J.
AROCKIA SUBITHA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR & HOD
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
T.D.M.N.S. COLLEGE
CASE STUDY – HUMAN RESOURCES
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
Planning to pay
Executive-level salaries in Asian countries have sky-rocketed by up to 7% in the past year, compare
this to the more modest increases in Europe and North America of 2.5–3% and it is clear that
business in Asia is booming.
This enormous surge in remuneration can be attributed to continued strong growth in Asia’s industrial
production and GDP, accelerating inflation across the region, a scarcity of executive talent and
difficulty in filling executive positions, as outlined by Mercer’s Executive Remuneration Perspective
report.
While executive salaries in Asia are already higher than in Europe, and with an annual increase rate
higher than in the US, Mercer expects Asian executive salaries to surpass those in the US within the
next two to three years.
A second regional trend is a shortage of executive talent endowed with the ability to innovate, to
think globally, to take risks and to move quickly. Such talent is mobile across Asia and, as a result, is
driving up pay in some sectors to levels that may prove unsustainable.
Yeoh Sai Yew, Head – Rewards & People Services, Air Asia, believes that the future of compensation
and benefits in Asia’s key and emerging markets will lie in simple pay packages consisting of hard
cash. “Instead of giving additional perks such as housing and a car for instance, it is very likely that
more companies will be going for direct cash,” says Yeoh. “However, some companies will still do
some breakdown to reduce individual taxes in certain countries.”
Yeoh also predicts there will be lesser emphasis on long -term incentive plans (LTIPs) such as
retirement gratuity (non-statutory). “These LTIPs not only increase administrative and operational
costs, but also do not help to retain the new generation. Short- and medium-term incentives will still
be popular trends in order to retain talent.”
CASE STUDY – MARKETING
BIG BAZAAR: AN INDIAN RETAIL CHAIN'S CUSTOMER LOYALTY INITIATIVES
• This case is about the customer loyalty initiatives at Big Bazaar, one of the largest retail chains
in India.
• To maintain a loyal customer base, Big Bazaar came out with several promotional and loyalty
programs which offered special discounts and rewards to customers. The hypermarket chain
offered a host of value- added services to its customers and set a new level of standard in
price, quality, convenience, and service.
• The case provides an overview of the different customer loyalty initiatives launched by Big
Bazaar and their features.
• It also discusses the different loyalty cards introduced by Big Bazaar in association with ICICI
Bank. The case concludes with a question on whether customer loyalty programs affect the
purchase decision of customers and the challenges that Big Bazaar has to face in maintaining
and extending customer loyalty at a time when the Indian consumer is spoilt for choices.
• Issues:
• » Understand the importance of customer loyalty, particularly in the retail industry.
• » Study the different customer loyalty programs initiated by Big Bazaar.
• » Understand the role of co-branded credits cards in customer loyalty programs
• » Understand the concept of customer relationship management
• » Explore strategies that Big Bazaar can adopt in the future to increase customer loyalty
CASE STUDY - SYSTEMS
CYBER SQUATTING
In 2009, Internet software company Google Inc. won a cyber squatting case against an Indian
teenager who had registered a domain name googblog.com. The domain name, Google
contended, was confusingly similar to its trademark. Experts felt that complaints regarding
cyber squatting was on the rise and organizations such as the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) were being approached by trademark holders to resolve such disputes.
• Introduction
On May 15, 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ordered an Indian
teenager, Herit Shah (Shah), who had been using the domain name 'googblog.com', to
transfer the rights of the domain to Google Inc. (Google). Industry observers viewed this as a
case of cyber squatting, and said that Google had been able to successfully defend its
intellectual property rights (IPR). According to WIPO, there had been a rise in allegations of
cyber squatting by trademark holders in 2008.
Cyber squatting was the practice of "deliberate bad faith registration as domain of well-
known trademarks in the hope of being able to sell the domain to the owners of those marks
(or rivals' owners) or simply to take unfair advantage of the reputation attached to those
marks" . Experts believed that cyber squatting was one of the most debatable issues in the
field of cyber law.
• In countries like India, where there was an absence of relevant cyber laws to prevent this
practice, such cases were decided within the ambit of trademark laws. WIPO's Arbitration
and Mediation Center was in the process of developing an online Internet-based system for
administering commercial disputes involving intellectual property...
CASE STUDY – PRODUCTION
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CORPORATION
• A professor in management from one of the leading institutes of management was invited to
lead a seminar for the top 50 managers of Scientific Research Corporation (SRC). This
seminar was of great significance because the SRC was spending about Rs. 5.5 crores per year
on its space programmes.
• In the course of the seminar, when professor was warming to his subject and giving a
discourse on how important management theory was and the various techniques for improving
the quality of management, a distinguished looking gentleman (who was unknown to the
speaker but was a leading scientist at the SRC) rose from his seat and said :
• "Sir, we are very interested in your discourse which verily has a great deal of intellectual
content in it. But, for your benefit and for the benefit of all of us gathered here, I would like to
say that, while management may apply to Hindustan Lever, Delhi Cloth Mills, Associated
Cements, and even to our government agencies like the Indian Revenue Service, it does not
apply here. We are scientists and researchers, and we do not need or want management".
• The professor was understandably quite taken aback by this and proceeded to illustrate why
scientists also needed management.
Questions
• Suppose that you were the professor leading the seminar, what would you have said at this
point?
• Can you explain why such an intelligent top scientist would have made such a statement?
CASE STUDY – INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT THROUGH ABC ANALYSIS
Super Sounds, Inc. (Super Sounds) is a leading speciality retailer founded more than 60
years ago in Cleveland, Ohio. The store provides a vast array of items to inspire
accessories of all kinds. The company aims to meet its customers’ needs not only with its
products but also with the services and advice to help with their needs. Thus, customer
service is an essential element of Super Sounds’ successful retail model.
• The shop is in a storefront location on a busy street and it has limited storage space for
inventory. Recently, as demand for its few products has increased, management has had
difficulty in managing the inventory. They frequently run out of some crucial products
but seem to have endless supply of others. Hence the management of Super Sounds
understood the value of managing inventory to satisfy customers and to bring down
inventory costs. Obviously, having excess inventory will have huge inventory costs. To
reduce costs in an inventory system, the focus should be on certain important high
valued items. In this context, a management trainee provided a solution to the problem,
by suggesting ABC analysis for their needs. This ABC classification process helped
manage the inventory properly. The implementation of the ABC Analysis became a key
element of supply chain and inventory management across Super Sounds stores.
Objectives:
• To understand the basics of inventory management
• To discuss how ABC analysis is used in managing inventory.
