1 HRM : (a) LABOUR WELFARE AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

1. “Favourable working environment enhances the efficiency of workers and includes proper illumination, safety, temperature, ventilation, sanitation, cleanliness and canteen facilities”. Comment
2. Do you agree that the problems of social security in industries have become complex due to inadequate training, lack of education, low wages and the failure to make provisions against the industrial hazards by industries? Justify your stand with valid reasons.
3. “Collective bargaining assumes collective wisdom of both management and labour”-Discuss.
4. Why trade unions in India suffer from multiplicity, inter-union rivalry and politicization? Suggest remedial measures to be taken to safeguard the trade unions from these issues.

2.7.1 HRM: (b) TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

1. If training is the possible solution, then find out the best approaches in a given situation like coaching, mentoring, feedback, classroom training, team building – Give example.
2. Evolve a new evaluation scheme for training of bank officials to eliminate the disadvantages of existing evaluation scheme
3. HR functionaries are better suited to become trainers than line managers. They don’t require training as they are experts in training. Give at least four arguments for against this statement.
4. Prepare a developmental job assignment for a newly joined marketing trainee who is found to be having high potential – Give example.

2.7.2 MM : (a) SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

1. Give the picture of Impact of sales motivation on FMCG organizational performance of P&G.
2. Is Personal selling practices the best way to enhance sales of industrial Products in power sector? Give your answer and justify.
3. Discuss the sales promotions and advertising effect on sales performance of consumer goods of Unilever.
4. ‘GIG’ Economy and freelancers as distribution agents in food delivery service. Bring out its future trend in India.

2.7.2 MM: (b) MARKETING RESEARCH AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

1. How marketing research helps for the FMCG manufacturing company for segmenting the market.
2. Develop a questionnaire for conducting survey for meaning hospital service quality.
3. Marketing research agencies plays a major role in today’s business world though it has demerits – Explain with example.
4. What are the application areas of market research in present scenario and explain about any three of them with examples.

2.7.3 FM: (a) INVESTMENT, SECURITY AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

1. As an investment advisor what feature would you suggest being included in the investment bunch of a client? And also suggest where an investor should be careful. Consider the above statements and keep the present situation in mind Give your suggestions.
2. The technical analyst places a great deal of importance on supply and demand in stock pricing. Presumably the fundamental analyst also believes that supply and demand are important. In what ways do the two groups disagree on the subject?
3. ”The concept of a random walk in stock prices is bizarre and implies totally irrational behaviour by the investing public. Nothing could be further from the truth than random walk. Prices are related to fundamental economic worth is misleading.” – Comment.
4. Comment on the following statement “since Markowitz portfolio theory requires so many assumptions, the notion that investors should be concerned with the risk of the overall portfolio rather than the risk of the individual securities is misleading”.

2.7.3 FM: (b) MANAGEMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

1. Discuss the features of the framework of regulation of the credit information companies in India. What are the regulatory and supervisory objectives of the RBI in relation to the NBFCs? Explain the main elements of the RBI framework of NBFC regulation.
2. Do you think credit analysis is essential before providing loan to customers? Explain various credit appraisal techniques used by commercial banks to analyse the credit worthiness of borrowers.
3. “Tax considerations give a definite advantage to hire purchase financing option” Do you agree? Explain
4. What kind of changes needed in the venture capital financing when an economy is in the recession? Suggest some strategies approaches that are well suited for venture capital financing for industrial activities.

2.7.4 PM: (a) PRODUCTION, PLANNING, CONTROL AND MAINTENANCE

1. Write your own idea about the Concept of division of labour and how it can be applied to Production planning and control.
2. Is the Production planning and control function getting to be increasingly people-centric? If so, what may be the reason?
3. Write your prognosis for the future of Production planning and control discipline in general.
4. Assume yourself as a Maintenance manager in a Hotel Industry. Write your views about the merits and demerits of different types of Maintenance that can be practiced in Hotel Industry.

2.7.4 PM: (b) QUALITY MANAGEMENT

1. The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) principles are another essential tool for implementing a TQM programme successfully in Indian organisations. Are you agreeing PDCA also referred to as the Deming Wheel, is the principles of continuous improvement?
2. Cross functional management recognises that no organisational unit can by itself control every aspect of the business operations to ensure that the customer’s requirements are met.
3. Quality policy is a broad guide to action. It is a statement of principles. A policy differs from a procedure which details how some activity shall be accomplished. Thus a quality policy might state that quality cost will be measured.
4. To organise companywide QC circle symposiums of which the results of QC circle activities can be announced. Making presentation of QC circle activities is a valuable method of ensuring the QC circle summarizes the results of their activities.

2.7.5 SYSTEMS: (a) PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

1. Prepare an Advertisement for launching a new product using Superscript, format the cells and make a macros and mail merge the final copy. Prepare a links for the highlighted products.
2. Prepare an Excel Sheets purchase of new machineries to XYZ Company by using Various Mathematical Functions, Statistical functions, financial functions, and Text functions. Attach the copy of excel sheets for each functions.
3. Discuss the procedure and advantages of creating Personal signature file message. Attach the image of this and discuss the steps followed in creating the personal signature file. Explain the role of ISDN and ISP in creation process. Attach the image for all the process.
4. With the rise of social media, many small businesses have had to alter their operational strategies to adapt. Social media affects business of all sizes in several different ways. Because of social media, businesses must make their brands more personal, market their products differently and communicate with customers in new ways – Comment this statement with reasonable points.

2.7.5 (b) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

1. Few eBay users believe that the use of sniping software is unfair and that eBay should prohibit its use. Present the facts and logical arguments that would convince eBay to prohibit the use of sniping software.
2. Visit the website of Air India (www.airindia.in) & Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) and compare them.
3. Visit the applications area of www.oracle.com and www.microsoft.com to find any difference between Oracle’s ERP and Microsoft’s Dynamics. Submit detailed report regarding this.
4. Construct an ER diagram for a departmental store. Take the entities to define different activities (like purchase, sales), different types of employees (e.g. manager, supervisor), section (e.g. cosmetics, kids), customers and other departments of the store. Take appropriate attributes to define the entities. Construct appropriate table from the diagram.