Introduction to Management Case Study

CIMA has taken a totally different approach towards Case Studies (CS) as opposed to the Objective
Tests (OT) papers. I assume you know the differences since you are reading this article, but just to
cover everything, let me just quickly give you an overview of how the exam is structured and what
does it consist of.

The aim of the CIMA Management Case Study (MCS) is to apply the knowledge you have gathered
across the whole management level. In OT tests you show what you know, here in CS you show how
to apply what you know. CSs assess everything, that cannot be assessed via an OT exam. That’s why
CIMA introduced the competencies, so they could check the application of your knowledge to the real
life business case scenario.

It simulates what management accountants do in the workplace.

Few facts about the MCS:

 7 weeks before the exam you get the pre-seen material. It is mostly a description
of a fictitious situation and gives you a perspective on what has to be done.
 Just like OT, case studies are also computer based. They take 3 hours.
 Exams are conducted 4 times a year (end of February, May, August and
November) over a period of 5 days.
 There are 5 different variants of this exam (so in case there is another person
taking the same exam, the chances of you both having the same questions is low).
 Each variant has on average 3-4 sections and each section lasts for 30-60 minutes
(on average 45). Section represents a request that you get from your superior,
colleague, CFO/CEO etc which you need to address by writing an email or a report.
 Exams are marked manually by CIMA, so it takes 4-5 weeks to know if you passed
or not.
  You will get a mark out of 150, according to a scaled score. 80 is the passing mark
(around 53%). But you need to demonstrate a minimum threshold score for each
competency and integration (approximately 1/3 of the total marks available for
each competency.
 Number of questions - for the MCS that number varies between 3-5 (mostly 4).
The time is allocated accordingly to the weight of the marks. Let’s take a logical
approach - 180 minutes accounts for 150 points, so for a 30 minutes section, you
will get 25 points, for a 45 minutes questions - max 37.5 points (of 25% of total
marks), spread across competencies and integration.

Dreadful competencies - what is it all about?

Passing the CS will demonstrate that you can apply the technical, business, people and leadership
skills. That was designed specifically to replicate the real life scenarios and, at the end, make you more
employable. Because let me tell you, those skills are really useful at work! You will get emails from
your boss, or from a Finance Director asking for your opinion, asking to analyse something, asking for
a recommendation in a form of an email or a report.

So think about it as a necessary evil that aims only at improving your career.
Summary on those competencies:
 Technical skills - 39% - knowledge taken mostly from the F2 and P2 (E2 is rarely
represented here, application of E2 knowledge is mostly in the people and
leadership competencies). Here you can be asked to prepare plans for financial
reporting including group accounts, recommend on the compliance with tax and
IFRS, analyse and manage cost using information produced at the operational level,
such as product costing (and that information will be provided to you). So no
worries, no heavy and tricky calculations will be done via MCS. CIMA assumes you
know it already, but they will definitively check if you understand all that by
nesting improper assumptions. Your role would be to spot them and suggest how
to fix that.
 Business skills - 24% - here knowledge from E2 is mostly tested. You will need to
be able to define short and medium-term goals, understand the environment of
the company and identify all the stakeholders, deal with risk. You can demonstrate
the business competency by linking to the Pre-Seen material.
 People skills - 21% - are all about communication, negotiation, influence, making
decisions and collaboration. Are you would need to e.g. communicate plans in
order to influence or empower as an aid to decision making (E2).
 Leadership skills - 16% - here you are expected to be able to manage change, drive
performance improvements (again E2).

Finance Manager - your role in the MCS

  You need to put yourself in the shoes of the finance manager (that is your role in
the MCS). You need to think and write from the perspective of who you are.
 Identify what your line manager/audience wants from you (the task
requirements), including the depth of detail required.
 Remember why you are supplying this information (e.g. to assist in decision
making).
 Plan how you are going to communicate your response and to whom (format,
tone, level of detail and technical complexity).
 Consider what the impact may be for other parts of the business, such as other
stakeholders and the financial statements (this is where you may be able to
demonstrate business and people skills and earn marks for integration).
 Consider what long-term measures can be taken for driving performance of the
business (this is where you may be able to demonstrate leadership skills and, by
thinking beyond the task requirements, earn marks for integration).

How to approach your MCS preparation

STEP 1 - Planning
Do you have a realistic (for you) study plan? Have you figured out how much time you need for the
preparation?

Have a look what Steven Scullion, 8th in the world for Nov 2015 SCS, said about preparing your stay
plan:

“My goal was to ensure I split my time between the key elements needed to pass the exam, i.e.
technical knowledge, knowing the case study and exam practise. With this in mind I drafted a study
timetable immediately after booking onto my course, ensuring that I set aside adequate time in each of
these areas.”

Personally, I think it all depends on different factors such as when was the last time you took an exam,
were you exempted from any of the management level OTs or perhaps this is the first CIMA exam you
attempt (Gateway route).

What do you need to include in your study plan?

1. Review your technical knowledge: E2, P2 and F2. I would do it in this order. It has to be a
thorough review, make sure you understand the models and all the mentioned concepts. Make
notes.
2. Familiarise yourself with the Pre-Seen material.
3. Familiarise yourself with the Industry of the Pre-Seen.
4. Revise your notes from the 1st point. When you review them, think about the Pre-Seen - what
could be useful.
 5. Practice, Practice and PRACTICE! As much as you can! Do plenty of mocks for the current CS,
but also have a look at the past papers.

Now that you know what ends to be covered, let’s figure out how to do that.

The way I see that you have 3 options:

 you can either do a self-study,

 you can enroll in a classroom training,
 you can mix both by signing up with an online tuition provider.

My suggestion is - don’t do it alone!

A Case Study is a totally different type of exam and if you have sit OCS before, you know what I’m
talking about.

Let’s compare it with starting a new job - you feel a bit lost, simple tasks take you ages to fulfill and
still there is a big room for improvement. In these moments, haven’t you thought - “if only I could ask
my boss how to do that” or “if only there was someone who could show me how to do it better and
faster”? I know I had those questions. With years of experience, I've learnt that there is no point to
reinvent the wheel, there are so many other things I could be doing. It is just more efficient to use
someone else’s knowledge and experience to get your results faster.

I believe that signing up with a proper tuition provider can cut your studying time at least in half.
Just think about it, that’s all I’m suggesting. I just don’t want you being frustrated and underprepared
for your exam.

Now I think it is the right time to show you the video that I made about Management Case Studies
showing you what a MCS / Gateway exam is all about, highlighting key points to focus on, explaining
the structure and walking you through an example of a MCS. Also, I touch upon the competencies,
explain the exam marking and finally give you some tips on what to do in order to pass you MCS
exam.

The 1st step was all about planning, realising what the Case Study is about, what is the magnitude of
the work you need to put in and deciding on your study option.

PASS your MCS exam with Practice Test Academy's online products
STEP 2 - Studying
To sum it up - by now you should have chosen how you want to study (or with whom) and you made
some kind of a realistic plan.

Let’s get back to our list of what should be included in the study plan. My suggestion is to make sure
you are done with the 1st revision of the 3 pillars by the time Pre-Seen is released. We have used
our expertise to prepare a set of revision videos for you.
In case this is something that might interest you, here is the link: Get your MCS Revisions
package only for £45 now! Personally, I think that sometimes you need that extra push, that structure
that the revision course is providing. Anyway, it's up to you, I'm just saying you have an option not to
do it on your own or attending highly expensive classes. You can do it online for a fraction of the
price. Again, the link is >>here<<.

If you have taken OT exams from the management level, then I hope you kept your notes since they
are going to be useful now. Remember, no calculations will be necessary at this point, you just need to
interpret the numbers you are given. So if you e.g. had issues with calculating WACC, but you
understand why companies should be using that, you are more less fine.

If you took the Gateway route, well, I would roll my sleeves up and go through the study books.

Either way, technical knowledge accounts for 39%. You need to know it and then you need to know
how to apply it.

With CIMA MCS, it is not sufficient to be knowledgeable, you need to be smart.

When the Pre-Seen is released, read it. Don’t postpone that. I know it is a bit scary because reading
will mean that you have to start preparing. I know how trivial that sounds. I made that mistake - I
always found more important things to do and postponed reading the Pre-Seen till “tomorrow”… and
that tomorrow lasted for 2 weeks… And then I was rushing through it in panic. Let me tell you - it is
not worth it. Better to read a bit each day.

What actually put me off was the size - usually Pre-Seen material is 20-30 pages long. There are plenty
of pictures and charts, tables, so in fact, it is not that long.

My suggestion, give it 2 attempts:

1. Skim through case quickly to get a feel for what the case is about.
2. On the next day, go through the case in detail – line by line, paragraph by paragraph, taking notes.

Since you reviewed the knowledge from the E2, P2 and F2 papers, you should be able to note the
following:

o Enterprise pillar - which models / frameworks / techniques seem the most

relevant to that paragraph and make notes on your Pre-Seen. You should be
able to define short and medium term goals. You should be familiar with the
environment of the company, with its competition, with all the
stakeholders. Also be prepared from eh project management perspective
and change - those topics come up very often.
o Performance pillar - identify the types of risks faced which you learned
about in P2 and how they could be managed.
o Financial pillar - analyse the financial statements using key ratios to fully
understand the current financial position and performance of the
organisation.
A key TIP, coming from Kimanh Duong, 4th in the world in SCS from Aug 2015:

“Don’t leave it too long between your course and exams; get the exams booked early so you aren’t
constantly juggling your busy lives.”

Let me explain - I really stress out the word “concise” as I’ve watched industry analysis coming from
other online tuition providers and they were just too lengthy without providing additional value. You
see I can sit 4 hours watching something, but I need to be confident that is adding value to my study
time. I read the examiners report and it is clearly stated there that all the information on the industry is
given to you in the Pre-Seen and that you will not be given any additional marks for showing that you
know few additional names of the top competitors. Therefore the concise version of the industry
analysis is beneficial and will not waste your time.

Also, let me touch upon the most likely / top ten issues likely to be examined. It is a good indication
to open your mind to possible problems that company may face, but don’t be limited to them. I
remember when I sat my CS, I was still surprised at how the examiners twisted the unseen materials
and found a way, how to utilise big data. There was no mention of that in the Pre-Seen! So just don’t
think of that a definite list. Those are likely issues but there are 5 variants of the exam (if each variance
has 4 sections, we are talking about 20 sections to be written). Examiners are going to be creative,
that’s for sure.

By now, you should have:

 reviewed the technical knowledge,

 read the Pre-Seen, made notes,
 done the Industry Analysis done the Industry Analysis and gone through the Most Likely Issues.

Now, let’s focus on the exam itself.

STEP 3 - Exam Practice!

My suggested way around it is:

1. Take a sample from any past papers, have a look at the question and at a model answer provided
by CIMA. That will help you understand what are they looking at. This is a tip coming from Steven
Scullion, 8th in the world in Nov 2015 SCS

“Question practise is key. Get past paper questions or mock exams from whatever source you can. The
greater the variety of questions you come across when studying, the higher the probability that you
may get a similar question in the exam and be well prepared for it. Additionally, you will be more
prepared for the “shock” factor of coming across a question that you did not expect.”

2. Make sure you spend enough time on planning your answers. CIMA suggests that you should
spend roughly 1/3 of your time reading the scenario and planning it. If the average section in MCS
lasts for 45 minutes, we are talking about opening 15 minutes on reading and planning! Keeps hat
figure in mind!
There is whole lot more to be written about planning and structuring your answers for MCS… Maybe I
should even write about that…. Is it something you would be interested in? Leave your answer below:

Shall I prepare a blog article about planning and structuring a CS answer?

Yes, that would be very useful

No, not really

Submit

3. Attempt full mock exams under timed conditions and be strict with your time management.

Another quote from Brendan Ryan, 1st in the world from OCS in Nov 2015:

“Do all the practice exam material you can. Try not to master every single element of the course -
listen to your tutor and focus your time on the key areas or any areas you find harder. For the case
study in particular, it’s about applying the knowledge you’ve learnt. So try not to cram facts, but think
about what’s relevant to the scenario and how this knowledge can be applied.”

We can help you out with the practice under exam conditions. We have a gift for you :) We give you
an option to train yourself under exam conditions on all 5 variants of MCS from Nov 2016 (about ADF
company). You will find the exam simulator, exam questions and model answers provided by CIMA,
as well as examiners commentary and marking guidelines.

The only thing to do is to click the button and sign up for the free MCS demo:

Get your Free MCS resources

Mock are manually marked. You can do all the preparation, you can plan your answers, but then it
will be another person assessing how well you did. What you think was the gist may not only be the
case. You would be surprised how many students do not read properly the questions asked! Just have a
look at any examiners’ reports from the exams! Read the answer, pause for 3 seconds, read it again!
And only then start planning your answers.

I think it is good to get a perspective from another person. It is not obligatory, but it is nice to have.
Get your mocks marked so you can review the feedback. Ideally you will get expert feedback on your
mock exams as this will give you a knowledgeable and experienced point of view on your level of
performance to tell you how well you are getting on. You can review your own script if you fully
understand the marking scheme of the exam and note any key lessons learnt ready for your next mock
exam attempt, but I find this very rarely works as we are not very good judges of our own
performance. If you do mocks with us, we give you a possibility to get your mocks checked and
receive a feedback.

What to do a day before your exam?

 Re-read the Pre-Seen and the one page summary of your analysis.
 Create a list of key points you want to use in your exam.
 Review all the key lessons from your mocks.
  Review the key theories to refresh your mind, especially from E2.
 Try to visit your chosen exam centre, so you don’t get stressed on the day of your
exam. prepare your admission slip and ID in advance.
 Take it easy the day before your exam, sleep well and relax the night before the
exam. Being rested will improve your performance.
 Practice thinking positively ahead of your exam, visualise your future success.

What to do during your exam?

 Be confident – even if you don’t feel like it, try and act like it (remember that
phrase: fake it till you make it?).
 Work quickly through your exam and aim to make lots of points.
 Keep going right to the end, do not end the section before your time is up. You will
nOT be rewarded for that!
 Keep an eye on the time throughout and stick to your timings.
 Stick to what has worked in your exam practice sessions before.

The key to passing is therefore being able to demonstrate your application skills as well as the
business, people and leadership areas being tested. You don't need to be a price winner, you don't need
to get 150 marks, you just need to pass. Overall, what you learn in that exam, will help you
tremendously in your work life later on, so in my opinion, CIMA has done a good job in structuring
those exams in such a way.

I believe you can do it! Be positive, keep on practicing and you will get there.

If you found this article resourceful, please share it with your friends. We want to help as many CIMA
students as possible. This is our mission – to help CIMA students pass their exam on the first attempt.
You should be one of them!
1.0 Introduction
The operations management is very important part of the company to deliver the products to
the customers. The operations management deals from raw materials, product manufacturing
and m sales and distribution. An effective operations management can lead the companies to
success. At the same if there any problems in the operations management, it could severely
impact the performance of the company and sales as well. In recent years OM became central
part of the organisational strategic management. The strategic operational management links
with various components of management to achieve the companies goals and targets
resulting the financial gains.

In this study we critically examine the fundamentals of operations management for an

company which has global presence in terms of manufacturing and customers. A focus has
been made on the different components including the supply chain management, quality
management and logistics. We applied these principle to case study of MRF Tyres. The issues
are discussed in the context of existing problems in supply chain management. A new
product launched into the market and the company has done excellent job of handling the
product launch. They also revamped the whole process to effectively manage the operations
globally.

2.0 Operations Management

Figure 1. Operational Management Life Cycle

3.0 Operations Function

Operations function must also be well integrated with other

parts of business.

Operations function is one of 3 primary functions within a

business: Finance, Marketing, and Operations.

Work of 3 primary functions overlaps each other and all 3

must work to reach the full potential of the system.

Operations Function
In many companies, operations function retains the greatest
percentage of employees.

And, it is responsible for the largest part of the budget.

Operations Function

Therefore, operations function plays a significant role in

success of businesses.

Types of Operations

If a company has an ability to manufacture tangible products,

we call it a manufacturing company.

Manufacturing operations deal with goods/tangible products.

Example industries: Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Mining,
Construction, etc.

Inputs (raw materials, etc.) and outputs (products) are tangible

and visible objects.

Types of Operations

Manufacturing transformation processes are some kind of

chemical or physical processes (ex: welding, assembling).

The other companies who are not manufacturers are referred

to as service companies.

Types of Operations
These deal with non-manufacturing operations or service type
operations. Example industries: Transportation, Finance, real
estate, insurance, hotels, etc.

Here, there are also inputs and outputs. The output is a

satisfied customer.

Processes in service operations include giving advice

(consultant firms), transporting, packaging, storing, serving
(food), etc.

Other examples: educational institutions, repair shops, and

barbers.

Types of Operations

The change in the percentage of work force between years

1900 and 1994 is as follows:

– Number of People working in finance, services, real estate

and insurance increased dramatically (graphic illustration)

– People working in agriculture and mining declined

dramatically

– People working in communication and transportation

increased slightly

– People working in construction and manufacturing not

much changed

Types of Service Operations

Some service operations deal with tangible outputs even
though they do not manufacture a product: examples are
distributors, mail service, library, etc.

Other service operations deal with intangible products. These

are pure service operations: examples are financial advice,
counseling, etc.

Types of Service Operations

In some service operations, customer is not present as a

participant: examples are architectural design, repairing
automobiles, insurance, etc.

Types of Service Operations

In some others, customer is present: examples are health care,

hair cut, travel, etc.

Types of Manufacturing Operations

Some companies are make-to-stock producers. These firms

make items that are completed and placed in stock before
customer order is received. Ex: Arcelik plant.

Some companies are make-to-order producers. These

complete the end item only after receiving a customer order.

Types of Manufacturing Operations

Because manufacturer cannot anticipate what each customer
wants. Example: a metal fabrication shop, which gives the
desired shape to any kind of metal.

When the company produces standard modules and

assembles these modules according to the specifics of a
customer order, this is an assemble-to-order producer.

Examples are: PVC window assemblers, and modular kitchen

board assemblers.

Types of Manufacturing Operations

The extent to which a factory has the flexibility to produce a

variety of products is another characteristic used to
distinguish between types of factories.

One extreme is to produce custom products in low volume or

in single units. Example is a metal fabrication shop.

Types of Manufacturing Operations

Other extreme is to produce a standard product in very high

volume. Example: nuts and nails.

According to variety and volume of production, operations are

categorized as 1) Job Shops, 2) Repetitive Manufacturing, and
3) Batch Manufacturing.

Operations Management

Figure 1. Operation Management Functions

4.0 Components of Opertions Management
Operations Strategy

Product Design and Process Selection

Supply Chain Management

Total Quality Management

Just-in-Time and Lean Systems

Forecasting

Capacity Planning and Location Analysis

Facility Layout

Work System Design

Inventory and Resource Planning

Scheduling Issues

5.0 Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management forms very important and integral part of the operations
management. In this study we closely examine the Supply Chain Management. This is partially
because the case study we are going to examine in foolowing sections has major issues in the
supply chain management. Supply chain management is the network of unified organizations
concerned with the final provision of goods and services which are required by the customers.
It focuses on the entire movement of raw materials which are stored, inventory, and end
goods from starting point to the point of usage. It monitors the supply chain activities such as
planning, designing, control with the aim to generate net value, build competitive
infrastructure, influencing logistics worldwide, and coordinate demand and supply so as to
measure the performance.

SCM include planning and managing all activities engaged in logistics management, sourcing,
procurement. It is also engaged with the important mechanisms of coordination and
cooperation with the partners like suppliers, service providers (third party) customers and
intermediaries
SCM is the strategic and systematic coordination of the organization functions and
techniques across the business task within the company and supply chain for improving the
performance of the organization in the long term.

Traditionally, planning, marketing, manufacturing, purchasing and the distribution

organizations beside supply chain is functioned independently. Organizations will have their
respective objectives and goals and these all are frequently conflicting. Marketing objective
who are concentrated on better customer service and to maximize the sales conflicts with
distribution and manufacturing goals. The final outcome of all these factors states that they
don’t have a single integrated plan in the organization. There are few methods where the
organization can follow to integrate all the functions together. Supply chain management
helps the organization to integrate all the factors. The coordination between various
departments is the key for effective supply chain.

Supply Chain Process

The most important objective of SCM is to satisfy customer demands by using the resources
most efficiently, distribution, labour and inventory. SCM aims to meet the supply and
demand. Generally there is lot of confusion between SC and logistics, logistics performs the
activities within the organization where as supply chain focuses on procurement and
manufacturing and it has a wide focus, it involve many enterprisers, suppliers, retailers.

Logistics
Logistics if the method of planning, controlling and implementing the well-organized
managing that offer products and services. It is the science where it plans to carry out the
progress and to maintain. This operation deals with development and design, distribution,
acquisition, movement, storage, maintenance.

Logistic Performance
Logistics is the processes which interface and interrelates with all over the organization and
with outside companies, merchants, customers. Logistics is accountable for the association of
goods from the suppliers and delivery to the end customers, it moves through the
manufacturing services, packages, warehouse and third parties and distributors. Logistics
should perform efficiently for the success of the organization. For performing logistics most
effectively there are important five issues.

Product movement

Information about the product

Service and time

Integration

Cost

Logistics performance means the amount of how successful the logistics management in the
organization. The goal of the logistics is to transport goods from one place to other place
fastly, reliable with reasonable prices in order to meet the customer needs if they maintain
this process successfully then automatically the organization goals will achieve. With the help
of latest technology organizations had overcome the fissure between successful logistics
management with the issues it had faced.

There are few issues in logistics performance across the world, because people had observed
that the cost is not decreasing but increasing in logistics and service levels are decreasing.
The most important thing that every organization should consider is cost of logistics as this
affects the performance of the logistics.

Logistics Performance Metrics

Examining the performance of particular process needs a well definite metrics which helps the
organization to establish goals. Managers need to be effective in identifying the performance
metrics, related units, techniques to monitor. Managers need guidance and training in
identifying all these functions. Metric is the benchmark and that measures the organizations
capability in meeting the needs of the customers and organization objectives. While selecting
the performance metrics organization should be very careful they cannot select it blindly. An
efficient performance metric structure make possible for continuous improvement in the
organization.

Logistics performance metrics are of four types

Internal process

Innovation

Consumers

Finance

Logistics Performance Measurement

Performance measurement has continuous issue in logistics and supply chain management.
Process to improve the logistics performance resulted benefits for the organization. Every
organization need not follow the same methods to improve the performance of logistics
different organizations follows different methods but the ultimate aim of every organization is
to achieve the predetermined goals. Possible improvement will be better position of
organization measurements needs. Logistics performance measurement focuses on

Initiating characteristics that will measure should have

Viewpoint that measures need to assume

Certain measures that organizations need to select

Performance measurement should be selected as per the organization capability to detect

performance consistently with organizations particular logistics missions and goals.
Organizations follow different ways in order to differentiate them in the industry is with their
goals. The goals of the firm establish the nature of business operations.

The structure developed by the organization recognizes four achievable performance

measurements that logistics organizations can refer. Each extent illustrates different direction
of measures. By evaluating every dimension they can know whether the organization is
meeting the needs of the measurement with current measure and also helps them to find out
which dimension can achieve the goals of organization.

Logistics management
Logistics management means planning, organizing and delivering the products to the
customers at the right time and right place. Logistics management is very vibrant field it
should provide solutions to different problems within a short time. There are so many
important benefits in logistics management such as it helps the organization to know the
time, location value, with the help of logistics management they can meet the customer
satisfaction and employee satisfaction as both are important for the success of the
organization. It improves the performance of the entire system, increases the sales of
business, generates the revenue, and improves the process of order. To improve the process
of logistics and to achieve good profits they need to make sure all the benefits are used
properly. Some important features of logistic management that should not be avoided are

Inventory

Transportation

Packaging

Integration
Warehousing

Loading

Security

Location and time

Shipment

Raw material handling

Route

Logistics applies to every organization in the world as every organization motto will be to
satisfy their customers. Organizations such profit making and non profit making, sports,
media,

Performance measurement and metrics should be properly followed by the organization to

be successful in the market, these are very important factors in the organization. Logistics
strategies should be properly planned and implement to meet and satisfy customers. In the
modern world and the availability of innovative technologies it is very important to sustain
the competitors. They need to perform different programs to know the effectiveness of the
logistics management and performance such as logistics audit. This program is designed to
know the and compare the performance of logistics, systems, practices and businesses with
high standards.

Once the organization has analyzed the conclusions of supply chain and logistics it becomes
more and more noticeable that competition is more between the organizations and
innovation is moving from one firm to other firm in the global world. SCM and logistics is
becoming a important sector in industry.

6.0 Case Study:

Operational Management issues in the MRF Tires Company

Problem Definition:
The MRF is launching a new and state of the art tires systems for heavy vehicles. The company
has spent huge amount of money in research and development to bring to the current
technology levels. This is first of its kind in the market in the Tyres. MRF would like to reach
the product to end customers by target date without any delays. The MRF is teamed up with
VISTA supply chain solutions to reengineer its distribution network to deliver the product. The
VISTA has its own freight carriers across the globe. It also has the road transport division and
air-cargo division.

The MRF has manufacturing facilities in various countries. The raw material for the product
manufacturing sourced from different countries as well. When the product is delivered to the
customers all accessories should be packaged together. To launch a new product the
company would like to have the customer service capabilities up to the speed from the
beginning. MRF knows that the distributors and retailers should require to up-to-the minute
information regarding the product and its availability. In the recent years, the MRF Tyres
experienced phenomenal growth in terms of volume of sales and products. Due to increased
growth there are issues in the delivery products to the customer within reasonable. This has
lead several complaints from distributors as well as customers. The management has took this
issues very seriously and wanted to resolve the issues for current products. Especially the top
management does not want the problem occurring for newly launching product. .

Solution
MRF previously handled many new product launches. However, given the importance of the
product and public expectations, this time MRF decided to team up with VISTA supply chain
management systems to deliver the product. When the new product is launch the capability
to predict the volume of product and time scale for delivery is the key for success. The major
components of New Tyres (XFS200) are manufactured in Asian Region and the product is
assembled in Japan and Thailand. The accessories for new product are manufactured in
Eastern European countries. Product Supply to North and South America: The VISTA flown
assembled product from Japan and Thailand and accessories from Eastern Europe to
Kentucky.

In Kentucky product and accessories are packaged together. The packaged product is
distributed to retailers in North America by road network and air freight. The Latin American
region was covered with air freight from Kentucky. In addition if online orders are mailed
directly by air-mail. Product Supply to North and Europe and Africa: The assembled product
was air shipped to Bucharest, Romania and is packaged with accessories. The packaged
product is air-shipped to retailers in Europe. Also there is warehouse located in the Brussels to
handle the online orders. The Bucharest centers also handled the shipments to Europe.
Product Supply to Asia Pacific Region: The accessories are flown to Thailand and packaged
with product. The retailers in Asia Pacific region was delivered from Thailand. While the
product was enroot the VISTA system informed the retailers about the delivered times. So
that retailers can adjust to not miss sales opportunity.

Results Due to implementation of synchronized supply chain management resulted in sales

targets set by management. The key to success is distributed warehousing and distribution
centers and integrated tracking system. The major results are: a) The synchronized system
significantly reduced MRF’s supply chain by (40%). b) This also resulted in increased speed
to end customers. c) The increased service to the retailers. d) The product has been launched
at the same time globally without having in delays reaching retailers and end customers.

7.0 Summary
In this paper the operational management is critical reviews and its contributions to the
strategic management. The various components are thoroughly examined and problem areas
are clearly identified. The Operational management principles are applied to the present case
study. The MRF tyres is an global tyre manufacturing company with operations spread over
the World. The majority of the manufacturing facilities are located in India and south Asia.
Due to phenomenal growth in the recent years, resulted in various issues in the supply chain
management. This resulted in non-availability of the stock in certain parts of the World. There
are sever delays in delivering the products to the customers. This has lead to complaints from
customers and affecting the company performance. We applied various operational
management principles to resolve this and to get company on track. One of the effective
method is implement the Just-in-time approach, implementation of global IT systems, and
partnering with logistics companies to deliver the products across the World. To achieve the
sales targets and customer satisfaction the different KPI analysed. A fictitious consumer
electronics company product launch has been analyzed. The MRF achieved its sales targets by
reengineering the supply chain management. The global presence of VISA and effective
product delivery and communication helped for successful product launch. This also reduced
the cost for MRF and reduced supply chain by 40%