Management UPSC PYQ 2014

What is Corporate Social Responsibility ? Describe two CSR initiatives taken by organisations in the Indian context.

Distinguish between 'business strategy' and 'corporate strategy'. How can value chain analysis be applied to determine strengths and weaknesses at the level of 'business' and the 'firm' level?

India is the world's most attractive destination for sourcing services with abundance of manpower, both skilled and semi-skilled. Explain various 'modes' of trading services under the GATT Agreement. Critically evaluate the conflict between developing countries including India and developed countries in international expansion of services.

(i) What is meant by DSS in context to business and management decision-making? Explain with an example that you are aware. State ten characteristics and capabilities of DSS. (ii) Highlight the major functions of ERP system. State five factors, which are driving ERP adoption by small and medium enterprises.

(i) Briefly explain the concept of 'dumping'. Elaborate various forms of dumping and their impact on the target market. (ii) Explain the concept of 'terms of trade' and its significance. Differentiate between 'net', 'gross' and 'income' terms of trade. Identify the reasons for differences of 'terms of trade' between developed and developing countries.

A pushcart vendor and a vegetable store vendor have identical sales and operating profit (i.e. profit before interest and tax) : (i) Using assumed numbers, calculate the degree of operating leverage for the two businesses. (ii) Which of the two businesses can have a higher financial leverage ?

Explain "DuPont" analysis and its components.

Technology has led to the rise of workaholics, who are on the job 60 hours or more per week. One of the reasons cited by employees as to why they worked long hours was that they loved their job, because it is stimulating and challenging. A survey of 1564 workaholics included 786 men and 778 women and the results showed that 707 men and 638 women loved their job, because it is stimulating and challenging. At 0.05 level of significance, is the proportion of workaholic men, who loved their job because it is stimulating and challenging, different from the proportion of women?

Arora Electronics Company (AEC) is receiving a lot of customers' complaints and returns of DVD players that it manufactured. When a DVD is pushed into the loading mechanism, it can stick inside and it is difficult to get the DVD out. Consumers will try to pull the DVD drawer out with their finger or pry it out with an object like knife, pencil or screwdriver, frequently damaging the DVD or hurting themselves. AEC is keen to improve this problem. (i) What are the different dimensions of quality? How can quality be measured by AEC? (ii) Explain the three main classifications of quality costs. Are these related with one another? (iii) Suggest the seven basic quality tools that are used in total quality management. How can these be used by AEC? (iv) Crosby, a leading quality Guru, said, “Quality is free.” AEC management fails to understand this because for better quality management they need money. How will you explain to them the rationale of what Crosby said?

Analyse the nature and scope of marketing in the digital era.

What is 'Situational Leadership' ? Suggest the leadership style that is relevant for different levels of maturity of subordinates.

Explain the relationship between values, perception, attitudes and behaviour in context of individual behaviour.

"In the appointment of independent boards on corporate boards, it is important to ensure the 'independence'." Do you think that 'independence' is a matter of structure of the board or application of mind? Substantiate your argument.

With reference to Industry Life Cycle, explain the term 'embryonic industry'.

Paintkart Internet website stocks and sells paint online on 360 days of a year. Paintkart store stocks several brands of paint; however, its biggest brand is WeWe paint. WeWe paint has an estimated annual demand of 10000 litres of paint, an annual carrying cost of ₹ 0.75 per litre, and an ordering cost of ₹ 150 per order. Assuming that the demand is uniform and is known with certainty, lead time for receipt of orders is constant and certain, answer the following: (i) What is the optimal order size (in litres) for the WeWe paint? (ii) What is the minimum total inventory cost for the WeWe paint? (iii) What is the number of orders per year for optimal ordering policy? (iv) What is the time between two orders (i.e., the order cycle)? (v) If the lead time is 9 days, what is the reorder level?

How has technological advancement influenced communication and relationships amongst organisational members ?

Explain with an illustration the method of estimating required rate of return based on CAPM.

An FMCG company G & P Ltd. is in the business of making and selling diapers through its supply chain. It is facing a serious problem of huge inventory in one period followed by a large number of stock-outs in the next period. The pattern is getting repeated again and again. On analyzing the problem, the company found that as demand information moves upstream in the supply chain, the demand variability is getting amplified. A supply chain consultant was approached by G & P Ltd. who suggested that this problem is due to Bullwhip Effect. (i) What are the possible reasons of Bullwhip Effect? How can Bullwhip Effect be contained? (ii) What is the role of Point of Sales (POS) information on the Bullwhip Effect?

(i) How will you use the 'general electric' framework to determine the strategic investment options for these business units? (ii) A competitor firm Q is keen to acquire firm P's business unit Y and is willing to pay an attractive amount for this purpose. Should the firm P accept the offer? What are the pros and cons to firm P of selling the business unit Y to competitor firm Q?

(i) Why is 'Employee Stock Option' shown as part of equity in the balance sheet when it does not bring in cash to the firm? (ii) Explain the benefits of stock options.

Explain 'Affirmative Action' and its implications for organisations.

(i) Suggest at least three strategies for better waste management in Indian cities and towns. (ii) What are the two main factors which would you use for vendor evaluation and selection for providing security services at office premises?

(i) Enumerate the objectives and importance of MIS in business and industry. State its advantages and limitations. (ii) What is an expert system (ES)? Describe the advantages and limitations of ES.

Kanchan Machine Works has received an export order for surface finishing of 1,000 castings at the rate of Rs. 60 per casting, as against Rs. 70 per casting that is normally charged. The direct materials cost for the job is estimated to be Rs. 10 per casting. The machine hour rate is Rs. 14, calculated as follows : Cost Item | Rate | Remark Power | Rs. 4 | Fully variable with output Supplies | Rs. 3 | 80% variable with output Indirect labour | Rs. 2 | 50% variable with output General factory overhead | Rs. 5 | Not variable with output Each casting requires four hours of machining. The business has an annual capacity of 10,000 castings; 75 per cent of the capacity has been utilized and the business has committed orders for 500 castings. (i) Estimate the incremental profit or loss from the order. (ii) Mention two non-financial factors that the business should consider while deciding on the order.

Consider the (simplified) list of activities and predecessors that are involved in building a small house as given below, along with their duration (in days): Activity: A, Description of Activity: Build foundation, Predecessor Activity: -, Duration (in days): 5 Activity: B, Description of Activity: Build walls and ceilings, Predecessor Activity: A, Duration (in days): 8 Activity: C, Description of Activity: Build roof, Predecessor Activity: B, Duration (in days): 10 Activity: D, Description of Activity: Do electrical wiring, Predecessor Activity: B, Duration (in days): 5 Activity: E, Description of Activity: Fix doors and windows, Predecessor Activity: B, Duration (in days): 10 Activity: F, Description of Activity: Painting, Predecessor Activity: C, E, Duration (in days): 3 We assume that the builder works everyday once work is started on building the house. Each day of work implies working from morning 9 AM to evening 6 PM. (i) If the foundation work is started on morning 9 AM of 1st November, when can the builder complete all the activities involved in building the house? (ii) If the electrical wiring work takes 10 days, when can the builder complete all the activities involved in building the house? (iii) If the painting work takes 5 days, when can the builder complete all the activities involved in building the house?

Distinguish between 'Authority' and 'Power' with an example. How can empowerment enhance individual performance ?

(i) How would you apply the principles of value analysis to reduce cost overruns in Indian projects? (ii) What are the phases that you will follow in the process of value analysis?

Explain the difference between 'Financial Accounting', 'Cost Accounting' and 'Management Accounting'. How these inter-related ?

Compare 'leasing' and 'buying' as alternative methods of financing. Explain with an example.

What are key ingredients of a 'Learning Organisation' ? Give an example to substantiate your answer.

(i) What is ‘central limit theorem’? Give three managerial examples, where ‘central limit theorem’ is applicable. (ii) A set of parts coming out from a process are measured for their weights. Assuming that the weights are normally distributed with a mean of 73 kg and a standard deviation of 8 kg, what is the probability that a part coming out from this process will weigh between 65 kg and 89 kg? (iii) Explain the concept of shadow price in a linear programming problem. How can this concept be used for managerial decision?

How did change in competitive forces in the brokerage industry change the strategies required for success in the industry?

(i) What is information system planning? Describe Nolan's six-stage model for IS planning. State the advantages and disadvantages of the model. (ii) Suppose we wish to implement a transaction processing system that maintains ACID properties even in the presence of crashes. In the event of a crash, any information stored on disk can be retrieved but any data stored in memory will be lost. Describe one serious shortcoming of each of the following implementations : (1) The database is updated on disk on each transaction. (2) The database is kept in memory and on disk, with the copy on disk updated every fifty transactions. (3) The database is kept in memory. A log file is maintained on disk recording every transaction.

Distinguish between 'relevant cost' and 'irrelevant cost' for decision-making purposes.

"Environmental conservation can go hand in hand with economic development by keeping sustainability as the cornerstone of the policy." Critically examine this statement.

What do you understand by 'Capital Adequacy' ? Why is it important for financial sector reform ?

Most Indians find it difficult to understand how Western people eat beef, particularly since cow gives milk and is a revered animal. Korea and other East Asian countries' love for foods such as bloodworm soup, snake and dog meats is not easy to understand for outsiders. In India and other South Asian countries, the fairness of skin is the most important parameter of women's beauty. There is, for example, a huge market in Indian subcontinent for fairness creams such as 'Fair and Lovely' which is growing annually at 25% to 35%. A large number of firms have attempted to exploit this opportunity by introducing a variety of fairness products in the market. On the contrary, most Africans are surprised at 'fairness' being considered a key parameter of beauty. In Africa, brands like 'Dark and Lovely' for personal care products are highly popular. Thus domestic marketing experiences often conflict with international reality. (i) In view of the above, explain the concept of Self-Reference Criteria (SRC) that influence a manager's ability to make objective decisions while operating in international firm. (ii) How do these impact ability of managers to perform effectively in international business?

What is a good framework to analyze the changes in competitive forces to shape the competitive strategy?

Under what conditions should a firm pay cash dividend or bonus shares ?

(i) Why are micro-payments so important for the future of e-commerce? Explain why traditional payment systems are inadequate for e-commerce. (ii) What are the phases of the system development life cycle (SDLC)? Explain the duties and functions involved in each stage. State in detail the role of system analyst in the system development.

"Protection of intellectual property regime has been relatively weak in India." In view of this, what measures will you recommend to strengthen and bring the intellectual property regime at par with internationally accepted framework of intellectual property protection in the context of patents, trademarks and copyrights?

A small manufacturing firm wants to produce two types of products, ‘Normal’ and ‘Premium’. The profit from selling either of these products is same and equal to ₹ 100 per piece. Each of these products requires processing in three departments—Casting, Welding and Finishing. ‘Normal’ needs 9 hours, 1 hour and 4 hours in Casting, Welding and Finishing, respectively. ‘Premium’ needs 4 hours, 1 hour and 7 hours, respectively in these departments. The capacities of these departments are 36 hours, 5 hours and 28 hours, respectively. (i) Formulate the problem as a typical Linear Programming Problem (LPP) so as to find the optimal number of ‘Normal’ and ‘Premium’ to be produced. (ii) Find the maximum achievable profit. (iii) What is the right product mix?

How should a popular consumer product company protect its reputation or image from scandals concerning its products ?

What is the relationship between Goal-Effort-Result ? Explain with an example.

Discuss how the efficiency and effectiveness of a manager would impact organisation performance.

Explain the differences between 'Consumer Marketing' and 'Industrial Marketing' with one example from each.

A study is conducted on 200 residents of a colony who were between the ages of 36 and 50 years, and on 200 residents of the same colony who were over the age of 50 years, to determine whether the source of their daily news is from newspapers or otherwise. Of the 200 residents who were between the ages of 36 and 50 years, 82 got their news primarily from newspapers. Of the 200 residents who were over the age of 50 years, 104 got their news primarily from newspapers. (i) If a resident is selected at random, what is the probability that he or she— (1) got news primarily from newspapers; (2) got news primarily from newspapers and is over 50 years old; (3) got news primarily from newspapers or is over 50 years old? (ii) Suppose that two residents are selected. What is the probability that both got news primarily from newspapers?

In your opinion, which of the international trade theories explains the above trade patterns? Explain the above trade patterns with the theory that you think is most appropriate.

What characteristics would you look for in selecting an expatriate manager ?

For years, stockbrokers with expensive computer hardware traded online and charged individual investors hefty commission to buy or sell a stock. Full-service stockbrokers as such Merrill Lynch offered clients detailed research reports, recommendations and financial planning services for as much as 2.5% of the value of the order in commission. In 1994, a small discount broker K. Authaurer & Co. became the first to offer online trading over the Internet at much lower cost and commission. With rapid expansion in information and communication technology (ICT), entry of number of small companies offering clients online trading services with low commissions, America's long bull market drew ever more individuals into stock market. By 2000, over 150 firms were offering online trading over Internet due to low entry barriers. Commissions further dropped due to intense competition. By early 1999, online brokers charged deep discount fees of $ 14.95 per market order of up to 5000 shares compared to $ 500 charged by full-service brokers for the order up to 1000 shares trading at $ 20 per share. By mid-2000s, the volume of online trading accounted for 40% of all the stock trades. Full-service brokers had to change their strategy. In 1999, Merrill Lynch, a full-service broker, announced online trading service for a fee of $ 29.95 for trades up to 1000 shares. The company also shifted to a new uniform fee structure with a flat new rate allowing unlimited number of trades for many individual clients, although the company faced internal rebellion from its army of stockbrokers due to decline in income. For many of Merrill's clients, a combination of research and online trade was a better value proposition than discount online trading houses. By late 2000, NASDAQ declined iri value by 60% due to multiple factors drying up the online trading. The same was the fate of other stockbrokers. (i) Do you think that the decline in online trading was a watershed event? Comment.

"Managing external debt portfolio of a multinational firm is crucial to profitability, as otherwise operational efficiency will jeopardize." Explain this in the context of enhancing corporate value.

Describe four sources of organisational stress. How does stress impact employee behaviour ?

Elucidate the concept of 'multilateral netting' and explain how it influences management of cash flows in a multinational enterprise (MNE).

What is the role of human resource management in formulating business strategy ?

What is 'Market Research' ? How does market research help in developing a suitable marketing strategy for a new product ?

What is 'Stereotyping' ? How does it influence the decision-making process ?

Explain how 'Job Design' would influence 'Quality of Work Life' ?

Since India's independence, there has been a changing ideology from 'nationalization' to 'privatization'. What economic factors have triggered this change?