#T-shirt factory in Bangalore

[valki-exports]

What Makes Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. the Best T-Shirts Manufacturer in Bangalore?

In the bustling garment industry of Bangalore, finding the right T-shirts manufacturer can be challenging. Among the many options, Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. stands out as the best T-shirts manufacturer in Bangalore, known for its exceptional quality, innovative designs, and commitment to customer satisfaction.

Quality You Can Trust

At Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd., quality is our top priority. As a leading T-shirts manufacturer in Bangalore, we use only the finest materials to ensure that every T-shirt is durable, comfortable, and stylish. Our advanced manufacturing techniques and strict quality control processes guarantee that each piece meets the highest standards.

Versatile Range of Products

Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. offers a diverse range of T-shirts to cater to different needs. Whether you’re looking for trendy casual wear, professional corporate apparel, or custom designs, we’ve got you covered. Our extensive product line includes options for men, women, and kids, making us a go-to T-shirts manufacturer in Bangalore for all your clothing needs.

Commitment to Sustainability

In addition to quality, Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. is dedicated to sustainable manufacturing practices. We take pride in being a responsible T-shirts manufacturer in Bangalore, minimizing our environmental impact through eco-friendly production methods and ethical sourcing of materials.

Conclusion

Choosing the right T-shirts manufacturer in Bangalore is crucial for your business, and Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. is the perfect partner to help you succeed. With our commitment to quality, diverse product range, and sustainable practices, we are the best choice for all your T-shirt manufacturing needs in Bangalore. Trust Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. to deliver excellence every time.

[vintageindiaprints-blog]

Vintage India is the custom digital textile printing company, with its factory located in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, India. Vintage India is a digital textile printing services provider company, and we also provide new and used printing Machines providing digital printing services on Polyester, Cotton, Viscose, Nylon, Silk, Modal, Lycra, Rayon, and Linen fabrics. Vintage India has the latest digital printing machines in our facility, which is in Bhiwandi, the hub of the textile industry of India, which enables Vintage India to become an affordable low-cost producer and eventually differentiates us from other major textile mills and big digital printing service provider companies of the world. Vintage India uses computerized commercial wide-format ink-jet digital printers to provide dye-sublimation digital printing service for polyester fabrics using sublimation dyes/inks and a heat press transfer machine. Vintage India also provides direct digital printing service for natural fabrics using reactive dyes/inks. It does pretreatment before printing and post-treatment after printing on the natural fabrics. Vintage India is a true friend of Fashion Designers, Fabric Wholesalers, Fabric Suppliers, Textile Exporters, Fabric Product Manufacturers, Traders, Textile Importers, based in Surat, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, etc. Our international clients are from the United States of America - USA, Canada, France, Australia, United Kingdom - UK, New Zealand, Ukraine, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates - UAE, Hong Kong, Malaysia. They do cool stuff with our digital printed fabrics. Our major business cover printing on all kind of fabric provided from the client to us and they usually make final products related to Garment / Apparel Industry or Home Furniture Textile Industry. They make Garment / Apparel Products like Tops, Shirts, Scarves, Kurtis, Skirt, Leggings, T-shirts, Laces, Bags, Totes, Canvas Shoes, and etc... They also make Home Textile Products like Cushion Covers, Pillow Covers, Bed Sheet, Printed Curtains, Sofa Covers, Chair Covers, and etc... To learn more about the company services you can contact us at 9768955103 (at मुंबई Mumbai) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDarAJaH0NL/?igshid=1i9g8eeq3abty

[mykalyansriexport]

Oeko-Tex Certified Mens T-Shirts

 Our Website:- https://www.organicclothingsindia.com/

                 Incorporated in the year 1978, Sri Kalyan Export Pvt.Ltd. introduces itself as a leading manufacturer, producer, supplier and Exporter India of Organic cotton certified garments apparels of Babies wear, kids wear, women’s wear and Men’s wear. Our products are available in variety of sizes, designs and patterns that is made by taking care of every single need of our clients. And we are supplying our products in each and every part of the world.

                 Our company has earned a reputable status in the market because of prompt delivery of Goods. With the well-equipped development facility, we have been able to offer certified Oeko tex certified Mens T-shirts in variety of designs and Custom colors. Also we are able to provide GOTS Certified OrganicCottonprinted T-shirts, BCI Cotton Certified manufacturer of designer T-shirts, Cotton Made in Africa Certified checked T-shirts and GRS Global Recycle Cotton Certified striped T-shirts and so on. So far we are obtained in multiple sizes to attain customer’s credibility and trust.

               The T-shirts we produced are available in pigment or reactive or discharge printed which are manufactured and exported in fair tradeorganic yarn dyed T-shirts. We are proud to be GOTS organic certified manufacturer of mens yarn dyed T-shirts, Fair trade certified manufacturer of plaid T-shirts designs, Oeko-tex certified manufacturer of Printed T-shirts, GRS Certified GlobalRecycle Cotton manufacturer of mens T-shirts, CMIA Cotton made in Africa manufacturer, Chetna organic cotton manufacturer and exporter of Mens T-shirts and so on. And we serve better quality with better finishing of products which are exported to other countries like Germany, France, USA, Finland, Italy, Slovenia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia from Delhi, Mumbai, INDIA. We are certified with Social Certifications like SA 8000, SEDEX (SMETA). Which ensures our Sustainable and Ethical Business Practices, Safety Working conditions, Fire safety standards, living wages provided to all Employees.

           We also do OCS Certified Organic Cotton blended Mens T-shirts in prints and yarn dyed. We are Lenzing Certified Tencel mens T-shirts, and Sustainable Ecovero viscose mens T-shirts printed and dyed. 100%Modal mens T-shirts. 100% Linen men T-shirts manufacturer and exporter of Viscose/Flax, Linen/flax mens T-shirts manufacturer, bamboo mens T-shirts manufacturer and exporter of Eco cotton T-shirts manufacturer, Lyocell fabric T-shirts manufacturer, Hemp men T-shirts manufacturer to various countries from India. Our factory is located near to Bangalore and Chennai and Tiruppur. Those certification achieved by our company tells the standardization of our company at international level in aspect of product line quality.

Special Features:

·    Versatile designs

·    Eye-catching appearance

·    Highly comfortable

·    Optimum smoothness

[prasanththampi]

IIBMS ongoing exam answer sheets provided. Whatsapp 91 9924764558

        INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS IIBMS ONGOING EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

CONTACT:

DR. PRASANTH BE BBA MBA PH.D. MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com

    International Business

                                Marks - 100

        Note: Solve any 4 Cases Study’s

CASE: I    ARROW AND THE APPAREL INDUSTRY

Ten years ago, Arvind Clothing Ltd., a subsidiary of Arvind Brands Ltd., a member of the Ahmedabad based Lalbhai Group, signed up with the 150- year old Arrow Company, a division of Cluett Peabody & Co. Inc., US, for licensed manufacture of Arrow shirts in India. What this brought to India was not just another premium dress shirt brand but a new manufacturing philosophy to its garment industry which combined high productivity, stringent in-line quality control, and a conducive factory ambience.

Arrow’s first plant, with a 55,000 sq. ft. area and capacity to make 3,000 to 4,000 shirts a day, was established at Bangalore in 1993 with an investment of Rs 18 crore. The conditions inside—with good lighting on the workbenches, high ceilings, ample elbow room for each worker, and plenty of ventilation, were a decided contrast to the poky, crowded, and confined sweatshops characterising the usual Indian apparel factory in those days. It employed a computer system for translating the designed shirt’s dimensions to automatically mark the master pattern for initial cutting of the fabric layers. This was installed, not to save labour but to ensure cutting accuracy and low wastage of cloth.

The over two-dozen quality checkpoints during the conversion of fabric to finished shirt was unique to the industry. It is among the very few plants in the world that makes shirts with 2 ply 140s and 3 ply 100s cotton fabrics using 16 to 18 stitches per inch. In March 2003, the Bangalore plant could produce stain-repellant shirts based on nanotechnology.

The reputation of this plant has spread far and wide and now it is loaded mostly with export orders from renowned global brands such as GAP, Next, Espiri, and the like. Recently the plant was identified by Tommy Hilfiger to make its brand of shirts for the Indian market. As a result, Arvind Brands has had to take over four other factories in Bangalore on wet lease to make the Arrow brand of garments for the domestic market.

In fact, the demand pressure from global brands which want to outsource form Arvind Brands is so great that the company has had to set up another large factory for export jobs on the outskirts of Bangalore. The new unit of 75,000 sq. ft. has cost Rs 16 crore and can turn out 8,000 to 9,000 shirts per day. The technical collaborators are the renowned C&F Italia of Italy.

Among the cutting edge technologies deployed here are a Gerber make CNC fabric cutting machine, automatic collar and cuff stitching machines, pneumatic holding for tasks like shoulder joining, threat trimming and bottom hemming, a special machine to attach and edge stitch the back yoke, foam finishers which use air and steam to remove creases in the finished garment, and many others. The stitching machines in this plant can deliver up to 25 stitches per inch. A continuous monitoring of the production process in the entire factory is done through a computerised apparel production management system, which is hooked to every machine. Because of the use of such technology, this plant will need only 800 persons for a capacity which is three times that of the first plant which employs 580 persons.

Exports of garments made for global brands fetched Arvind Brands over Rs 60 crore in 2002, and this can double in the next few years, when the new factory goes on full stream. In fact, with the lifting of the country-wise quota regime in 2005, there will be surge in demand for high quality garments from India and Arvind is already considering setting up two more such high tech export-oriented factories.

It is not just in the area of manufacture but also retailing that the Arrow brand brought a wind of change on the Indian scene. Prior to its coming, the usual Indian shirt shop used to be a clutter of racks with little by way of display. What Arvind Brands did was to set up exclusive showrooms for Arrow shirts in which the functional was combined with aesthetic. Stuffed racks and clutter eschewed. The product were displayed in such a manner the customer could spot their qualities from a distance. Of course, today this has become standard practice with many other brands in the country, but Arrow showed the way. Arrow today has the largest network of 64 exclusive outlets across India. It is also present in 30 retail chains. It branched into multi-brand outlets in 2001, and is present in over 200 select outlets.

From just formal dress shirts in the beginning, the product range of Arvind Brands has expanded in the last ten years to include casual shirts, T-shirts, and trousers. In the pipeline are light jackets and jeans engineered for the middle-aged paunch. Arrow also tied up with the renowned Italian designer, Renato Grande, who has worked with names like Versace and Marlboro, to design its Spring / Summer Collection 2003. The company has also announced its intention to license the Arrow brand for other lifestyle accessories like footwear, watches, undergarments, fragrances, and leather goods. According to Darshan Mehta, President, Arvind Brands Ltd., the current turnover at retail prices of the Arrow brand in India is about Rs 85 crore. He expects the turnover to cross Rs 100 crore in the next few years, of which about 15 per cent will be from the licensed non-clothing products.

In 2005, Arvind Brands launched a major retail initiative for all its brands. Arvind Brands licensed brands (Arrow, Lee and Wrangler) had grown at a healthy 35 per cent rate in 2004 and the company planned to sustain the growth by increasing their retail presence. Arvind Brands also widened the geographical presence of its home-grown brands, such as Newport and Ruf-n Tuf, targeting small towns across India. The company planned to increase the number of outlets where its domestic brands would be available, and draw in new customers for readymades. To improve its presence in the high-end market, the firm started negotiating with an international brand and is likely to launch the brand.

The company has plans to expand its retail presence of Newport Jeans, from 1200 outlets across 480 towns to 3000 outlets covering 800 towns.

For a company ranked as one of the world’s largest manufactures of denim cloth and owners of world famous brands, the future looks bright and certain for Arvind Brands Ltd.

Company profile

Name of the Company              :Arvind Mills

Year of Establishment              :1931

Promoters                                   : Three brothers--Katurbhai, Narottam Bhai, and Chimnabhai

Divisions                                    :Arvind Mills was split in 1993 into Units—textiles, telecom and garments. Arvind Ltd. (textile unit) is 100 per cent                          subsidiary of Arvind Mills.

Growth Strategy                             :Arvind Mills has grown through buying-up of sick units, going global and acquisition of German and US brand             names.

Questions

Why did Arvind Mills choose globalization as the major route to achieve growth when the domestic market was huge?

How does lifting of ‘Country-wise quota regime’ help Arvind Mills?

What lessons can other Indian businesses learn form the experience of Arvind Mills?

CASE: II    THE ECONOMY OF KENYA

Kenya’ economy has been beset by high rates of unemployment and underemployment for many years. But at no time has it been more significant and more politically dangerous than in the late 1990s as an authoritarian beset by corruption, cronyism and economic plunder threatened the economic stability of this once proud nation. Yet Kenya still has great potential. Located in East Africa, it has a diverse geographic and climatic endowment. Three-fifths of the nation is semiarid desert (mostly in the north), and the resulting infertility of this land has dictated the location of 85 per cent of the population (30 million in 2000) and almost all economic activity in the southern two-fifths of the country. Kenya’s rapidly growing population is composed of many tribes and is extremely heterogeneous (including traditional herders, subsistence and commercial farmers, Arab Muslims, and cosmopolitan residents of Nairobi). The standard of living at least in major cities, is relatively high compared to the average of other sub-Saharan African countries.

However, widespread poverty (per capita US$360), high unemployment, and growing income inequality make Kenya a country of economic as well as geographic diversity. Agriculture is the most important economic activity. About three quarters of the population still lives in rural areas and about 7 million workers are employed in agriculture, accounting for over two-thirds of the total workforce.

Despite many changes in the democratic system, including the switch from a federal to a republican government, the conversion of the prime ministerial system into a presidential one, the transition to a unicameral legislature, and the creation of a one-party state, Kenya has displayed relatively high political stability (by African standards) since gaining independence from Britain in 1963. Since independence, there have been only two presidents. However, this once stable and prosperous capitalist nation has witnessed widespread ethnic violence and political upheavals since 1992 as a deteriorating economy, unpopular one-party rule, and charges of government corruption create a tense situation.

An expansionary economic policy characterised by large public investments, support of small agricultural production units, and incentives for private (domestic and foreign) industrial investment played an important role in the early 7 per cent rate of GDP growth in the first decade after independence. In the following seven years (1973-80), the oil crisis let to a lower GDP growth to an annual rate of 5 per cent. Along with the oil price shock, lack of adequate domestic saving and investment slowed the growth of the economy. Various economic policies designed to promote industrial growth led to a neglect of agriculture and a consequent decline in farm prices, farm production, and farmer incomes. As peasant farmers became poorer, more migrated to Nairobi, swelling an already overcrowded city and pushing up an existing high rate of urban unemployment. Very high birthrates along with a steady decline in death rates (mainly through lower infant mortality) led Kenya’s population growth to become the highest in the world (4.1 per cent per year) in 1988. Population growth fell to a still high rate of 2.4 per cent for the period 1990-2000.

The slowdown in GDP growth persisted in the following five years (1980-85), when the annual average was 2.6 per cent. It was a period of stabilization in which political shakiness of 1982 and the severe drought in 1984 contributed to a slowdown in industrial growth. Interest rates rose and wages fell in the public and private sectors. An improvement in the budget deficit and current account trade deficit, obtained through cuts in development expenditures and recessive policies aimed at reducing imports, contributed to lower economic growth. By 1990, Kenya’s per capita income was 9 per cent lower than it was in 1980--$370 compared to $410. It continued to decline in the 1990s. In fact, GDP per capita fell at an annual average rate of 0.3 per cent throughout the decade. At the same time, the urban unemployment rate rose to 30 per cent.

Comprising 23 per cent of 2000 GDP AND 77 per cent of merchandise exports, agricultural production is the backbone of the Kenyan economy. Because of its importance, the Kenyan government has implemented several policies to nourish the agricultural sector. Two such policies include fixing attractive producer prices and making available increasing amounts of fertilizer. Kenya’s chief agricultural exports are coffee, tea, sisal, cashew nuts, pyrethrum, and horticultural products. Traditionally, coffee has been Kenya’s chief earner in foreign exchange.

Although Kenya is chiefly agrarian, it is still the most industrialised country in eastern Africa. Public and private industry accounted for 16 per cent of GDP in 2000. Kenya’s chief manufacturing activities are food processing and the production of beverages, tobacco, footwear, textiles, cement, metal products, paper, and chemicals.

Kenya currently faces a multitude of problems. These include a stagnating economy, growing political unrest, a huge budget deficit, high unemployment, a substantial balance of payments problem, and a stubbornly high population growth rate.

With the unemployment rate already at 30 per cent and its population growing, Kenya faces the major task of employing its burgeoning labour force. Yet only 10-15 per cent of seekers land jobs in the modern industrial sector. The remainder must find jobs in the self-employment sector; in the agricultural sector, where wages are low and opportunities are scarce; or join the masses of the unemployed.

In addition to the unemployment problem, Kenya must always be concerned with how to feed its growing population. An increase in population means an increasing demand for food. Yet only 20 per cent of Kenya’s land is arable. This implies that the land must become increasingly productive. Unfortunately, several factors work to constrain Kenya’s food output, among them fragmented landholdings, increasing environmental degradation, the high cost of agricultural inputs, and burdensome governmental involvement in the purchase, sale, and pricing of agricultural output.

For the fiscal year 1995, the Kenyan budget deficit was $362 million, well above the government’s target rate. Dealing with a high budget deficit is a second problem Kenya currently faces. Following the collapse of the East African Common Market, Kenya’s industrial growth rate has declined; as a result the government’s tax base has diminished. To supplement domestic savings, Kenya has had to turn to external sources of finance, including foreign aid grants from Western governments. Its highly protected public enterprises have been turning in a poor performance, thus absorbing a large chunk of the government budget. To pay for its expenses, Kenya has had to borrow from international banks in addition to foreign aid. In recent years, government borrowing from the international banking system rose dramatically and contributed to a rapid growth in money supply. This translated into high inflation and pinched availability of credit.

Kenya has also had a chronic international balance of payments problem. Decreasing prices for its exports, combined with increasing prices for its imports, left Kenya importing almost twice as much as it exported in 2000, at $3,200 million in imports and only $1,650 million in exports. World demand for coffee, Kenya‘s predominant exports, remains below supply. In 2001-01, a dramatic surge in coffee exports from Vietnam hurt Kenya further. Hence Kenya cannot make full use of its comparative advantage in coffee production, and its stock of coffee has been increasing. Tea, another main export, has also had difficulties. In 1987, Pakistan, the second largest importer of Kenyan tea, slashed its purchases. Combined with a general oversupply in the world market, this fall in demand drove the price of tea downward. Hence Kenya experienced both a lower dollar value and quantity demanded for one of its principal exports.

Kenya faces major challenges in the years ahead as the economy tries to recover. Current is expected to be no more than 1 to 2 per cent annually. Heavy rains have spoiled crops and washed away roads, bridges, and telephone lines. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism, once promising, dropped by 40 per cent in the mid-1990s, then suffered again after the August 7, 1998, terrorist bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi. Even more frightening, however, is the prospect of growing hunger as Kenya’s maize (corn) crop has failed to meet rising internal demand and dwindling foreign exchange reserves have to be spent to import food. Corruption is perceived to be so widespread that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank suspended $292 million in loans to Kenyan in the summer of 1997 while insisting on tough new austerity measures to control public spending and weed out economic cronyism. As a result, the economy went into a tailspin, foreign investors fled the country, and inflation accelerated markedly.

Unfortunately, needed structural adjustments resulting form the World Bank—and IMF—induced austerity demands usually take a long time. Whether the Kenyan political and economic system can withstand any further deterioration in living conditions is a major question. Public protests for greater democracy and a growing incidence of ethnic violence may be harbingers of things to come.

Fig 1  Continuum of Economic Systems

Pure Market                                                                                   Pure Centrally Planned Economy

Economy

       The US                                         France                                India  China

                       Canada                                  Brazil                                                           Cuba

                                            UK                                                                                                     North Korea

Questions

Is the economic environment of Kenya favourable to international business? Yes or no—substantiate.

In the continuum of economic systems (see Fig 1), where do you place Kenya and why?

Case III: LATE MOVER ADVANTAGE?

Though a late entrant, Toyota is planning to conquer the Indian car market. The Japanese auto major wants to dispel the notion that the first mover enjoys an edge over the rivals who arrive late into a market.

Toyota entered the Indian market through the joint venture route, the partner being the Bangalore based Kirloskar Electric Co. Know as Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the plant was set up in 1998 at Bidadi near Bangalore.

To start with, TKM released its maiden offer—Qualis. Qualis is not a newly conceived, designed, and brought out vehicle. Rather it is the new avatar of Kijang under which brand the vehicle was sold in markets like Indonesia.

Qualis virtually had no competition. Telco’s Sumo was not a multi-utility vehicle like Qualis. Rather, it was mini-truck converted into a rugged all-purpose van. More importantly, Toyota proved that even its old offering, but decked up for India, could offer better quality than its competitor. Backed by a carefully thought out advertising campaign that communicated Toyota’s formidable global reputation, Qualis went on a roll and overtook Tata Sumo within two years of launch.

Sumo sold 25,706 vehicles during 2000-2001, compared to a 3 per cent growth over the previous year, compared to 25,373 of Qualis. But during 2001-2002, it was a different story. Qualis had been clocking more than 40 per cent share of the market. At the end of Sept 2001, Qualis had sold over 25,000 units, compared to Sumo’s 18000 plus.

The heady initial success has made TKM think of the future with robust confidence. By 2010, TKM wants to make and sell one million vehicles per year and garner one-third share of the Indian market.

The firm is planning to introduce a wide range of vehicle—a sub-compact, a sedan, a luxury car and a new multi-utility vehicle to replace Qualis. A significant percentage of the vehicles will be exported.

But Toyota is not as lucky in China. Its strategy of ‘late entry’ in China seems to have back fired. In 2005, it sold just 1,83,000 cars in China, the fastest growing auto market in the world. Toyota ranks ninth in the market, far behind Volkswagen, General Motors, Hyundai and Honda.

Toyota delayed producing cars in China until 2002, when it entered a joint venture with a local company, the First Auto Works Group (FAW). The first car manufactured by Toyota-FAW, the Vios, failed to attract much of a market, as, despite its unremarkable design, it was three times as expensive as most cars sold in China.

Late start was not the only problem. There were other lapses too. Toyota assumed the Chinese market would be similar to the Japanese market. But Chinese market, in reality, resembled the American market.

Sales personnel in Japan are paid salaries. They succeeded in building a loyal clientele for Toyota by providing first-class service to them. Likewise, most Japanese auto dealers sell a single brand, thereby ensuring their loyalty to it. Japan is a relatively a well-knit country with an ethnically homogeneous population. Accordingly, Toyota used nationwide advertising to market its products in its home country.

But China is different. Sales people are paid commissions and most dealers sell multiple brands. Obviously, loyalty plays little role in motivating either the sales staff or the dealers, who will ignore a slow selling product should a more profitable one turn up. Besides, China is a large, diverse country. A standardised ad campaign will not do. Luckily, Toyota is learning its lessons.

Competition in the Chinese market is tough, and Toyota’s success in reaching its goal of selling a million cars a year, by 2010, is uncertain. But, its chances are brighter as the company is able to transfer lessons learned in the American market to its operations in China.

Questions

Why has the ‘late corner’s strategy’ of Toyota failed in China, though it succeeded in India?

Why has Toyota failed to capture the Chinese market? Why is it trailing behind its rivals?

CASE: IV   DELVING DEEP INTO USER’S MIND

Whirlpool is an American brand alright, but has succeeded in empowering the Indian housewife with just the tools she would have designed for herself. A washing machine that doesn’t expect her to get ‘ready for the show’ (Videocon’s old jingle), nor adapt her plumbing, power supply, dress sense, values, attitudes and lifestyle to suit American standards.

That, in short, is the reason that Whirlpool White Magic, in just three years since its launch in 1999, has become the choice of the discerning Indian housewife. Also worth noting is how quickly the brand’s sound mnemonic, ‘Whirlpool, Whirlpool’, has established itself.

Whiteboard beginning

As a company, the US-based white goods major Whirlpool had entered India in 1989, in a joint venture with the TVS group. Videocon, which had pioneered washing machines in India, was the market leader with its range of low-priced ‘washers’ (spinning tubs) and semi-automatic machines, which required manual supervision and some labour. The brand’s TV commercial, created by Pune-based SJ Advertising, has evoked considerable interest with its jingle (‘It washes, it rinses, it even dries your clothes, in just a few minutes…and you’re ready for the show’). IFB-Bosch’s front-loading, fully automatic machines, which could be programmed and left to do their job, were the labour-free option. But they were considered expensive and unsuited to Indian conditions. So Videocon faced competition from me-too machines such as BPL-Sanyo’s. TVS Whirlpool was something of an also-ran.

The market’s sophistication started rising in the 1990s and there was a growing opportunity in the price-performance gap between expensive automatics and laborious semi-automatics. In 1995, Whirlpool gained a majority control of TVS Whirlpool, which was then renamed Whirlpool Washing Machines Ltd (WMML). Meanwhile, the parent bought Kelvinator of India, and merged the refrigerator business in 1996 with WMML to create Whirlpool of India (WOI), to market both fridges and washing machines. Whirlpool’s ‘Flexigerator’ fridge hit the market in 1997. Two years later, WOI launched its star White Magic range of washing machines.

Whitemagic was late to the market, but WOI converted this to a ‘knowledge advantage’ by using the 1990s to study the Indian market intensely, through qualitative and quantitative market research (MR) tools, with the help of IMRB and MBL India. The research team delved deep into the psyche of the Indian housewife, her habits, her attitude towards life, her schedule, her every day concerns and most importantly, her innate ‘laundry wisdom’.

If Ashok Bhasin, vice-president marketing, WOI, was keen on understanding the psychodynamics of Indian clothes washing, it was because of his belief that people’s attitudes and perceptions of categories and brands are formed against the backdrop of their bigger attitudes in life, which could be shaped by broader trends. It was intuitive, to begin with, that the housewife wanted to gain direct control over crucial household operations. It was found that clothes washing was the daily activity for the Indian housewife, whether it was done personally, by a maid, or by a machine.

The key finding, however, was the pride in self-done washing. To the CEO of the Indian household, there was no displacing the hand wash as the best on quality. And quality was to be judged in terms of ‘whiteness’. Other issues concerned water consumption, quantity of detergent used, and fabric care—also something optimized best by herself. A thorough wash, done with gentle agility, was what the magic was all about.

That was the break-through insight used by Whirlpool for the design of all its washing machines, which adopted a ‘1-2, 1-2 Hand Wash Agitator System’ to mimic the preferred handwash technique. With a consumer so particular about washing, one could expect her to be value-conscious on other aspects too. Sure enough, WOI found the housewife willing to pay a premium for a product designed the way she wanted it. Even for a fully automatic, she wanted a top-loader; this way, she doesn’t fear clothes getting trapped in if the power fails, and retains the ability to lift the shutter to take clothes out (or add to the wash) even while the machine is in the midst of its job.

The target consumer, defined psychographically as the Turning Modernist (TM), was decided upon only after the initial MR exercise was concluded. This was also the stage at which the unique selling proposition (USP)—‘whitest white’—was thrashed out.

WOI first launched a fully automatic machine, with the hand-wash agitator. Then came the deluxe model with a ‘hot wash’ function. The product took off well, but WOI felt that a large chunk of the TM segment was also budget-bound. And was quite okay with having to supervise the machine. This consumer’s identity as a ‘home-maker’ was important to her, an insight that Whirlpool was using for the brand overall, in every product category.

So WOI launched a semi-automatic washing machine, with ‘Agisoak’ as a catchword to justify a 10—15 per cent premium over other brand’s semi-automatics available in India.

The advertising, WOI was clear, had to flow from the same stream of reasoning. It had to be responsive, caring, modern, stylish, and warm, and had to portray the victory of the Homemaker. FCB-Ulka, which had bagged Whirlpool’s account in March 1997 from contract (in a global alignment shift), worked with WOI to coin the sub-brand Whitemagic, to break into consumer mindspace with the whiteness proposition.

The launch commercial on TV, in August 1999, scored a big success with its ‘Whirlpool, Whirlpool’ jingle…and a mother’s fantasy of her daughter’s clothes wowing others. A product demonstration sequence took the ‘1-2, 1-2’ message home, reassuring the consumer that the wash would be just as good as that of her own hand. The net benefit, of course, was an unharried home life.

Second Wave

Sadly, the Indian market for washing machines has been in recession for the past two years, with overall volumes declining. This makes it a fight for market share, with the odds stacked against premium players.

Even though Whirlpool has sought to nudge the market’s value perception upwards, Videocon remains the largest selling brand in volume terms with its competitively priced machines. Washers have been displaced by semi-automatics, which are now the market’s mainstay (in the Rs 7,000-12,000 price range). In fact, these account for three-fourths of the 1.2 million units the Indian market sold in 2000. With a share of 17 per cent, Whirlpool is No. 2 in this voluminous segment.

Whirlpool’s bigger success has been in the fully automatic segment (Rs 12,000-36,000 range). This is smaller with sales of 177,600 units in 2000, but is predicted to become the dominant one as Indian GDP per head reaches for the $1,000 mark. With a 26 per cent share, Whirlpool has attained leadership of this segment.

That places WOI at the appropriate juncture to plot the value curve to be ascended over the new decade.

According to IMRB data, Whirlpool finds itself in the consideration set of 54 per cent of all prospective washing machine buyers, and has an ad recall of close to 85 per cent. This indicates the medium-term potential of Whitemagic, a Rs20.5 crore on a turnover of Rs1,042.8 crore, one-fifth of which was on account of washing machines.

The innovations continue. Recently, Whirlpool has launched semi-automatic machines with ‘hot wash’. The brand’s ‘magic’ isn’t showing signs of wearing off either. The current ‘mummy’s magic’ campaign on TV is trying to sell Whitemagic as a competent machine even for heavy duty washing such as ketchup stains on a white tablecloth.

The Homemaker, of course, remains the focus of attention. And she remains as vivacious, unruffled, and in control as ever. The attitude: you can sling the muckiest of stuff on to white cloth, but sparkling white is what it remains for its her hand that’ll work the magic, with a little help from some friends… such as Whirlpool.

Questions

What product strategy did WOI adopt? And why? Global standardisation? Local customisaton?

What pricing strategy did WOI follow? What, according to you, could have been the appropriate strategy?

What lessons can other white goods manufacturers learn from WOI?

CASE V: CONSCIENCE OR COMPETITIVE EDGE

The plane touched down at Mumbai airport precisely on time. Olivia Jones made her way through the usual immigration bureaucracy without incident and was finally ushered into a waiting limousine, complete with uniformed chauffeur and soft black leather seats. Her already considerable excitement at being in India for the first time was mounting. As she cruised the dark city streets, she asked her chauffeur why so few cars had their headlights on at night. The driver responded that most drivers believed that headlights use too much petrol! Finally, she arrived at her hotel, a black marble monolith, grandiose and decadent in its splendour, towering above the bay.

The goal of her four-day trip was to sample and select swatches of woven cotton from the mills in and around Mumbai, to be used in the following season’s youth-wear collection of shirts, trousers, and underwear. She was thus treated with the utmost deference by her hosts, who were invariably Indian factory owners or British agents for Indian mills. For three days she was ferried from one air-conditioned office to another, sipping iced tea or chilled lemonade, poring over leather-bound swatch catalogues, which featured every type of stripe and design possible. On the fourth day, Jones made a request that she knew would cause some anxiety in the camp. “I want to see a factory,” she declared.

After much consultation and several attempts at dissuasion, she was once again ushered into a limousine and driven through a part of the city she had not previously seen. Gradually, the hotel and the Western shops dissolved into the background and Jones entered downtown Mumbai. All around was a sprawling shantytown, constructed from sheets of corrugated iron and panels of cardboard boxes. Dust flew in spirals everywhere among the dirt roads and open drains. The car crawled along the unsealed roads behind carts hauled by man and beast alike, laden to overflowing with straw or city refuse—the treasure of the ghetto. More than once the limousine had to halt and wait while a lumbering white bull crossed the road.

Finally, in the very heart of the ghetto, the car came to a stop. “Are you sure you want to do this?” asked her host. Determined not be faint-hearted, Jones got out the car.

White-skinned, blue-eyed, and blond, clad in a city suit and stiletto-heeled shoes, and carrying a briefcase, Jones was indeed conspicuous. It was hardly surprising that the inhabitants of the area found her an interesting and amusing subject, as she teetered along the dusty street and stepped gingerly over the open sewers.

Her host led her down an alley, between the shacks and open doors and inky black interiors. Some shelters, Jones was told, were restaurants, where at lunchtime people would gather on the rush mat floors and eat rice together. In the doorway of one shack there was a table that served as a counter, laden with ancient cans of baked beans, sardines, and rusted tins of fluorescent green substance that might have been peas. The eyes of the young man behind the counter were smiling and proud as he beckoned her forward to view his wares.

As Jones turned another corner, she saw an old man in the middle of the street, clad in a waist cloth, sitting in a large bucket. He had a tin can in his hand with which he poured water from the bucket over his head and shoulders. Beside him two little girls played in brilliant white nylon dresses, bedecked with ribbons and lace. They posed for her with smiling faces, delighted at having their photograph taken in their best frocks. The men and women around her with great dignity and grace, Jones thought.

Finally, her host led her up a precarious wooden ladder to a floor above the street. At the top Jones was warned not to stand straight, as the ceiling was just five feet high. There, in a room not 20 feet by 40 feet, 20 men were sitting at treadle sewing machines, bent over yards of white cloth. Between them on the floor were rush mats, some occupied by sleeping workers awaiting their next shift. Jones learned that these men were on a 24-hour rotation, 12 hours on and 12 hours off, every day for six months of the year. For the remaining six months they returned to their families in the countryside to work the land, planting and building with the money they had earned in the city. The shirts they were working on were for an order she had placed four weeks earlier in London, an order of which she had been particularly proud because of the low price she had succeeded in negotiating. Jones reflected that this sight was the most humbling experience of her life. When she questioned her host about these conditions, she was told that they were typical for her industry—and most of the Third World, as well.

Eventually, she left the heat, dust and din to the little shirt factory and returned to the protected, air-conditioned world of the limousine.

“What I’ve experienced today and the role I’ve played in creating that living hell will stay with me forever,” she thought. Later in the day, she asked herself whether what she had seen was an inevitable consequence of pricing policies that enabled the British customer to purchase shirts at £12.99 instead of £13.99 and at the same time allowed the company to make its mandatory 56 percent profit margin. Were her negotiating skills—the result of many years of training—an indirect cause of the terrible conditions she has seen?

Once Jones returned to the United Kingdom, she considered her position and the options open to her as a buyer for a large, publicly traded, retail chain operating in a highly competitive environment. Her dilemma was twofold: Can an ambitious employee afford to exercise a social conscience in his or her career? And can career-minded individuals truly make a difference without jeopardising their future? Answer her.

[zillowcondo]

Bombay Shirt Company Opens Flagship Boutique in New York

Bombay Shirt Company has opened a flagship store in New York. It is the first North American location for the Bombay, India-based bespoke shirt manufacturer. The Bombay Shirt Company is unlike all other custom shirt companies, as its customers select from a wide range of custom details, from the type of cuff they want to the collar and cut they prefer, without affecting the price of the shirt or delaying the two week delivery time. The store is located at 223 Mott Street in SoHo.

Marrying contemporary product design and technology with old school tailoring techniques, customers can design and personalize a shirt from an extensive selection of options for both casual, business and formal occasions. Indeed, at the store or on the company’s website, customers select the options, such as the style of cuff and collar they prefer, from a design chart and then choose the fabric they prefer from hundreds of samples.

Customers work with experts to customize their shirts.

The SoHo boutique is staffed by experts who measure each customer for the perfect fit and stylists who are trained in the intricacies of fabric and styling guide each customer through design options. The fabric selected is the price differential and a wide range of options are available. Shirts are priced from $59 to $1,200, depending on the fabric selected, with most shirts priced at under $200. The shirts are delivered approximately two weeks later, which is a remarkably fast turnaround time for a custom shirt company.

Bombay Shirt Company has simplified the reordering process, as a profile of each customer is created and his measurements are stored for the next time the customer places an order, whether it is placed online or at one of its stores. Likewise, if a customer has a shirt that fits well, he can send it to the company or bring it to one of its locations and its measurements will be taken and used for his Bombay Shirt Company orders.

The Bombay Shirt Company offers a wide range of fabrics from which to choose.

Launched in 2012, Bombay Shirt Company was founded by Akshay Narvekar, 35, and Simon Jacob, 36, who saw a need for their custom shirt company because of the cumbersome process they personally experienced while having their own shirts made in India. There, it is necessary to select and buy fabrics from a vendor before going to a tailor who then makes the shirt. “It is usually an extremely painful process,” says Jacob. “You have to spend a lot of time selecting fabrics and it is a hassle to find the ones you like.” Likewise it is difficult to find a tailor who offers a wide range of different design options.

The partners who both had experience in the industry disrupted the custom shirt industry in India by launching a website that is a one-stop shop. “We recognized that no one else was operating in this space,” says Jacob. “So we made the process very simple and not overwhelming for the customer. We give the customer a very simple way to design their own shirt.”

Launched in 2012, Bombay Shirt Company was founded by Simon Jacob (left) and Akshay Narvekar.

The first year they received orders for five shirts a day and during the second year they opened their first store in Bombay. The business soon started to take off and they opened a second store in Bombay as well as stores in Delhi and Bangalore. Today, the company is averaging orders of more than 250 shirts a day. The majority of its stores are franchises and the company plans to continue to grow through franchising. Today, the company has six boutiques in India and one in Dubai in addition to New York. Boutiques will soon open in London and other cities around the world.

And unlike any other custom handcrafted shirt company in the world, Bombay Shirt Company manufacturers everything in-house at several facilities in Bombay, so it is able to offer its shirts at the best possible price for its customers. The company does so in an innovative and socially conscious way, as well, as it provides local entrepreneurs with the micro-financing they need to set up factories that manufacture shirts for the company.

“These entrepreneurs, who are our partners in effect, are able to make ten times the income they would otherwise make,” says Jacob. “We are fostering a new breed of entrepreneurs and as we are the only client, the quality is never compromised. Everyone wins.”

As they open new stores, the company adds more factories with each one manufacturing for three stores. And because the shirts are made at manufacturing facilities that are in effect partners of the company, Bombay Shirt Company is able to offer custom-made shirts that are of the same quality as some of the other better brands, such as Eton of Sweden, but at a more affordable price point. “This is our value proposition,” explains Narvekar, who also serves as the company’s Creative Director. “The customer can design it as much or as little as they want and with many different options.”

Bombay Shirt Company offers a wide range of customizable options.

A custom-made shirt with a 2-ply cotton fabric that is totally customized is priced as low as $79. A flannel-type fabric that is made in Japan would result in a shirt that would cost $129. There are also fabrics available from some of the most famous mills in the world. For example, a 300-thread count 2-ply bespoke fabric made of the finest yarns and Egyptian cottons possible might cost as much as around $1,200 per shirt.

A selection of Bombay Shirt Company shirts.

Ashesh Amin, who joined the company as a partner, is overseeing the North American operations. “We strongly believe that every man needs a custom shirt, he just has to own it, to know it and what better stage than New York City to roll out this venture,” he says.

This year, Bombay Shirt Company is also launching the brand’s #shirtforBombaychildren campaign to help bring positive change to disadvantaged children. For every custom shirt order the company receives, Bombay Shirt Company will donate a new T-shirt to an underprivileged child in Bombay.

The company has plans to add accessories, such as ties and cufflinks to its offerings, as well as a women’s line in the near future. For further information, visit the company’s website.

The post Bombay Shirt Company Opens Flagship Boutique in New York appeared first on Pursuitist.

Bombay Shirt Company Opens Flagship Boutique in New York published first on http://ift.tt/2pewpEF

[ashwinkumar1989]

I was hugely lucky to benefit from the 15-day leave policy of my company; which I made full use of – to plan a week-long trip to Chennai in order to meet my maternal grandparents, relatives and friends. As the title suggests, I took the legendary 09 Down Mail (now 11027 Mumbai Chennai Mail); a supercrawler which takes nearly 28 hours to cover the 1284 km from Mumbai, with a whopping 50 stops along the way. Since it departs Mumbai CSMT as late as 23 45, I had enough time for a full day of work; after which I could return home and have dinner as well.

On the day of the journey (17th Nov), I was in a festive mood – obviously because of a long train journey ahead; and also because it was the last working day of the week. After dinner, I left my home at 21 45 and took an auto to Vikhroli; wherein I boarded a local to CSMT, reaching by 22 55. After walking up to Platform 14 (where my train would be berthed), I had to wait for half an hour for the rake to arrive from the yard. My coach B1 was 5th from the engine, and was a 2013 make with plug points (for charging mobile phones and laptops) in all bays; and bio-toilets at one end. I had a trackside emergency window seat LB. From the adjacent PF 15, 11057 Mumbai Amritsar express departed. My ticket was checked (I was just asked to show my photo ID) before we departed at 23 53 (8 mins late). BTW: For all technical terms, abbreviations and station codes; refer the legend at the bottom – I haven’t covered ALL though!

As we slowly cleared the points, I observed KYN WDP4D 40277 adjacent to the rake of Tejas express. There was also UBL WDP4B 40015 on a siding and a train with a WCAM loco was pulling in – probably an almost 4 hours late running 11302 SBC CSMT Udyan express (as announcements had been made for it to arrive at 23 15!) .  Nearby was Ajni WAP7 30296. We crossed a daytime CR train with an ALCO. A lot of people got in our (till then) almost empty coach at Dadar. Here I saw GOC WDP4B 40067 – probably the loco of 12052 Madgaon Dadar Jan Shatabdi. I soon went to sleep. I woke up a few times in between. The customary loco change (from electric to diesel) would have happened at Pune, and I guessed that we were now being hauled by an EMD; going by the pull, absence of the transition jerk (that happens at around 40 kmph in ALCOs) and LT horn. When I finally got out of my berth, it was  07 55; and we were stationary at a small station.

From the Side bay window, I observed a CR daytime train (probably 12158 Solapur Pune Hutatma express) come and make its stop. Then a CR train hauled by an EMD overtook us; after which Hutatma left. I brushed my teeth and then got out to have a look at our surroundings – we were at Kem, a scheduled stop but in a remote location with a thoroughly nondescript platform on the other side(where Hutatma was halted)!

The signal on the main line (in the middle) then turned green – our 2nd overtake! It was 12025 Pune Secunderabad Shatabdi with continuous and pure EMD honking from its GY WDP4D 40314 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PBWrlgPwqw . The MPS at this station is 80 kmph, hence even the Shatabdi had to be a bit restrained here. So two overtakes at a ghost town which is a scheduled stop – see the fate a 100+ years old train has to endure! As expected, our loco was an EMD (to note: it has a unique LT horn, that only an EMD loco can have – this was used mostly while running. Also, it has two HT horns – the one which was most frequently used for departures sounded rather like a traditional ALCO horn (baaam) ! ). We finally departed at 08 36, after a more than 40 mins long stop!

On the right, I observed doubling work in progress  – there was a line next to us for a while. I could also see sleepers and ballast till Kurduwadi. There was a TSR of 80 kmph on the line to Pandharpur. We pulled into Kurduwadi at 08 55, 55 mins late. Here another train hauled by an EMD crossed us. We departed after 5 mins with a jerk. The EMD which was hauling us didn’t give a very smooth feel, in spite of the absence of transition jerk of the ALCO as mentioned earlier. Whenever we accelerated, decelerated, started or stopped; there was always a jerk. There was again a line next to us (indicating the doubling progress) till Wadsinge, where we crossed a WDG4D with a tanker train. At Madha, a train crossed us as we started leaving – a rare occurrence in a single line section.

I was hungry; so finished off the pack of Nachos (with Salsa) that I had purchased the previous night. I also had Bread cutlet from the pantry, as well as a cup of tea. There was more freight action, as we crossed a BCNA rake headed by an odd combination of an EMD and an ALCO at Vakav; and a triple ALCO headed tanker train at Angar. There was the usual scenery in the form of maize fields, few corn fields, meadows, bushes and shrubs; as well as cows grazing. We crossed the mostly dry (except for a few patches of stagnant water) Seena river. Then there was a pond and few coconut trees. The UP track was on a higher level before Bale, where we crossed a DEMU marked Pune-Baramati. What was it doing there? :O

A lot of residential buildings as well as slums marked the arrival of Solapur. We were stopped at the home signal for 8 mins, as 11014 CBE-LTT express (with 6 AC coaches) crossed us led by KJM WDP4D 40237. We finally pulled into the station at 10 25, 55 mins late. Here I saw Pune WDM3D 11357 and GOC WDG4 12784 with a BCNA freight. On the adjacent platform, 57659 Solapur Falaknuma passenger was headed by Pune WDM3D 11368 (this one interestingly has a horn similar to the ones found on most GTL ALCOs). Meanwhile, I managed to have a look at our power – to my surprise, it was a KYN WDP4D 40312. There was a huge crowd at the station, especially for the passenger.

Also, there was a lot of activity going on around our RMS coach. There was a moss-covered lake (where some people were bathing – looks like they didn’t have a choice! :O) and a lot of residential buildings till Tikekarwadi. We also crossed 57650 Wadi Solapur passenger with Pune WDM3A 18951R. Then there was some rural scenery till Hotgi, where I observed GTL WDM3D 11120 coupled to it’s shed-mate WDM3A 16701R – both were in the standard shed livery of orange and yellow. Then there was a factory in the distant right.

I also saw an old shepherd leading goats and an another leading cows. At Tilati, there was a man driving a Suzuki Access125 on the platform! :O I also observed IR markers instead of the usual CR ones. Then there was an unmetalled road parallel to us. I saw a salt pan somewhere in the distant right, along with usual scenery in the form of bushes and shrubs, and neem trees. At Akkalkot Road, there was a Plasser machine with a camping coach on which clothes were hung out to dry! :O On the other platform, there were a lot of schoolchildren loaded with their bags, On our platform, there was a lot of crowd; and many people deboarded.

There was a lot of construction work (probably doubling) going on at Nagansur – I saw L&T Tomatsu machines, excavators and bulldozers scooping up ballast. Then there was a lot of stone waste. Some slums, cottages and goats grazing signalled the arrival of Dudhani, where there was a BCNA rake led by twin GY WDM3Ds (rear 11123) – both were in the standard blue-white 3D livery. Just as we departed, the freight also departed at the same time in the opposite direction. I then dozed off for a while; the AC making me drowsy. At Gulbarga, I saw 57660 Falaknuma Gulbarga passenger with new Pune WDP4D 40447. The station has an MPS of 70 kmph.

The section between Gulbarga and Wadi is wired, which is a sad news for us diesel fans. Electrics are rapidly invading predominantly diesel bastions all over IR. Anyway, the UP and DOWN tracks in this section are separated by a huge distance and the UP track is on a higher level . There were a lot of eucalyptus trees, and I saw gangmen with characteristic orange shirts on the UP track. We pulled into Wadi at 13 15, now only 25 mins late thanks to the slack; which is present for all trains as they move over from CR to SCR territory and vice-versa here. Our EMD beast was detached; having put in a sterling effort. Time for the electric to assume the reins till Chennai.

By now, I have made a habit of splitting my blog posts into two parts – this one will be no different. Though it may result in you all having to wait for the second part, I am sure that the blog on the whole will be less boring thanks to my partition! 😀 Happy reading so far 😉

Technical Terms and Abbreviations

ALCO – American Locomotive Company (and a class of diesel engines of the 1960s)

EMD – Electromotive Diesel (and a modern class of diesel engines)

LT – Low Tone

HT – High Tone

MPS – Maximum Permissible Speed

DEMU – Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (or just diesel local train :P)

RMS – Railway Mail Service

TSR – Temporary Speed Restriction

Station Codes

CSMT – Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (Earlier without the ‘Maharaj’ :P)

KYN – Kalyan

UBL – Hubli

SBC – Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Bengaluru (or just Bangalore City :P)

GOC – Golden Rock (Ponmalai)

GY – Gooty

CBE – Coimbatore

LTT – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Kurla Terminus)

KJM – Krishnarajapuram (KR Puram)

GTL – Guntakal

A Two Night Sojourn to Chennai – Part 1 I was hugely lucky to benefit from the 15-day leave policy of my company; which I made full use of - to plan a week-long trip to Chennai in order to meet my maternal grandparents, relatives and friends.

[valki-exports]

Visit Leading T-Shirt Factory in Bangalore | Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd.

Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. is a premier T-shirt factory in Bangalore, known for producing high-quality clothing for men, women, and kids. Specializing in a wide range of apparel, including casual wear, corporate attire, and custom designs, our factory is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to meet diverse customer needs. 

As a top T-shirt factory in Bangalore, we ensure that every piece is crafted with precision, offering comfort, durability, and style. Whether you're looking for trendy T-shirts, comfortable everyday wear, or tailored corporate apparel, Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. delivers excellence across all categories. Trust us to provide you with top-notch products that cater to all age groups and fashion preferences.

[valki-exports]

Bring Your Fashion Ideas to Life with Expert T Shirt Printing in Bangalore | Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd.

If you have a unique fashion design in mind and want to bring it to life for your clothing business, Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. is here to help. As a leading provider of t shirt printing in Bangalore, we specialize in transforming your creative ideas into high-quality, wearable art. Whether you’re looking to launch your own brand or need custom designs for a special event, our advanced printing technology ensures vibrant colors and durable prints that stand out. 

At Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd., we understand the importance of precision and quality in every project, which is why we are dedicated to providing the best t shirt printing in Bangalore. Trust us to turn your fashion visions into reality, delivering products that not only look great but also feel great to wear. 

[valki-exports]

Premium T-Shirts Manufacturer in Bommanahalli: Start Your Business with Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd.

Planning to start your own T-shirt selling or clothing business in Bangalore? Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd., a leading T-shirts manufacturer in Bommanahalli, offers high-quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship to help you succeed. Here’s what sets us apart:

Superior Fabric Quality: We use premium materials to ensure durability and comfort in every T-shirt.

Advanced Manufacturing: Our modern facility guarantees precise production and high standards.

Custom Solutions: From trendy designs to personalized options, we cater to all your business needs.

Contact Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd., the top T-shirts manufacturer in Bommanahalli, to get started with top-notch T-shirts that will elevate your brand and meet your customers' expectations.

[valki-exports]

Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd.: Premium T-Shirt Manufacturers in Bangalore

Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd. is a renowned name among premium T-shirt manufacturers in Bangalore. Known for their exceptional quality and customer-centric approach, they offer a diverse range of T-shirts that cater to various needs and preferences. From stylish casual wear to customized corporate apparel, Valki Exports ensures every T-shirt meets the highest standards of craftsmanship and comfort.

Key Features:

Wide Range of Styles: Valki Exports offers a variety of T-shirt styles, including trendy casual wear and professional corporate designs.

Superior Quality: Each T-shirt is crafted with precision using high-quality materials to ensure durability and comfort.

Customer Satisfaction: Valki Exports is dedicated to providing value for money and exceptional service, making them a preferred choice for premium T-shirts in Bangalore.

Experience the blend of quality and style with Valki Exports Pvt. Ltd., your trusted partner for premium t shirt manufacturers in Bangalore. 

[mykalyansriexport]

Cotton Made In Africa Mens T-Shirts

Our Website:- https://www.organicclothingsindia.com/

                  Incorporated in the year 1978, Sri Kalyan Export Pvt.Ltd. introduces itself as a leading manufacturer, producer, supplier and Exporter India of Organic cotton certified garments apparels of Babies wear, kids wear, women’s wear and Men’s wear. Our products are available in variety of sizes, designs and patterns that is made by taking care of every single need of our clients. And we are supplying our products in each and every part of the world.

                Our company has earned a reputable status in the market because of prompt delivery of Goods. With the well-equipped development facility, we have been able to offer Cotton made in Africa certified Mens T-shirts in variety of designs and Custom colors. Also we are able to provide Fair trade OrganicCottonprinted Mens T-shirts, GOTS cotton certified manufacturer of Mens designer T-shirts, BCI cotton certified checkedMens T-shirts and GRS Global Recycle Cotton Certified Mens striped T-shirts and so on. So far we are obtained in multiple sizes to attain customer’s credibility and trust.

               The Mens T-shirts we produced are available in pigment or reactive or discharge printed which are manufactured and exported in fair tradeorganic yarn dyed Mens T-shirts. We are proud to be GOTS organic certified manufacturer of yarn dyed Mens T-shirts, Fair trade certified manufacturer of checked shirt designs, Oeko-tex certified manufacturer of Printed Mens T-shirts, GRS Certified GlobalRecycle Cotton manufacturer of Mens T-shirts, Chetna organic cotton manufacturer and exporter of Mens T-shirts and so on. And we serve better quality with better finishing of products which are exported to other countries like Germany, France, USA, Finland, Italy, Slovenia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia from Delhi, Mumbai, INDIA. We are certified with Social Certifications like SA 8000, SEDEX (SMETA). Which ensures our Sustainable and Ethical Business Practices, Safety Working conditions, Fire safety standards, living wages provided to all Employees.

                We also do OCS Certified Organic Cotton blended Mens T-shirts in prints and yarn dyed. We are Lenzing Certified Tencel Mens T-shirts, and Sustainable Ecovero viscose Mens T-shirts printed and dyed. 100%Modal Mens T-shirts.  100% Linen Mens T-shirts manufacturer and exporter of Viscose/Flax, Linen/flax Mens T-shirts manufacturer, bamboo  Mens T-shirts manufacturer and exporter of Eco cotton Mens T-shirts manufacturer, Lyocell fabric Mens T-shirts manufacturer, Hemp Mens T-shirts manufacturer to various countries from India. Our factory is located near to Bangalore and Chennai and Tiruppur. Those certification achieved by our company tells the standardization of our company at international level in aspect of product line quality.

Special Features:

·    Attractive designs

·    Eye-catching Colors

·    High Quality fabric

·    Elegant texture

[mykalyansriexport]

Natural Recycle Organic Cotton Mens T-Shirt

Our Website:- https://www.organicclothingsindia.com/

               Incorporated in the year 1978, Sri Kalyan Export Pvt.Ltd. introduces itself as a leading manufacturer, producer, supplier and Exporter India of Organic cotton certified garments apparels of Babies wear, kids wear, Women’s wear and Men’s wear. Our products are available in variety of sizes, designs and patterns that is made by taking care of every single need of our clients. And we are supplying our products in each and every part of the world.

               Our company has earned a reputable status in the market because of prompt delivery of Goods. With the well-equipped development facility, we have been able to offer certified Natural recycle organic cotton Mens T-shirt in variety of designs and Custom colors. Also we are able to provide Fair trade OrganicCottonprinted T-shirt, BCI Cotton Certified manufacturer of designer T-shirt, Cotton Made in Africa Certified PlaidT-shirt and GRS Global Recycle Cotton Certified striped T-shirt and so on. So far we are obtained in multiple sizes to attain customer’s credibility and trust.

              The T-shirt we produced are available in pigment or reactive or discharge printed which are manufactured and exported in fair tradeorganic yarn dyed T-shirt. We are proud to be GOTS organic certified manufacturer of Mens yarn dyed T-shirt, Fair trade certified manufacturer of party wear designs, Oeko-tex certified manufacturer of Printed T-shirt, GRS Certified GlobalRecycle Cotton manufacturer of Mens T-shirt, CMIA Cotton made in Africa manufacturer, Chetna organic cotton manufacturer and exporter of Mens T-shirt and so on. And we serve better quality with better finishing of products which are exported to other countries like Germany, France, USA, Finland, Italy, Slovenia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia from Delhi, Mumbai, INDIA. We are certified with Social Certifications like SA 8000, SEDEX (SMETA). Which ensures our Sustainable and Ethical Business Practices, Safety Working conditions, Fire safety standards, living wages provided to all Employees.

                We also do OCS Certified Organic Cotton blended Mens T-shirt in prints and yarn dyed. We are Lenzing Certified Tencel Mens T-shirt, and Sustainable Ecovero viscose Mens T-shirt printed and dyed. 100%Modal Mens T-shirt.  100% Linen Mens T-shirt manufacturer and exporter of Viscose/Flax, Linen/flax Mens T-shirt manufacturer, bamboo Mens T-shirt manufacturer and exporter of Eco cotton T-shirt manufacturer, Lyocell fabric T-shirt manufacturer, Hemp Mens T-shirt manufacturer to various countries from India. Our factory is located near to Bangalore and Chennai and Tiruppur. Those certification achieved by our company tells the standardization of our company at international level in aspect of product line quality.

Special Features:

·    Aesthetic designs

·    High Quality fabric

·    Soft texture

·    Skin friendly Tops

[prasanththampi]

UPCOMING MBA IIBM CASE STUDY QUESTION AND ANSWER WHATSAPP 91 9924764558

 CONTACT: DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com

 Caselet 1

Mr. and Mrs. Sharma went to Woodlands Apparel to buy a shirt. Mr. Sharma did not read the

price tag on the piece selected by him. At the counter, while making the payment he asked for

the price. Rs. 950 was the answer.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Sharma, who was still shopping came back and joined her husband. She was

glad that he had selected a nice black shirt for himself. She pointed out that there was a 25%

discount on that item. The counter person nodded in agreement.

Mr. Sharma was thrilled to hear that “It means the price of this shirt is just Rs. 712. That‟s

fantastic”, said Mr. Sharma.

He decided to buy one more shirt in blue color.

In no time, he returned with the second shirt and asked them to be packed. When he received the

cash memo for payment, he was astonished to find that he had to pay Rs. 1,900 and Rs. 1,424.

Mr. Sharma could hardly reconcile himself to the fact that the counter person had quoted the

discounted price which was Rs. 950. The original price printed on the price tag was Rs. 1,266.

Questions

1. What should Mr. Sharma have done to avoid the misunderstanding?

2. Discuss the main features involved in this case.

Caselet 2

I don‟t want to speak to you. Connect me to your boss in the US,” hissed the American on the

phone. The young girl at a Bangalore call centre tried to be as polite as she could. At another call

centre, another day, another young girl had a Londoner unleashing himself on her, “Young lady,

do you know that because of you Indians we are losing jobs?”

The outsourcing backlash is getting ugly. Handling irate callers is the new brief for the young

men and women taking calls at these outsourced job centres. Supervisors tell them to be „cool‟.

Avinash Vashistha, managing partner of NEOIT, a leading US-based consultancy firm says,

“Companies involved in outsourcing both in the US and India are already getting a lot of hate

mail against outsourcing and it is hardly surprising that some people should behave like this on

the telephone.” Vashistha says Indian call centre‟s should train their operators how to handle

such calls. Indeed, the furor raised by the Western media over job losses because of outsourcing

Examination Paper of Business Communication

4

IIBM Institute of Business Management

has made ordinary citizens there sensitive to the fact that their calls are being taken not from

their midst, but in countries such as India and the Philippines.

The angry outbursts the operators face border on the racist and sexist, says the manager of a call

centre in Hyderabad. But operators and senior executives of call centres refuse to go on record

for fear of kicking up a controversy that might result in their companies‟ losing clients overseas.

“It‟s happening often enough and so let‟s face it,” says a senior executive of a Gurgaon call

centre, adding, “This doesn‟t have any impact on business.”

Questions

1. Suppose you are working as an operator in a call centre in India and receiving calls

from Americans and Londoners. How would you handle such calls?

2. Do you agree with the view such abusive happenings on the telephone do not have any

impact on business?

 THE EU’S LAGGING COMPETITIVENESS

In a report produced for the European Commission, published in November 1998, it was argued that

the EU lags behind the USA and Japan on most measures of international competitiveness. Gross

domestic product per capita, sometimes used as an indicator of international competitiveness at the

country level, was 33 per cent lower in the EU as a whole than in the USA and 13 per cent lower

than in Japan. The EU‟s poor record in creating employment was singled out for particular criticism.

As this appeared to apply across the board in most industrial sectors, it suggested that the EU‟s poor

performance related to the business environment in general and, in particular, to the inflexibility of

Europe‟s labour markets for goods and services. A shortage of risk capital for advanced

technological development and high cost and inefficiency of Europe‟s financial services were also

highlighted by the report. For one reason or another, European industries generally lag behind in

technology industries. If measured by the number of inventions patented in at least two countries, the

USA is well ahead of most European countries, as well as Japan. Despite these shortcomings, the

report‟s authors focus attention on flexible markets, market liberalisation, and the creation of a

competitive business environment rather than on targeted intervention by the EU or national

authorities.

Questions:

1. Is gross domestic product per capita a useful indicator of International competitiveness in the EU?

2. Is it fair to point the blame for the EU‟s poor international competitiveness at inflexible labour

markets, regulated goods and services markets, and a general lack of competition? What

alternative explanations might be suggested?

Caselet 2

PERU

Peru is located on the west coast of South America. It is the third largest nation of the continent (after

Brazil and Argentina), and covers almost 500,000 square miles (about 14 per cent of the size of the

United States). The land has enormous contrasts, with a desert (drier than the Sahara), the towering

snow-capped Andes mountains, sparkling grass-covered plateaus, and thick rain forests. Peru has

approximately 27 million people, of which about 20 per cent live in Lima, the capital. More Indians

(one half of the population) live in Peru than in any other country in the western hemisphere. The

ancestors of Peru‟s Indians were the famous Incas, who built a great empire. The rest of the

population is mixed and a small percentage is white. The economy depends heavily on agriculture,

fishing, mining, and services. GDP is approximately $115 billion and per capita income in recent

years has been around $4,300. In recent years the economy has gained some relative strength and

multinationals are now beginning to consider investing in the country. One of these potential

investors is a large New York based that is considering a $25 million loan to the owner of a Peruvian

fishing fleet. The owner wants to refurbish the fleet and add one more ship. During the 1970s, the

Peruvian government nationalised a number of industries and factories and began running them for

the profit of the state. In most cases, these state-run ventures became disasters. In the late 1970s, the

fishing fleet owner was given back his ships and are getting old and he needs an influx of capital to

make repairs and add new technology. As he explained it to the NEW YORK banker: “fishing is no

longer just un art. There is a great deal of technology involved. And to keep costs low and be

competitive on the world market , you have to have the latest equipment for both locating as well

as catching and then loading and unloading the fish.”Having reviewed the fleet owner‟ operation, the

large multinational bank believes that the loan is justified. The financial institution is concerned ,

Examination Paper of International Business Management

4

IIBM Institute of Business Management

however , that the Peruvian government might step in during the next couple of years and again

take over the business . If this were to happen, it might take an additional decade, for the loan to be

repaid. If the government were to allow the fleet owner to operate the fleet the way he has over the

last decade, the loan could be rapid within seven years. Right now, the bank is deciding on the

specific terms of the agreement. Once these have been worked out , either a loan officer will fly

down to lima and close the deal or the owner will be asked to come to NEW YORK for the signing.

Whichever approach is used, the bank realize that final adjustments in the agreement will have

to be made on the spot. Therefore, if the bank sends a representative to Lima, the individual will have

to the authority to commit the bank to specific terms. These final matters should be worked out within

the next ten days.

Questions:

1. What are some current issues Facing Peru? What is the climate for doing business in Peru today?

2. Would the bank be better off negotiating the loan in New York or in Lima? Why?

 Caselet 1

The competitive advantage of nations and the competitiveness of locations have become important

topics in economic policy. Competitiveness is productivity; competitiveness is what the world

economic forum defines as the set of institutions and policies that determine the level of

productivity. There is no single determinant of competitiveness, there‟s no single determinant of

productivity.

Things that matter for example are the macroeconomic stability of a country, the soundness of

institutions whether the judiciary for example is independent or favors particular sectors or

businesses, whether the government acts in efficient ways or in sectarian ways, other determinants of

competitiveness involve market efficiency, labour market flexibility, and financial market flexibility.

The whole growth competitiveness index that is the index that has been used over the least five or

six years by the world economic forum captures the three big concepts: macroeconomic stability,

government institutions and innovations.

1. What are the indicators of global competitiveness? Discuss the new tools to determine global

competitiveness.

Caselet 2

In this new millennium, few business houses can afford a turn a blind eye to global business

opportunities. According to the latest Mckinsey Global Survey, top global executives believe that the

growing number of consumers in emerging markets will be the most important trend for global

business during the next five years. On 15th April 1994, trade ministers of 123 countries signed the

final Act of the GATT Uruguay Round of negotiations at Marrakech, bringing the WTO into being

on 1st January 1995.

The object of the Act is the liberalization of world trade. By it member countries undertake to apply

fair trade rules covering commodities, services and intellectual property. It provides for the lowering

of tariffs on industrial goods and tropical products; the abolition of import duties on a variety of

items; the progressive abolition of quotas on garments and textiles; the gradual reduction of trade

distorting subsidies and import barriers, and agreements on intellectual property and trade in

services.

1. Discuss the provisions of world Trade Organization (WTO). What are implications of WTO,

agreements on international business?

 Caselet 1

Export Marketing:

The trade in black pepper is unhappy that exports may not show a sign of revival in prices in the

immediate future. World prices have been showing a downward trend for eighteen months and this has

resulted in much lower earnings for exporters. The UK, West Germany and the Netherlands have cut

their import requirement though the American demand has shown some growth. Brazil has been

resorting to aggressive selling at lower prices and the expectations are that its exports will reach an alltime

peak of 32,000 tones in the 1981-82 season. The 1981-82 Indian season is only about six weeks

away. The Brazilian offensive has forced India to withdraw so to any from the US and West European

markets and increase its reliance on communist buyers. As many as 1980-81.the Soviet Union alone

accounting for 12,647 tones. But exporters are concerned at the diversion on such a scale of this trade.

Questions:

1. Had you been the pepper exporter, what would be your short term and medium-term export

marketing strategy in the above environment?

2. Could you examine the weak points in this case study?

Caselet 2

SMART KIDS – SELLING EDUCATIONAL GAMES AND

RESOURCES TO THE WORLD

Smart Kids Ltd. An Auckland company that makes educational games and resources to read and

understand math‟s has won a Trade New Zealand Export Award for its success in international markets

in 2003.Established eight years ago in the family home basement, Smart Kids is led by husband and

wife team, joint chief executives David and Sun Milne and their sons Duncan and Frase. She Milne, an

ex-teacher, says from just 30 products when it started, the company produces more than 200 produces

catering for student‟s activities, grammar concepts and numeracy. She says the international appeal of

Smart Kids products was highlighted recently, when company‟s SMART PHONICS was listed amongst

the top five products out of almost 100 in the education trade show in the United Kingdom. The key

requirement for every new Smart Kids products is that it stimulates student‟s minds in the classroom,

teaches them a specific concept easily, enjoyably and permanently and enables problem solving. David

Milne says Smart Kids started selling its educational games and resources to New Zealand schools in

1995, drawings an immediate and strong response. It quickly became apartment that the New Zealand

market was not large enough to sustain considerable investment in product development, and secondly,

that their products have done so well that they deserved wider exposure.”Our export research came

down to two options. Find educational distributors in other countries or set-up our own operations. The

first option was less risky and easy to manage but it meant that Smart Kids products were lost in a wide

range of materials. So we went for the second option and over the next few years established offices in

Australia, in UK and Canada”. This has successfully branded Smart Kids as a leading supplier of

educational resources in these countries. Mr. Milne says the Smart Kids product catalogue is now sent

Examination Paper of Marketing Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management 4

regularly to teachers in more than 50,000 schools across the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia. “We

also sell to schools in the US. In that market we elected to work through a distributor, we didn‟t have

the financial resources to set-up an operation that could cover almost 70,000 schools and compete with

every established educational publisher”. He says annual exports now exceed $2.2 million and account

for more than 90% of turnover. In order to grow the business, surplus profits are reinvested back into

product development, infrastructure – the company recently moved its Auckland operation into new

20,000 square feet premises in Ellerslie. Mr. Milne says the Smart Kids brand is now well established

internationally with the company enjoying many competitive advantages, including its New Zealand

origin. New Zealand education is highly regarded overseas and we find that international teachers to get

hold of educational products made in this country.

Questions:

1. What are the major considerations for a firm in order to while deciding its markets entry

strategy?

2. To what extent direct control and ownership are critical for Smart kids export distribution

strategy

 Caselet 1

Swastika Computer System was established in 1981 at Delhi to provide computer training. In 1980s

computer education was relatively new in India. Personal computers 286 existed and MS DOS was the

operating system. Languages like Basic, Pascal, COBOL, FORTRAN were used in programming.

Swastika Computer Systems was established with their support departments namely computer

assembly, faculty training and computer servicing department. In the first financial year, it recorded a

turnover of Rs 11.5 lakhs. Within a few years of its existence, Swastik Computer System opened its

branches in eight major cities of India and had a gross annual turnover of Rs 86 lakhs. The organization

was highly centralized. The head office at Delhi handled all accounts, recruitment, and placement of

students and servicing of computers. The Bhopal branch of Swastik Computer Systems was set up in

May 1987. The branch was headed by a dynamic branch manager Hemant Gupta. He was a BSc in

computers and had previously worked in the data processing department of a manufacturing concern.

To establish the Bhopal branch, Hemant Gupta realized the need for making Swastik Computer

Systems, Bhopal known to the younger generation. With this in mind he introduced some innovative

promotional schemes like offering scholarships to students doing well in the intelligence tests

administered by the branch, giving personal computers to students to deposit term fees at their

convenience. Hemant Gupta also ensured that teaching standards were high and computers at the

branch were well maintained, so a student once enrolled felt that he had made the right decision by

joining Swastik Computer Systems. He also made himself available from 8.00 am to 7.00 p.m at the

branch. Students were free to go to him with their problems, which he took pains to solve. Soon

Swastik Computer Systems was one of the leading computer training centres in Bhopal. As the Bhopal

branch prospered, the head office at Delhi started taking an active interest in the running of this branch.

The Regional Manager who visited Bhopal once a month started making frequent visits. During one of

his visits, his attention was drawn to rumors that branch funds were being misappropriated. When the

Regional Manager informed the Delhi office about the rumor, a team was sent to the Bhopal Branch to

look into the matter. On investigation, the term was convinced that the rumors had some truth in them.

It was found that a larger number of students attended the classes than were enrolled. It was felt that this

fraud was not possible without the consent of Hemant Gupta, and without any further inquiry a decision

was taken to remove him forthwith. Amit Verma who was a senior faculty at Swastik Computer

Systems, Delhi was asked to take over the Bhopal branch as Manager. He was an MCA and had been

associated with the organization since its inception. Amit Verma‟s appointment at Bhopal was

welcomed at the Bhopal branch by both, staff and faculty as he had the reputation of being an easy

going person. After he joined the Bhopal, it was observed that Amit Verma, although academically

sound, was not an effective administrator. His approach towards staff and faculty was lenient. He was

not particular about punctuality and was not available during office hours. This had an adverse effect on

Examination Paper of Marketing Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management 8

faculty in general and classes in particular. Not only did classes suffer but even administrative work

was affected. Monthly reports to the head office were not sent on time, as a result requisitions for

computer servicing, reading material and funds were unduly delayed. Due to lack of maintenance,

computer breakdowns became common, students did not receive their reading material on time and

payment of building rent, and telephone bills etc were unnecessarily delayed. The symptoms of

deterioration at the Bhopal branch were obvious. The branch which had an annual turnover of Rs 30.7

lakhs fell to Rs. 4 lakhs. As enrollments decreased the head office at Delhi started feeling the pinch. It

started delaying transfer of funds to the Bhopal branch. As a result faculty salaries were unduly delayed.

The faculty started leaving for greener pastures.

Worried by the number of faculty turnover, the head office started a practice of recruiting only

those faculties willing to sign a bond of 3 years. The organization started a practice of taking a deposit

of Rupees 5000 from the joining faculty, which would be refunded after 3 years. In case the faculty left

before this duration, the deposit stood forfeited. This policy further reduced the quality of faculty

joining Swastik Computer Systems, Bhopal.

Questions:

1. What according to you went wrong at the Bhopal branch?

2. What can be done to revive the Bhopal branch?

Caselet 2

Mind tree which was founded in 1999 in India by a group of IT professionals who wanted to chart a

somewhat distinctive path. Today, it has a top line of $269 million and is rated as one of the most

promising mid-sized IT services companies. Creditable as that is, Mind Tree does not want to be just

that. There is an element of serendipity about what it has been doing over the last year. In 2008, it

designated one of its founders Subroto Bagchi „Gardener‟, a gimmicky signal, intended to declare that

he was moving out of the day-to-day running of the company to nurture talent which would run the

company in the future. He has now a report card ready on a year as gardener. During this one year, he

has also spent around 45 days travelling round the world talking to clients and prospective ones which

has yield remarkable insights into what firms are doing in these traumatic times. Lastly, Mind Tree as

a whole has spent the last year going through the exercise of redefining its mission statement and

vision for the next five years. Quite fortuitously these processes have come together with a unifying

thread, presenting a coherent big picture. Mind Tree wants to seed the future while still young, and

executive chairman Ashok Soota has declared that by 2020, it will be led by a non-founder. So a year

ago the gardener Bagchi set out to “touch” 100 top people in the organization, with a goal of doing 50

in a year so as to eventually identify the top 20 by 2015. From among them will emerge not just the

leader but a team of ten who would eventually, as group heads, deliver $200 million of turnover each.

That will give a turnover of $2 billion. To put it in perspective, one one VC-funded company, which

has not closed or been bought over, has been able to get to $2 billion and that is Google. But to get

there it has to periodically redefine its mission (why we exist) and its vision – measurable goals for the

next five years. Its redefined mission is built around “successful customers, happy people, and

innovative solution”. Its new vision targets a turnover of $1 billion by 2014. It wants to be among the

globally 20 most profitable IT services companies and also among the 20 globally most admired ones.

Examination Paper of Marketing Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management 9

Admired in terms of customer satisfaction (pay for the course), people practices (creditable),

knowledge management (exciting) and corporate governance (the Enron-Satyam effect). The really

interesting bit about Mind Tree in the last one year is what Bagchi has been up to. He has been

embedding himself in the 50 lives, working in a personal private continuum, making it a rich learning

process “which has helped connect so many dots.” Of the hundred who will be engaged, may be 50

will leave, of them 25 may better themselves only marginally, and from the remaining 25 ten will

emerge who will carry the company forward.

Questions:

1. What do you analyse as the main reason behind the success of Mind tree?

2. Do you think that redefining the mission statement shows the lacunae on the part of the founder

members of an organization? Why?

 Caselet 1

Orion is a global co. That sells copiers. Orion currently sells 10 variants of a copier, with all inventory

kept in finished-goods form. The primary component that differentiates the copiers is the printing

subassembly. An idea being discussed is to introduce commonality in the printing subassembly so

that final assembly can be postponed and inventories kept in component form. Currently, each copier

costs $1,000 in terms of components. Introducing commonality in the print subassembly will increase

component cost to$1.025.One of the 10 variants represents 80 percent of the total demand. Weekly

demand for this variant is normally distributed ,with a mean of 1,000 and a standard deviation of

200.Each of the remaining nine variants has a weekly demand of 28 with a standard deviation of

20.Orion aims to provide a 95per level of services .Replacement lead time for components is four

weeks. Copier assembly can be implemented in a matter of hours. Orion manages all inventories

using a continuous review policy and uses a holding cost of 20 percent.

1. How much safety inventory of each variant must Orion keep without component commonality?

What are the annual holding costs?

2. How much safety inventory must be kept in component form if Orion uses common components

for all variants? What is the annual holding cost? What is the increase in component cost using

commonality? Is commonality justified across all variants?

3. At what cost of commonality will complete commonality be justified?

4. At what cost of commonality will commonality across the low-volume variants be justified?

Caselet 2

An electronic manufacturer has outsourced production of its latest MP3 player to a contract

manufacturer in Asia. Demand for the players has exceeded all expectations whereas the contract

manufacturers sell three types of players- a 40-GB player, a 20-GB player, 6-GB player. For the

upcoming holiday season, the demand forecast for the 40-GB player is normally distributed, with a

mean of 20,000and a standard deviation Dard deviation of 11,000, and the demand forecast for the 6-

GB player has a mean of 80,000 and a standard deviation of 16,000. The 40-GB player has a sale

Examination Paper of Supply Chain Management

4

IIBM Institute of Business Management

price of $200, a production cost of $100, and a salvage value of $80 .The 20-GB player has a price of

$150, a production cost of $70, and a salvage value of $50.

1. How many units of each type of player should the electronics manufacturer order if there are no

capacity constraints?

2. How many times of each type of player should the electronics manufacturer order if the available

is 140,000? What is the expected profit?

END OF

 Caselet 1

ADAPTABILITY IN ACTION: A CASE OF RSL

Rajasthan Synthetics Ltd. (RSL) was established in the year 1994 at Bhilwara, Rajasthan to

manufacture synthetic yarn with a licensed capacity of 29,000 spindles. Manish Kumar, a Harvard

Business School graduate, established RSL with 8% equity participation from Itochu Corporation

Japan to manufacture synthetic yarn for shirting, a promising business at that time. The demise of the

NTC textile mills was fresh in the minds of the promoters and therefore, state of the art technology

imported from U.K., Germany, Japan and France was used in the manufacturing facility. By the time

the company started manufacturing yarn the competition in shirting yarn had become fierce and the

returns had diminished. The company incurred losses in the first four years of its operations and the

management was looking for opportunities to turn things around. The manufacturing plant started

functioning with an installed capacity of 26,000 spindles, a small unit considering yarnmanufacturing

industry, in the year 1996 to manufacture synthetic yarn for shirting only. Initially, the

major fabric manufactures of India such as Raymonds, Donear, Grasim, Amartex, Siyaram, Pantaloon

and Arviva were the main customers of the company and the total produce of the company was sold

within the domestic market. These fabric manufactures used to import the premium quality yarn

before RSL started supplying the yarn to them. The company in the first year of its operations

realized that shirting yarn was one of the fiercely competitive products and the company with its high

interest liability was unlikely to earn the desired profits. Also, the company had a narrow product mix

limited to only two more blow room lines were installed in the first quarter of 1997. The addition of

two blow room lines helped RSL to manufacture four different types of yarns at the same time.

Utilizing this added flexibility, RSL began manufacturing yarn for suitings.Since the suiting yarn was

providing better returns, the company was keen to increase manufacturing of suiting yarn but was

hampered by the two for one doubling (TFO) facility, which was limited to only 40% of the total

produce. To remove this bottleneck, 12 more TFO machines were added to the existing 8 TFO

machines. The addition of these machines increased the doubling capacity to 70% of the production

providing additional product mix flexibility to the company. This enabled the company to

manufacture yarn to cater to the requirements of suiting, industrial fabric and carpet manufacturers. In

the initial years of its operations, RSL realized that the promises made by the Government of

Rajasthan to provide uninterrupted power supply of the required quality (stable voltage and

frequency) and ample quantity of water were unlikely to be met through the public distribution

system. The voltage and frequency of electric power provided through the public distribution system

were erratic and frequent announced and unannounced power cuts stopped production on a regular

basis. In these circumstances, meeting quality requirements of the customers and adhering to delivery

schedules was a herculean task. To ensure smooth and uninterrupted operations RSL installed inhouse

power generation facility of 4 megawatts capacity and dug 10 tube-wells.RSL faced stiff

competition in the domestic market from Gujarat Spinning and Weaving Mills, Surat, Rajasthan

Textile Mills, Bhawani Mandi, Charan Spinning Mills, Salem and Indorama Synthetics Ltd.,

Pithampur in all their product categories and the returns were low. In order to combat stiff

Examination Paper of Supply Chain Management

8

IIBM Institute of Business Management

competition in the domestic market and improve returns the company started developing export

markets for their products in the year 1998. Initially, RSL started exporting carpet yarn to Belgium

and till 2001; carpet yarn formed the major component of their exports. A trade agreement was signed

with Fibratex Corporation, Switzerland to share profits equally for expanding their overseas

operations. During the same period, RSL continued to scout for new export markets and was

successful in entering top-of-the-line fancy for premium fashion fabric manufactures of international

repute like Mango and Zara. Rajasthan Synthetics Ltd. also exported fancy yarn to a number of fabric

manufacturers located in Italy, France, England, Spain and Portugal. Yarn manufacturers from

Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan gave stiff competition to RSL when it entered the international market.

The companies from South Asian countries had a major cost advantage over RSL because of cheap,

uninterrupted availability of power and high labour productivity. Currencies had been sharply

devalued during the South Asian financial crisis, which rendered the products manufactured by these

companies still cheaper in international markets. Despite all these disadvantages, RSL was able to

gain a foothold through constant adaption of their products according to the customer requirements in

the highly quality conscious international yarn market and was exporting 95% of its total produce by

the beginning of the year 2002.

Rajasthan Synthetics Ltd. had fine-tuned its distribution channels according to the type of markets

and size of orders from the customers. In line with this policy the export to Middle East, Far East and

Turkey was carried out through agents. Similarly, low volume export of fancy yarn requirements was

also catered through agents. While dealing with importers directly, RSL strictly followed the policy

of exports against confirmed Letter of Credits only. The company directly exported to important

clients in Belgium, England and France. The domestic market was also served through an agency

system. Rajasthan Synthetics Ltd. considered inventories as an unnecessary waste and kept minimum

possible inventories while ensuring required level of service. To ensure that the inventories were held

to a minimum, the manufacturing plan consisted of 60 to 70% against customer orders, 30 to 40%

against anticipated sales and 2% capacity was reserved for new product development. A Strategic

Management Committee (SMC) consisting of MD, CEO, GM (marketing) and GM (technical)

reviewed the production plan of the manufacturing plant on quarterly basis. The SMC also developed

the plans for profitability, product mix and cost minimization. Delivering high-quality products and

meeting delivery commitments for every shipment were essential pre-requisites to be successful in the

global market place. The company had understood this very early and to ensure that the products

manufactured by RSL met the stringent quality requirements of its international customers, the

company had developed a full-fledged testing laboratory equipped with ultra modern testing

machines like User Tester-3 and Classifault. The company had stringent quality testing checks at

every stage of tarn production right from mixing of fiber to packing of finished cones. Its in-house

Research and Development and Statistical Quality Control (SQC) divisions ensured consistent

technical specifications with the help of sophisticated state-of-the-art machines. A team of

professionally qualified and experienced personnel to ensure that the yarn manufactured by the

company was in line with international standards backed the company. The company continuously

upgraded its product mix and at the same time, new products developed by in-house research and

development department were added to the product mix form time to time. RSL‟s management was

quick to analyze the potential of these in-house developments and followed a flexible approach in

determining the level of value addition. The company had developed a new yarn recently and was

selling it under the Rajtang brand name. This new yarn was stretchable in three dimensions, absorbed

moisture quickly, was soft and silky and fitted the body. This yarn was extracted from natural

products and being body-friendly, was in great demand in international markets. Looking at the

higher value addition possibilities RSL decided to forward integrate and started manufacturing fabric,

using Rajtang and provided ready-made garments like swimming suit, tracksuit, undergarments, tops,

slacks and kids dresses. The ready-made dresses from the fabric were being manufactured on the

specifications and designs of RSL. The management decided to market these products under the

brand name “Wear-it” through Wearwell Garments Pvt. Ltd., an associate company of RSL, to ensure

Examination Paper of Supply Chain Management

9

IIBM Institute of Business Management

that RSL did not lose its focus. The Managing Director of RSL felt that continuous adaptability to

market requirements through a flexible approach, cost cutting in every sphere of operations and team

approach to management had taken them ahead. However, RSL had become highly dependent on the

volatile export market and if it was not able to retain the international market it would have to reestablish

itself in the domestic market, which was not an easy task.

1. What marketing strategy should RSL adopt to remain competitive in the international market?

2. Has the company taken the right decision to forward integrate and enter into the highly volatile

garment market?

Caselet 2

Popular mythology in the United States likes to refer to pre-World War II Japan as a somewhat

backward industrial power that produced and exported mostly trinkets and small items of dubious

quality bought by Americans impoverished by the Great Depression. Few bring up the fact that, prior

to the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan had conquered what are now Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, and a large

portion of China, Vietnam, and Thailand; and by the end of 1942 Japan had extended its empire to

include Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, New Guinea, plus many

strings of islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its navy had moved a large armada of worships 4,000

miles across the Pacific Ocean, in secret and in silence, to attack Pearl Harbor and then returned

safely home. Manufacturers capable of producing only low-grade goods don‟t accomplish such feats.

High-quality standards for military hardware, however, did not extend to civilian and export goods,

which received very low priority during the war years. Thus the perception in the United States for a

long time before and then immediately after the war had nothing to do with some inherent character

flaw in Japanese culture or industrial capability. It had everything to do with Japan‟s national

priorities and the availability of funds and material. Following Japan‟s surrender in 1945, General

MacArthur was given the task of rebuilding the Japanese economy on a peaceful footing. As part of

that effort an assessment of damage was to be conducted and a national census was planned for 1950.

Deming was asked in 1947 to go to Japan and assist in that effort. As a result of his association with

Shewhart and quality training, he was contacted by representatives from the Union of Japanese

Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), and in 1950, Deming delivered his now famous series of lectures on

quality control. His message to top industry leaders, whom he demanded to attend, and to JUSE was

that Japan had to change its image in the United States and throughout the world. He declared that it

could not succeed as an exporter of poor quality and argued that the tools of statistical quality control

could help solve many quality problems. Having seen their country devastated by the war, industry

and government leaders were eager to learn the new methods and to speed economic recovery.

Experience was to prove to Deming and others that, without the understanding, respect, and support

of management, no group of tools alone could sustain a long-term quality improvement effort.

1. How could have the SQC approach, been useful in solving the immediate problems of Japan?

2. If you were among one of the management members, what would have been your first insight?

 Case let 1

National Competitive Advantage of IKEA Group, a Swedish company founded in 1943 with its

headquarters in Denmark, is a multinational operator of a chain of stores for home furnishing and

furniture. It is the world’s largest retailer, which specializes, in stylish but inexpensive Scandinavian

designed furniture. At the end of 2005 the IKEA Group of Companies had a total of 175 stores in 31

countries. In addition there are 19 IKEA stores owned and run by franchisees, outside the IKEA store

around the world.

In Sweden, nature and a home both play a big part in people’s life. In fact one of the best ways to describe

the Swedish home furnishing style is to describe nature-full of light and fresh air, yet restrained and

unpretentious.

To match up the artist Carl and Karin Larsson combined classical influences with warmer Swedish folk

styles .They created a model of Swedish home furnishing design that today enjoys world-wide renown. In

the 1950s the styles of modernism and functionalism developed at the same time as Sweden established a

society founded on social equality .The IKEA product range –The IKEA product range- modern but not

trendy, functional yet attractive, human-centered and child friendly – carries on these various Swedish

home furnishing traditions.

The IKEA Concept, like lots founder, was born in Samaland. This is a part of Southern Sweden where the

soil is thin and poor. The people are famous for working hard, living on small means and using their

heads to make the best possible use of the limited resources they have. This way of doing things is at the

heart of the IKEA approach to keeping prices low.

IKEA was founded when Sweden was fast becoming an example of the caring society, where rich and

poor alike were well looked after. This is also a theme that fits well with the IKEA vision. In order to give

the many people a better everyday life, IKEA asks the customer to work as a partner. The product range is

child-friendly and covers the need of the whole family, young and old. So together we can a better

everyday life for everyone.

In addition to working about around 1,800 different suppliers across the world, IKEA produces many of

its own products through sawmills and factories in the IKEA industrial group, Swedwood.

Swedwood also has a duty to transfer knowledge to other suppliers, for example by educating them in

issues such as efficiency, quality and environmental work.

Swedwood has 35 industrial units in 11 countries.

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Purchasing: IKEA has 42 Trading Service Offices (TSO’s) in 33 countries. Proximity to their suppliers

is the key to rational, long term cooperation. That’s why TSO co-workers visit suppliers regularly to

monitor production, test new ideas, negotiate prices and carry out quality audits and inspection.

Distribution: The route from supplier to customer must be as direct, cost- effective and environmentally

friendly as possible. Flat packs are important aspects of this work: eliminating wasted space means we

can transport and store goods more efficiently. Since efficient distribution plays a key role in the work of

creating the low price, goods routing and logistics are a focus for constant development.

The business Idea: The IKEA business idea is to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design

and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. And still have

many left! The company targets the customer who is looking for value and is willing to do a little bit of

work serving themselves, transporting the items home and assembling the furniture for a better price. The

typical IKEA customer is young low to middle income family.

The Competition Advantage: The competition advantage strategy of IKEA’s product is reflected through

IKEA’s success in the real industry. It can be attributed to its vast experience in the retail market, product

differentiation, and cost leadership.

IKEA Product Differentiation: A wide product range The IKEA product range is wide and versatile in

several ways. First, it’s versatile in function. Because IKEA think customer, shouldn’t have to run from

one small specialty shop to another to furnish their home, IKEA gather plants, living room furnishings,

toys , frying pans, whole kitchens i.e.; everything which in a functional way helps to build a home – in

one place , at IKEA stores.

Second, it’s wide in style. The romantic at heart will find choices just as many as the minimalist at IKEA.

But There is only one thing IKEA don’t have, and that is, the far- out or the over-decorated. They only

have what helps build a home that has room for good living.

Third, by being coordinated, the range is wide in function and style at the same time. No matter which

style you prefer, there’s an armchair that goes with the bookcase that goes with the new extending table

that goes with the armchair. So their range is wide in a variety of ways.

Cost Leadership: A wide range with good form and function is only half the story. Affordability has a part

to play – the largest part. A wide range with good form and function is only half the story. Affordability

has a part to play- the largest part. And the joy of being able to own it without having to forsake

everything else. And the customers help, too, by choosing the furniture, getting it at the warehouse,

transporting it home and assembling it themselves , to keep the price low.

Questions

1. Do you think that IKEA has been successful to utilize Porter’s Five force analysis?

Give reasons.

2. Where do you think can IKEA improve?

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Case let 2

For ITC Ltd., 2007-2008 continued to be year of quiet growth. Just more launches in its relatively new

segment of non-cigarettes fast moving consumer goods, and solid growth. As in the past few years, ITC’s

non-cigarettes businesses continued to grow at a scorching pace, accounting for a bigger share of overall

revenues. “The non-cigarette portfolio grew by 37.6% during 2006-2007 and accounted during that year

for 52.3% of the company’s net turnover.” An ITC spokesman said. In fact, over the first three quarters of

2007-08, ITC’s non-cigarette FMCG businesses have grown by 48% on the same period last year,

“Indicating that its plans for increasing market share and standing are succeeding.”

The branded packaged foods business continued to expand rapidly, with the focus on snacks range Bingo.

The biscuit category continued its growth momentum with the ‘Sun feast’ range of biscuits launching

‘Coconut’ and ‘Nice’ variants and the addition of ‘ Sunfeast BenneVita Flaxseed’ biscuits. Aashirwad atta

and kitchen ingredients retained their top slots at the national level, with the spices category adding an

organic range. In the confectionery category which grew by 38% in the third quarter, ITC cited AC

Nielsen data it claims market leader status in throat lozenges. Instant mixes and pasta powdered the sales

of its ready to eat foods under the kitchens of India and Aashirwad brands.

In Lifestyle apparel, ITC launched Miss Players fashion wear for young women to compliment its range

for men.

Overall, the biscuit category grew by 58% during the last quarter, ready to eat foods under the kitchens of

India and Aashirwad brands by 63% and the lifestyle business by 26%.

For the Industry, the most significant initiative to watch the ITC foray into premium personal care

products with its Fiama Di Wills range of shampoos , conditioners, shower gels, and soaps. In the popular

segment, ITC has launched a range of soaps and shampoos under the brand name Superia.

Ravi Naware, Chief executive of ITC’s food business was quoted recently as saying that the business will

make a positive contribution to ITC’s bottom line in the next two to three years.

In hotels, ITC’s Fortune Park brand was making the news during the year, with a rapid rollout of first

class business hotels.

In the agri-business segment, the e-choupal network is trying out a pilot in retailing fresh fruits and

vegetables. The e-choupals have already specialized in feeding ITC high quality wheat and potato, among

other commodities grown by farmers with help from e-choupal.

Questions:

Q1. Do you think the progress of ITC Ltd. is realistic?

Q2. After analyzing the above case, do you think every company should aim at cost leadership with high

quality product?

 Caselet 1

Tech Knowledge is a start-up founded in 1997 by Robert Thyer. The company is a distributer of

presentation technologies, including computer based projection systems, video equipment, and

display technologies. The firm has 25 employees and does $5 million in sales. It is growing rapidly.

The owner, Robert Thyer, would like to netsource the back-office functions of the firm because the

company does not have an internal IT capability. The applications to be netsourced would include

sales and distribution, financial accounting, and inventory management.

TechKnowledge would like to source SAP or another ERP vendor via a hosting arrangement. It

does not expect to do much customization, and it does not have any legacy systems.

1. What factors should it use to evaluate each of these potential hosts?

2. What controls should be in place to monitor the hosting arrangement?

Caselet 2

ITM is a company specializing in network implementation and management. It provides networking

services to mid-sized companies, which do not have an internal networking analyst or IT manager.

These organizations include real estate companies, law offices, medical practices, architectural /

engineering firms, construction companies, business services providers, country clubs, community

organizations, and churches.

ITM uses a legacy accounting system to handle its financial accounting and financial

management functions. It has added on a billing package for client services. The next step is to

obtain a CRM capability to manage information about current and prospective customers more

effectively.

You have been assigned to identify potential sources for a net-sourcing arrangement with an ERP

vendor, which provides CRM capabilities.

1. Identify potential sources of software?

2. Determine five criteria you will recommend be used to evaluate each of alternative providers?

END OF

 Case let 1

Overview of our Client’s Strategy

Our client had an online store. They were spending $15,000 each month on pay per click

advertising. This resulted in about $225,000 per month in sales. They didn’t know which clicks

were leading to sales because they didn’t track the clicks. There rankings in the natural listings was

minimal because they hadn’t done keywords research on what visitors were using to try to find a

site like there’s. They weren’t able to quantity results because their we statistics program only

showed very general traffic information. They were also doing an irregular email newsletter even

though they had more than 32,000 e-mails in their database.

Analysis of the situation

In the natural listings we suspected they were being penalized by the search enines for duplicate

content. The search engines frown on this because they feel this is trying to fool them. Google will

often give a site like this something called “Supplement Results”, which means that the search

engines know the page exists but doesn’t have any content in their database. We also suspected

their email newsletter was being blocked by many spam blockers because the names of the products

they sold were often on used in spam e-mails.

Implementation of a Solution

For the pay per click advertising we started tracking the clicks down to the individual terms and the

actual results that came from them. We were able to delete terms that were not getting enough sales

and increase the bids on ones that brought sales. For the natural listings we did keywords research

and focused on the main keywords on the content for the home page and in the META tags. We

also found that visitors search on product names rather than manufactures, so in the title tag for the

page we switched and put the product name before the manufacturer. With the newsletter, we used

a good mix of graphics and content to appease the spam blockers, as well as put the product names

in graphics so they wouldn’t be blocked. In order to analyze of the site’s traffic, we implemented a

powerful web statistics program.

Results of our work

Through our tactics, our clients were able to move up to #4 on Google for their main search term,

which got a lot of traffic. With pay per click, they went from $.43. They decrease their budget to

$10,000 per month, yet were able to increase their traffic by 33 percent. Through our optimization

of their pay per click, their cost per conversion to sale decreased by at least 45 percent. The

deliverability of their newsletter increased as well. Within a year, their sales increased to over

$600,000 per month.

Questions:

1. Discuss the client strategy for the success of store.

2. Suppose if you are the client maker what would you suggest for the client.

Examination Paper : Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management 4

Case let 2

Data Warehouse is a massive independent business database system that is populated with data that

has been extracted from a range of sources. The data is held separately from its origin and is used to

help to improve the decision-making process.

Many traditional Databases are involved in recording day to day operational activities of the

business, called Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), COMMONLY IMPLEMENTED IN

Airline Bookings and Banking Systems, for faster’s response and better control over data.

After establishment of OLTP Systems, reports and summaries can be drawn for giving inputs to

decision-making process and this process is called Online Analytical Processing (OLAP).

For better customer relationships management strategy, the call centre’s and data Warehouse works

as a strategic tool for decision-support which requires lot of time for establishment, and needs to be

updated with operational information on daily weekly or monthly basis.

Data Warehouse is used for proactive strategies formulation strategies formulation in critical and

complex situations. A number of CRM vendors are advocating for single integrated customer

database which includes call centre, web sites, branches and direct mail, but it lacks in analytical

functioning of data warehouse. This Database can’t be expanded also, and carry decision support

operations on call centre Database becomes slow & the query processing and inquiries andling

operations also become slow & inefficient for agents dealing with customers.

Data Warehouse is must for identifying most profitable & loyal customers and those customers can

be offered better customized services which increase the chances of additional profits.

Although call centre system & data warehouse are altogether different systems yet dependent on

each other to fully exploit their potential respectively.

Questions:

1. Explain the role of data warehousing in the functioning of a call centre.

2. How the response time in performing OLAP queries can be improved?

  Case let 1

Managing Exchange Rate Risk

Mahindra International (India) imported spares of an engine from a US manufacturer for $ 5,000 per

annum at a price of $ 2.5 per piece. The average exchange rate during 2001-02 was Rs. 47.70/$. The

Indian company imported the spares also from a British manufacturer. In fact, it had diversified its

import in view of reducing the risk associated with the supply. The import from the USA was

competitive in view of the fact the same spares imported from the UK was slightly costlier. The

American spares cost Rs. 119.25 per piece, while the British spares cost Rs. 120.00 per piece. In

2002-03, US dollar appreciated to Rs. 48.40 with the result that the cost of American spares turned

higher than the British spares. In the sequel of the appreciation of US dollar, the Indian importer cut

its demand from 2,000 pieces to 500 pieces. The loss to the US exporter was colossal. But at the same

time, the Indian Importer suffered a lot. It had to pay a higher price for the US spares in terms of

rupee. And also, it had to divert its import from the USA to the UK insofar as the pound sterling did

not appreciate during this period. All this happened in the wake of the exchange rate changes.

Questions:

1. Mention the loss borne by the US exporter in the sequel of appreciation of dollar.

2. What strategy the Indian importer needs to follow to hedge the exchange rate risk?

Case let 2

ABN Amro Bank and Correspondent Banking in India

ABN AMRO bank has emerged as a major correspondent bank owing to a large network. In

India, it operates in six major cities, viz. Baroda, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and

Pune. Being a correspondence bank, its product offerings are found primarily in the area of

trade and clearing. It is doing well in these owing to strong tie-up with local Indian banks

reaching 350 centres across the country. As a result, payments are effected speedily and

effectively.

Cash Management

The customized products in the area of cash management include cheques payable at par at all its

branches across the country, apart from traditional collection services, such as collection of

outstation/upcountry cheques drawn on other banks. ABN AMRO is a member of all major clearing

centers in the major financial centers. It has an electronic delivery system and structures multilateral

netting of cash.

Examination Paper: Finance Management

4

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Trade Services

Under trade services, the Bank offers a comprehensive range of products, such as:

1. LC reimbursement

2. Indian rupee trade payments

3. Handling documentary bills for collection

4. Bills negotiation

5. Letter of credit advising

6. Letter of credit confirmation

7. Guarantees

Treasury Services

Treasury services at ABN AMRO Bank (India) are available round-the-clock. Rupee funding at its

treasury desk is provided at competitive rates along with advice on market trends and rates. It

provides also advisory services on the request of financial institutions and corporate in the area of

regulatory, economic and financial matters including depository services.

Questions:

1. Describe the network of ABN AMRO Bank in India.

2. What role does it play for global cash management?

 Case let 1

Export Marketing:

The trade in black pepper is unhappy that exports may not show a sign of revival in prices in the

immediate future. World prices have been showing a downward trend for eighteen months and this

has resulted in much lower earnings for exporters. The UK, West Germany and the Netherlands have

cut their import requirement though the American demand has shown some growth. Brazil has been

resorting to aggressive selling at lower prices and the expectations are that its exports will reach an

all-time peak of 32,000 tones in the 1981-82 season. The 1981-82 Indian season is only about six

weeks away. The Brazilian offensive has forced India to withdraw so to any from the US and West

European markets and increase its reliance on communist buyers. As many as 1980-81.the Soviet

Union alone accounting for 12,647 tones. But exporters are concerned at the diversion on such a scale

of this trade.

Questions:

1. Had you been the pepper exporter, what would be your short term and medium-term export

marketing strategy in the above environment?

2. Could you examine the weak points in this case study?

Case let 2

SMART KIDS – SELLING EDUCATIONAL GAMES AND

RESOURCES TO THE WORLD

Smart Kids Ltd. An Auckland company that makes educational games and resources to read and

understand math’s has won a Trade New Zealand Export Award for its success in international

markets in 2003.Established eight years ago in the family home basement, Smart Kids is led by

husband and wife team, joint chief executives David and Sun Milne and their sons Duncan and Frase.

She Milne, an ex-teacher, says from just 30 products when it started, the company produces more

than 200 produces catering for student’s activities, grammar concepts and numeracy. She says the

international appeal of Smart Kids products was highlighted recently, when company’s SMART

PHONICS was listed amongst the top five products out of almost 100 in the education trade show in

the United Kingdom. The key requirement for every new Smart Kids products is that it stimulates

student’s minds in the classroom, teaches them a specific concept easily, enjoyably and permanently

and enables problem solving. David Milne says Smart Kids started selling its educational games and

Examination Paper: Marketing Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management 4

resources to New Zealand schools in 1995, drawings an immediate and strong response. It quickly

became apartment that the New Zealand market was not large enough to sustain considerable

investment in product development, and secondly, that their products have done so well that they

deserved wider exposure.”Our export research came down to two options. Find educational

distributors in other countries or set-up our own operations. The first option was less risky and easy to

manage but it meant that Smart Kids products were lost in a wide range of materials. So we went for

the second option and over the next few years established offices in Australia, in UK and Canada”.

This has successfully branded Smart Kids as a leading supplier of educational resources in these

countries. Mr. Milne says the Smart Kids product catalogue is now sent regularly to teachers in more

than 50,000 schools across the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia. “We also sell to schools in the US.

In that market we elected to work through a distributor, we didn’t have the financial resources to setup

an operation that could cover almost 70,000 schools and compete with every established

educational publisher”. He says annual exports now exceed $2.2 million and account for more than

90% of turnover. In order to grow the business, surplus profits are reinvested back into product

development, infrastructure – the company recently moved its Auckland operation into new 20,000

square feet premises in Ellerslie. Mr. Milne says the Smart Kids brand is now well established

internationally with the company enjoying many competitive advantages, including its New Zealand

origin. New Zealand education is highly regarded overseas and we find that international teachers to

get hold of educational products made in this country.

Questions:

1. What are the major considerations for a firm in order to while deciding its markets entry

strategy?

2. To what extent direct control and ownership are critical for Smart kids export distribution

strategy?