UPSC Mains MANAGEMENT-PAPER-II 2011

Read the situation given below and answer the questions given at the end of it. A company is dealing with two products A and B. The company uses three resources to make the products, namely : machines, men and material. To produce the products, the total capacity available per week is as follows : machines – 180 hours, men – 150 hours and material – 200 kg. Every unit of product A requires 9 hours of machines, 7 hours of men and 4 kg of material. The corresponding figures for product B are : 5 hours of machines, 3 hours of men and 4 kg of material. The company has estimated that the cost of machine is ₹ 50 per hour, cost of men is ₹ 30 per hour and cost of material is ₹ 10 per kg, regardless of the product made. The company sells these products in the domestic market and as per the company records, the profit of the company is ₹ 40 per unit of product A and ₹ 20 per unit of product B. (kg = kilograms) (i) Formulate the following problem as Linear Programming Problem : How much of products A and B should be produced to minimise the weekly total cost of machines, men and material?

Formulate the following problem as Linear Programming Problem : How much of products A and B should be produced to maximise the weekly total profit of the company?

Solve question (i) using graphical method, to minimise the weekly total cost.

Do you think it is possible to have multiple solutions resulting in the same minimum weekly total cost in case of minimisation problem and resulting in the same maximum weekly total profit in the maximisation problem ? If yes, how should the company identify such situations?

Prepare a typical Tableau to solve the minimisation problem by using Simplex Method.

Read the case described below and answer the questions given at the end of the case. Quant Corporation is a major manufacturer of hard disk drives and other high technology storage components. Quant faced two key challenges in its manufacturing process. The first was streamlining the component supply process, to reduce on hand inventory. Its traditional ordering process was labour intensive,

Identify the internal and external parts of the supply chain enhanced by the system.

Explain how purchasing was improved. What functions does MRP perform ? How is this improved by automation?

How are Quant's customers better served now?

How does Quant evaluate the automated system? Is this adequate?

What additional steps can Quant take?

Read the case described below and answer the questions given at the end of the case. Jean L, a global jeans manufacturing company reached its peak sales in 1996 and then found its sales steadily declining by 40% within 5 years in value terms, even though the total jeans market grew at an average rate of 10% a year, during the period. A combination of good design, pursuit of new trends and savvy marketing helped competitors take away market share from Jean L. Jean L had traditionally focussed on Jeans for men, but the company's products were found to be too outdated, expensive and rather unresponsive to changing market preferences. Jean L had not moved its manufacturing base to low cost producing countries.

What is Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix?

How are products classified using the BCG Matrix?

Apply BCG Matrix to classify the sample products in the table.

Is the company's product portfolio balanced ? Why?

What steps should the company take to ensure it doesn't experience profitless growth?

Read the situation described below and answer the questions given.

What are your observations on the sales data given in the table?

Estimate the sales likely to occur in quarters 17, 18, 19 and 20.

At present the company is making the product in house. The company wishes to evaluate the option of outsourcing the product. How should the company systematically carry out the make or buy analysis?

The company is presented with three options : make in house, buy locally, import. There are three market scenarios: demand may increase, demand may decrease and demand may remain at the present level. The table below gives the expected profit the company will make for each combination. Which option should the company choose if the probability of demand increasing is 0-3, probability of demand decreasing is 0.45 and probability of demand remaining as at present level is 0.25?

In question (iv), all other data remaining same, which option will you choose if the probabilities of all market conditions are unknown? Why?

Read the situation given below and answer the questions given at the end of it. A district police officer has collected data regarding 75 crime-sheeters in his district. This data is given in the table below. The data shows the age of the crime-sheeter when the First Information Report (FIR) was registered. Answer questions (i) to (iv) by showing all the steps.

Using the data given in the table, find : (a) Mean

Median

Mode

Standard deviation

Coefficient of Variation

What observations can you make with your analysis?

What is the probability of finding a crime-sheeter who is older than 50 years?

If a statement is made "Crime-sheeters in the age group of 35 to 50 are more likely than those in the age group of 55 to 70," how would you verify the statement using Tests of Hypothesis?

Distinguish between "competitive advantage" and "comparative advantage". How are endowments of a country's factors of production linked to its comparative advantage?

How do the factors mentioned below impact international trade : (a) Increasing returns to scale

Product differentiation

Imperfect competition

Irreversible investments

Externalities and spillover effects

How does the "Product Life-cycle Theory" explain the globalization of firms ? What are the four generic strategies to compete and secure competitive advantage in global markets? What are the key requirements for a product to be a true "global" product?

Speedy development of infrastructure is one of the important thrust areas of government policy in recent times. A particular initiative that government has taken in this regard is to engage private enterprise in infrastructure development through "Public Private Partnerships". An example of such partnership is the "Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)" Model which is being implemented across most of the areas of infrastructure development. It is believed that India's success in speedy infrastructure development will depend crucially on the success of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model.

Mention any five areas of infrastructure development where PPP Model has been implemented.

In a typical "Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)" Model, what are the responsibilities of Government as "Owner" and the private entrepreneur as the "Concessionaire"?

In a typical "Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)" Model, what are the major risks borne entirely by the "Owner" and by the "Concessionaire" respectively?

In which area of infrastructure development do you think the PPP Model has been most successful ? Why?