Small Business Cases 4

AFTERSCHOOOL CENTRE FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP S IVA KAMU V E TE R IN A RY HOS P I TAL ROAD BIKAER 334001 W W W. A F T E R S C H O O O L . T K

SMALL CASE STUDIES ON E N T RE P RE N E U RS H I P BO O K NO. 4 CASE STUDIES FOR THE STUDENTS OF SOCIAL ETREPRENEURSHIP PREPARED BY : DR. T.K. JAIN HONORARY CHIEF MENTOR, AFTERSCHOOOL © : AFTERSCHOOL CAREER GUIDANCE TRUST. NOTE : THE PURPOSE OF THIS CASE STUDY IS NOT TO SHOW THE RIGHT OR WRONG METHOD OF DOING SOMETHING. THE CONTENTS OF THESE CASE STUDIES ARE HYPOTHETICAL AND THEIR SIMILARITIES TO SOMETHING REAL IS BY CHANCE. THE PURPOSE OF THESE CASE STUDIES IS TO PROMOTE ACADEMIC DISCUSSION AMONG PGPSE PARTICIPANTS OF AFTERSCHOOOL. PGPSE IS THE PROGRAMME TO PROMOTE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP THIS PROGRAMME IS AVAILABLE FREE OF COST FOR ANY PERSON WHO WANTS TO PLAY AN IMPACT MAKING ROLE IN SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION.

Small Business Cases TABLE OF CONTENTS

( R E A D A S P E R P G P S E P R O G R A M M E S Y L L A B US )

1. Achievemnt Motivation Training 2. Fight for the right to information 3. Mahipal’s dilemma 4. Goti’s Aatta Chakki 5. Job Designing 6. GD on Reliance Retail 7. Product Positioning 8. Bothra & co. 9. bhanwarlal Bus Designer 10.Bangalore Movement 11.Worldgo 12.P&G v/s HUL 13.Board meeting of an NGO

A C H I E V E M E N T M O T I VAT I O N T R A I N I N G

Being euphoric is always good as you can change the people. Ask people for positive dreams and create positive dreams in the minds of people and see how people reach there. People reach the limits of their dreams. When there are no dreams, there are no achievements. Great achievements take place in a row as people start thinking about dreams and ideas. When there is one invention, there are a series of inventions. When there is one discovery, there are a series of discoveries. The world is created by fantasies and we have to shape these fantasies. Religious leaders are able to create a society greater than what we are able to fabricate, because they are able to create a god and that god makes people work in a direction. The world consists of herds – as 90 percent people move in herd mentality. You can create a few leaders – if you can. These are the leaders who can transform the world. Vivekanand asserted that he needs only 100 leaders to change the whole world. You can also see similar instances in the world. Atrocities and troubles add to the fuels for achievements. Wherever, we had atrocities, troubles and challenges, the real mettle inside the persons rose up and gave a true testimony of infinite capability that people possess. Look at Jews, when Hitler crushed them, they rose to even greater heights by showing their talents in varied field. Look at refugees all over the world. Refugees create great entrepreneurs and extraordinary workers wherever they go.

The world consists of two types of persons – one intrinsic – who believe in self and create their own world. They believe in their dreams and actualize these dreams. The second types of persons are extrinsic – they believe in fate or God or other such things and fail to do anything on their own. They keep on praying – but not actually doing anything. Do your duty – the statement that every religion tells you – because even religious leaders know that if every person becomes extrinsic, there will be no entrepreneurs or leaders. Mr. Verma was a born intrinsic. He used to shout at the persons who used to sit idle and wait for luck to unfold. He was a staunch supporter and follower of Kabir. Mr. Verma used to exert persons to do something on their own. He started a business consultancy firm. He used to give 4 advices to every person: 1. start small 2. start with big dreams 3. start early – no point in waiting – you learn more by doing

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4.

Start with others – those who work in groups learn faster than those who do it alone.

He went to Morbi district in Gujarat and talked to many unemployed youth in the city. His ideas worked and people decided to do something. These persons were encouraged by possibilities of rising industrial demand and low production in India. Huge demand and lack of availability of products created an opportunity for entrepreneurship. A group of 19 volunteers visited Bikaner on request by Mr. Verma and vested ceramics units in Bikaner. Each of these persons contributed Rs. 1 lakh and thus they started a new unit in Morbi. They had no loan (at that time there was no scheme from government and it was not easy to take loan from the government). Each of these persons took different role – one person was accountant, one person was marketing officer and other persons also took similar roles. Soon their business took off. Taking lessons from the entrepreneurs of Bikaner, these entrepreneurs didn’t depend on government support, but worked hard to innovate in terms of quality, production facilities and creativity. They were all moderately educated, religious persons, who became intrinsic persons in contact with Mr. Verma. Now each of them had only one dream and one goal – to be number one in the country in ceramics. They started making glazed tiles and started competing with leaders like Somany, etc. Soon there were many other groups of youth, who jumped in business with similar ideas. These youth were bubbling with energy and ideas. The business in Morbi started creating pulses across the country. Morbi was soon the hub of the country in ceramics. In 2008 Morbi was making 80% of the entire country;s production. Morbi has production base as high as 5000 tonnes per day. Now the government of Gujarat was also after them to give them full support. Truly luck favours them, who follow their own ideals. Morbi success story completely changed the scenario of life for many people and made them billionairs. The challenge is however with Mr. Verma. He finds that people in other cities didn’t pick up his ideas. He preached the same ideas to every person, but in Morbi, people picked up. In other cities, people still rely on luck, fate and other similar things. Mr. Verma wants to know from you as to how to create true entrepreneurial spirit, how to create

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achievement motivation and how to really create a true burning desire for success? e

F I G H T F O R T H E R I G H T T O I N F O R M AT I O N

This is the story about how she took the fight to the ultimate level and ultimately won the battle. She had seen public systems. She had seen how poor people face the problems while working with government departments. She had seen how government departments were working in India. She was convinced that in order to revamp the system, massive changes were required in public institutions. She had seen that were ever government departments were transparent and working in open environment, there was less corruption and real developmental work could take place. There were three important challenges: 1. raise voice for transparency in government bodies 2. raise the system of governance and improve the working of public systems 3. Raise public voice and unite people against the inefficient government institutions. In her strategy for achieving these goals, she decided to raise public opinion and use political pressure for achieving the objectives. She wrote articles on these issues, which were published by daily newspapers. She gave speeches on these issues and these speeches helped her in raising the public opinion. Brining any new idea to public is not very easy task. People generally don’t accept new ideas, even if they are in their favour. People don’t support for radical moves. She didn’t receive the kind of support that she deserved. She relentlessly pursued her objectives. She traveled from place to place and talked with civil society workers, MPs, MLAs, local representatives and media for raising voice for greater transparency and greater accountability in government bodies.

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In one such travel, she came down to Bikaner and organized a programme at a well known NGO, in which public came to listen to her. She raises her demands and asked for the rights of people regarding information from the public bodies. When she had started the move, most people were not convinced about the programme. Those who had working in government departments, reacted that it would never happen. Some government officials were skeptical about her moves and said these steps would be misused by people. She however, continued her efforts and was able to gather a group of supporters all over India. All of them collectively were raising demand at national and international demand for transparency in government departments. World over, there was a demand for transparency and accountability in government bodies. Ultimately she succeeded and government of India enacted a new law – the right to information act 2005. This was a big victory for concerted initiatives by the NGOs.

Analyze the impacts of these moves over a period of time. What are other such sectors, where you can raise public opinion and bring dramatic change in our environment? Think over the issues confronting common persons and think about different possibilities that exists regarding these matters. Explore these matters and also suggest your priorities and your course of action for bringing about a change in public policies.

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M A H I P A L’ S D I L E M M A

Mahipal was little bit confused about different business possibilities that existed before him. He wanted to take up a business in his home town, but options created problems as he was not sure which option to go for. You are requested to help him out in picking up the right options: 1.

There are 250 Plaster of Paris (PoP) units in Bikaner – each producing 15 tones of PoP every day – there is huge demand and the product sells like a commodity. With likely boom in construction industry, this industry will have a golden time in the years to come. In this sector, Mahipal can sell goods all over India. Out of 250 units, no unit has been able to establish brand or differentiation. No unit is able to claim high quality orientation. No unit is able to differentiate

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or work as massive production level. If mahipal can establish brand and go for mass production, the profit possibilities are huge. There are immense profit possibilities. If Mahipal can only capture the market of NCR (Delhi and surrounding regions), he can easily sell 20 Tones per day at a margin of 40% against cash payments. Thus there are minimum risks and maximum profitability. This business doesn’t require any specialized inputs. Workers are available from Bihar, who come and work on contract basis. The contractor takes all the responsibilities regarding work and is paid as per work. What is required is a focus on marketing. It involves industrial marketing – as the goods have to be sold to big contractors, large scale manufacturers etc. it all requires skills in negotiation, presentation and quality assurance. Mahipal believes that he can delivers all these and reach upto the levels of top scale. 2.

the second business possibility is regarding food items. Over 2 lakhs KG of food items like Bhujia, Papad etc. is produced in Bikaner, but the demand is huge. Bikaner name itself is sufficient to create confidence in the minds of people. Bikaji is the only player from Bikaner, which has been able to establish brand and positioning. Hahipal can also think in these lines and go for this business. With aggressive marketing and huge potential, he can easily achieve huge volumes with at least 25% margins.

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third business possibility is regarding art craft and jewellery. These are the things which are sold for their aesthetic value and for their unique appeal. They are sold at premium prices, if they are rare. Bikaner has many such artists who can produce virtually rare products, which can never be duplicated. These products can then be sold to the elite class of the world at prices beyond imagination. If properly marketed and exhibited, mahipal can have margins as high as 1000% per piece. But here volumes will not be much. Further, it will require extensive traveling, and very high level of expertise in marketing. Mahipal has the capability to use his connections across the globe for organisng displays and exhibitions in the finest display centres in the world.

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4.

The forth business possibility is in the insulator business. Bikaner is world’s leader in insulator producing small towns. Bikaner alone produces 40% insulators produced in India. Its unique strengths are inavailabiliiy of raw material and skills here. There are 40 units in Bikaner, which are making insulators. However, none of the unit has been able to become a global player as yet. None of these units has been able to establish a powerful institutional marketing / industrial marketing network. None of these units has been able to exploit the huge potential of large scale production at lower costs. None of the units has been able to negotiate with the government for confessional facilities due to scales of operations.

Mahipal is little bit confused out of all these possibilities. He believes that he has to take up a business, which can continue for a long time without competition and which has scalability (which can be increased in volume to infinite limits). Mahipal has 10etrusted friends, each of whom is willing to invest between 2 to 10 lakhs rupees and each of these is willing to work with Mahipal in his business. Thus there is no need to look for employees or loans. Mahipal is sure about business acumen and capability of these 10 persons and he believes that working in a team, he can truly establish a worldclass business.

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G O T I ’ S A AT TA C H A K K I

Goti is planning to start manufacture of Aatta-Chakki. In order to finalise his marketing plan, he organizes a brainstorming session among marketing professionals. The discussion is as under : Vipin: we should target market lower middle class and we should highlight the quality (functional value) of the product. In our advertisement, we can show a lady from middle class using this Aata Chakki. There is a huge middle class in India, and this will be our target market. Ladies from upper class are never going to use this product. Ladies in middle class and lower middle class want to save money and they are also willing to give good quality food at their home, so they will go for it. Dhairya : “I belive that this product should be abandoned. Life style is changing. People are no longer getting time to cook food and eat it at their home. They eat junk food / ready to eat food. Thus this product will be flop. There is no point in marketing Aata chakki. If you want to sell, then make a new machine which can make pizza in a few seconds or which can make chow-min in a few seconds. So throw away all these plans in dustbins. Ankit : “No it is not so, we still have a lot of scope in the market. We had carried out a survey and found that out of 100 ladies, 80 are interested in buying a good Aata chhakki. There is no big player in the market. We will be able to establish our brand. We can market our product well. In fact, we don’t have any fixed costs also. We are getting our products made in Rajkot and putting our logo and brand on the product and sell it out. We can also modify the product as per the change the taste of the product. Gautam : “ask fundamental question – why should a person buy this product? What is the functional or emotional benefit that you are offering to that person. It is not going to be a status symbol product, so why should a person be prepared to pay for this.” Ravina : “I think we should have a systematic market survey and test marketing before we launch this product. There must be some reason why big companies are not making Atta Chhakis”.

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Goti is little bit confused now. What should he do and how ? Can you prepare a marketing plan for Goti?

JOB DESIGNING

Can job designing really contribute? Can we really have interesting and fruitful jobs. Can we really have jobs, which can help persons in achieving their personal goals and organizational goals? Job designing is challenging and interesting aspect. Companies are designing jobs in such a way that jobs really become interesting and challenging. People spend 80% of their most constructive time working in the companies and therefore jobs must be interesting, challenging, and making it meaningful. People want to work hard and progress. Jobs give the people the opportunity to learn, grow and show their capabilities. Thus if people are not working, it is due to lack of proper job contents / job designing. Thus we need to have better job designs. Take HP for example. The chairman of HP Lew Platt suffered a tragedy. His wife died and he had to look after his two daughters. He realized some lessons out of it. The job designing process in HP was completely changed due to this. In late 80s and 90s, Lew Platt forced the HR department to change the job designs. Instead of rigit job designs, HP had adopted flexible and convenient work designs. Workers were permitted to adopt part time work structure or flexible timings. Earlier, HP had very high employee turnover rate. After job designing exercises, employee turnover stopped. Workers didn’t resign any more. Women workers were the most beneficiaries. Women workers could not have greater flexibility regarding managing their homes. Lew Platt realized it when he himself had to look after his family. Thus sometimes tragedies also contribute to something good. HP now has a very people friendly HR Policies, employees are given freedom to work as per their schedule. Some workers can work together as team and divide their work among themselves. For example in HP, two female executives

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Elva and Maria work together – 3 days each in a week and share their salaries by dividing it between them. They together have 50 hours of work in a week. This helps them to help each others. They can also look after their family responsibilities. There are many male workers also who take 4 day week - in order to shoulder their family responsibilities on the other 3 days. The ultimate purpose of the organization is to give people an opportunity to have better life, better working conditions and better opportunities to grow. CMC in India understands this. CMC tries to give its workers flexible timings. Workers can schedule their work timings as per their personal and organizational commitments. CMC also takes care of some personal responsibilities of the workers – for example for booking of Gas, the employee has to inform it in the office and someone from the office will do it on behalf of the employee. Organizations are also realizing the power of teamwork. M&M has started group work systems. Workers are grouped in self managed teams where workers are grouped together in self managed teams and the workers are given the freedom to manager their work. They can schedule it also. Thus we see many such cases where organizations are able to benefit from job designing. Should we have time flexibility and should have complete freedom to the worker? Can we really reduce employee turnover rate by job designing? How can we add elements of recognition, autonomy, flexibility, feedback, growth in each job? What are the limitations in such initiatives? Can you identify the issues which would be critical issues in job designing?

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G D O N R E L I A N C E R E TA I L

It is the seen of a heated discussion about foray of Reliance group in retail segment. The scene is that of AFTERSCHOOOL discussion hall, where everyone is excited about Reliance group. Everyone loves reliance group, therefore they are all emotionally charged. Ajay: “India is the world’s fastest growing market. Everyone knows that Indian retail industry is worth $350 billion and everyone of us knows that this is a big industry. Reliance should naturally enter into this field.” Sudha : “I believe that Reliance should not enter into this field. It is risky. There is no merit in entry into retail segment. Reliance should continue to expand in its traditional stronghold segments like oil exploration, petrochemicals, chemical, textiles, and other related business segments. You all know that Reliance is world’s largest manufacturer of Polyester and it should take advantage of this.

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Reliance should try to become world’s largest oil company in the years to come.” Monika: “I believe that Reliance should enter into this business segment. You must be aware that Reliance is planning to open over 1500 procurement centres called reliance mandies. These mandis will change life of farmers. These mandies will enable the farmers to have better life. We all know that farmers are the backbone of our country and thus reliance’s new venture is for the benefit of our country. Further Reliance has state of the art logistics management set up. It will use Airplane in moving goods from one place to another. It already has 40 fleet of cargo planes. The mentality of people is changing. They don’t have time. They want to go to a retail store where everything is available in one shop. The customers will get benefit and the company will also get benefit. Reliance will add jobs to India.” Pankaj: “Reliance should definitely enter into retail segment. This is one of the fastest growing segments in our country. Retail segment is growing @ 10% per annum. Further, due to change in life style, middle class is switching over from unorganized kirana stores to organized hyper marts. Thus reliance will benefit out of this change in the lifestyle of the people. Reliance should try to take advantages out of this.” Ajay: “I again assert that this will be disastrous. Reliance is having surplus cash inflows of $2.5 billion every year, while cash flows required for retail segments would be over $5 billion per annum, where will this money come from? Reliance should focus on infrastructure and construction segments – if it wants to diversify. Instead of this model, it should go for e-commerce model only. People can buy from their home.” Pratibha: “Reliance should enter into basic sectors like infrastructure etc. this will benefit our country.” Swati: “I firmly belive that this is a good move. In vegetables and food industry, there are 50% losses in transportation and storage only. Reliance will be able to save this by efficient system of logistics and transportation management. I believe that Reliance will be having huge margins even if it sells less than the market prices. Reliance will have huge margins in other sectors like apparels, FMCG, etc. Reliance has a big name and it will achieve lower cost of operations.” Priyank : “I have heard that reliance is building over 100 million sq. feet of retail space in India, which will be the 3rd in the world much

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higher than the space of many large retail companies like Carrefour, toys4u etc. thus Reliance will soon be able to become a large global retail company. Brand of reliance does matter. People will buy mangoes – if it is written Reliance Mango. However, if it is not able to maintain quality, reliance will face problem. Further reliance is also setting up ecommerce setup, which will make it similar to Wal-Mart etc. and it will be albe to capture ecommerce business in India, which is going to increase manifold in India. However, I believe that Reliance should also focus on what it is doing. It will not be able to maintain quality in every business segment. It is also starting cultivation of Alfenso mangoes in Maharastra. How ill it retain its quality focus? It is not necessary that if a firm succeeds in one industry, it will succeed in other segments also. ” Vivek: “ I have read in portfolio management that every company should divert its funds from cash cow segment to question marks and stars. Reliance is one such example. Further, in case of reliance, we do find that reliance is also following upper echelon theory of management. Mukesh Ambani himself worked day and night and made reliance refinery in record time of 2 months and at very low cost. Mukesh Ambani has the charisma which makes him a unique and a great entrepreneur. He has the capability to bring profit from every business. Further, this company follows social conditioning theory as all the employees are working for a long time and they have created common values. Most of the employees are known to Ambani family and they are not going to quit the company. They are big asset of the company. Thus this company can take up any venture and it will succeed.” Ajay : “I reiterate, business is not done from emotions. Once MNCs are permitted, they will enter into India and reliance will find it difficult to survive in competition to them. Reliance should think over. It is acquiring land and properties all over India and it is opening over 10000 retail outlets in over 784 cities. It is going at a large scale. I am doubtful whether it is economically viable or not. It should remember that in India, unorganized sector will prevail. No one can compete with them. They avoid taxes and they are able to sell lower. Reliance will also be paying huge amount as land prices or rents. Thus it is not a very profitable venture. Do reconsider your views and reconsider your ideas.” Dhaval: “I believe that Reliance is the type of growth model that we look for. They have identified a market segment, where there is a vacuum and reliance can easily fill this vacuum. Reliance will be able to use its model : from farmers to customer – in profitable manner.”

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Jitendra: “Retail industry has many business formats – like hyper marts, discounters, factory outlets, specialty stores etc. Reliance is using a mix of these – particularly hyper marts and departmental stores. Its business model is really nice. I like its business model. I believe that it will be able to survive and grow. By 2011 it will be able to reach 1/6 of India’s 100 billion populations and will be able to give jobs to over 2 million people. Thus this is going to be good for Indian society also. Certainly, the small Kirana walas (we have over 12 million Kirana walas) and vegetable vendors will face some problems. We should think about some options for them.” Whose ideas do you like the most and why?

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PRODUCT POSITIONING

Ajay had set up a tractor company. He imported Chinese components and assembles them and sold out tractors in India. His brand was FIELDFORCE. He popularized his brands through village fairs, trade displays, exhibitions in fairs etc. He didn’t give any advertisement, but he used to organize Kushti competitions in villages. He sponsored a national Kushti competition, which was telecast on TV also. Ajay believed that his customers were farmers, so he needed to reach the farmers. He wanted to match the expectations of the farmers. Ajay also used a mascot as his logo. The mascot displayed an elephant. Ajay symbolized power, rough and tough tractors through his publicity media. However, Ajay realized that the sales were not coming up. Ajay hired an advertisement and media company to give suggestion. The company gave a presentation that the sale of tractors in India had reached a maturity level. As per the media company, farmers in India no longer buy small tractors (which Ajay was selling). The media company suggested Ajay to switch over to big tractors. Ajay said to them that it was not possible for him to switch over to higher horse power tractors. Ajay this time asked a student from MBA to prepare a dissertation report on new products to launch. Ajay asked her to prepare a report and identity business segments with very high growth potential, high growth rate and future scope. The student suggested to Ajay to launch a moped for college girls. At that time there was only one brand of moped available. Ajay realized that there was great scope in this business. This was the product, which would sell in huge number. Its market segment was well defined. Its target customers were increasing in number. There was not much competition. The existing producer was neither making a moped which neither had style nor performance (as per Ajay). Ajay launched the moped for college girls. This moped was launched with his existing brandname (as the brand was already popular). The advertising agency of Ajay got agonized on this. They said that perception of people

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about the brand was that of rugged product. The said that product must be positioned appropriately. They suggested that Ajay should carefully design an appropriate brand personality and then launch a new brand. Ajay however, was adamant. He wanted the existing brand to be used. He said that our brand can be modified as per the new situation. He suggested that instead of Kushti, now he will sponsor some other events that will attract the attention of college girls. Ajay believed that every product passes through four stages: 1. introduction, 2. growth 3. Maturity, 4. Decline. Ajay believed that his product was in introduction stage and there was lot of scope in the future. You are requested to prepare appropriate strategy for Ajay.

B O T H R A & C O M PA N Y

Bothra & Co. is a famous law firm in Bikaner. They specialize in taxation and related matters. In order to expand their business, they have decided to open offices in other cities also. They have decided to recruit people for other cities. In a hurry 30 persons were recruited. The firm does not have any departmentation. There are just 3 persons at present and now there are 33 persons. These 30 persons were given a quick orientation programme in which the new employees were given following information: 1. Brief history of their company 2. narration of the achievement of the company 2. brief description of the work to be performed 3. Brief narration of the legal processes involved. 4. Description of the core values of the organization – like honesty in dealing with clients etc. All these new recruits were law graduates with at least 3 years experience. Now they were positioned in different locations. These persons started working in different locations. Bothra & company was able to get lots of customers in different locations. Most of

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these customers were those who had taken services of this firm at some or other time or they were branch offices of the main firm which was taking services of this firm. However, in the next one year 50% employees resigned from their positions. It was realized that these people didn’t leave due to salary reasons. These people were also not dissatisfied due to the policies of the company. However, there was a lack of system in the organization. Most of these people were not able to take decisions. They didn’t know how to proceed. There was also a lack of HR policy in the company. The company also didn’t have thorough training for these persons. These persons were not competent to handle difficult issues on their own. They were not able to resolve the matter and found lack of confidence in handling tricky issues. The performance of other branches was also poor. The organization had to move forward, but the real question was how to start and grow the organization. The growth of the organization could be possible only when we can be sure that everyone in the organization is knowledge driven, learning focused and capability oriented. The firm is sure that it is the time it has to grow and expand and slowly become a global company. The company is confident about its values, and its core competency. It still needs guidance about how to expand the business. Can you really shape a business model for this firm?

BHANWARLAL BUS DESIGN ER

When Sony Company was started, it was a small company. It was just a repairing company. The company was able to grow, only due to innovations and innovations. This company launched small radio for the first time in the world. This company also launched Walkman for the first time in the world. This company also introduced many electronic products for the first time in the world. Due to its ability to introduce innovative products at lower cost, this company became market leader. Sony was also the first Japanese company to be listed on New York Exchange. It was also the first Japanese company to have made

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aggressive growth by inorganic growth through acquisitions in the USA. It acquired Columbia Pictures and many other companies in the USA. Sony word is derived from a Latin word, which means sound. Thus Sony had a very clear vision to be in the sounds sector. When there is sound, there is Sony – be it radio, or walkman, or anything else. However, later Sony also entered into camera products. Its camera products were also very successful. From a small repairing shop to a giant MNC – the growth is amazing. Chhabaria is known for car designing in India. Chhabaria prepares car bodies and sells it. The cars designed by Chhabaria are considered very premium products. They command premium prices. Chhabaria designs beautiful and comfortable cars. They only design the body of the car (retaining the engine of the original car). Now we come to Bhanwarlal. Mr. Bhanwarlal is basically a carpenter from village Bhamatsar near Nokha village in Bikaner. He changed many professions (from carpenter to electrician to mechanic) before he jumped into Bus body designing. He has heard about Chhabarias. Chhabaria is known for car designing. Bhanwarlal is known for Truck and Bus body designing. He designs trucks and bus body and prepares it and sells it. He has set up plant with machines from Rajkot and now operates it to prepare about 30 trucks / Buses every month. He is able to establish his identity among travel companies of North –Western India so that he gets some orders always. He has converted his small farm house into a factory, where there is some or other work going on constantly. His total investment in plant and machinery is about Rs. 20 lakhs. He has 6 assistants with him, who assist him in his task. At any time, you can find 10 to 20 buses under preparation with him. He is able to save between 5000 to 30000 per body. Is there any way that Bhanwarlal can also grow to the heights of Sony or the heights of Chhabaria? What is the difference in business models of Chhabaria and Sony, which model is better for Bhanwarlal and why?

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BANGALORE MOVEMENT

It all started when I was doing my doctoral research. I went to Bangalore municipality to collect their financial data. I requested them to provide last year’s balance sheet. I was asked to come next day. I visited the next day – and kept on visiting the department – but for no use. I was totally tired of my usual visits to the Municipality. One Day

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while was sipping a cup of tea and gossiping with a person outside the municipality, I came to know that the Municipality was in shambles and had not prepared balance sheets for last 4 years. Their system of accounting was in very poor condition. I didn’t know about my research work (which was on budgeting and financial planning in Bangalore Municipality) but now I had a new plan buzzing in my mind. Why not do something to rectify the situation. I could see a better picture of Bangalore municipality in my dreams. I decided to raise voice against the systems. Meanwhile I heard about movements by Aruna Roy. She was asking for information from the government departments and transparency in government department. I decided to go for this direction. I organized a meeting of activists and civil society volunteers. We decided to raise our collective voice against the prevailing system in Bangalore Municipality. When we submitted our application to the Bangalore Municipality, we were told that all over India same situation exists. We were told that we should know that government departments don’t work like private organizations. The work takes place at its own systems. We approached the chief minister and other ministers with our request. We also submitted our copies to local media and other international bodies which were having their offices in Bangalore. International Budget Project gave us a favorable response and agreed to sponsor our campaign for transparency. They agreed to support us if we organize a campaign to bring transparency in governance. Our efforts were now better organized. With support from International Budget Project, we organized many seminars and conferences to discuss transparency in governance and particularly in Bangalore Municipality. I also approached one leading IT company of the city. This was also global leader in system implementation. This company agreed that if Bangalore Municipality wants, they can implement latest information system in Bangalore Municipality at very low prices. I presented this to the chief minister. The chief minister was also annoyed with continuous media reports regarding Bangalore municipality. He got the chairman, director and dy. Director of Bangalore municipality transferred. Now there was a new head. The new head was willing to do something.

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Our group again met with the new head and requested that we wanted better information system in Bangalore municipality. This time we got better response. A committee was constituted to improve the system. Next 6 months witness massive changes in the Bangalore Municipality. Our movement is now in golden words in the history of organized initiatives for better governance. Our efforts culminated in a series of changes. Bangalore Municipality is now one of the best Municipalities in India. It is having best information systems in place. You can retrieve information about latest situation. The result is a series of changes in other municipalities. Subsequent to this, other municipalities also started implementing organizational restructuring and development initiatives. These changes have resulted in a series of initiatives for improvement in public systems.

We wish that these initiatives should be taken by other concerned citizens also. Our initiatives will go a long way in improving public systems in our country. Ahmedabad Municipality took huge leaps subsequent to us. They even went for public issues and revamped their systems. Thus we can say that people still have power in our system and the system of governance can be revamped. Questions: Looking at the above case, do you think that there is a need of organized movement throughout the country for revamping public systems in our country?

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P&G V/S HUL

P & G is known for its marketing skills. it has introduced many new products In the last few decades, it has a few basic strategies: Multi branding: it introduces 2-3 brands in the same product category. Each brand is targeted to a particular class of customers. For example, in laundry category it has introduced Arial and Tide one for upper middle class and one for lower middle class. Both products are having different psychological connotations and perceptual spaces. Category extension: it introduces a product in one category and then launches another category of products in that brand. Take for example Old spice. From shaving cream to a number of other products like deodorants etc. In some way P & G is in direct competition with HUL. Both the companies are having similar strategies. Both the companies are now having similar battle grounds. When you look at Surf, you have Arial fighting with it. When you look at wheel, you have tide fighting against it. There are product against product - for each of the product, they have come up with different products. Both the companies are having extensive advertising budgets, extensive promotions and brand building. Both the companies are having extensive sales force to supplement their marketing efforts. P & G has now realized that HUL is very aggressive in its rural marketing front. HUL has been able to create a wide spread

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distribution network in rural areas. You go in any village; you can find products like rin (product of HUL). Thus the challenge for P & G is take the battle beyond marketing and do something more important. People across the country are today having a favorable image towards HUL and P&G is comparatively less known. P & G has established its brands world over as very quality driven, socially responsible and accountable company. Its brand values have been so powerful that while other companies are increasing their sales promotion campaigns, P & G is continuously reducing its sales Promotions campaigns. It is now establishing its networking with companies like Wal-Mart and introducing schemes like everyday low prices (rather than sales promotions). P& G has now launched Shiksha project in India - the project which will enable this company to fulfill its social commitment. Earnings from the sale of the products will go towards Shiksha project. Thus consumers will also be happy that by using P & G products, they are able to contribute to nation building. P & G has extensively marketed its Shiksha project all over India. At retails outlets, you can find details of different brands of P & G and Shiksha project - there is a slogan written - "by purchasing these products, you contribute to nation building - through shiksha project" P & G has the worldwide record of having close to 25% market share in each of its products that it introduces. However, in India, it has yet to achieve these levels. You are required to compare the strategies of P&G and HUL and suggest appropriate marketing strategies for P&G and study Shiksha project and how this project can contribute to nation building in our country.

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WORLDGO

WorldGo Airlines is in deep red. It is having various difficult times. It was started with the objectives of having profitable ventures using less frequent routes. However, the idea didn’t pick up. WorldGo has adopted the following plans: 1. it offers 80% discount if booking is done 6 months earlier 2. it offers 20% discount if booking is done 3 months in advance 3. Occasionally it offers some free tickets also – the primary objective is to have media attention and attention of prospective flyers. 4. It offers 20% discount under its frequent flyer programme. World go has estimated that its annual fixed costs (including maintenance of airplanes) is 200 millions. If there is 100% occupancy in one flight, it can save Rs. 20 lakhs per flight. If however, there is 20% occupancy, then the company would not be able to recover its

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costs –not even variable costs. The challenge is to have at least 20% occupancy. The airlines company has seen a good response from customers due to its frequent announcements regarding free tickets / discount tickets. Travel agents and travel companies are given 15% commission by this company. The company has tried to establish its brand personality as a very sophisticated lady offering utmost care and sincere services. In all the advertisements of this company, you can find the smiling lady offering sincere services. WorldGo has also established agreements with an institution (which gives training to flight stewards) to have their trainees work with WorldGo. WorldGo offers them stipend, which is 20% of usual salaries offered to other permanent staff in similar airlines. WorldGo has the practice of recruiting only Pilots and Technical staff in its permanent core staff. It offers highest salary in the industry for pilots. It has no permanent service staff. All its service staff are on contract and most are working as trainees (on stipend). This company is also known for its innovative practices in the airlines industry. This company has routes, which are uncommon and different from other airline companies. WorldGo now plans to launch some innovative schemes to attract more travelers. It is planning to offer free travel passes to international film stars, and international celebrities. It wishes to attract them. It also has the plan to launch an innovative contest in each of its flights. However, these plans have yet to work out. The company also has the practice of selling out its airplanes just after 3 years of use. The company has been able to maintain accident free record till date. Due to many innovative practices like this. The company has been able to survive (although, the CEO realizes that due to world wide recession, it is difficult to continue any more). The company has now plans to train its HR department for institutionalizing innovation across the organization. The company is having a plan to have a comprehensive training programme for its staff. The already struggling company has the plans to have 5 day training programme. This type of training programmes is having huge costs. The debate is whether to go for such training programmes or not? Some executives of the company claim that these costs should be avoided. The company on the other hand wants to have innovative practices across the company to save costs and to bring distinct advantages in comparison to other company. HR department argues that due to recession, this is the best time to send the employees for training, later it would be difficult for the company to have such training as the employees would get less time to spare. The number of flights is continuously reduced due to lack of bookings. In such critical

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period, do you think that the company should continue to go ahead for its training programmes? What are the precautions that you can suggest to this company to tide over the difficulties that it may face?

BOARD MEETING OF AN NGO

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It is the scene of the board meeting of an NGO. The organization wants to launch a nation wide campaign to promote blood donation and organ donation among the youth. The NGO wants that youth should come forward and donate blood and other body organs (like eyes). The NGO also wants to launch its services on these matters. The question is how to launch it. Ajay: “I believe that we have to see here how companies launch the products. Recently Tata Motors has launched Tata Ace. This is a product which was designed after undertaking market survey. People told they want a minitruck. The traditional trucks are not suitable for narrow streets of India. Therefore Tata group designed a new mini-truck and it was priced little above auto-rikshaw (over Rs. 3 lakh) and it became a very successful and it doesn’t have any competition. The reason for its success is that it is a product, which fulfills the vacuum. There was a vacuum and Tata Motors filled this vacuum. You can’t sell a product which is not required by people. If you are launching any product or service, you have to first survey people and identify their requirements and thereafter you have to introduce the product. NGOs also have to follow this model.” Sudha : “I disagree to this. There is no need of any survey. We have to build a brand – no doubt about it. I believe that NGOs are offering services and therefore they have to look into the feelings of people. If people believe in something, they will do it. We have to touch the emotions of the people. Even in products also, companies follow this as their marketing strategy. Look at Nike, it offered its shoes to athletes, sportspersons like Michael Jordon etc. Its products became popular among masses because people thought that this product is for those who are tough and thus this product became successful. Look at many services, which have become vary popular. They are popular, because people associate them with those who are the leaders / opinion leaders. Thus we have to introduce our services in piecemeal approach; it will percolate down from top to the bottom.” Monika: “Services are intangible, inseparable, and perishable. If you are launching any services, you have to understand that people must believe in your brand and trust your company. People will not trust our company. Look at Pulls Polio campaign. It used services of Amitabh Bachhan, and it worked. People believe in what Amitabh says. We should also use similar approach of celebrity endorsement. I do agree to what Ajay and Sudha say, but I believe that being a change agent, we have to use some celebrity, who will endorse what we say.” Swati : “Being from science background, I believe that people will accept what is scientifically convincing. Let us tell them the truth that

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donating small amount of blood doesn’t cause them any harm. This will work. People are ignorant. Most of the people are influenced by rumors. If we communicate facts, it will work.” Pankaj: “ We have to launch a campaign. Only those campaigns work, which are able to take masses. Masses have herd mentality. If people will do something, everyone will do it. What we need is to create a mass movement. Look at Mumbai Marathon. Those people who cant run even 100 meters, start participating in the Mumbai Marathon. This is what we call as mass appeal. People adopt ideas in groups. Let us think over this matter and create a creative campaign for bringing masses with us.” After reading the ideas of all these speakers, you have to present your ideas. Ram: “There is no need of any brand ambassador here. We have to undertake puppet shows for this We should go from mohalla to mohalla.” Dhaval: “people work on emotions. People donate blood on some emotional reasons. People will donate blood on some anniversary. People will easily donate blood on Gandhi Jayanti etc.” Pankaj: “We need to carry out a survey and identify about the perception of people.” Swati : “Survey is necessary, when we will go to the people and come to know about why people are skeptical. When we come to know about their thinking, we can convince them about importance of this work.” Vivek : “people want to donate blood. We have to form voluntary groups, which will go from home to home and they should make others members of this group. Members of this group should donate once in 3 month. This group will expand and thus we will be able to form a big group for this social cause.” Pratibha: “People donate blood on their own. We have to organize camps for this and people will come and donate.” Ajay : “We will carry out survey and identify why people don’t donate blood. We will also ensure that people come to see the blood donation process and this will work.” Whose ideas are most convincing to you and why ?

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