SMU MBA SUMMER 2014 ASSIGNMENTS

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SEM 2 SUMMER 2014 ASSIGNMENTS
MB 0044 - PRODUCTION AND OPERATION MANAGEMENT
Q1. Explain the four basic varieties of layouts for manufacturing facilities. (Process layout – 4
marks; Product layout- 3 marks; Group technology layout – 2 marks; Fixed position layout – 1
mark)
Q2. The major decision areas in supply chain management have both strategic and operational
elements . Explain these decision areas in detail. (Location decisions; Production decision;
Inventory decisions; Transportation decisions- 10 marks, i.e 2.5 marks each)
Q3. Business process is a total response that a business undertakes utilising the resources and
delivering the outputs that create a value for the customer. Business process modelling refers to
a set of activities undertaken to optimise the business process. Business process modelling can
be categorised into two parts – Logical processing modelling and physical process modeling.
Explain in detail of the two processes of modeling. (Logical processing modeling : Definition – 1
mark , Steps to be followed to make the work smoother – 2 marks, Explanation of logical
process model including what it consists of , represents, improves and identifies; logical
modelling formats ;ways of representing logical process modelling – 4 marks; physical process
modeling including definition, what it deals with , why objects during physical modelling vary
on the database software being used, outcomes- 3 marks)
4 Write short notes on:
a) Dimensions of quality
b) Characteristics of project mindset
Q5. It is possible to work according to the project plan only by careful monitoring of the project
progress. There are various steps involved in monitoring and controlling a project from start to
end. One of the steps is progress control of a project which can be achieved by completing
certain steps. Explain the steps of progress control. (Monitor performance, Update schedule,
Update costs, Re-plan stage schedule, Conduct team status review, Create status report, Create
flash report, Project status reports - 10 i.e. 1.25 marks each)
6 Write short notes on
a) Pure strategies employed to assist in aggregate planning
b) Approaches to scheduling
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MB0045 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
1. TCS has emerged as India's most admired company ahead of Hindustan Unilever, ITC, and
Infosys, says global management consultancy Hay Group. TCS replaced last year's winner group
company Tata Steel by scoring highest on parameters such as corporate governance, financial

soundness, and talent management. Two criteria in particular, Leadership, and Creating
Shareholder Value separated the winners.
How do you think effective interaction between HR and finance department of a firm helps in
achieving its skills?
Do you think that TCS has preferred the profit maximization approach over the wealth
maximization approach?
[Interaction between HR and finance functions-4
Goals of Financial management-6]
2. A) The current price of an Ashok Leyland share is Rs. 30. The company is expected to pay a
dividend of Rs. 2.50 per share which goes up annually at 6%. If an investor’s required rate of
return is 11%, should he or she buy this share or not?
B) A bond with a face value of Rs. 100 provides an annual return of 8% and pays Rs. 125 at the
time of maturity, which is 10 years from now. If the investor’s required rate of return is 12%,
what should be the price of the bond?
[A Problem-5
B problem-5]
3. a) How do you think the trend of capital structure across the Indian corporates affect the
economy as a whole?
b) What proportion of debt and equity should be taken up in the capital structure of a firm?
c) Discuss the theories that are propounded to understand the relationship between financial
leverage and value of the firm.
[a) Trend of capital structure-2
b) proportion of debt and equity-3
c) explain the theories-5]
4. HPCL was established in 1952, operates from 500 different locations, including refineries,
terminals, LPG plants, aviation service facilities, etc. They developed a Lotus Notes workflow
tool and deployed it across the organisation so that any capital investment proposal from any
operating location in the country can be routed to relevant reviewers and approving authorities.
With the implementation of the new online system, the total cost savings as a result of reduced
man-hours amounts to about Rs 25 lakh per annum.
1. What do you think would have been the complexities involved in implementing this new
project at HPCL?
2. What are the various phases in the capital budgeting process? To what extent do you believe
that automation can ease out the process?
[1) capital budgeting process-5
2) Phases in capital budgeting decisions-5]
5. A) Indicate whether the operating cycle in the following industries is short (less than 30
days), medium (less than 6 months) or long (more than 6 months) Steel, rice, vegetables, fruits,
jewellery, processed food, furniture, mining, flowers and textiles
b) Companies with the shortest working capital cycles have current ratios much lower than the
firms with longer cycles. What is your view on this statement? How do you think the operating
cycle affects operating profit margins?
c) Discuss the relationship between working capital management and market performance of a
company? Do you think the kind of relationship varies depending on the type of industry?
[a) duration-2
b) operating cycle-4
c) need for working capital-4]
6. Nirma acquired Core Healthcare Ltd. in FY 2007. To bring about improvement in terms of
liquidity in the script of the Company , it has gone for a stock split because it hasn’t had any
buyback in the recent past. Nirma paid Interim dividend in 2007 to avoid the higher dividend
tax announced in that year’s budget.
Henkel, on the other hand, has a very weak Dividend Policy. The major reason being that the
company has weak operations and low margins. There is no record of Stock Splits and Buybacks
by Henkel India in the past.

Discuss the dividend polices of these two companies.
[a) Analyse the dividend policies of the two companies for the last 10 years-7
b) Explain stock split and buyback of shares-3]
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MB0046- Marketing Management
1. A brand is a composite set of beliefs and associations in the mind of consumers. In brand
development, as a part of branding strategy decision, the brand manager can decide to create
new brand elements for the new products, apply some of the existing brand elements to the new
product, or use a combination of existing and new brand elements to the existing and new
products. Explain the different branding strategies used by the companies for their range of
products.
Definition of Brand
Advantages of Brand
Explanation of different branding strategies adopted by companies
2 Describe the international market entry strategies in brief.
Joint ventures
Strategic alliances
Direct investment
Contract manufacturing
Franchising
3 Explain the classification of market based on nature of Competition and area.
Definition of market
Classification of market based on nature of Competition and area
4 Personal selling focuses in on ‘personal’ or ‘one to one’ selling. It involves an individual
salesman or a sales team establishing and building a profitable relationship with customers
over a period of time through a series of steps. Explain the steps in the personal selling process
which helps in the successful sales.
Definition of Personal Selling
Explanation of steps in the Personal selling process
5 Discuss about competition based pricing and product mix pricing strategies with examples.
Define pricing
Explanation of product mix pricing strategies with examples
6 Do you think the argument of some theorists that the traditional Ps are not enough for
services marketing? Give suitable examples to prove your point.
Define Service Marketing
Explanation of 4p’s
Explanation of Additional 3 p’s
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MB0047- MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
1 In the current e-world any organisation’s massive operations are managed by various types of
information systems that help them to achieve their goals of servicing their clients. This can be

done by the growth of modern organization. Discuss some of the essential features of modern
organisation.
A Listing the features
Explaining each of them in brief
2 Marketing managers are keener to look for a least cost route that also allow a sales person to
meet all his customers. Identifying a least cost route with this features is slightly complicated.
Therefore, managers depend on decision support tools to find the most cost effective routes to
cover the market. The travelling salesman problem is one of such tool. Describe the tool with a
diagram.
A Graphical representation of Travelling salesman problem
Describing the problem
3 There are many examples of digital goods. Companies such as Amazon.com are selling digital
versions of books over their site. These digital books can be read on special readers that display
the pages on a screen.
a. List the important properties of information goods
b. Explain positive feedback with diagrams
Aa. Listing the properties
b. Two diagrams
Explanation on positive feedback
4 Decision support systems (DSS) are used extensively across organisations to assist managers
with making decisions. Decision making by managers involves the phases of intelligence, design,
and choice, and DSS help mainly with the choice part as they support structured and
unstructured types of decisions.
a. What is it that managers do when they make decisions?
b. Explain the different types of decisions
Aa. Explaining decision making process
b. List and describing the different types of decisions
5 What is crowdsourcing? How does the site Galaxy Zoo manage crowdsourcing?
A Crowdsourcing definition
Explaining site Galaxy Zoo management
6 Data and information relating to individuals could be of sensitive nature. Give some examples
of such kind of data
AExplaining five examples
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MB0048 OPERATIONS RESEARCH
1 Discuss the various stages involved in the methodology of Operations Research. Briefly
explain the techniques and tools of Operations Research.
2 Explain the steps involved in linear programming problem formulation with an example.
Discuss in brief the advantages of linear programming
3. a. What is degeneracy in transportation problem? How it can be resolved?
b. Solve the following transportation problem using Vogel’s approximation method.
Factories Distribution Centres Supply
C1 C2 C3 C4
F1 3 2 7 6 50
F2 7 5 2 3 60
F3 2 5 4 5 25
Requirements 60 40 20 15

[Degeneracy in transportation problem and resolving it-5
Computation/Solution to the problem-5]
4. a. Explain the steps in Hungarian method. Differentiate between Transportation and
Assignment problem.
b. Find the optimal assignment of four jobs and four machines when the cost of assignment is
given by the following table:
J1 J2 J3 J4
M1 10 9 8 7
M2 3 4 5 6
M3 2 1 1 2
M4 4 3 5 6
[Steps in Hungarian method-3
Differences between Transportation and Assignment problem-3
Computation/Solution to the problem-4]
5. Define Simulation. Explain the Simulation procedure. Discuss the use of Simulation with an
example.
[Meaning of Simulation-2
Simulation procedure-4
Use of simulation with an example-4]
6. Explain the following:
a. Integer programming model
b. PERT and CPM
c. Operating Characteristics of a Queuing System
[Explanation of Integer programming model-4
Explanation of PERT and CPM-3
Explanation of Operating Characteristics of a Queuing System-3]
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MB0049 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT
1 There cannot be a single ideal structure for all organisations as different organisations have
different size, environment, resources, technologies, and goals. There are many different ways
in which people can be organised to work on projects.
Explain in brief the concept of organisational structure.
A Brief explanation following organisation structures, advantages, disadvantages and examples
for each type of structure
2 Write short notes on:
 Work Breakdown Structure(WBS)
 Rules for network construction
 Risk retention
 Emerging methods of communication
3 Purchase cycle is a standard process that corporations and individuals progress through (in
order) when purchasing a product or service. It is also known as the 'buying cycle' or 'purchase
process'. Explain the elements of the purchase cycle of a project.
AElements of the purchase cycle
4 Write a note on Earned Value Method (EVM)
AEVM explanation
Parameters to calculate performance measures

Plot of BCWS versus time
Plots BCWS, ACWP, and BCWP for a typical project
5 What are the common features available in PM software packages?
A Common features available in PM
Conclusion
6 A project should earn sufficient return on the investment. The very idea of promoting a project
by an entrepreneur is to earn attractive returns on investment on the project.
If there are many alternative projects, all of which, at first sight, appear to be more or less equal
in profit earning capacity, the investor should make a comparative study of the return on the
different alternative proposals before choosing one. Such financial analysis broadly falls under
two categories. They are:
 No discounted cash flow techniques
 Discounted cash flow techniques
Explain the subdivisions within the above two categories.
AExplanation of subdivisions of No discounted cash flow techniques
Explanation of subdivisions of discounted cash flow techniques
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SMU MBA SUMMER 2014 ASSIGNMENTS

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