Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (2008 - 09)

Process

Feedback - Case Study

• The case was about Bajaj Auto which plans to close down a facility in Pune because of high running costs, no tax benefits in the state, ageing workforce, etc. This plant, which manufactures scooters right now is being planned to move to Pantnagar, a modern plant with tax benefits and latest machinery. The Pune plant previously manufactured motorcycles also, whose manufacturing was shifted to Aurangabad. Bajaj has a total of 4 plants, the 4th one being in Chakan (near Pune), which is a benchmark of efficiency. Manufacturing at the Pune plant is costlier than that at Pantnagar plant by Rs5000-6000 per bike. What should the management of Bajaj Auto do in face of rising resistance from the workforce working in the Pune plant?
• Nissan is planning to launch a luxury car. They roped in an ad company for that. The first ad campaign was just showing the nature, showing the waves, thunder, lightning etc. It has the brand name "Infiniti" on it. People were very curious about this (What is this ad all about. Was it about soap or some other thing). So, the initial campaign was tremendously successful. In the survey conducted after this ad, about 80% of the people were able to recollect the brand name. The popularity was slightly lower than Toyota Lexus which had a head start of about one year on Infiniti. Also, people got tired of seeing the same nature ad. The company had planned for the next ad campaign. In this the ad was about 60 seconds out of which for around 36 seconds, the car was shown. But, the full car was shown for only one second. Also, there were natural scenes as in the previous ad. The ad received mixed responses from the critics. The ad showed that though the car was a luxury sedan, it won't compromise on performance. Also, the company had planned to stop giving ads on other media, and instead concentrated only on TV ad campaign. Nissan predicted about 30,000 car sales in 1990. But only slightly higher than 1,000 cars were sold in January 1990. The sales figure for the entire year was 12,800. What should the company do?

Feedback - Personal Interview

• Excerpts From Interview 1 : Tell us something about yourself? Are you interested in national or international football? What is EPL? Name some teams of EPL? Who is your favorite player? Will you opt for a civil engineering job if you don't get through MBA this year? Do you know about the cable suspended bridges? What is the purpose of using a cable? Will the cables carry compression? How much do you know about computers? Have you ever worked on AutoCAD?How many other students from your class have received a call?
• Excerpts From Interview 2 : Tell us something about your job in Infosys, Mysore? Why do you want to pursue MBA? Which specialization do you want to take up in MBA? Why? What are your favorite subjects? (Mechanical Engineering) Tell us about some new technologies in passenger car industry? How far has the technology been developed?What is the difference between Reva and Hybrid Cars? What does 2.4 l written on a car indicates? Does more engine volume mean more power also? Which of the petrol or a diesel car of the same volume have more power? What is MPFI? What is VMI? Do you know why explosives are used in coal industry? Have you heard of the bull-whip effect? What is the effect of recession on India?